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I think that if you realy want to buy into the lifestyle you need to get on with it. You have already taken one year out of your life looking and considering the costs, over a real love of boating. You will never get that year back. So how much of your life do you intend waiting for the " Perfect " boat to fall into your lap? another year? two? You are dead for a hell of a long time. Just sayin like.

The pound has fallen in value against the Euro and Dollar so that puts even more pressure on activities at home rather than abroad . I would say new and used boat, motorhome , caravan prices are not going to drop anytime soon . If anything prices will increase further due to inflation . Folks with money to spare may prefer to spend on goods rather than see their savings diminish through inflation. So buy quick before the price goes up. Just speculation on my part . I may be proven wrong. The world has definitely gone mad.

I've been taking part in the vociferous house price crash debate on line since about 1997, 25 years ago. After several years of angry debate on forums and usenet the website housepricecrash.co.uk sprang up as a forum for all the property bears to reassure each other that from then on in, the only way would be down. Domain registered way back in 2003. https://www.whois.com/whois/housepricecrash.co.uk I also know of someone who sold his four bed detached freehold house in Westbourne Grove (a really good bit of London) for £300k in 1997 confident he would buy it back again six months later 'after the crash' for £150k. Its prolly worth about £3m today.

FTFY 😉

The boatman's hitch is extremely useful, but the clove hitch used for mooring can tighten so that the only way to release it is with a knife - not very economical, and something that was never used on any of our craft. Tam

You didn't read it then

What I really need is a T shirt with a map of the canal system's elsans on it...

I think that is good advice.

I'd ignore that if I were you. Or at least until you work out if the existing battery bank is good enough for your use patterns. I'd also be wondering how the hell the surveyor knows your batteries need replacing. It's not a five minute job determining the capacity. More likely, the surveyor is just relying on the likelihood they have not been well looked after and therefore suggests replacement. I suggest if you buy the boat, you just kick back and see how the batts behave, then come back here and ask more questions.

Not going there, but does the men's section have a proper trilby, red/white neckerchief, collarless shirt and weskit set? Or perhaps a flat 'at and bib-and brace overall? N

The reason modern stop-self start motors have AGM batteries is two-fold: The AGM is a starved electrolyte battery, so is less susceptible to sulphation at part-charge, because their are fewer free sulphate ions. One of the myriad car computers controls the alternator to charge on the overrun and during braking when the energy is 'free' and does not appear in CO2 testing The battery needs to have space to accept this charge so the charge control is set up to not normally fill the battery beyond about 80%. This is likely to enhance sulphation in an ordinary LA battery. Hence AGM. N

https://www.nationalgrid.com/gas-transmission/document/134656/download all on page 20 👍

Yus Swan Village Gas Works must be the Holdens !!!!

They don't flash and move when you press a button, not interactive.

A bit more than that the boat was called SEAGULL The Weavers looked at the boat in the 1980's. This drawing from the RCHS Collection is from 1984

Not the last couple of autumns

Come winter plenty of yards and marinas will cut back on their days of opening. Might even shut for periods of time, over Christmas for instance. Ok, none of that makes life impossible but it easily become a pain in the arse.

Yep. Photo's from CRT Archive.

I thought that in Autumn prices always dropped as people sold off after the season, with them picking up in the Spring as the hunters come out from hibernation...

Sorry I forgot to update our problem. Would you believe that original owners had not removed the machines transit bolts and had wedged polystyrene in between drum and casing to stop it shaking. How it ever worked and didn’t tear itself apart is a mystery. Bolts and polystyrene removed and now working perfectly( spin now super smooth). That all sounds very similar to our issues, but I don’t think our cause will be sane as yours. Will let the techies on here take over. Good luck

Putting key numeric pad locks on facilities and only advising licensed boaters of the entry code (and changing the code frequency) will go some way to prevent non-boaters, reinforced by CCTV.

I’ve also seen walkers, dog walkers (professional ones), van lifers, caravanners, motorhomers, fisherman et al do the same, keys are easily available from eBay. I do see this as a problem, as they are paying nothing towards any of it, they’re not even buying the keys from CRT as they get them cheaper elsewhere. I can’t see a way to stop this though sadly, the cat is out of the bag so to speak with the keys.

A fine selfie there

The outdoor elsan, aka The Throne, is fine. No need for a flush tank, just a rinse pipe. Cold hand wash from the rinse pipe is fine too. The cast pillar type of water point can be made to comply with the water regs, and again is robust. Rubbish points need a proper metal fence, a self closing door with a robust fixed lock and proper CCTV. Then the legal department can do something useful prosecuting fly-tippers. N

Good job I don't have any self respect

Blog post about the trip here https://oleanna.co.uk/2022/09/29/wow/

Looks to me like you are over firing that stove. Shouldn't need anything like that, above gunnel level but looks like scorching? Is that a double skin flue or a 6 inch Job ? If my stove was running that hot I'd have to have the doors open...

We moved aboard full time in 1989. The old boat we bought was licensed, we have licensed every boat ever since. The only major change since then was the addition of the poxy BSS which we have also always complied with. There are always those in life that try to get round paying their way, evading paying for anything but still using resources/infrastructure. They are to be treated with the contempt they deserve.