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The man clearly needs support but that should be by health and/or social services which his 'supporters' should be finding for him rather than using him in their fight against CRT. Deeply cynical and frankly repugnant.

All I can say is that the editor and myself spent a year looking for someone to take over from me. I had deliberately kept the "trade" at arms length to avoid accusations of partiality, and I really don't think the way modern magazines are edited gave the editor any more contacts. I suggested a couple of possibilities and asked one or two of the more technical members here who also showed a degree of writing ability, but in all cases they said no. I think that in the end, RCR took up the offer. I think those with the experience, practical ability and knowledge in both mechanical and electrical systems were too busy earning money and were scared off by the thought of putting it down on paper. Actually the number of questions that came via the magazine were only one or two a month, the vast majority came direct to me via TB-Training, and they were getting less and less as those who had attended my courses got sufficient experience. In the end I was re-answering questions from over 10 years previously. I was not happy doing that, but the editor needed a selection to choose from. If anyone is interested in why I stopped, it was for several reasons. perhaps the major one is that I was of an age that relatives, friends and acquaintances were increasingly dying or getting rushed into hospital. I did not think it would be fair on the magazine if I suddenly could not produce the 4000 to 5000 words a month. As I indicated above, it was getting increasingly difficult to meet that target. Then there was the fact that my knowledge was/is getting less and less relevant for modern systems and practice, lithium battery systems being a case in point. Finally, I recognised my brain work was, and is, becoming less sharp than it was, as illustrated by the cock-ups I have made here over recent years. The message is use it or lose it, send your questions to the magazine.

I think the reason why the editor couldn’t find someone to replace you was that you would be a very hard act to follow. Your combination of decades of practical experience across a wide range of boats, theoretical knowledge, and experience of passing that on to others via training courses, was unique. A lot of people think they are irreplaceable, but in your case you were.

The humble stick, wooden stick that is, not that old stick as in a person. This stick can be a savior in many applications. Take boats for example. If your boat won't pass under certain bridges due to a lofty wheelhouse or somesuch structure a long stick is attached to the bows sticking upright. As the stick hits the bridge it snaps connecting a contact switch and battery to fire a small charge of dynamite in the too tall wheelhouse to collapse it before it strikes the bridge. A stick poking down at the stern a few inches below the rudder when reversing up close to a bank will snap off when it strikes bottom the snapping sound to warn you that it's trying to save your rudder from getting busted. Carry a few spare sticks for replacments. Now comes the big one, could make my fortune and become a multi billionaire. It's to do with aeroplanes. Aeroplanes coming in to land can be the most hazardous part of flying aeroplanes. My invention again envolves the humble wooden stick. This invention doesn't envolve any power or unreliable electromics for it to function. Landing planes no matter what size, civillian or military can use the humble stick to assist landing in dense fog or a cloud burst when the pilots cannot see to touch down. This stick of variable length depending on the size and length of the aircraft envolved is fixed under the front of the planes belly by a simple hinge. At the tail of the stick is attached a caster wheel.''A supermarket trolly caster wheel is Ideal as they have good bearings which will withstand the speed to which it will become accustomed to. A length of string also attached to the tail end leading up through a hole in the aircraft. The front of the stick is connected to the elevator, ailerons and engine speed control levers. Now imagine the plane commin in to land blind in dense fog. The stick is lowered fully by the string and as the sticks caster wheel hits the runway the stick moves upwards operating the afore said controls automatically to cause a pleasing and safe flare out and landing with no chance of pilot error. Think how much safer you'd feel if your holiday plane was so equiped. I'm approachin Airbus in Toulose first about this invention as I prefer them than Boeing.

I was extremely fortunate recently to come across a cabin stool in a local vintage store, especially as it was painted by Frank Nurser of Braunston. It’s a most welcome addition to my collection of historic ware. As many will know, Nurser enjoyed a fine reputation and his work is very collectible.

Not specious. Climate change doesn’t necessarily mean hotter and colder. Climate change, as the name suggests, creates a change in the climate such that the frequency of severe weather events increases. Those directly affecting the canals would be long periods of drought and violent rain storms causing flooding that overtops sections of canal and causes serious damage, eg the 3 locks on the C&H. More storm force winds causing trees to get blown over and structural damage to buildings.

Sold our lovely boat Compass Rose in 2019, due to family circumstances that looked like not much cruising ahead. Bought a motorhome with the proceeds, on the basis it's more flexible. Had a fantastic time, still going strong, spending months down in Cornwall and loving it. But, so regretted selling the boat. We'd made it our own unique space. I hope the new owners are getting as much fun as we had out of the idiosyncrasies of the toilet. Never failed to amuse us. We've just bought our next boat and I'm delighted. Just sorting out the kit now, and then we'll be off to cruise the whole way round again. Vaguely hoping to pass our old boat and wave but no idea where she's gone. This will be the last time round for us so going to appreciate it all the more.

One day, all boats will have an electric shower, being the natural evolution of going gasless once the traction is done by battery electric. The "house" side will be but a small proportion of the total energy stored and consumed. Electric cooking will be the norm, electric shower surely will be a logical progression?

No. It is a cost caused by people signing up to the “no home mooring” option and then feeling no compunction to abide by the associated laws.

I told you - stop apologising! An unpaid volunteer (which may not have been you) missed a renewal - unless you are up at 00:05 every night (local time, which may not be UK) thinking "I wonder if it's still working", these things happen. And a DNS renewal also takes time to percolate through the system, that's how it works. Now, thanks for keeping the site up 99.98 percent of the time.

I'd have expected Tixall to be wide ...

Welcome to the forum. I know who you are 😀. You will get a lot of advice here but only some of it will be based on real boaty wisdom. Its a sort of game where you have to decide who to believe.😀

Just completed the survey. Quite easy really, anyone who has a different type of boat to me, or uses their boat differently, should pay much, much more. People like me should get a reduction.

The ones you really have to watch out for are free men on the water. Otherwise known as free men in a boat. I'm sure there is a novel in this.

For goodness sake, please stop the pipe dreams and be more realistic. I hate to say this, by the very nature of your questions so far it is patently obvious that with all due respect your journey to see the barge would be an utter waste of your time because of your lack of knowledge and experience. If you are really wanting to get involved with boats, start more modestly and don't waste your money on a pipedream. Good luck with whatever you decide but please think very long and hard and look at other more realistic ways of getting into boating before you make what could be an expensive and time wasting mistake. Howard

Yes, built to withstand the droughts, storms and heavy rain of 200 years ago, as these events were understood at the time, and using the technology of the day. And ever since then there have been periodic failures of infrastructure and regular repairs, maintenance and upgrading as the risks, costs and consequences of failure have become more apparent. Why should it be any different now? Because of that history CRT is responsible for more older reservoirs than any other body, many of them situated where the consequences of failure would be significant (e.g. Todbrook). A combination of age, decay, original design and construction not being to today's standards, increased rainfall intensity (a consequence of climate change) and arguably, some short-sighted cuts in inspection, monitoring and maintenance, have meant that the risks which CRT has to manage today are far more significant than the canal companies of 200 years ago had to deal with.

i once tried to pay for diesel with a small dinghy but as it was unregistered and afloat on the Thames I was told it was not a legal tender.

Progress was being made on the far side. I was told this is archaeology rather than full excavation, and that they'd found some interesting Roman stuff. The next mile is completely missing, so I carried the canoe into the Frome and back at the other end. This is the motorway bridge over the Frome. The canal channel will share this bridge on the left with a lower water level. The canal restarts from Pike Lock, which was being restored at the time.

A lot with surveys depends on how the results are presented. If they don't show the results CRT want, they will be accompanied by a sorrowful statement that they tried their best to accommodate boaters' wishes, but sadly they have to take into consideration other factors, as well as protecting the interests of other users and their bonuses. No, forget the last bit, they won't say that but trust me, it's the bottom line. And of course, they can tick the box that says they listened to us. Hell of a lot of difference between listening and taking any notice, though. Any fool can listen.