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This is a very large boat for the canals and I suggest it won’t be pleasant to actually cruise on it, except for those few large commercial waterways such as the A&C. People who buy these enormous widebeams tend not to move much, which always begs the question to me “why bother with all the hassles of being on a boat when you can’t enjoy the advantages?”. You see people driving huge widebeams looking really nervous and stressed, which is surely not the aim! Nearly all the nicer bits of canal are off limits time you. Have you ever driven a boat that size on a just-big-enough waterway? If not I suggest you have a go first, before spending lots of money.

Seen elsewhere ...

The UK is not that bad - here are a couple of Liveaboards, well within your budget and ideal for a bit of coastal hopping, you could take a couple of years going around the coast in a luxury (heated and insulated) comfortable boat. Proper boats : https://www.findafishingboat.com/steel-passagemaker/ad-55598 I've been mulling over this one for some time, but I've already got two boats. £45,000 or offers (and its in Cork !!!) or this one : https://www.findafishingboat.com/converted-danish-trawler/ad-107405 In North Wales and at £30,000 plenty of money left. 'Modernisation' needed to suit your taste but money left in the budget.

Michael McIntyre at his best.

Did a spot of Kayak cleaning up after the good folk of Retford this evening, every little helps.. Mostly crisp packets left by the little darlings fishing/smoking weed upstream at Whitsunday lock. It would be good to think they'll grow out of it and learn to appreciate their surroundings but unfortunately as the saying goes, you can't educate pork. Or shit. The crap was caught in huge blooms of gently fizzing blanket weed, even the kayak was a struggle!

I wouldnt say they lost control, I think it is more...lost the goodwill of the British public with their rabid press releases,.lies and defence of Cummings.

Not the total picture but the government lost control the moment they ignored the Cummings incident.

I'd say that's about perfect for the Northern canal network if you want a widebeam. Maybe a couple of feet shorter if you don't like getting wet descending leaky locks

I agree. You won't have much fun on a 70 x 12ft boat unless you're on some of the bigger rivers. It's too big for the southern broadbeam canals. My boat is 57 X 12ft and it's manageable because it's relatively short and turns very easily

Hope you got there OK - I think 19 boats making that trip today. We took the quieter route, down to Limehouse... https://scholargypsy.org.uk/2020/06/15/brentford-to-limehouse/

As a teenager I broke up several wooden boats so that their bottoms could be used for the walls of buildings at The Black Country Museum. Perhaps I am fortunate in not being sentimental about narrow boats and I have no problem with their 'circle of life'. I like the idea of a boat that is life expired donating its parts to keep others going (as with human organ donation), but I am not meaning parts being built into modern boats to give them some perceived credibility or added value. Every boat can be rebuilt and rebuilt again, but as you say the costs can be prohibitive - and in my opinion this has been the position with wooden narrow boats for a long time, let alone finding people with the skills to maintain / rebuild them properly. Like many owners I am spending far more on my boat restoration than its end value will be, but because my boat is steel hulled it just feels like a better bet long term (but probably isn't). Of course it is a great shame when any boat is broken up, but this is a part of every boats history whether today, next year or any time in the future. Things seem to have got a lot more sentimental since these boats have become pre-fixed 'historic' - but lets hope that DANE's future can be secured

You can go in 20 shops a day, but you cant sleep in your boat, if you own a house. Nonsense. Your child can go to the zoo to those 20 shops and visit their grandparents, but cant go to school. Nonsense If you are part of the inner sanctum you can leave london with your covid ridden Spouse, go and live in a house built with no planning permission , and not paying council tax, and visit beauty spots at will. As well as driving with dodgy eyesight. Nonsense No wonder people just do what they like.

The main canals you can't do at that size are any of the narrow ones (obviously!), the Leeds and Liverpool (Wigan to Leeds), the Calder and Hebble, and the Huddersfield Broad. You would technically be able to do the Rochdale, but you can't get there in a boat that size unless you crane it in somewhere. This will force you to stay on the Eastern network, which might not be a problem for you but you need cranes and a lorry to do the only cross Pennine route you would fit on.

1. Pressure washing should only remove weed and any loose material. It will never strip off the blacking if it has been applied and dried properly last time. 2. There is NO regulation at all, they have made this up and I would be very unhappy to have them continue work on it or sell it for me.

Yes it does seem a daft system and does just encourage speeding. Although with the boat we hired in Brittany it was so throttled back and under propped that it wasn't possible to break the speed limit. The cynic in you does then believe this is a deliberate act by the hire yard to slow progress and force more hours running Hopefully the Horizon we are hiring next year will be better set up for achieving a reasonable cruising speed.

................. in which case it would seem likely that she couldn't hack it in the real world.

You do me such honour! ? Thank you! ?

It’s not condensation. There is an odour. Okay. OD! get the tinnies in.

When we hired they charged by the engin hour so start engine at the last minute, fast as you can to the next stop, use the shore supply to charge the batteries dont run the engine, turned it off at every opportunity.

Or I could keep a 100+ boat going, there is the emotional attachment but I can see over that in that the boat is only worth the engine, i would rather sell a boat to someone who is going to save her than just strip for parts. Yes I can see dane being stripped for her bolly but I'm not going to be the one to destroy a bit of history for an engine. If I could get a bolly at a reasonable price not over the top price coz its a bolly I would consider putting it in towy but at the same time the national has been in her longer than the bolly was and has now been in near on 50 years making it part of towy. Yes I would happly sell the national back to the owner of original boat but I'm not going to be left out of pocket or just a random engine put in her so someone can get there engine back (unless forced due to major brakedown would happly get a k1 or something or jp2 as a replacement) hence I wanted to look at dane but for a price to keep her as is what I'm prepared to pay given the work needed wouldnt be accepted. Its the same as i don't agree with butties being cut in half to sell as 2 motors to make some cash and in the process destroying history.