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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.

I rarely venture on to the NBW site, but an article by Ms Horton of RCR on "post lockdown maintenance" caught my eye. She starts off with advice about batteries and goes on to say: "Systems’ charging times vary, however a 70amp alternator charging four x 110amp batteries from flat will take around three to five hours." Now I know that it used to be believed by many that a 70A alternator will put out 70 amps all the time, thus those 440AHr of batteries will be fully charged from 'flat' (50%?) in a few hours, but it has been repeated on here so many times over many years that that is not how it works. I'm rather disappointed that RCR should still be giving out the sort of advice that will lead to premature failure of batteries, not prevent it! RCR used to appear on here occasionally, or at least read it. It seems now that they think they know better than the many experienced genuine experts that post here regularly. It does make you wonder how good the rest of their advice is (except perhaps, to sell membership).

She STARTED! On the Starter she got faster and faster until she finally picked up and ran. It was the starter..duff connections/ dirty armature with the fresh fuel just needed that tiny bit extra to fire up. Initially filled the sky with smoke but then ran clear even in gear. Thanks for all your advice. What's the thoughts on glow plugs for a JP engine. They fit in the Hi/Lo compression valves giving a compression halfway between the two settings. Also Red or Green fly wheel. Martin in the photo of the grey engine you sent there is a brass drain tap in the block plug hole can you tell me what size and thread that would be Cheers Ian

That kit seems expensive, is that the fitted price or diy install have you tried bimble, I got a 1200w system from them last year for less money, did the install myself though.

Yes I'll take a pic of it next time I go, is still together just. My biggest issue is wooden boats are now getting less and less, more so in good condition. I understand that its was normal and even now normal to be done but if every wooden boat was destroyed for there engine when there 25year so life was up we would have none left Dane is one of only a hand full left and at that the only one as she is e.g. the bow how claytons did it and her original engine thats been there from day 1 of being a motor, there are not many boats like that, yes boats have been reunited with there engines. As a boat lover I would rather a boat sold a bit cheap knowing it was going to be saved and kept good and loved than just trying to make an extra buck or 2. But that's just me. Its like having a very old car or house and stripping for bits and just destroyed when it can be saved, I also realise skills are getting harder but wooden boats have just as much right to be saved as steel and in some ways ive seen very poor steel boats saved because there steel (also scrapped) and know 1 man's scrap is another man's gold. No the Dock is now done very much as a setup than used. Although they have lifted boats out not that long ago for display

Absolute Bollox!! Who is the brokerage? Ask them to point you to the regulation....... It would have been all over here like a rash if it were true......

Our holding tank is stainless steel, but as the material was too thin to take a thread for the bolts they made a thick collar for them to screw into. Unfortunately they used mild steel for the collar which then rotted away so one day when the crew member sat on the loo it fell right through into the tank; in that moment she discovered new meanings to both the phrases "dump through" and then "getting your own back"

15/06/19 We needed some shopping so I walked to Short Ferry for the bus into Lincoln. It struck me as I walked across the nature reserve that I was probably below the water level in the river. It also struck me, over a pint of Batemans, that life in Lincoln life was going on as normal whereas a couple of miles away we were living in a world of water.

I’m afraid if you put yourself up as an expert then expect to be called out when both you and the company you run fail to deliver. I have had first hand experience of the poor service they have offered to others.

She was an electrical engineer!

Good luck with the hunting. I have researched my own boat, Badger, and you will fill many hours finding cargoes, who steered her and when, even the wages of the skipper if you are lucky. Ellesmere Port museum has loads of info, but getting through the maze of it is something else!

The Grand Union Canal Carrying company commissioned several yards to build their boats. The main ones for metal hulls were Harland and Wolff, at North Woolwich and W.J Yarwoods in Northwich. Both built differently and to the trained eye easily identifiable. Both built two main sizes of craft (not including royalty), the small ones were named after stars and constellations, whereas the large were named after towns (numerous reasons how and why they got their names). Therefore, as Vela is built at Woolwich to the smaller dimensions she is known as a Small Woolwich. She could also be known as a star class although there is a lack of evidence that they were ever known as a "class", or even known as small/little or large/big back in the day.

That's an interesting question. How it can be my attitude or demeanor is beyond me though. The "problem" I was referring to was people making the otherwise green and pleasant land into a shit tip, and then eventually moving on. I've lived aboard and moored on the towpath, but at no point felt the need to turn my surroundings into a dump. It draws attention to the culprit more than anything, which you'd think is the last thing they'd want. It doesn't cost anything to keep your chosen spot clean, most of us manage it. If you want to live aboard some kind of overflowing floating skip that's your choice, but don't inflict your scruffy ways onto other canal users and wildlife.