Leaderboard

CRT will no longer provide a financial figures regarding backlog of maintenance. They claim that they do not estimate the cost of remediating a defect until such time as they schedule the work. Withe regard to the grant agreement running for 12 years, it actually runs for 15. Most boaters are unaware that Defra will review CRT's performance in the 2021/22 financial year. Some preparatory work has already taken place ... Defra's MOU with CRT (which will be one of the reference documents used in the review) makes it quite clear that an objective is reduction or removal of grant. To this end, CRT has been increasing the value of its non-operational assets such that it can fund itself. It has also attempted to develop a 'new' funding stream - "charitable giving" but is failing miserably. One positive that has come out of the Toddbrook incident is that Defra are very aware that CRT has not been maintaining its 72 reservoirs in a safe condition. CRT's response has been to commit £30m over the next three years to bring them up to acceptable condition (this seems to be in addition to the £10m needed to rebuild Toddbrook). It follows from the above that, if CRT are unwilling/unable to maintain its most safety critical operational assets in good order, then it is likely that this applies to all operational assets. Defra will, no doubt, ignore this. Regarding visitor numbers, these have fallen year on year for the last four years. CRT's response to this disaster has been to change the method by which the figures are calculated so that they can show that visitor numbers have doubled.

Of interest to old peculiar if your still on here. Kubota d905 And a enfield leg ,and 4 ft longer now,

From out of the scrapbook, Dudley Tunnel in the 1960s and the Bottom Road at Curdworth in 1952. There is a butty somewhere just astern, the pair, having brought ingots from Limehouse to Birmingham, now making their way to the Warwickshire coalfields for a return load.

Go for an Auto-Gas will inflate and turn you face up within 4 seconds. A buoyancy-Aid will turn you face down in the water - not conducive to a long life. If you are a good swimmer and can swim fully clothed in cold water then you need a MINIMUM of a 150N lifejacket If you are NOT a strong swimmer when fully clothed in cold water you need a 275N lifejacket You can get an adequate one 150N for around £60, or a 'soft-comfortable' type for around £110 Crewsaver are a good middle of the road brand DO NOT BUY SECONDHAND

I always wanted a better falsetto

If you weld a thin protrusion onto the outside of a skip and drag it through the water it won't make any noticeable difference to the way it goes through the water. ?

Thanks for the help, problem solved. The impeller wasn't spinning! due to a jubilee clip not being tight enough so when the impeller tried pulling water, all it did was suck air. Took ages to find this, I had the impeller off 3 times! But now all good, thank you for the advice.

2mins in

The problem with the 'best days are yet to come' is that 100's of millions needs spending to bring the system back up to what it was at the end of the last century, let alone improve it. C&RT did publish the backlog of work needed to bring the infrastructure back up to 'specification / standard' but I have not seen it published for the last few years (it was growing almost exponentially year on year) The Government is not going to have any money to spare for the next 'few' years, and as the DEFRA grant is finishing in the next 3 years and is currently running at 25% of C&RTs total income the situation can only get worse. The DEFRA grant was set up to run for (I think) 12 years to give C&RT the opportunity to raise funds from other sources, so far they have singularly failed to even cover their fund raising costs, you need to dig very deeply into their accounts but it is there, In year 2018/19 Voluntary income was £3.4m. Expenditure raising that income was £3.9m. Loss £500,000. The figures and the cumulative loss over the first six years (2012/13 to 2018/19) of the Trust is £5.5m They would have been better off by £5.5m if they had not done any fundraising activities.

I truly hope you are right BUT from our direct experience over the last 2-5 years in particular its not on the internet its reality............and getting worse

I'm sticking my neck out here and think the canals best days are to come. As international travel becomes more troublesome and the world becomes less stable I think people will want to holiday in their own country. Canals offer a really good alternative where the journey is the holiday rather than just a part of it - no problems finding what to do each day. I have had several recent conversations with people who have never considered narrowboats/canals but as I describe/show videos (not in a anorak way!) now want to try it. The UK weather is also improving so when we have longer hot spells people may question queueing in the airport! The UK canal system is USP of the UK so I can see international travel this way as foreigners come to try... It always amazes me people want to fly to sandpits full of crowds when they haven't seen their own beautiful country yet.

I reckon when the maintenance problems kick in properly the system will get split up and individual areas franchised out to private operators. Probably marina companies. Desirable areas stay open subject to extra charges and the less popular bits close, again. Keep an eye on Ting Dene. Not a wholesale selloff but bit by bit private management.

Yes to all your queries except the next to last - the towpath maintenance teams are largely unskilled contractors if their progress is impeded they leave it and this means larger weed beds and bigger saplings which become wildlife habitat and lost moorings. I have always picked rubbish and weeded my wild moorings so they are still there next time I visit

If C&RT have not stopped fundraising they don't seem to be learning their lesson. C&RT have also shot themselves in the foot by reducing the prompt payment discount. There is hardly any incentive to pay early . I think boaters pay plenty for license fees already and I suspect the numbers of people who go unlicensed is on the increase . The charges a perceived as excessive for not a lot given in return . eg declining facilities , even waste bins not available where they once were and toilets past their serviceable life .

I've got two that need doing, and I'm moored at Burscough. When can you do them please, as it's worth a couple of quid to avoid digging the plumbing box out from under the bed ....

Not this time of year but we went to Limerick in 2010 to watch Northampton Saints play Munster. The Shannon here is tidal but the lock takes the navigation to the big lock at the power station. When we had the narrow boat in Ireland never fancied doing this bit.

As all the boats were at base ready to go on Saturday morning, some hire boat went out in the morning, so easy to Cropredy on Sunday. Getting off early being a bit of a bonus to people who took the chance and booked for the 4th.

Out of interest, do you use an approved gas fitter to change the empty bottle??

Corrected that for you. ?

Whereas I can only accept that idiots have the right to hold their various nonsensical beliefs, I just can't respect an idiot or his rights. Shows what a miserable git I am but there it goes.

I agree with most of your post but not the bit I have highlighted. On the large, open plate batteries that I worked on many moons ago, internal short citcuits were often caused by impurities in the plate manufacture, which caused growths to grow on the plates until they touched an adjacent plate. With closed cells, the most usual cause is the plates shedding active material, which builds up on the bottom of the battery until it shorts plates out. Another cause of short circuits is plate buckling, from batteries being subjected to high discharge currents or being over discharged. Sulphation happens on the on the plates, the lead sulphate on the plates surface is easily converted back into lead and sulphuric acid during a charge, whereas that deeper in the structure of the plate concerts towards the end of the charge, and thus remains as lead sulphate if charging is terminated early. The loss of capacity results from the reduction of lead that can take part in the chemical reaction during discharge. The longer the lead sulphate is allowed to remain, the harder it gets to convert back, until eventually it is unconvertable.

And yet, if even insects or just only certain insects were to suddenly die out the human race would die out too and quite quickly become extinct. And then all of the nature, wild life and wee beasties on this planet would take over and flourish once again. We saw some of this happening during lock down.

Simply satisfy yourself that it's the stick-that-must-be-wiggled-constantly

I've flown inverted a few times. It's quite disconcerting as one's frame of reference is the aircraft in which you're sat, so the first time it happened I was wondering why my arms suddenly wanted to fly above my head. I was more concerned about that than why the ground and sky had swapped places.

Just checked behind the existing cooker and Flexi fittings are used. It is gas. Freestanding. We are arranging fitment.

Maybe one answer is finding more volunteers, a bit like how it was when the canals were renovated. Some boaters still cut grass next to their boat, some remove obstructions from behind lock gates. Replacing lock gates and dredging obviosly costs money but even that could be done by volunteers. I hope more people will take an active interest in the canals so we all help to keep the system going and maybe less reliance on the self serving empire.

I would never have guessed ............................. it's not a "problem" - it's what makes the waterways so appealing. Thank god most folk aren't attracted to it.

Amended that for you.

Not sure if this helps but i found seeing the level almost impossible so got a small bamboo stick. I spent ages getting the oil level right (mainly as i couldn't see it clearly!), then put a marker on a bamboo stick that i just drop in. No need to keep screwing up the dipstick etc as i use the stick now to measure... much easier to see the level and quicker to do.

PRM 150 is similar for oil changes, the drain nut is on the underside of the gearbox case, but you fill it up again with engine oil, the same as you put in the Beta 43. Screw the dip stick fully in to check level. With fresh oil it can be difficult to see the level on the stick, so laying it on a bit of kitchen roll can be used to see how far the oil is up the stick. Jen

If the voltages are the same (as would be the case (more or less) with the proposed series/parallel arrangement) then you'll gain more than you'll lose by using a single controller. Yes, it would be.

Just to let peeps know , if anybody is coming up through Ratcliffe lock on the River Soar, the left side of the river is only about six inches deep, I exited the lock and was blown over by the wind and ended up completely grounded with the boat leaning at a very precarious angle. Took 15 minutes of pole action and engine revving to finally get floating again.

After about 30 years I have decided to leave the canals and go 'back to the sea' - I see the future use of the canals as being increasing difficult as the costs rise and the infrastructure continues to fall apart.

I have asked on a French site and the boat is still working. Don’t think it’s the same couple as owned it when we meet them