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That's as may be but what about his boat?

I've had a few asylum seekers volumteer with the charity I work for. They can't work and want to contribute something. The article is misleading and sloppy in its use of language which promotes confusion around asylum seekers, refugees and illegal immigrants. Asylum seekers can't have bank accounts and can't work but can volunteer. Refugees have had their asylum claim accepted and can work thus us just the start of their new problems From Citizens Advice. "If you’ve claimed asylum and been given refugee status, Asylum Support and 'section 4' support will stop 28 days after the decision. This means you’ll: stop getting your cash allowance have to move house - if you’ve been given somewhere to live as an asylum seeker" They have to open a bank account, get a NI number, find somewhere to live, get a job or sort benefits. All within a very short period. This is where many can struggle and can end up homeless. Illegal immigrants, may or may not be asylum seekers, as its hard now to find a way to claim asylum without entering illegally to be able to do it. The people I met were mostly well qualified, really nice people, who had fled persecution, either on their own or with their families from places like Libya, Egypt and Syria.

Hmm one man’s dumped boat is another’s left for a legitimate reason away from home mooring, while he goes and does something else.

You already mentioned the answer to your release in a previous post. Wander down to the spillway with your plank, mallet and maybe a couple of wedges. Use the plank to raise the spillway dam height thereby raising the pound level temporarily. Rain this evening or Saturday morning is expected, or maybe the bywashes are running anyway?? (Hopefully assuming there isnt another overflow on the pound.

NO! He wants you to stop and pull him out ! Just Joshing.

We are planning to come along that stretch of canal on Sunday or Monday on our way to Stourport. We will keep an eye open for you as we pass.

Ah well, look on the bright side; at least you should get an article out of this for publication 👍

Tick over in reverse and rock the boat, should eventually slide off.

Portholes may be the usual method of ensuring one's boat is safe from towpath break ins, but i'm far from usual, so i've chosen instead to get rid of all my windows entirely. A simple process, screw some wooden battens to the existing window hole Cut a piece of steel to the correct size, then wang it in Repeat for all remaining windows, and you end up with a very secure boat. You also end up with a very dark boat and Vitamin D deficiency, which is a minor inconvenience. The weather is properly starting to turn now, as you can see the first 2 photos are bathed in autumnal sunshine, and the one below shows how much it was wazzing it down by the afternoon. Rain be damned, I managed to get the cut n shut roof section sitting reasonably well inline, although there is a tad more work to do to get it bob on. Determined but moist, nearly all window holes got covered up. I was aiming to get the rearmost ones done too, but i'm doing something slightly different there (probably blatantly obvious what?) and it really did start to chuck it down, so I called it a weekend apart from... What's this, a window? Yep, i'm not totally barking mad, I am having windows (and portholes, stop squabbling), they're just a different shape. They're also double glazed, and were a bit of a second hand bargain. Required some cleaning and polishing, but they don't look bad at all when done

Two voltage sensitive relays. Problem solved. Simple, affordable and bullet resistant. None of the voltage drop you got over split charge diodes. Has possibly the best music video of all time.

I would dump the diodes and use a VSR or two.

The water tap is a bit slow, but a few decent pubs.

Andrew needs to wait until a boat passes just above tickover. You know, one of those that pushes an enormous bow wave followed by drawing all the water from under the boat such that you're reminded that you are no longer in your bungalow.

I passed the Wharf at Fenny Compton at lunchtime but when I’m working alcohol is not permitted until the boat is tied up for the evening. That’s how it was when I was in full time employment and that affects lunchtime trade. Thankfully this evening I’m tied up between Napton locks 8 and 9 and that means I’m in the Folly. A marvellous place to cap a pretty perfect day. Next week I’ve got stops at the Dog & Doublet and the Greyhound planned. It’s a hard life.

For a start try www.tb-training.co.uk. Plenty for you to start with there. You can print then out section by section.

No whaling bar on the opposite bank I suppose. I had to tie three mooring lines together and then do the twisting using just the single line. No doubling back to the boat. This made it harder and I had to do it while out of my depth in the water. I had to ensure all four lines were laid the same way and that I turned the bar to increase the twist in the lay, rater than untwist.

It also could snap off my front T-stud. Once, going down the Great Ouse from Denver to do a Wash crossing, the pilot tied my boat up to another nb as a breasted pair. One of the boats hit ground on a river bend, and the stress pinged my T-stud off, and it just missed me!

There is a slim chance of a shock caused by the back emf of the collapsing magnetic field in the coil but not worth worrying about. He may be referring to the relay connecting a fully charged battery to a really flat one causing a heavy current to flow through the relay contacts exceeding the rating. In all my years with boats with simple spit charge relays it has never been a problem providing the relay is up to the job and not some toy designed to switch a light load.

Dunno. Have you got links to examples?

With VSR solar will charge all three banks. When the voltage on the domestics drops it Will disconnect the other banks thus leaving them charged

As I understand it, it doesn't matter if you find the scenes ugly or the pictures dull. The point of it is for the boffins at the University to learn what is considered attractive in canal scenes.

And another vote but a degree of rewiring will be needed. Make sure the alternator feeds the domestic bank the VSRs takes the feed from the domestic battery to feed the other banks.

I'm a bit late to this party but would add if you're working a mooring with mains electricity will make life a lot more civilised, some would say a must have. I'd suggest a boat with a modern engine (kubota or Yanmar based), fixed bed with a proper mattress is a must, have a think about what type of toilet you might find least unpalatable to deal with - in my experience fancy pants electric flushing with a macerator into a large holding tank toilets are anathema but others prefer them to cassette type, with which there's much less to potentially go wrong but you'd need to deal with the waste more often. But you're a nurse so you're more used than most to dealing with poo & wee, BONUS! Forget separator loos if you're tempted, they don't really work on the canals. Reverse layout or not, stern/bow type, fuel & water tankage (especially water, ideally I think I'd be looking for 600 litres plus for FT liveaboard). Heating - again in my experience and opinion keep it simple, maybe a solid fuel stove or drip feed diesel in the middle of the boat (not at one end or the other), maybe if you must a radiator at either end and in the bathroom for occasional use in really cold weather? You can use oil filled rads though if you have mains. A lot of it depends on you & how much "luxury" you want, how much stuff you need to have around you, etc. but it's a massive help if you're practical and confident with tools, interested in how engines work, doing a bit of woodwork/DIY, painting and if you enjoy watching people do something on Youtube before having a go at doing it yourself! Being prepared to learn at least is an absolute must, I've met people who just are not willing to learn or have a go and they end up living on boats in unpleasant if not dangerous conditions. Really, really try to get your head around 12 & 240 volt electrics, batteries, solar power, use of inverters, etc. on boats. Being a sea boater (13 years FT living aboard) it was a great surprise to me that many canal boaters seem to me to be obsessed with using domestic 240v appliances whilst cruising/away from shore power on their boat - you can do without 240v appliances and if you do it will be much easier to manage your power on board. Go have a look at some boats to start to get a feel, anything upwards of 40 odd feet. If it was me as a single FT liveaboard I'd be aiming for around 45 - 50 feet but I've lived on much smaller sailboats and been quite happy. Good luck...

Does it also have any valves/ diverters to a skin tank? It could also possibly have an additional pump if the pipework is long or convoluted. I can think of at least one boat I have come across setup like this. As Matty40s says its all down to the who and why- heres an example of a system on a boat I was on recently. Luckily the seller had left a good set of instructions!

I never empty mine, though I tend to run water out on the way to the tap in Spring. I have always reckoned it's too cold down there for any bugs to grow. I just switch the pump off, drain the gas water heater and leave all the taps open. The only real prevention I do is take the stove door off - when it gets down to freezing the metal contracts and cracks the glass.

If you can point me to three online petitions that have had a successful outcome, on any subject whatsoever, out of the endless thousands that have been raised, I'll happily sign. Otherwise, I'll maintain my view that the whole online petition thing is a con to make people think they have a say when in fact they have none, and therefore stops them actually doing anything effective and becoming a nuisance.