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They can work reliably, but as most boatyards and canal "engineers" don't know how to clean them or set them up properly they are prone to be smoky and unreliable.There is a Refleks Facebook group which offers lots pf practical help, as do a handful of members on here. Properly cleaned and set up they are warm, controllable, clean and reliable. It is worth learning how to do this yourself if you get one. I've recently started running mine in kerosene as it is now about the same cost to run as a coal stove. When left running 24/7, mine just needs a quick clean by dropping a "Russboy" cleaning tablet in it every couple of weeks and a good clean out of all of the burner pot air holes once a year.

Please do as I suggested, read and understand the whole of the section I gave you a link to. For now, you seem to have ignored the advice to draw out the domestic water system separately from the heating system You have ignored my statement that the two systems NEVER mix. For some reason, you have taken no notice of the diagrams I posted and linked to. You have no way of filling or venting the stove (heating) system, so if you ever did get water into i, it would explode soon after lighting the fire. Heating systems (the stove system) needs to run with antifreeze in it to help prevent corrosion Tracy talks about, and antifreeze is poisonous. So, at present, you are highly dangerous to both yourself and others. Goodness knows what you will try to do once you get involved with the electrics. Please either do a lot more study or pay professionals to do the diagrams and work for you. I am disinclined to try to help you much more, as my advice seems to get ignored. PS - without any heat dump rads the stove WILL boil once the water in the calorifier is up to temperature AND the water coming out of the hot taps is very likely to flash off into superheated steam when you turn them one on - that is if the whole thing did not explode first.

France is alright but there are a lot of French people about. My kids are half French so I have done my best for them in life by making them half not French. I'd rather stay in Englandland really.

I'd second the recommendation of the Terry Darlington book to the OP, both for information and because it's a very good read -- after which I suspect he'll go right off the idea... 😉 Of course right now a lot of them don't cross successfully and either have to be rescued or drown... 😞 A narrowboat is *really* badly designed for the open sea from so many points of view (stability, buoyancy, freeboard, power, fittings...), it would be difficult to come up with a vessel less suitable for crossing the Channel if you tried...

C&RT have approximately 50% of navigable Inland Waterways (by distance), & they have approximately 33% of the number of boats registered on the Inland Waterways There are some 28 21 Navigation Authorities. Yes, they are a major-player but are a long way off being in a monopolistic situation

Such cruelty to lepidoptera will arouse the wrath of the R.S.P.C.A. Please do not make any further primarily political posts in this topic.

You mean like the Anderton lift ?

It is allocated by a clearly defined formula. That's why, under a Tory government, it goes to areas where the government thinks it will help get the votes in or keep favoured MPs in place, and not where it knows it won't. It's been so long since we had a Labour government so it's a bit hard to compare, but if I was a betting man I'd put money on them doing exactly the equivalent, though maintaining they were just levelling up the impoverished areas. Sounds vaguely familiar, that. So it doesn't stop the situation, it makes it worse. Democracy, see?

I think the majority of those who are struggling to survive as liveaboard boaters haven't made a lifestyle choice, unless it was between the boat and the street. Certainly, when I lived on, the majority were there because they had lost their homes for one reason or another, the usual one being divorce (as it was in my case). Several were in the "later in life" category or at least middle aged. Only one couple were there by choice and had rented their house out so they could move back in due course. Most worked full time, and none that I knew of could afford to plan for retirement. Those I know of still on the boat survive on the OAP or benefits and have nowhere else to go (we're all of an age now!). The majority of people now on low incomes don't have the wherewithal to buy a house in the first place, and financial advice is a waste of everyone's time when you are effectively broke - all, and I mean all, your income going on essentials. Those making a lifestyle choice are the wealthy and can probably manage to cope with unexpected costs, and have an escape route planned. Some things, though, just can't be planned for - the effect of climate change, for one has been faster than expected with another year of drought expected in Europe, which we probably won't avoid even though we've got our borders back. Not much of a satisfying lifestyle choice being stuck in mud or one place for months.

I took the inverter back to Sterling to be tested today. I could have sent it but then it's a bit of a wait to get it back. They tested it and said it was faulty and some components must have died. They were reluctant to change it for the same inverter so offered me any inverter that I wanted or even a £1000 combi. I took a more recent 2000w inverter only model (PS 12/2000) as it's small and fits into the space. I didn't really need a combi. They also gave me about 4m of 70mm2 cable and new terminals in case I needed them and a remote control for the new inverter. I've got to say, once again brilliant customer service from Sterling. The fault on a new inverter shouldn't have happened in the first place of course but reading the pages of this forum they're not the only manufacturer who sometimes has quality control issues.

We have just had our standard 4' narrowboat bed adapted to give a new extended width of 1.60m as per the attached photos. Really happy with the result. The mattress will be 'hinged' for stowage during the day. The guy that did this for us has reasonable rates and is based in Retford. I'm happy to supply his e-mail to any interested parties. If you're a keen DIYer it will give you an idea too.

I don't know if the OP is still looking in on this, but I would certainly advise looking in on the DBA site https://barges.org and if he is really serious it is worth joining as he will get all the information he needs on all aspects of continental boating and boating life. I would however add my pennyworth that although narrowboats are to be found there, they are not by any means the best craft to have, and certainly not by a novice boater. Tam

I'm not trying to apply anything, just trying to see it from CRT point of view. I pay rent for a non-CRT mooring to the landowner, and in addition I pay about £800 mooring fee to CRT, who provide nothing but the water and the (offside) bank. If you have a CRT online mooring, this is of course factored in to your mooring charge, but this is the value CRT put on anyone who moors a 40 foot boat anywhere online, on my bit of canal. It's this added value that I suspect they want CCers to pay, because the only people who currently pay this are those with home moorings. CRT value the facility to moor somewhere on this canal where they provide no facilities, for a 40ft boat, at £800 a year, and now they want CCers to pay it too. It's a change in their argument for the charge, but it's a valid point of view, I think. Licence is on top, obviously.

Classic behaviour from the usual suspect. Make a provocative post which is not directly against the rules, then somebody else annoyed by this replies, then he tells them off (or the moderators do). I could find multiple examples of the same behaviour -- a sly dig to start an argument, then transferring the blame -- but I can't be bothered. The "Ignore" button is there for people who behave like this... P.S. Ignore smelly's post pleading you not to do this, he's on even more people's Ignore list for obnoxious posting... 😉

Blimey - not too sure what has been going on here ! Anyhow, looks complicated - you'd be in and out of Europe regularly, your boat would be there for 18 months max (unless you paid tax and imported it ?). Or you just buy a boat already in the EU but again you would be in and out personally for half the time. Looks like it's just a bit cocked up for us now.....

M_JG has form for doing this, repeatedly provoking arguments and then blaming the other person who has the temerity to push back at him. Welcome to the "Ignore M_JG" club 😉

Yep, I get them for free too. I love this country, the opportunities for freeloading are great. And sometimes I put my chip wrapper in someone else’s bin. it’s win win win.

Why put all your eggs in one basket though? The price of kero is bound to rise in the future, but with the Rayburn on s/fuel you have the option to go down river and stock up on free fuel to keep you warm and well fed. Smokeless fuel and bought logs might get harder to obtain cheaply but with a bit of effort there's enough to see us lot out.

It did "fail" when it was withdrawn because of all the protests stirred up by the press. That does not mean it was a bad idea. In any case, council tax is definitely not a property tax because the base on which you pay is badly skewed towards the less well off and the property values are not revalued often enough with enough bands. This means those in very valuable property are not taxed at the same rate as those in lower bands. It is just another tax, that is all it is.

It was new, I have nearly always run it on Kero, I have had one before so dont mess around with it and I have a proper filter to stop crap blocking the Toby valve up! I also know Terry of Harworth heating which helps. Also living on a widebeam which is very stable in comparison to a narrowboat really makes getting it level easier. We have to other oil stoves on the moorings both work fine. When I convert my Rayburn Royal to a pressure jet system later this year, i will probably reinstall the Bubble stove, I have drained the tank of its water!!!! Its been drying out for nearly a year so it should be okay? If I am buying 28 second kero for one stove I might as well make it for 2 as its cheaper than solid fuel currently. If IanDs is correct life is going to get difficult for wood and solid fuel in the future

I might be wrong, but I thought that the Beta 43 (not the 38) was the smallest Beta that could drive really big alternators (including a second one) via polyvee pulleys? And neither of them should be doing heavy load charging below 1200rpm, and certainly not at idle.

A very wise move that you will never regret 👍

At a meeting yesterday Richard Parry stated that showers, and washing machines, provision are no longer core facilities and will be removed as and when repairs become uneconomic