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This - and I'm a long-time cycle commuter. The petition calls the towpath a 'safe, fast route'; if anyone is riding fast down a towpath, they need chucking off it. Towpaths are too narrow for riding fast.

Nothing is the answer because CRT would just use the extra money to invest in building instead of their core business which is navigations. You clearly have never dealt with them my mate does as his Bar is rented from them they are useless, thieving, lying wasteful T*****s I when I converted my boat from diesel to electric had nearly 6 months of hassle before I got the license this is the norm for them! The phone for Tinsley flight has broken and has been for months its not been replaced why? because it means they dont have to fix or allow use of the flight! This stuff is constant they arnt all like my comments but a lot are, now I really have done I asked some boaters about your ideas and they are still rolling around on the floor laughing, my suggestion is buy a boat and then discover how expensive it is before having silly ideas

Staged payments with ownership of vessel at each stage paid for needs to be in contract......and contract needs to be legally sound. Colecraft have survived more than one crash, Tyler wilson similar.

Differential licence pricing was put forward by British Waterways back in 2006 following a ruling by the waterways ombudsman that shared ownership boats were being treated unfairly being charged almost 2.5 times the fee paid by other private boaters. The consultation failed to gain boater support and so the idea was not implemented. I suggest you read up on the many consultations that have taken place over the last 20 years.

15mm, 22mm and some imperial sizes?

But as a timber Ash is very strong, and perhaps more importantly very flexible and shock resistant, which is why it is used for things like hammer, axe, spade, and chisel handles, it is also used for sports equipment like hockey sticks, baseball bats, rowing oars, archery bows, etc.

Seriously, you can find outliers for anything. Making a safe gas installation is a lot easier than a full electrical system. That fitter neglected to do one thing; test the gas system with pipes cold. This is much easier to do on a boat (if you use bubble testers) than in household installations. Manometers are really not great. I don't want to encourage anyone who has limited mechanical skill from working on a gas system (getting mechanical joints tight enough but not too tight requires some feeling for the use of spanners). However I'm tired of the demonization of gas. The same people who act terrified of gas are quite happy to get work done on their car by an apprentice who is paid £3.50 ph; then get in that car and drive at 70mph on the motorway. Car brakes, steering, etc are a lot more complicated than a boat gas system!

Mine is a Mastervolt, its so good I have never got round to putting it into power save mode

Mains equipment every time. Ensure u have a good quality inverter that uses very little power when switched on and sleeping. Some are terrible such as Stirling which use far too much power. Master volt are very good just for one. Mains equipment is humungously cheaper to buy and vastly more choice at the drop of a hat. Mains uses a very little more than 12 volt but that is far outweighed by other factors.

Yes U570 when it was captured and became HMS GRAPH. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Graph Also a couple surrendered in the Thames https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA55TW3CHXVGGJE6UJI059JG0H5-U-BOAT-SURRENDERS-IN-THE-THAMES/query/U+776 WW I as well: https://historyhouse.co.uk/articles/uboats_in_british_ports.html U570 - HMS Graph. Gunther Prien also entered Scapa Flow and sank The Royal Oak.

https://shop.canalrivertrust.org.uk/ Canal & River Trust Key £7 or https://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/products/bwb-sanitary-keys-ag-023 £5.90 DO NOT buy from eBay, i bought one in the past and so far it has worked in one out of about ten locks tried, the key is just too thick for most of the CRT locks. I ended up buying two or three direct from CRT so i know they'll work and the cash has gone direct to where it matters* *board meeting biscuits and director's new car

Often people don't need a financial incentive. Just the desire to help keep our canals going or to learn new skills and get some fresh air may be enough. I'm sure many live aboards wouid be happy to act like lengthsmen in return for being allowed to moor in the same place. All year round CC'ers are in a good position to report issues and do basic repairs. I wouln't want anything financial in return.

Let me just check that I've understood the argument against CaRT increasing the annual license fee to pay for much-needed canal maintenance... -- CaRT doesn't spend enough on canal maintenance and hasn't for many years -- this is causing the system to deteriorate and we don't want this to continue (or get worse) -- we like paying a tiny amount to cruise/live on the canals just like we have for many years, it's a really cheap way to live innit -- we don't want to pay more 'cos it's not fair and some people couldn't afford it (and/or don't want to / can't ask welfare to pay) -- so somebody else (e.g. walkers, cyclists, Joe Public) should cough up, not us, even though we get by far the biggest benefit from the canals Is that right? Really? Boat license fees are currently in the region of £1000 which is £20 a week. To increase the overall CRT budget by 25% (£50M) -- probably what is needed make a big enough difference to fix the problem -- it would need to increase to about £2500 which is £50 a week. For what this gets you and compared to the other costs of buying/running a boat -- and certainly compared to the costs of living on land -- this is an increase from ludicrously cheap to very cheap... CaRT wouldn't be able to make such a big change overnight anyway because they don't have the maintenance staff or equipment to suddenly use up another £50M a year, this would have to be built up over maybe 5 years -- and it would be better value to do this in-house instead of subcontracting it, that way money isn't creamed off to service company shareholders and CaRT build up a skilled workforce who maybe even care about the canals a bit. So the fee might go up by about £300 a year for 5 years, by which time we could have a properly maintained canal system that works in the long term. This increase is gradual enough that it wouldn't immediately throw people out onto the street, and if it makes them change their lifestyle it gives enough time to do it. Could anybody who really loves the canals -- presumably, most people on this forum -- honestly object to this? ?

I only like the model S! I am playing at the moment Andy, I have 2 Aixam electric cars both are sepex motors running at 48v nominal, I am building a bank of 17.6 KWHs which is 15p x 15s its just a small city car so should have a good range. I am looking at getting it to do 55mph rather than the 40 mph its designed to do, I have a AC drive train as well so we will see what I end up with ?

I thought it was Yew https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longbow

The company that’s doing them up Urban Splash have just announced they have got the go ahead to redevelop another section of the original flats. I don’t think they have been a great success with people buying as it was aimed at the yuppie type with prices well above the average. I walk past there with the dog quite often and don’t see much life around there. Maybe it wasn’t the investment everyone was hoping.

Eat some pies to cheer you up over the depressing surroundings. It's what the locals do. ?

That's another good thing. It isn't raining in Wigan today ?

12/24 volt every time for me, I have had the 240 fridge freezer and when I rejigged things it was the 12/24 route as it works better for me

No matter what we say or whether we agree on a issue or not you just keep coming back to the same point. I've already stated I would be happy to pay more for a better maintained system. My view is CaRT, HMRC the government or any other organisation will not remotely be interested in means testing for a leisure pursuit so any large increase will cause many low income, non-live-a-board boaters to have to sell up. Although it won't affect me I am concerned for those in the autumn of their lives who would be affected.

Have you thought about starting with the half-way house of a boat share for a few years? It would fit in very well with your plan to have 2/3 holidays a year although the long weekends wouldn't work so well. You would save a lot of money and have some time to really find out what you liked and didn't like about boat layouts.

I use RS a lot. They do have some trade counters where you can collect from, depends where you are.

The canals could definitely do with more maintenance but just throwing money at an empire like CRT to pay for it isn’t the only answer. As I have already mentioned, we can all play an active part to help in a practical way. Even retired managers and accountants can offer up their time! Then there is the question as to whether CRT use the money they receive wisely. They are far more expensive to run per mile than other trusts like ANT even when you take into account the tow path. I think H&S is a barrier sometimes but volunteers could sign a disclaimer to accept risks, not that there are many risks to doing maintenance. Sometimes I think it’s just used as an excuse to ring fence organisations. There need not be a threat to paid workers either, I’m simply suggesting that volunteers could fill the gap where maintenance is lagging further and further behind risking closure of sections of canal. It will take far more effort to renovate the section once lost. EU directives about dumping silt on the bank don’t help either!

Who's objecting? It's just your idea of a means tested license system is flawed. And no I'm not hiding behind those on low incomes - I would be prepared to pay more for better maintenance.

On lots of things we disagree on this subject I find we are in total agreement I am worried that CRT read these threads and wonder if they could get away with a doubling of the license fee!! Well I could afford it but many on my moorings could not, also what makes zian and Alan so sure it will be spent on improving the system? It might be used to expand their property portfolio? I would not like a cut where only shiny boaters go I love the diversity of it long may it continue

Ok fair enough, you say you 'care' fair enough. However the problem is your strategy is counterintuitive and will potentially reduce the licence income stream for CRT. As it reduces as more boaters leave the system then the more the licence fee will need to be further increased and on it goes till boating is something only the very rich can afford.

On this day in 1971 Coventry Basin

The cross section of skills I found amongst boaters may mean that given a suitable incentive many such skills could be readily available, in some cases it might even extend to equipment. The question is what incentive would bring such skills forward. I would suggest a discount on the license fee in exchange for xx hours of work. However that ignores the Health and Safety demands and documentation. I suspect it is those that make CaRT prefer contractors and paid staff.

"Somebody else should pay for what I want to do" You're not being asked to pay the entire cost, you're being asked to pay about a quarter. This seems reasonable to me, somebody else is paying for the other three quarters, and you get to live and travel on the result. Why is this such a bad deal, it's *far* better (and much cheaper) than the one anybody living on land gets?

I feel like since we are all boaters we could probably find some common ground in this discussion, and I feel like it is getting a little on the personal side which doesn't seem necessary. And I feel like we're saying the same things over and over again. Can we all at least agree that CaRT needs multi millions more in order to keep the waterways alive for another generation or two? And that we'd all like to see that happen? It might well need to come from multiple sources - maybe a bit from a modest boat license increase, maybe a bit from local authorities whose economies benefit from big spending gongoozlers, maybe a bit from the average taxpayer. But I think we can all agree that we'd like CaRT to have a lot more funding and for a lot more of their budget to go on maintaining navigation?

No, it was Great Haywood out of Haircut 100.

As Biscuits says the wanderers licence covers non-club waters. I fish your area when out on the boat and I have a E.A license and CaRT wanderers license, many boaters believe if they fish off their boat they don’t need a license, I fish off the boat or next to it, but I make sure I don’t fish where it states a club permit is required, you have just got to be sensible and if near a match venue and can be seen don’t fish. There’s lots of hidden spots near you for good fishing.

Regardless of whether they are guilty or not, we use to do the same with hangings but managed to grow out of that

We name and shame them on here and they lose their jobs on magazines........... TD'

it was 93 when the price of diesel rose above petrol.( no tax) But in 2006 the duty on diesel was 6.5p litre higher than petrol

Exactly - this is my overall point. If the license fees are too low to cover maintenance of navigation, then they should be raised. If boaters can't afford to pay the increase that it would take, then boaters can't afford to boat. It's not fair to socialise the cost of what is - mostly - a leisure activity for the a small portion of the middle class. IMO that's the reason it's being turned into social housing in some areas - because it's actually subsidised by the public. If boaters had to pay for what they use it would perhaps cease to be an affordable way to life cheap?

Pathetic. You are riding a vehicle, use it on the many thousands of miles of roads designed for the purpose.