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Sounds like you are thoroughly fed up with things at the mo. Personally I would be grateful if my brother gave up his time to travel and bring me diesel when we only have a few days till lockdown, when all but essential travel for work is banned. I live in Lincoln and am happy to come and pick you up tomorrow to go and fetch diesel, go to a shop if it helps. Hate to think of you feeling isolated. Message me here if I can help.

Hi Martin, You should do a Vlog about the miserable bastards on this forum. You will get thousand of likes and subs. ?? All the best, Paul.

My plan for 2021 is to join a Mad Max style boat gang. We'll be raiding canal side settlements for food and fuel, then speed away at 4mph. Jen ?

OK, so you have asked your brother for help. You seem to feel that as what you are asking is easy for him and hard for you, he is under some kind of obligation to help you, and you are complaining that he is going to come to help you at a time that is inconvenient to you, because it will interrupt what YOU want to do. That does seem to be a somewhat entitled approach. If you want your brother to help you, then perhaps you should have the good grace to accept the help he offers at HIS convenience, rather than expecting him to work around what you want?

And some have been asking for years...

In a way that was the point I was trying to make. If anyone thinks that being on a boat, in whatever condition is unacceptable hardship, spare a thought fo the single mothers (or two parents) stuck in a high rise flat with several very young children and nowhere outdoor to play. I've not experienced it myself but I can readily empathise with those who have little choice.

We needed to move our boat during the last lockdown. It was after the date when live aboard boaters were allowed to move but before leisure boaters were allowed to move but you were allowed to move a boat for maintenance. We had just had bright shiny new steel hatches and slides fitted and they had a coat of blacking slapped on just to stop them turning rust coloured. The boat yard that did the work needed space for other paying jobs to go in, we had a booking with the boat painter 5 weeks later and so we were entitled to move. I was very concerned that some people would be pointing a finger at us for doing something we should not have been doing so I wanted to get CRT's go ahead that our intentions were in line with their guidelines. I set out our plan to them in an email along with my assessment of the risks involved and how we would overcome them. 5 days later I got a reply saying the people at the main CRT contact could not advise if this was allowable or not and I had to get in touch with our liaison officer to get it cleared. I queried whether they actually meant "our" liaison officer as we would not be travelling in the region where our home mooring was. The clarification came back that I needed to get the approval of the liaison officer of each area we were going to travel through AS WELL AS our own liaison officer. That amounted to 6 different liaison officers who all had to agree that our journey was necessary and in accordance with the guidelines It was now 3 days before we were due to set off and I knew full well that to try and 6 different people to clear it in 3 days when it took 5 days for the reply to my first email so I simply gave up and went anyway and made sure that our journey created the least possible impact for anyone along our route. The rules/guidelines are there but they do not spell out each and every potential situation. Each of us needs to ensure we are in a place where we can take care of our needs with the least possible impact upon others for the duration of the lockdown. Basic needs for human life are food, warmth and water. Sanitation needs to be added in for anyone not on a mains sewer and access to necessary medical supplies/treatment is also a must for some. The rules and guidelines will be interpreted differently according to the individual, - being close to a pump out facility that will remain open will be important for some, being close to a pharmacy for others

That's low for a load limit - even the footbridges are usually 3 Tons!

lots of boaters are cheering they dont have to actually boat and lots of others are looking for a loophole so they can

Hello and welcome to the forum. In terms of the vlog no thanks. I'm not really interested in watching people with much less experience than myself telling me how to live on a boat or trying to tell me about taking their boat on various waterways. There seem to be lots of novice boaters/vloggers about and I'm assuming you're one of them. Apologies if you're not. I'm trying to be nice but on the other hand you seem to be advertising/selling something and I'm not interested.

When you go to view, check what the insulation is, and look to see if it would be practical to fit a s/f stove anywhere. Reliance on purely an eberspacher might not be ideal. Find out if there have been any recent surveys that are available, but either way I would get a survey done, any offer should be subject to survey. Look for an inspection hatch in the floor in the back cabin too. Notice the smell when you walk in. Take note of things like sockets, amount and position. Relatively easy to rectify but worth a note. Expect costs like new batteries. Is there a service record? (May well not be) Have a really good dig around, look inside cupboards at the back, are there signs of damp? Are the window surrounds in good condition? The hull and engine are the most important parts, a survey can tell you about hull condition. But if there is a lot of remedial work to be done, it could easily end up at that £50 k mark. Have you viewed a few, or is this the first? I would encourage you to view as many as possible.

I prefer real boats on the Farmers Bridge flight

What other thread? I think the other thread has been deleted. In answer to the question. I would suggest that if you want a reasonable life from the panes you stick to rigid ones. I have seen it said that horizontal panels produce more on overcast days because such light as there is comes in all directions. To maximise output tilted panels really need to have their angle adjusted throughput the day and also be continually twisted to track the sun. Life is too short, just fit anther panel if you can or adjust your electrical consumption if its not possible.

This'll be MY "standard"!!??

exactly, plenty of Yorkshire Tea to be had, we make it from those bits you find between your toes when you take off your socks then sell it to Southerners

And ask permission to breast-up before carrying out boarding raids.

Don't forget to slow down for moored boats!!??

The UK isn't Aus though, Mad Max with thermals, woolly hats and a nice hot cup of tea just doesn't have quite the same appeal... On the other hand I do like a good brew

Retired I believe. Think they are just supplying the two hire boats now. I find Grimsby strangely interesting and a fantastic place to take some amazing pictures. Some people will never be happy whatever their form of home or mode of transport.

Don't look to buying a boat to make you rich. Remember, BOAT is an acronym for Bring Out Another Thousand. Buy one to live on because you want to live on a boat, not just for somewhere to live. The life suits some people very well, but others very badly. Jen

Start at tickover, look to see how many amps are going into the batteries, increase revs and the amps will increase, keep increasing the revs until the amps stop increasing, that's the 'best' speed. As the battery becomes charged the amps will drop, reduce your revs , then increse then again until you reach maximum amps, Repeat Repeat

I hate driving round supermarket car parks, people just pop out between cars and often dont look, its worse when its raining. I could be sarcastic and say I have never taken a car inside Tesco but pushing a trolley is bad enough. ?

It used to look a bit different:

You've not driven an electric car round Tesco yet, have you?

Well they did make it above Kendal on the Lancaster before the M6 was built.. .

I think there certainly were problems communicating with a 'number' (I think 4) Electricians, Gas fitter(s) and BSS examiner. I tend to find that folks tend to respond 'in kind'.

Not what I buy, loam tends to make it too heavy for plastic trays and pots. I like fine sand in my seed and potting compost and properly sterilised organic matter. Unfortunately many of the readily available composts are full of improperly heat treated green waste, all sorts of wood fibres/bits and never seen a riddle. easily gets water logged and a ***** to re-wet if it dries out, many also are all too readily grow moulds and moss. Unfortunately the stuff I buy has a fair amount of peat in it but also silver sand so it drains excess water well but holds moisture and more to the point my seeds germinate and tend not to damp off. For compost at what a price. One from Amazon cost nearly as much as three from Bunkers Hill.

I think some people would be bored very quickly. In our first year with our first boat we went from Farndon to York via Trent falls and returned the S Yorks navigations and Selby canal . A friend asked how long the journey would take and when we said we were in no rush and it would take several days to get there and about a week to get back he couldn't understand why anyone would want do that. I loved every moment of it. A dozen years later still enjoy every boat trip, every weekend away , every holiday, even every day we are on the boat in the marina and even enjoy doing maintenance jobs. I suspect people who say the boat is just a tool are not going to be in it for the longer term.

On this day in 2014: Birmingham MainLine Open Eyes, Look This Way ... ... But Not Necessarily At The Same Time

@doratheexplorer & @Jim Riley i've made it a bit more boat related for you, but i did leave the free advertising on the side

Having imparted some artistic merit, I now claim copyright.

It is really sad seeing those who can least afford it spend their money on the hope of a win to be able to afford to live. I was visiting the Ford designers in Dearborn (Detroit). One of the saddest sights I have ever seen was on a Friday evening in a Casino just over the American / Canadian border in Windsor. There were 100's of Detroit motor industry 'blue collar workers' from the US side waiting to get in, and the locals we were visiting said it was the same every Friday (pay-day) and of course the majority would go home with rather less than they arrived with. The lived in hope that they would win enough to change their lives, but ended up not being able to feed the family the following week. Very sad.

I chose rigid panels, mounted flat and narrow enough to walk past. Never regretted that choice for a single moment.

I used to go to Tesco when it had fee car charging, I would go every week to charge up have a coffee and do my shopping in the market and town center. I had a number of places where I could charge it for free, and only sold the Twizy when those places started charging for charging! It was a complete and utterly brilliant little car which I bought cheap and sold for a profit to a guy from London