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1st episode. "DISASTER, Moved on Board and Didnt Know We Needed Money" 2nd Episode "STARVING in St Pancras, Patreons Needed" 3rd Episode "NASTY People, 6 months in and we are forced to move by uniformed mini Hitler from CRT...." Double header with.. "STUCK in a lock, and Arrested"...all I did was smack this bloke who said my lass had wind.

Thought of sending an update many times but life’s conspired to distract me. The rebuild has been hampered by COVID and a time away whilst we had bottom replayed (generally good but there was putting and it was decided that we’d bite the bullet and o it, transform the bilge into a dry place and change a few other ‘metal based’ things. fire was fitted and slowly we have found ourselves doing the things that make it look finished. Thanks to those who have sent the odd mail to ask what’s happened and sorry for not posting before this.

[Magpie Patrick - quoted post removed] I’m not sure this is something to make a joke over...myself and others are just commenting on pieces of evidence as we see them. Indeed we don’t know if that boat and it’s crew are the innocent party...maybe never will. The tragic fact remains that a chap lost his life just trying to do his job. No amount of justice will be enough for his friends & family.

I have a bowthruster and I don't give a **** what the rest think

2) is the tricky bit and as a result my mother has the unlikely distinction of having worked a horse through a lock to a place where the nag could be got out after she'd fallen in.

I've used Nautical insurance based in Leigh on Sea for many years. No claims, cost always the same give or take a couple of quid. Then I had a claim. I hit something underwater and bent a blade on my prop. Two dockings (prop on/ prop off) and the straightening cost £800 odd quid. Insurance paid up straight away with no quibbling. When the renewal notice came (which I was very apprehensive about, I must say) my premium had gone up a fiver. Excellent company, highly recommended.

hi yes I agree with you Franger I will delete the post

We all know the real reason boatyards don't black the baseplate is most yards cannot get the boats high enough to be able to get underneath .

Hi again everyone - really appreciate the replies and I've learned a lot! I've decided to go for it...I'll keep you posted on whether we make it to Hebden Bridge with the roof intact! And if you see me looking puzzled by a lock or bridge somewhere please say hello

Same as you were before but you need double the income.

In CRT's early days they held a number of local meetings around the country to which boaters were invited. I attended one in Leeds. Richard Parry and his team were there to spread the positive messages about the new organisation. The Leeds meeting generally went off well, apart from some abrupt questions from an older clearly well off gentleman who was asking when CRT were going to shift the boats near his mooring which weren't paying mooring fees but hadn't moved for ages, followed by some rather naive points made by a young hippyish newbie couple, who the older gentleman glared at throughout. But I later heard (here?) that some of the later meetings elsewhere had been hijacked by NBTA types who were aggressively questioning anything and everything CRT said or did. Not surprising then that CRT concluded that these meetings were not helpful in improving communications with the mainstream majority of boaters, and so they fell by the wayside.

Mine sits on the roof, I have two a short one and a long one and they can be used at either end of the boat not just the bows. They are a trip hazard though when walking on the roof. You can see them in this photo with a space between for the plank.

Found a couple of photos from our Beacon builds. Generally the lockers for the BT were like this. We also did one where the BT locker was the same height as the side lockers, providing extra seat/side table space, as requested by the customer, always vented. At this sort of height as in the photos, you are much more aware of it, so it wasn't something you tripped on. Sorry not great photos.

I've used GJW for several years and find that the premium hovers between about £100 and £140, and could go up or down with no rhyme nor reason. If it has gone above £140, (which is my personal limit before shopping around), I have called them, and they have made things right for me. One year I asked if increasing my excess would reduce the premium, and they reduced the premium but didn't increase the excess. If I had been bothered to call them every year, I could probably have saved more in premiums but, as they suit me, and while they suit me, I just pay up and get on with life

I once sat opposite a group of Americans in the bar of the Boat Inn there, and heard one of them ask what "legging" was all about. I solemnly explained that to get the boats through the tunnel they trained the horses to lie on their backs on top of the boat so they could propel it by walking along the roof of the tunnel. They believed every word of it.

My wife drives (horse and carriage) and we were discussing the possibility of using one of the horse on the canal to pull the boat, contacting C&RT showed that this was not allowed and towpaths are apparently not designed for horses !!!. Anyway, Daughter In Law overheard the conversation as asked a couple of questions : 1) won't its feet go all soft and wrinkly, ? 2) how will you get it out of the canal each evening ? She is from Stoke On Trent and a real 'towny' but how we laughed.

It's taken all the money we got from the insures and more besides but the boat that has emerged is so very different in that it's lighter and airier (the glass behind the fire is a help) and the losing of the pump put loo and so many other changes have left us with a boat that still has six berths but now it's two doubles and two singles of one double and four singles and the addition of the cratch and a clarifier (so gas only used for cooking now) has transformed it. I reckon there's about four months of finishing things off proper and then with it painted inside and out I can start on sourcing an electric vehicle and working on a new greener form of propulsion. That said the original engine runs so well - temperature sits at 80 deg C and starts on first click of the key but I'm sure the day is coming when , like Amsterdam, the fleet will be electric. The wife wants to buy a horse!! I hope you have and much fun as we have had on your project (the bumps are what we climb on ? ) As for economic sense - working in my business it's about being and doing so has been cheap (where else would I have our kids sawing, planing and doing so much us both as we all designed, built and now use as a family and as individuals. And the value of the thing has increased so there's an offset there if we need a balance sheet. Look forward to seeing what you're doing and how it's going. V

When we moved aboard in 89 we started a brilliant little business called Pub relief. We advertised in the trade paper the morning advertiser and were booked whenever we wanted by private pub owners and big breweries alike. We went into a pub anywhere between 2 weeks and 3 months. We got good daily rate and of course zero living costs other than boat. We worked all over the place and had as much time off between jobs as the money would allow, often running into several months. Of course this did involve us working our arses off for a hell of a lot of hours each day we were doing the relief work so todays workers who think playing on a lap top is going to work would never consider it. You do have to have multiple skills but most can be learnt. It meant for our first five years living aboard we had a hell of a lot of cruising and NEVER had to stop in London!!! so a megga bonus.

Won't be a problem with a hired boat, but if you are thinking of buying a boat of your own consider your ability to lift and change a 13 Kg Propane cylinder or to fill a coal scuttle if needed. We have an elderly friend who boats, singlehanded, on the principle that if he goes at his own pace when locking either other folks will help, or there will be no one there to be inconvenienced. N

Elsan was originally a brand of toilet and of the chemical fluid used in it. As such I think it is fair to say that it has become a Hoover-type generic term for all types of toilet and toilet fluid (particularly toilets of relatively small capacity that have to be manually emptied, rather than pump outs), even though the small toilet market is now dominated by brands like Thetford. And for whatever reason, the toilet emptying facilities at "Sanitary Stations" became known as "Elsan emptying points", or "Elsan points", or simply "Elsans". Language changes!

I have no intention of asking my 70+ wife to stand on the bow of the boat and wave a pole about while the boat is running down a river

Well day 2 out and about with my Li batteries after 7 months of not being allowed out of Scotland. Yesterday I charged to nearly 100% - well, one cell hit 3.6v and BMS started beeping, the others were lower so a bit of top balancing needed. BMV 712 and Mastershunt both reset to 100% anyway. We stopped about 4pm, obviously there is the fridge and lighting, plus the sat box and TV (to watch that programme about the flooring company, Lino Duty), gas fan oven for my dins, then electric blanket on number 3 all night (we didn’t bother to light the stove and it was a chilly night) then Mikuni on 7:15 to 9am, the electric kettle for a large pot of tea, Nespresso machine for Jeff, then electric kettle again for Jeff’s porridge-in-a-pot, and then electric kettle on again because he didn’t like that pot of fancy Waitrose “mixed grain” porridge so wanted a different one. Laptop, 2 phones and 2 iPads charged, finally set off at about 9:30 with batteries on 75%. I will have to think of a way to use more power!Tinkered a bit with the alternator controller, everything fine on slow charge (about 85A) but on fast charge the temperature compensation (reducing max output as the alternator gets hot) wasn’t working after the last code edit. But now fixed. And the output reduction at low revs was a bit too sluggish during a sudden drop in rpm (flicking to idle as moored boats approached etc) so that was tweaked. The ramp up to max field current is nice and slow so you hardly notice it. It seems the Iskra can hold about 130A at about 80C which is not bad IMO.BMS all wired up to Tyco relay and BMV 712, and I installed a longer battery temperature probe that fits down the gap between 2 cells created by the corrugations in the casing of the CALB cells, thus giving me “core” battery temperature. Alternator is currently using the Mastershunt SoC to decide when to go to float but I think I’ll switch it to using the BMV SoC, or really I should have it using both/either / the most recent data, to give redundancy.All in all, quite happy and no magic smoke escaped. Yet.

Looks like lots of people refer to them as Elsans Water points and sewage disposal | Boating services | Canal ... https://canalrivertrust.org.uk › ... › Boating services Pump out and elsan facilities are available across our network that boats with tanks or cassette toilets can use instead. If you currently have a separator/compost

I insulated my bow thruster tunnel with fire rated spray foam from cans. The rest was already insulated. You've just got to make sure you don't get any over the motor, cables, etc so wrap them up first. If the area is already damp it will help the spray foam to stick. For the underside of horizonal surfaces you're going to have to support a piece of plywood or something else just underneath and spray into the gap otherwise the foam will just fall off and make a mess. Either that or just stick a piece of cellotex or kingspan onto any flat surfaces with foam from a can. Apply the foam carefully and not too much as it expands more than you think. To prevent foam sickling and make it easy to remove from areas you don't want it, smear with Vaseline first. Don't try to remove uncured foam, let it fully cure and cut it away.