Leaderboard

bish bash bosh needs a trim round the edges and I'll put the vents back in, but I'm pretty happy with how it came out

That looks great mate

I thought that was normal level on the South Oxford.

Take your pick again, s Oxford open, paddle fixed.

That lock on the caen hill flight could do with rebuilding to say 7’6”.

Be careful which scratches you remove - years ago good friends lent us their boat for a week to be picked up by them further up the cut. The day before handover we got too close to a tree and heard the awful scratching noise all down one side. We finally moored up and there was the horrific evidence for all to see so OH set too that evening with TCut that was luckily on board. The next day, our friends met us as arranged and we could see Bill looking intently at the side of his boat. We held our breath. "That's strange" he said "I'm sure there was a long scratch down this side".

If you supply the 535 from a 12v-12v stabilised supply https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313220835322 then it is impervious to power outages unless you flatten the boat battery bank? As for networks are you in a fixed location or cruising? I use Smarty which is part of 3 and the big advantage is that there is no contract so if it's not suitable you are not tied in for 2years http://referme.to/blHJxgx 1P mobile which is on the EE network gives you a similar deal. https://www.1pmobile.com/data-SIM.taf Both are good for testing networks without commiting to a long contract. If you use the Smarty link to join we both get a free month

I did wonder that but a pic on fb shows a drained pound so Im not quite sure what's gone on! edited to add pics....I think CRT might have drained it to try and sort problem...but as you say wonder if it was running on one paddle

Since @Alan de Enfield hasn't posted his usual meme at this point, I will do so on his behalf.

Right time right place. occasionally of course a drink at 8am is the last drink of a very long session. admittedly those days for me are long gone but I have had a few very memorable long weekends

I suspect that the problem goes right back to the beginning of the canals as a transport infrastructure. Differences in communication perhaps make them seem more prominent at certain times. I am sure that the canal towpath telegraph was just as lively way back. Many capital projects are funded on the basis of short term analyses which allow for the income in the early years to pay back the cost of construction but which make woeful allowance for on-going maintenance. Just because they look pretty, too many people remain unaware they they do not look after themselves. Also, the fact that many items have a good expected lifetime (30 years for lock gates is pretty good in a world that makes phones obsolete every two years). But they are expensive each time they do need replacing and many failures, each breaches, are rare but high cost items. Planning remains complicated by the fact that only incomplete records were ever made at the time and, still today, new culverts are coming to light with unclear responsibilities. Many of today's stoppages relate to items that are at the intersection of two different systems and responsibilities (bridges, culverts, etc). Too often it is the navigation authority that gets the blame even if the inadequacy lies elsewhere. For example, roads that have approach bends that are not meant for motorised vehicles, let alone those drive at speed, may well be at the root of many parapet accidents which end up closing the canal for longer than the road. Is this fair? Is it recognised? Any maintenance budget has to begin with a statement about the service level to be maintained, from almost instantaneous repair to run until it collapses and then abandon. The faster the response, the more expensive it will be as more preventative and pre-emptive repairs will be needed. We need to ask ourselves, what level of on-going cost are we prepared to pay (both licence holder and taxpayer) for what level of availability. (At the moment I am not aware of any part of the network which is designated DNR so all failures will be eventually repaired/replaced. So, let's start with the not unreasonable assumption that the current experience is an inevitable consequence of the current budget (ie that the navigation authorities are doing a half decent job given the resources - to argue otherwise takes us into the winging domain). Let us also suppose that halving the average outage time (which in many cases will require upping the pre-emptive budget) would treble the licence fee and double the taxpayer contribution? Would this fly with an electorate?

Very wise choice. Stop at the pig place on your way for an awesome breakfast and or a few beers ?

Still no response flrom OP? Let's hope all went well and any faults relatively minor, ie easy to sort. A newby boater would have tto rely heavily on her surveyor, let's hope he is 'user friendly'. In one way, I don't blame her for not updating us after all the bitter squabbling earlier.

Going up or down Hatton with another boat, I find the best way is to rope the two boats together then you only need one steerer and it's quicker between locks. Same at Stockton. Some folk worry about it until they try it. Can't do that on Caen Hill on the K&A though as the gates are too narrow.

Saisons was around long before they appeared at Whilton. They ran a couple out of the arm at Hillmorton around 92/93 when I worked there and I think it was just Mr Saillet then - I don't remember anyone else not maintaining them. He also had a post office at (I think) East Haddon. Saisons did have a converted ex-working boat in the fleet at one point (late 90s?) called Blue Nun. It was the back of a little woolwich butty going forwards with the conversion (motor back end, back cabin, engine room "under cloth" style steel cabin done by Keith Ball. It had a 2-pot Ruston in I think, but I can't for life of me remember the original name of the butty at the moment. Back to Brumtugs, the one that always seems to get overlooked is our trusty little dayboat Rosette. Rosette was originally fitted with a Lister LPWS2 and conventional shaft arrangement, as was Asti I believe. It certainly had that layout about a decade ago when it broke down round here. Andy Rothen also has one converted to a work boat, but I don't which one it was originally.

I worked for a local authority my job was to make people believe we did a good job even though we didn't. I once suggested we just try to do a good job instead, it didn't go down too well. My boss asked me to produce surveys which gave the answers he was looking for. The Formulae One hotel group used the Yes/No satisfaction because they actually wanted to know how they were performing not trying to get the answers they were looking for. The CaRT surveys fall into the latter category. More sophisticated than the ones I created but nevertheless easy to spot by a trained eye.

That's my take on it. We are the entertainment, CRTs version of Disney's Mickey and Minnie. There would be a lot less interest for the general public if the boats aren't there and using locks and swing/lift bridges.

I did promise myself to stop contributing to forums but this is a really good question and a matter close to my heart....so I've failed! My thoughts on this is that it's difficult to ask the these questions without asking ourselves what CRT could be replaced with? I've always been pretty impressed with the front line workers but have questioned whether the continuous 'empire building' is wasting funds. For me, as a CC'er, the biggest issue is to be able to continue to have navigable acccess to the amazing network of canals and rivers here in the UK. Sadly we have watched this decline over the past years due to maintenence issues. I'd like to believe Richard Parry still (?) has the requirements of us boaters high up on the list and is listening to us. At the moment I'm not so sure. CRT has marketed the waterways as a playground for all, not just just boaters. This was quite a clever move financially, but it has made us boaters more in the minority. Watching this thread with interest. Belated Happier New Year to all. x

Stupid boy.

Yes I am correct, but, maybe you missed the post number ?? where I said "I wouldn't worry about it". Buyers need to be aware of how things 'should be' and once they know that, they can make an informed decision as to how they proceed.