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I lived there as a baby! Before it all got gentrified, almost 40 years ago. Apparently the midwife objected loudly to climbing down a slimy ladder to visit my mum after I was born. She told the health visitor there was no way a boat was a suitable place to raise a child, as they were “cold and damp” - which is where my desperation to prove otherwise to nay sayers has come from ever since,,, it’s a lovely location though and having lived in Bristol again more recently, has definitely improved vastly! Here’s a photo of my young parents in 1984 on the boat they’d just built and launched that we lived on (it was unfinished here and missing it’s mast obviously, but you can see a little of the docks in the background)

We had one try it on a couple of years ago on the boat in front of us. "Working boats have priority at locks ..." The boater they were telling it to accepted it, so I stole the lock from the ex-working boat. Furiously marched up to me and said "I know you heard me tell the other chap that working boats have priority" I smiled sweetly and agreed I'd heard him say that. Then I pointed out politely that he had a pleasure boat licence and I have a roving traders licence. By definition only one of us is a working boat ...

The mid 60s were grim, there was no guessing where you'd spend the night , get near the bank or even find a through passage. Sticking to a main line like The G.U. was more predictable than exploring a tributary like The S.U. Trying your luck on streams like The Caldon was foolhardy. Yards like Double Pennant advised against such horrors and wanted everyone to buy Microplus or Loftus Bennet with Perkins outboards. The 70s saw more boats about and hire boats too. The mere act of shoving steel hulls and large cruisers around like Maid Line had started to make less used canals deeper and more navigable. But most of the system was still unmaintained and a lot of us were carrying old tins of used engine oil to pour over paddle gear as we travelled. The 80s weren't too bad, lots of traffic with oodles of hire boats. I was running around with a pair of Small Woolwich and most people were capable of flushing water through to low pounds. Hire boats were doing so well that sponsoring a hire boat became the thing to do. Many locksides still sported kebs and no one would have dreamt of calling out Waterways, you just kebbed the bricks out from behind the lock gate and went your merry way. I carried a Tirfor winch and only shouted for Waterways once when my motor got hopelessly stuck in Rodbaston, and the Tirfor wasn't enough, nor was flushing out. I generally think the infrastructure is better now. The attitude has changed though. I don't believe today's boaters are navigators, they want to be customers and expect it all to be maintained in order to make it easy as possible for them.

But Michael, you didn't really make it clear what you wanted. Were you expecting someone to do the job for free? Or were you asking if there are any mobile mechanics on here who would do the job for a 'normal' fee? Or was this some sort of emergency situation where you would be prepared to pay over the odds? Or were you just asking for a recommendation for a mobile mechanic? And you didn't explain whether you had already approached a local boatyard, or ring round any mobile mechanics. You didn't say whether the old belt had failed and needed replacing now, or whether it was just looking worn, but you could limp on to somewhere where the job could be done more conveniently, and perhaps not over a bank holiday weekend. Or why, if you already had the belt, you couldn't fit it yourself? Reread your original post from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about you, your situation, your mechanical abilities etc. then ask yourself objectively whether a typical reader of that post would have enough information to frame a response that would be helpful to you. What you have received is requests for more information, an offer from a forum member to fix it, albeit at a cost which is probably more than you would want to pay, and some light hearted banter which is not aimed particularly at you. If I was a professional mechanic I doubt if I would turn out for a £25 fee, no matter how quick and easy the job, unless I was already alongside you, as that wouldn't cover the travel time/cost during normal working hours, let alone going out on Easter Sunday. So what response did you expect?

Another change is that today's boaters want the biggest boat they can have where as in the 70's having a small fibreglass cruiser was acceptable. My parents started with a MicroPlus which 4 of us used to stay on, then moved up to a Shetland and eventually a narrow boat but even then it was less than 50'.

I know you all like a good quiz so here's two pics from my 2021 Llangollen trip both taken on the same day. Q: When resources are scarce which one is more important to spend money on? A: Fixing the broken Paddle B: Erecting the blue sign marking a winding hole Mr Parry: I already have you down for 'B'

Perhaps, just perhaps, Michael might actually need help in fitting his drive belt.

Closed. Problem with one of the top paddles not shutting - CRT are draining the pound above and hopefully will be fixed in the morning

I am moored outside The Anchor and looking at their opening hours I wonder what the beer is like.

You always make a thing about a boat you made a killing on, as you never had a survey. If it’s the same one?. Then you go on about how much a boat cost you because the surveyor was wrong. Are we talking about the same boat and what country did you buy these boats from?

Borderline libellous, Oh please, you haven’t got the bollocks to disagree. Why don’t you ask them about their new boat? Shhhh ask yourself why was Bickerstaffe going around Shell builders, engine suppliers, marine suppliers, boat builders for freebies saying it was for “Foxes Afloat” Funny thing they both sold out at the same time. You don’t have a clue.

Wow not sure we're you get your prices from but someone came round Coventry and only charge me £25.00 plus 10.00 for belt you guys need to rethink your costs better on that note thanks but no thanks Michael

Many things boaty make me wonder "where's the problem" until I realise that being an (old) car enthusiast and living out in the sticks, that changing gas bottles and fanbelts were usual functions learnt as part of daily life, also being forced into Scouting made me familiar with knots and cleaning out the 'lats' helped with boating loos. So I pause while before I pass judgment on those other folk that seem to be flumoxed by thesee simple tasks...

I am thinking of getting one just to get my own back on the buggers

An interesting figure. I have just sold my Norman 20, with a two year old engine, two year old canopy, cooker, tv, diesel heater,current BSS, equipped with lines, mooring pins and windlasses,ready for immediate use, for £3000! Damn and blast! I am kicking myself as I could have swapped it for some cushions!😃

I know a few there, I'll try to get some assistance for you.

I can’t, as have asked a few times before, and guess what? I sussed the new boat bollocks out a few years ago. Maybe you ask? Why they said the base plate was laid down 2 year ago and nothing happened, but still blagged it out until “Foxes afloat” sold and did they ever own the boat?

I began canalling in the summer of 1973. Things were definitely worse then, and as others have said, you were expected to deal with issues like leaky gates by dropping a tarpaulin or sheet of wood over the holes yourself and just getting on with it. There was a sense of adventure to each trip which is missing today. I recall driving to Devizes to view the derelect flight of locks in the early 70's, and attending the reopening of the canal in 1990. The condition of the locks, towpath and depth of canal improved steadily through the 70's and 80's and peaked by the mid 90's.

Showing stainless steel hinges and plated budget locks Foam rubber strip 6mm X 25mm

First thing the OP needs to do is get up to speed on the difference between volts and amps. And then the difference between amps and amphours. Then he'll be able to spot your deliberate mistake!

The late, great Stirling Moss had the ultimate put down for bad drivers. He would approach them when they next stopped at traffic lights, open his wallet and offer them money to buy a driving lesson. 🤣😅

And that is why I hate bilge pumps. People don't seem to care why or where the water comes from, just pump it out. A thimble full of water in my bilge is too much. A boat is designed to have water outside.

Some is better (eg many parts of the BCN), some is worse. But a big factor is that the number of boats is massively increased and quite often populated by idiots. So the infrastructure gets a much harder time and many people are clueless if things aren’t quite right (but could be worked around). IMO the biggest threat to my enjoyment of the canals is not the infrastructure or CRT, it is the entitled selfish, clueless, discourteous (delete as appropriate) idiots on many boats, both shiny and scruffy (and all shades in between)

The Unfair Contracts Terms Act or the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (depending on the date) generally restricts the ability to unreasonably contract-out of negligence liability. And any provision that says that a survey reporting a rotten boat to be marvellous is excluded, sounds unreasonable to me.