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Oates is an odd boat in respect of this discussion. On a relatively deep stretch it is very fast. The question was asked earlier about what is the fastest you have gone - I am not going to declare that but suffice to say it was probably a smidge over 4mph (we can break fairly thick ice at 4mph...) However, it draws a surprisingly large amount so on a shallow stretch or through a bridge hole it will suddenly slow right up. This can confuse people, but we aren't generally being followed as we are faster on the deep stretches. I don't think we have ever held anyone up at locks either - the crew is not the most efficient, but it does know what it is doing and most roles are interchangeable, including steering between three of us at least. Where we run into problems following very slow boats is that we do need to run to a bit of a timetable and there are consequences if we don't. We might go out for a weekend, or up to a week but at the end we have to get back as the children have school and my wife and I have work. It's not optional. We will have contingency built in, but not enough for an extra day. On the last day, we might plan to cruise for 6hrs and would be OK if that became 8. From the bottom of Audlem to our mooring is normally 3.5hrs. We are fine if that becomes 4.5hrs and OK if that becomes 5hrs (and the world won't fall apart if it's longer) but when, for example, the person on the boat ahead of you decides that he won't bother doing the locks because you can do them for him while he stands chatting to the two guests on his boat, that is galling. On one occasion, the four of us worked both our boat and the two boats ahead of us up the flight - that's pushing it. If we didn't get the boat back, someone would face a long walk to the car, followed by a 3hr drive back the following weekend, boat it back and another long walk back to pick up the car and drive it 3hrs home. It's not a trivial consequence. If somebody has chosen a slow dawdle through the countryside then there is no reason they shouldn't have one, but the impact of adding more than about 3hrs to our journey is that we will still be driving home at midnight with work the next day, when they are comfortably moored up for the night. Everyone should be free to enjoy their boating the way they want to, but not at the expense of others who may have different needs. Alec

Is it only me who stops the boat if being overtaken, but without pulling into the side and mooring up? Wave them past, stop the boat in the water towards the right of the channel, apply minimal power just as the bow starts being drawn towards them to prevent a collision then carry on when they're past. It doesn't have to be complicated!

Well you are in luck young sir. Just last year I qualified as a narrowboat hydrodynamics engineer (specialising in mooring) from the University of the Whitchurch Arm. I can tell you quite categorically that if you tie your ropes at anything other than a 45 degree angle, a pack of flying monkeys will attack you during the night. Cynics will say its not really a CRT issue, but you'd think they would at least keep an eye on the flying blighters. And what is my license money really going towards, if not the monkeys? We need answers.

Look behind you more often. When you see a boat has appeared and is getting closer, move over, let them past. There's a chance they might actually be using the canal for what it was made for. Thank you.

Does this by extension mean that you can't think of many places where boats in opposite directions could pass each other? The width of 2 boats is the same when they are facing same; or opposite; direction.

I’ve been up to Titford this morning and the level is recovering. The boats are now afloat and the pumps are still running. All looks good for the weekend.

As I said previously ours is a rescue from police where she failed for some reason or other on her final sniffer dog exams lol. She was then of no use and they just get rid, thats the way of the World. The major plus point for us and one we hadnt even considered was that she was AMAZINGLY well trained. Instant recall wherever/whenever, walked towards her lead and stuck head out to have it put on, sit, stand etc etc etc of course they train the reward way using a tennis ball so to this day is insane with a tennis ball lol. The slight downside was that in a way we had to slightly untrain her, as she approached everybody as a sniffing target for a year or two. She has turned into a fabulous dog even though she was smaller than we initialy wanted ( a lab ) she is lovely but now on her last legs When the inevitable happens we have decided not to have another. Dogs are more tying than kids and at our ages we dont want another to outlive us and be a poor older dog looking for a new home. Anyway back to the garden, its fab again today.

The hydrodynamics don't quite work that way . . . overtaking is not the same as passing (time to do it, for one - hence need greater length free of anything else)

I have these for such circumstances These switches are for the warmup phase. Red buttons to let them go.

So it was recommended to fill in the pits in the base plate and re-ballast (ie remove ballast) because the weedhatch sides were deemed too low. But its been overplated on the base - have the weedhatch sides also been raised? Are the various hull fittings still sufficiently clear of the waterline? These are some basic questions worth asking. Other than that, no real red flags in the report, although obviously its just a hull survey with a ton of caveats and CYA clauses in there.

You have never seen one pulled in front of an Eberspaecher exhaust then, they burn the same as any other, obviously skimped on the asbestos

I have a dog, he sits on the semi trad seat. I nearly bought a trad stern but he wasn’t having it - he’d be around my feet and a hazard. I also like to be able to perch on the high seat with my feet on the other side seat for cruising comfort. the compromise is the engine being down in the hole which is increasingly inconvenient as gave advances. But - for cruising with the dog - the semi trad setup is ideal.

I never said that I'd been told that such a deal had been done, or the exact price that the customer paid, I just know that such deals are not uncommon where the supplier sees value in either the publicity or the experience -- and what's certain is that this particular boat got a *lot* of attention. Maybe the customer got a good deal because of this, or maybe they got charged the full whack given the depth of their pockets... I was simply told what it might cost if I wanted a similar boat (and Peter's £500k is not a bad estimate), which involves no confidentiality or ethical issues, and is what you'd have thought would be of interest to people interested in boats rather than arguing for the sake of it... 😉

The canals are primarily a transport system. I am not advocating speeding and eg creating a breaking wave, but equally there is no virtue in going as slow as possible and causing frustration to people behind who just want to go at a normal speed. You say there is not much difference between 2mph and 4 mph but in fact there is a huge difference. A journey that would take 1 day at 4 mph, will take 2 days at 2mph and some people have busy lives that don’t allow for an extra day to be taken. If you want to go at 2mph then fine, but don’t force everyone else to do it.

There are loads of reason why a boat following a slow boat might have time constraints. Most of which are none of the business of the boat in front unreasonably holding up progress and refusing to allow overtaking, but for example a hire boat needing to make the return time, a private boat with a medical or other appointment, a need to make a flight or train home etc etc. If you are someone who never has any time constraints in your life then you are lucky but equally someone who probably doesn’t have much going on in their life and is not using their one life to its fullest extent. I do of course agree that one should only encourage overtaking when it is sensible to do so, no moored boats, blind corners, narrow bits etc. That is an obvious concept that didn’t really need mentioning and is not a justification for generally resenting and disallowing overtaking anywhere.

Photos, those of us not participating this year need photos and lots of them please

I think I'd leave out the word almost. I hate being followed and unsure if the boat behind wants to overtake or not. If they make it clear they want to pass I'm relieved and happily let them do so. On the other hand I sometimes wave a following boat past, even though I'm unsure that's what they want, only to find they then don't pull away from me. Even worse when they end up mooring in the last remaining spot at my intended destination.

To be honest, if I'm caught up by another boat I'm quite content to pull over and let them pass, but if I catch up with a boat going at a speed slower than I am, I'm equally content to slow down and stay behind them provided they are travelling at a speed my boat will travel at. What does drive me mad is when I catch up with someone travelling at a speed that my boat wont travel at, meaning that I'm constantly putting it into neutral/putting it into drive/putting it into neutral/putting it into drive, it becomes like sawing wood and probably isn't doing my drive plate much good. If someone feels the need to go that slowly then they need to let everyone go past them, or speed up.

Amen to that. The way some folk faff about at locks, well, it gets me a tad cross!

Absolutely. @Pelinsu D. Over and above the problems alluded to above, there is probably an even larger one if you think you can legally moor in and around London for no money. When you license, your boat CaRT will require you keep moving every two weeks or fewer AND they expect that you will move a fair distance. This is no longer very easy in London because of the proliferation of others with the same idea. You also need to address the scarcity of rubbish and sewerage disposal points and water points for refilling your tank. I suggest that you start travelling the London towpaths to see for yourself and also talk to boaters. Unless you have somewhere to store materials and fit out the boat, it is immeasurably more difficult to try to do it while complying with CaRT's regulations.

The last time I gave up and just went past and left them on the mud….had been following for about an hour. They refused to look behind and I had a moment. No regrets.

I agree. It’s not about rushing, rather working efficiently and making decent progress. Many of the old timers, myself included, prefer to boat in this way while still observing old time courtesies which seem to be sadly lacking today.