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No I just meant the toilet discussion. I’m more resilient than that. But I’m not going to give opinions until I know what I’m talking about 😁😂 I will be posting plenty when I need more advice.

I’m actually liking the idea of a permanent mooring. I can then keep my car, have a postal address and have unlimited electric. I can go out every couple of weeks to see friends. Once I’m really experienced then I could think about CC as a cheaper way of living but I think I need to be sensible to begin with. I’ve seen the flooding and with images posted here I know it’s no joke. I think I’ll need a couple of years on the water before I’ll be competent enough to know my limits.

I'm not struggling with anything except your know-it-all attitude. Just because a boat is running its engine in the morning, late afternoon or early evening does not mean its batteries are knackered. They might be but they may well not be. If someone is moored up and have not cruised that day (or very little) they will probably no longer have sufficient hot water for their needs. I doubt if the lack of a solar dump makes a solar system low spec. If it does then I imagine that nearly everyone with a solar system has a low spec system. Also, depending how big their battery bank is, how much leccy they use and when they last ran their engine for an extended time they will probably need to run their engine to re-charge their un-knackered batteries to ensure they don't drop below 12.2V (50%) before they next plan to cruise. They may need to do this every day until they next go boating. Most boats do not carry generators so they run their one and only engine. This is less likely if they have solar but in some circumstances it may still be necessary. Lots of boats, possibly more than half, do not have solar. I think it's probably pointless people who actually have boats (and experience) trying to argue with you as you know everything despite, from what I can gather, you having neither a boat nor real world experience. You are only on here to wind people up. If you put as much effort into getting a boat as you do into that you would probably have one by now and could enjoy some actual boating in the real world rather than vicarious boating on YouTube.

I've recently read Tom Rolt's book Narrowboat from 1939. Things were looking pretty grim for the waterways back then too, but they survived thanks to people like him. We need another Tom Rolt.

No it doesn't, in the 9 years since I installed a limited amount of solar by today's standards I have probably run my engine no more than about half a dozen times or so, for an hour or so, to top up my (un-knackered) batteries a bit, usually due to not moving on a day of very dark clouds and rain. My hostile attitude, as you put it, is for no other reason than the fact that I'm sick of reading your gobby know-it-all posts. I think you've mentioned before (incorrectly in my view) that this forum is dying. If it is then it's down to people like you, not the people on this forum who know far more about boats than either me or you, and are far more helpful than you will ever be.

We may have jocular uncomplementary names for other boat types, but my overwhelming experience has been that boaters almost always get on, and will lend a hand to other boaters, regardless of whether they are shiny or scruffy boats, tupperware or sewer tube, home moorer or CCer, narrow or wide beam, sole owner, shared owner or hire boat, with or without bowthruster etc. Most of the perceived bad feeling between different boat and boater types is just social media noise.

Having stumbled across this older thread by chance I thought, as an owner of a 32ft centre cockpit otter, I could share some firsthand knowledge of the craft for clarification. However, the opinions regarding aluminium boats seem as polarised and prejudiced as those towards fibreglass craft, casually and derisively referred to as ‘yoghourt-pots’. For what it's worth, and clearly with no expectation of changing views, our boat is 10 years old with no dents. We've 'tested' the robustness of the hull many times with little more than a scuff mark to show for it. They are light at 32 ft long but more stable than a similar sized fibreglass cruiser, while slightly less stable than a steel one of the same length. However, as most narrowboats are much longer, the extra mass naturally adds more stability. They were expensive when new but hold their price very well. The fitting out was better than 'spartan' and we find ours very well equipped. Since its build, we have only needed to update the solar panel and inverter installation as modern technology has moved on in 20 years. Generally, we find the craft well-built and amply durable, unless you are of the rare type who give narrow boating a bad name and think the steel is only there to enable owners to drive them like an amphibious tank, Sea Otters will serve their owners well. We get many positive comments from other boaters when out cruising clearly impressed with its design. We also get the occasional eye roll from others who assume wrongly, that having a centre cockpit and more streamlined bow, it must be 'another ruddy yoghourt pot', yes, it has been said. We are happy to continue cruising in our Otter and happy to offer first hand feedback where requested. Meanwhile, how about showing a bit more camaraderie between boaters, GRP, Aluminium or steel, we are all boating on the same waterway, where any of us might need assistance at any time. A helping hand will go much further than a sneer.

Thanks Alec and everyone else. It’s been to Debdale and has been blasted, zinc galvanised and epoxied with a guarantee from Debdale to 2030 for the blast cleaning. I’m very reassured by that. Only on its second owner. It’s presentable on the inside but dated. I see that as an opportunity to put my stamp on it. The layout suits my requirements but not in any way in vogue.

No, I'm not intrigued because I no longer believe you. I think you are a troll masquerading as someone with knowledge about boating but in fact knows very little. You're only on here to wind people up. You claim to hate this forum and yet you can't stay away. That speaks volumes. It's probably driven by jealousy as most of us on here have boats to enjoy and you don't and probably never will.

yea, I missed that one! My main point, if not obvious, was that most folk end up picking and choosing whilst saying that things were so much better in the past (usually folk who are well past the age of being alive back in such times) The important thing is being free to use improvements and discard those that get stuck in a canalised evolution backwater. Oh, and being free to try innovations even when they do not work out.

I have made two discoveries about narrowboating in the past year: People on the Cut are decent, pleasant and delightful engaging Human Beings i.e. the complete opposite of the 30 hardcore malcontents who constitute the Body Politic of this wretched place. No one ever mentions CWDF on the towpath which must be a surprise to the ex. boating Great & Good of the forum who posture here daily under the delusion the forum is the epicenter of best-practice discourse on all inland boating matters.

For what its worth, when I briefly did inspections for a well known and respected brokerage, we had to always confirm what the insulation actually was. Good places to look are where skin fittings go out, downlighters that pop in with clips and try looking in the hatch if fitted under the bow where water tank is..

If the boat was suitable otherwise, I would ask the broker or owner to do it or give permission to do it. If they declined, I would treat that as a red flag. When I bought ours, I had a screwdriver in my pocket and just did it as I was left alone on the boat. There is no good reason that a couple of screws in a socket or switch should not be removed, unless the vendor is either stupid or trying to hide something.

Oh my word. Gybberish (only experience of boats is YouTube) trying to teach MTB (decades of actual boat ownership)! You couldn't make up the ignorant arrogance if you tried! Hey Mikey B what do you reckon on his advice? Did that not occur to you? 🤣

Without being patronising, you have obviously not noticed the many 40 year old GRP boats still in use on the cut. Of course steel boats are more suitable, no question. But perfectly acceptable boating can be had with a GRP craft. The advantage of GRP is that it does not corrode. Steel boats rust from the inside, not the outside. I kept a Steel Hartley 32 Yacht in Wellington Harbour, NZ, for 8 years. Surface rust was not a problem, easily cleaned off and refinished. Internal rust, however, was a different matter and required constant vigilance and quick action when spotted. GRP boats can-and do-suffer from osmosis. But, no GRP Boat has ever sunk from osmosis. Ever. They are effectively maintenance free. They certainly never need 'overplating'! FYI, many GRP boats have hit sunken shipping containers, Whales, timber of various sorts and other boats, navigation buoys and channel markers. They normally survive. If the incident happens far offshore and is terminal very quickly, we might never know! VHF Radio has a nominal 50 mile range. We were often offshore far furthe than that. So saying, for serious canal cruising I would choose a steel boat. Horses for courses. But there is no need to be disparaging about anothers choice. After all, we are all boaters.

Be careful with thinking that a wide bean canalboat is in any way similar to an apartment. It isn't. Not being flippant but the lavatory waste must go uphill. it is not legal for it to go downhill. In a apartment it will go downhill. i am sure you know all this but it really is critical to know and it is not meant as discouragement. For the last 31 years all of my used food waste has either traveled uphill or been burnt in my fire. So no it is not an apartment. It may emulate some characteristics but it is a completely different situation. The marketing around wide bean canalboats is pushing the idea it is a cheaper alternative to an apartment or flat but this is simply because they want to sell products to people. Crapping uphill can be arduous for some people. It gets right into the fundamentals of animal behaviour and depending on one's flexibility it can become a problem. I will always maintain the view that the biggest topic on inland Boats is the lavatory.

Now that sounds good

Sadly I think a cut in funding is inevitable. With the NHS on its knees, prisons filled to bursting and the justice system close to collapse I reckon canals are well down the governments list of priorities.

What a thoughtful solution. They need you in the diplomatic corps.

As the OP has no experience I doubt it. What makes you think a Dutch barge is easier to handle? You can get used to anything, but I've a steered few Dutch style barges and although I'd rather own a Dutch barge, simply in terms of single handing I think a widebeam with a tiller is easier.

Hi all, So, yesterday we went back to friends LANB with the newly made bracket to carry the fuel pump and new filter for his Webasto TTC. It was made from a bit of 40x5mm flat bar that (ironically) came off an old boat trailer. 😉 The holes near the middle of each bit were already in the steel. The double holes at the top of the bracket to boat were just in case we had the dimensions wrong and I had to cut it down on site. The idea was that the large return would be bolted to the bottom of the vertical plate the TTC was mounted onto and the smaller one would take the upright that was drilled with various holes for different mounting heights of the (original) pump and the (new) filter, trying to ensure the fuel line travels upwards to help clear any bubbles. Because the smaller upturn would stop the drill being able to align straight through the new bracket and into the boat mounting plate, I designed and printed a drilling template that could be clamped against the boat bracket to ensure hole alignment. It's the same 40 mm width as the bracket but with a lip down one side that sits against the side of the boat bracket. The chamfer at the bottom is to avoid the fillet weld on the boat bracket and the notch is for the Mole grips. It seemed to work ok. Anyway, with the upright bolted to the new bracket (made removable to give good access to the heater) and the pump and filter mounted, I then ran some new 3/16" copper from the fuel tank to the filter with a new 3/16" olive on the tank connection to a 1/4" BSPT to 3/16" compression fitting on the filter input, sealed with Loctite 572 (that is really good stuff and I use it on my airline fittings etc). From there I used the same new fitting on the filter outlet and a bit of the original pipe with the coil in to go to the input of the pump and similar with the output of the pump, to the TTC. Luckily the cable to the fuel pump was still long enough. I opened the tap from the tank and bled though the bleed screws on the i/p and o/p of the filter and after a couple of false starts, the heater sprang into action again. 😉 And at least now he should have mostly debris free (10 micron?) fuel going to his heater.

There was a paper on early Portland cement written by P E Halstead published by the Newcomen Society in 1961, with Skempton following the next year with a look at developments 1843-1887. I have also attached a file I put together very quickly in 2009 when the use of lime on the Augustowski Canal was proposed for World Heritage. You can find numerous contemporary books on the subject by a trawl through Google Books. lime and the Augustowski Canal.pdf

I can't think of anything that would tempt me back full time onto a boat, I enjoy the space and freedom that I get from the house and caravan, I can visit places with the caravan that I never could get to with the boat. I might be tempted by a holiday on the Irish waterways one day but that's about it. Off on a boat trip today from Athlone followed by a brewery tour🍺

I can think of one 'area' where some action could be a great benefit to the forum ....................................

My 1993 boat had Sprayfoam insulation Just look and it will be obvious what it is.

Warning ignored. The thread is now locked while the moderators decide what to do.

A effing fascist propaganda machine.

Eh? If I understand that slightly garbled question correctly then I'll carry on calling it GB Nonsense because that's what they spout. If Reform get voted in (unlikely but we can kiss goodbye to the NHS if it does) I have little doubt things will get even worse for this country but even if it doesn't that still won't mean GBN isn't nonsense.

And today I passed a new £300K plus state-of-the-art all electric Narrowboat that was running his generator. Just goes to show no matter what the age of the boat or the cost in £1000’s or 100’s of £1000’s you have, if there’s not enough sun you still need to run a diesel engine😂 Thought you would have realised that? I take it you didn’t run your engine/generator today🤔

This year my wife and I (both disabled to a degree, she more than me) are hiring a boat on the Lancaster Canal. We decided that whilst we both still love Narrow Boats and Canals a plethoria of locks would not be do-able. Apart from MS, my wife is fairly seriously dyslectic and if she wants the boat to go right, she pushes the tiller to the right, no matter what I do or say she is unable to work out that the opposite works better! This means that she always operated the locks whilst I steered. Alas no more. The MS has robbed her of most of her strength and balance, so operating a lock is not possible - therefore the Lancaster Canal, no locks. I'll post an update after we have cruised in June, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well. In the meantime any suggestions for good canal side pubs and restaurants would be welcome plus advice on ladies hairdressers in the close vicinity to the Canal (don't ask!).

Me again and I'll try to be positive despite the lack of progress. Here are a few points that have been raised. All have been welcome but I'm nearing the point where I try the next stage which is either give up and just cruise or get spannering and re-design both the steering and indicator connections before attacking the weed hatch assembly. Trying to remain calm and not take offense.... yes, naturally I've tried to remove the hatch and not made a snap judgement about it being unremovable. Sadly! I have spent more time than I would like to trying to get the weed hatch assembly out without removing the steering gear etc. Yes, I've tried extreme port and extreme starboard with the arm but with no success. The top plate is simply too large to come past it or to be tilted underneath the arm. The steering arm is well fixed to the shaft and no easy matter to remove. Moving the arm upwards would only gain me about 15mm extra clearance, which would not be enough. I have pulled out the weed hatch assembly far enough to see the anti-cavitation plate and connecting bars but not far enough to even glimpse the prop I will try relocating the hydraulic ram and if possible, the position indicator. Shortening the arm would not give clearance to pull the assembly up and out. The assortment of responses regarding boats with no weed hatch or no cavitation plate beneath the top seal, has me totally confused, as does the suggestion that anyone would never need to investigate the weed hatch for years. We have had days when the prop needed to be thrown into reverse every 50 yards just to continue with slow progress. I have some more suggestions to test out but to avoid missing out on why we originally bought the boat, we will need to get out there and explore with crossed fingers. Thanks for all your suggestions so far.

I wonder why it was deemed necessary to put "GAS ISOLATION !!" rather than "GAS ISOLATION" on there. It reads like the person arranging the casting had experience some sort of terribly nasty gas related accident and transferred their insecurity onto a product commonly sold in chandleries.

£6.52 for a replacement new, flat, uncracked and shiny sign. I don't have any braze, or silver solder materials ATM, but do have a torch. Have done both processes in the past. Not financially worth a repair attempt. https://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/products/ag-nameplate-gas-isolation-valve-below-cast-brass-ag-114-m

At least Richard got out and about, to learn about canals, BCN Challange for one example. It will be interesting if the new man follows suit?

I think it is always good practice to spin up a vintage diesel decompressed, before disengaging the decompressors to start it. Much kinder on the starter motor than making it turn the engine over against full compression from stationary.

If you would like to try boring - do the Witham'. The most exciting part is counting the tops of the telegraph poles that you can just see poking over the high banks.

It was a joke, as I thought you were kidding that it's not boring if your blasting up and down in something like a Broom or a Fairline. I can tell you it is boring if your doing it regular on a narrowboat.