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For narrow tunnels, a torch at the back can be helpful. I sometimes use a head torch, which obviously illuminates where you are looking. But please be considerate when using a torch in a 2 way tunnel. There is no point in you being able to see clearly what you are doing if you dazzle and blind the steerer of the boat coming the opposite way. He will just wander into the middle of the tunnel and ram you, even if you are right at the side!

We had somone with the title Council Anti-Social Behaviour and Environment Protection Officer who demanded access to land we use as moorings, quoting Part 3 of the 2004 Housing Act as authority. When I read the Act it clearly had nothing to do with our mooring operation and I replied to advise her of that. She came back saying that if any action was necessary following her inspection it would be 'looked at' under the EPA Act 1990, and that I should 'discard reference to the Housing Act 2004 as this was merely an avenue taken to provide access'. I felt like replying that my response for her to get stuffed was merely an avenue taken to refuse her request, but in the end I was rather more polite and she never pursued the matter further. I was quite astounded that she was so openly admitting that she was lying about what powers she had - presumably it gets her what she wants when people don't check her legal references. Tam

Well, inclusive to all is CRT, so let's all be ....swans... Ok, it's not CRTs, but what an excellent way to get free bread everywhere by banging your head repeatedly against boats and when people run out you can hiss and click your disgust and peck at them anyway.

If he's going backwards, shouldn't he be sponsoring us?

It's been recovered

I'm in Maidenhead, and would thoroughly recommend my local, The Boathouse at Boulters Lock. Very good gastropubby type food, middling prices and pontoon mooring. The Waterside is indeed fantastic, with Michelin stars and would be great it you wanted a very special formal dinner. Not sure it'd accommodate a narrowboat on it's mooring though but worth asking ahead if you fancy it. An alternative 'Roux' offering is located by Maidenhead Bridge at more Brasserie prices. Oakley Court is good for a hotel. Great location and a fantastic building which starred as the house in Rocky Horror and the School in St Trinians! French Horn in Sonning is superb for very traditional French Cuisine at a high-ish price point, but is on a backwater and may be inaccessible depending on your boat and/or stream conditions. There's mooring in Sonning a five minute walk away though. Also the Great House in Sonning which is good, or the pub, The Bull which George Clooney tried to buy so I guess is OK. The Bounty is quirky but not a gastronomic destination unless you enjoy the 'prison chic' of having your (generally fried)meal served on a metal plate. Spade Oak is good but don't bank on there being a mooring and if there isn't there's no alternative within a reasonable walk of the place. The King's Arms in Cookham as previously mentioned is excellent and the same 'mini chain' as the Spade Oak. Many other options in Cookham if you fancy a short stroll. The restauranty White Oak is very good indeed, as is the pubby Old Swan Uppers. Marlow's got many options, the best IMO being Tom Kerridges 'The Coach'. By the bridge and with potential moorings is the Compleat Angler with a great Michelin starred Indian restaurant. Henley also has many offerings as mentioned. Reading's not really the best for a 'special' experience IMO. Hope this helps! Bon Appetite

Thanks Alan. It worked!

No they didn't talk about that sort of thing in those days

Just got chatting. 1988 yacht which was fully sunk for 15 years. Owners rescued and restored it. What very interesting people you meet on the waterways.

We have a long double-sided led tube inspection lamp from Lidl or Aldi. It has magnetic mounts at each end that swivel. I like to put it on the hatch pointing upwards so we can see the tunnel as we go. Love looking for old markings and repair patches because we are a bit geeky when it comes to buildings.

Seems you don't get discussion forums. Threads wander according to the interests of the members replying. Forums are not designed to allow one person to get authoritative answers to their specific question, although they will usually get that answer if they are willing to assist by answering questions. I have been back through the thread but can't find six incorrect answers. As someone said, "what are you going to do with that information?" The raw bhp as stated is not a lot of use to you because for marine use there are usually two BHP figures given. A maximum and a continuous, guess what - they are different and at different revs. Exactly as the post before yours. So whoever said it depends on the revs was correct. Prop and use the maximum power long term and you are likely to run into reliability problems. There is also a question over the engine mariniser reducing the maximum fuel delivery in the injection pump to limit the maximum power in the interests of reliability. Over the years there must have been hundreds of marinisers ranging from large companies like the official BMC marinisers like Tempest and Newage, through large independents like Thornecroft and Calcutt to a host of "freds in sheds" doing a bit of DIY. The next consideration is how are you propping your boat, for maximum power or maximum economy. For maximum economy, the prop is likely to be specified to absorb maximum torque so you can never reach the maximum quoted BHP. Interesting that you got a reply from a number of respected engineers who tried to help but you dismiss their efforts. If you want that sort of information in that form maybe you should simply ring Calcutt Boats and ask them or buy a manual. Edited to add, it is even possible that the hire fleets further de-rated their pumps to limit the boat speed/power available to unknown hirers. Also, edited to add: I would also question your belief that "that type of marine diesel puts out a max of 10hp per cylinder". A BMC 1.5 and a BMC 1.8 use almost the same block, head and injection equipment yet one is 200CC larger and produces more power. A Bukh DV 36 is very broadly comparable with a BMC 1.5 yet the Bukh only has three cylinders. Then we have the four cylinder BMC 3.x that is still a four cylinder but has over twice the capacity of the BMC 1.5. Then you assume the gearbox losses come into the quoted HP. That would be shaft horsepower, not brake horsepower. BHP is measured at the flywheel and unless you know the standard to which the test was conducted may or may not include the alternator load loss and in the case of some marine engines the losses associated with the raw water pump.

Every oil and filter change is recorded on the engine room bulkhead as is when the next one is due. I am getting short of space now

Soft Shackles eh. Its what brass bedsteads were made for. Oops, Sorry. Wrong forum.

Doing short 5 minute warm ups will do more engine damage than leaving the old oil sat in the sump over winter.

I got chatting to another boater about oil changes, his was every 250 hours or every 12 months, so he did it annually, that way he saved two oil changes and filters a year. No I didn't bother, life is too short.

The acidic compounds in old sump oil are far less now we have to use low sulphur diesel, but I would certainly change it in the autumn if there was to be little running over winter. It's not worth not to.

we have a 24" and its plenty.... oerr matron!

Not quite the right question, is it? I don't expect a family in a house to move. I might expect a family living in a transit van to move, rather than stay parked up and down the same street for years on end. I expect a family living on a boat, claiming to be cruising, to be cruising. Well, I don't really expect them to, but the law does. I also do think that there have to be changes made, so that people living in mobile accomodation can legally stay in a place when they need to, for as long as they need to. Of course, this has been the argument of Traveller families for most of the last century, and they get kicked off land they themselves own for an assortment of reasons. Legally, for a long time they should have been provided places to stay, but every authority in the country weaselled out of it. So why should boating families be treated any different? The whole thing needs sorting out, but is unlikely to happen under our political system and where increasing house prices are more or less a religion. I think I first read that rather specious argument in 1994. It was nonsense then and is nonsense now. Not Angry at all, just amused at reading the same old drivel year after year. Of course there aren't hundreds of them. The ones that are are a bit of a nuisance, but that's all. But if they can't be identified, they can't be seized because there's no proof that they have been overstaying. And if they aren't uninhabited, they just need to move a few feet and pretend to be a diffrent boat. It's not as easy as just towing it away. And yes, it's complicated by a rubbish housing system in this country, and everyone needs somewhere to live, and personally I don't give a toss whether their boat is licensed or not. CRT do though.

Such is the fickle nature of celebrity that I’d walk or indeed boat straight past them without a foggiest of who they are!

I thought he was camoflaging himself so he wouldn't be spotted.