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No doubt this forum harbours a few characters of ill repute - or at least that you disagree with, which usually comes to the same thing, as does the pub you go to and most assuredly your local church, and every other news source you favour. Short of locking yourself in a cupboard, you can't avoid the buggers. The BBC is at least less biassed than any other source as can be seen by it being attacked constantly by both lefties and rightwingers. The only thing, I'm afraid, left for you is total ignorance amid the sweet sound of birdsong in your woodland glade. Unfortunately, you'll never know the chainsaws are coming...

Thank you! I thought I had posted a reply, but it has disappeared. Maybe I didn't press SAVE! No plans, no blue prints. But having lived in a back cabin and perused many photos, you get a 'feel' for what is 'right'. Just over 30yrs ago I knocked this up for our daughter when she entered primary school for a show and tell. It's crude, but was well received.

Yep, just got that, sums up the contents of this thread really, their preventative maintenance is not in a good place but the reactive repair work is very good at the moment.

Col's licence works out at about £25 a square metre by my simple arithmetic. On the same square metre-age basis my car licence costs approx £50 a square metre. And on the Thames, Cols boat licence would cost about the same but for only 215 miles of cruising waterway. CRT boat licences are cheap whichever way you look at it!

The BBC are the 'loud hailer' of the government in so many ways. They were the bastion of NEWS at one time, but no longer. They have been found to harbour certain characters of ill repute, their statue over the main entrance to Broadcasting House reflects this. But more importantly, their standing in the public eye has been exposed for what it currently is - Biased, and when not biased, it fails to report resulting in lies by ommission. But that may be just an opinion. I will not spend money on a 'licence fee' that neither represents or reports the world as it is, nor supplies even some of the excellent comedy series in 'repeats' that today's world would cry 'shame; disgusting; discrimination!' Therefore, I choose not to contribute - because I do not need to. I can watch the 'Two Ronnies', Alf Garnett and the like, elsewhere without forking out an extortionate fee, to which I object. The young man in question and his 'Canal Boat Diaries' can be viewed on You Tube. Or may be purchased from his website at a little over £30. I'll stick to the historic books lined up on my shelves, but thank you for the comment. I reject 'their rules', as I reject their demands for obtaining a 'licence'. Entering false information is opening one up to possible investigation and possible prosecution. As I neither want or need one, I will not give them that opportunity. The infamous 'detector vans' were a scam, but the database held is periodically run through a computer, and 'letters' sent at two year periods. I have had any number, some were returned with an explanation as to why I did not need one, some get burnt.

A couple of starvationers I built from scratch, no plans just guess work, scale 1:25. I did briefly consider a diorama of Worsley Delph but at that scale it would have been too big.

Except that an incompetent steerer in the wrong place in a wideboat -- like the ones in the photos -- is a much bigger problem for everyone else than the same steerer in a narrowboat, for the same reason that an unobservant driver in an articulated truck is a much bigger hazard to cyclists than the same driver in a car... 😉

Part of the reason we got rid of ours. The costs to keep it (not just the licence) were not proving good value anymore despite using it a lot Compared to some. And that was before the latest licence increases.

I guess folks who live aboard full time might think their boat license is cheap. Folks who use their boats weekends and holiday almost certainly do not.

And what exactly is wrong with that? I only get to own a car, a bike, a house, a dog, a TV or anything in life if I can afford it. Why should a boat on the canal be any different?

Why should boat owners be relieved of the 'User Pays' ? it is their choice so why should the taxpayer fund their lifestyle? They are currently (as a cohort) only paying a fraction of the costs required to keep the canals navigable, with much of the balance being paid by the taxpayers.

Yeah. It is a lot. Some will argue that it represents good value for money but that argument only works if you can actually afford it. Add that to the astonishing amount demanded for moorings and owning a boat on the UK canals is only a good idea if it is your home - and that is for an insecure lifestyle with an asset of diminishing value. The reason is, as it has been since Thatchers day, that the user pays and the taxpayer is relieved of much of the cost, a nice sounding bit of dogma that puts a heavy burden on the boatowner and makes the canals an exclusive playground of the rich. It is political. The canals are not our 'heritage' except as a cliche on leaflets etc. They are something nice to look at from the towpath but to actually use the things is going to cost you a hell of a lot of money.

Col, your original post inferred that your renewal was extremely expensive - obviously it's only my opinion, but for what you get I think it's cheap. I have always thought that the license fee should be based on overall size of boat , not just length and that appears to be happening, albeit slowly. Add-ons for cc'ers etc are another subject. (I also remember the old cruising guides that stated wide beams should not be moored online north of Berko or something similar).

Ridiculously cheap isn't it!!

It’s really hard to keep retention up in videos with too much history, i agree it’s important but I’m a nerd, I love learning, not everyone does. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Robbie and it’s clear he has a passion for the history and future of the network. He does so much for the publicity of the system and I personally love his content both canal boat diaries and his YouTube

Some 'boats' really are better suited as marina-based floating apartments (and very comfortable ones at that) and that seems a prime example.

Hopefully it has a better longevity than the Pommeroeul Canal, a new canal that linked France with Belgium. Within a couple of years it was too silted up on the French side to be useable, the French declining to do anything about it. Made a very peaceful mooring on the Belgian side though and a glorious museum displaying the artefacts from when they dug it out. It turned out to be the same route as a Roman canal centuries before, complete with almost intact Roman barge. https://espacegalloromain.be/en/home/

I would change supermarkets....

How do you attract boaters if they don't think something is value for money? The costs for a small starter boat per year now cost more than the boat is worth. How do you convince someone to pay that?

If Rawlins sold you the paint and told you (either directly or via information on their website) that it is suitable for use with potable water, then it is their problem. In law you are entitled to not only your money back, but the reasonable costs of removing the paint already applied (if it cannot be safely overcoated), and applying a suitable paint system (including the additional costs if the alternative system is more expensive). In practice you will struggle to get them to pay for all that without going to law, and that is expensive and with an uncertain outcome. But they will be keen to avoid the costs of defending a legal action so you should be able to push for a substantial contribution towards putting the problem right. That could reasonably include refunding your original paint cost, the costs of getting the tank grit blasted back to bare metal (a job you cannot reasonably do yourself), and supplying the replacement paint system at a discounted price for you to apply.

US Chlorine washed Chicken anyone ? Hormonal Beef anyone ?

We have found the double glazing with thermal break prevented condensation and really reduces noise to the point that trying to talk to someone who is inside when you are outside struggles to hear. Mooring in a marina by a train line the windows cut out the train noise.

That needs at least 300 amp cable and probably more because of run length. All you can do, is sort it as best you can within the available resources, but I still don't think it is a good idea to mount anything on the battery cover because of it complicating access.

True - the 'top band' is now over ~10' 6" (3.24mts) so a 12 foot beam boat will pay the same as an 11 foot, or 14 foot boat From C&RTs conclusions in the 2018 review : The Trust has accepted that the boat licence fee should take width as well as length into consideration, given the advantages of the greater on-board space that this provides. However, moving to a precise length x width area-based charging system would be more complicated to administer and would, in our view, be disproportionate to the level of benefit derived from owning a wider boat. 2.3 Based on these considerations, the Trust has decided to combine the current length based bands with new width bands so that craft wider than 2.16m (7”1ft) will pay slightly more on top of the length-based charge. Three width bands will be introduced from April 2020: • Band 1: 2.16m (7ft 1”) and below • Band 2: over 2.16m (7ft 1”) up to and including 3.24M (10ft 7.5’’) • Band 3: over 3.24M (10ft 7.5’’)

If it was me, I would be politely inviting Rawlins to suggest what they propose to sort out the problem they have created by providing incorrect information.

From memory it is double insulated and has no earth on the input so will not cause galvanic problems. The picture also shows a two pin plug on the mains lead.

So really this incident is about a tosser, not a widebeam? Yes, a tosser on a widebeam, but the craft dimensions are irrelevant to the story.

Arrived at the top of the Buckby locks today. A widebeam was ascending the lock as we approached, so I pulled onto the lock landing towpath side. Those who know this location will be aware that the water point is nearby. Ali had walked to the lock, along with a chap from a boat we were to share the locks with. The gates opened and the "Lady" ( a very loose description) stomped up to me, ordering me off the lock landing, as they needed water! Well the attitude put my back up, but I began to manoeuvre to the offside,obliging chap that I am, only to become aware of the widebeam owner having a benny fit, shouting and cursing, much directed at Ali. She had asked him to exit the lock , but he retorted that he could not steer in the lock and needed the water point. I think he had no bow thruster? Anyway, the actual exit from the lock and his attempts to manoeuvre onto the lock landing was laughable. The man was a complete tosser. The photo shows one boat on the water point, fat boy prancing around, whilst I and tother boat try to enter the lock.

In fact the larger Leeds Magnetic was repurchased and replaced Lambda on the aggregate traffic though it was then used for one or two cargoes before being sold. Leeds Magnetic was itself replaced by the larger Spurn Light from Liverpool - though it originated on Humberside. I'm indebted to Christine Oatway for the update.

Unlike most of the others Robbie does go into the history of the canals and places he visits -- though some of his boating skills/practices are certainly not up to ODG standards... 😉