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The surveyor is booked. No idea if he's any good, but its not the marinas recommendation. I am really looking forward to actually getting to see the boat out of the water myself and actually feeling the depth of pits etc. I must have watched hundreds of youtube videos, which is all very well but I don't really trust all that info on there. The reason being that when I watch youtube videos about subjects that I do know a lot about, the info is very misleading and often just wrong. I did just have a look at Tony Brooks's training site which I'm sure is very authoritative, I will definitely be digging into that a lot more.. what a decent bloke making all that useful info available. As is all who have took their time to comment and try to help a bewildered and bemused newb like myself. I will of course hopefully, in many years to come, pass on the same learnings to some lucky person putting their life savings into a canal.. and if nothing else, make them feel like they are entering a decent community of helpful people.

Here's my 'work in progress'. 1989 Viking 26 Centre Cockpit with a Honda 15hp Outboard. Originally was going to be on hardstanding for a few weeks whilst I 'fettled' it. That's before I saw the atrocious electrics and decided to rip out the mouldy bathroom, as well as having to fix all the leaking saloon windows and deal with some minor osmotic blistering. The engine was also filled with scale from years of being neglected and needed a full service. 11 months later and I've realised I'm in no rush, if it takes another 6 months to get her how I want her, it's not a big deal. I bought it as a little project and I've enjoyed doing the old gal up. Will almost seem a shame to go boating when I've finished! 😃

Please bear in mind that red is prone to fading more quickly than other colours. Only saying. I’ve worked with painters for many years and have seen this so often.

Hi Leigh, I'm not sure if you're a live aboard, or where you are, but you could try chatting to a waterways chaplain. I've met a couple in the past, they are good listeners and might help point you in the right direction. You can find a local waterways chaplain here... https://waterwayschaplaincy.org.uk/

Looks like it might be compressed air start David? A small engine/compressor in the background? I saw a - IIRC - Leeds and Liverpool short boat on the Thames once that has compressed air starting. He was in a lock with a couple of shiny white Thames Motorboats. A wife of the 'Captain' of one was standing ready with a plastic boathook, ready to fend chummy off. 'Ere' he shouted 'be careful of my nice black paint!' Bought the house down. 😁

Yesterday Near Lemonroyd Marina, A&C Navigation. George Dyson just leaving Fleet Terminal heading for Stanley Ferry Quarry on the new (as of this week) sand run.

Sorted. Push the fuse holder in and put a thin flathead into the hole at the size. Standard automotive fuses. Appreciate all your help. Stu

A bit like the Blackadder/ Percy convesation. "My Lord Blackadder-they say the Spanish Infanta has eyes bluer than the blue stone of Alphington!!" "Really Percy. Have you ever seen the Blue Stone of Alphington?" "No, my Lord" "And Percy, have you ever seen the Spanish Infantas eyes?" "Eerr-No my Lord" "So, what you are telling me Percy, is that something you have never seen is bluer than something else you have never seen?" "Eerr, eerr - yes my Lord................................."

OK How much do you pay to the CRT? How much do you pay to the marina owners? I would hazard a guess that you pay more to the marina but they are not giving you access to hundreds of miles of waterways. In fact their business is relying on others paying to provide this. If there was no canal connection they would just have a pond. I find it odd when people complain how much the cruising licence is. If I am a licence payer with a CRT mooring all of my payments go to the Trust. So I would be subsidising your marina providers profits. A marina does not have hundreds of locks to maintain. The NAA should be far more than 12 percent. It should be as high as possible. There should not be a situation where someone is getting rich based on an underfunded canal network that their business relies on. That is the wrong thing to be happening. Its like when people on the River moan about not enough lock keepers because they pay £8k a year to keep a Boat. £1k of that is the Thames registration fee the other £7k is marina fees. TALK TO YOUR MARINA OWNER AND SEE IF THEY WANT TO HELP FUND THE CANALS. Or are they just parasites. (I know the answer)

Problem I have is that when posting on the forum it takes me an age to work it out anyway this is for tony brooks I do trust what you are saying about helping ather boaters and you knowing your stuff and if it wasn’t for you and all the others on this forum I would be founding it hard to understand about boating and yes I do respect you and the other’s and I do talk giber why am not sure maybe to with ever my diebetes and my eyes failing and not whering my glasses and more possible of having a stoke in past or some thing medical one thing I need to do is go the doctors about and all this is about is just reaching out to others

Thank you for your kind comments. Very nice to hear and such a contrast to the relentless criticism of the board and board members by the likes of Gybe Ho and TruckCab79.

Thank you I will look into seeing a chaplain

What you said did not fall on death ears here, you got answers, although perhaps not exactly what you wanted to hear, and because of your communication skills you made it difficult to understand what you wanted. No one here said anything about your mental health, but I certainly commented that your communications were difficult to understand, and I would say in some parts just gibberish. It is not just the mangled words, but there are missing words as well. Mike has suggested a reason why some of this may be, but it does not help me understand what you are saying. No one here has even suggested that you are a burden to them, all I have said is that your communications make it difficult to help you. That is very different, and if you recognised it is a problem, then there is a chance that you could find a way to make the communication easier to understand. If you are using a speech to text device, then perhaps you could find someone to edit the output before sending it. They could then ask you what you meant to write and correct it, then most people would easily understand what you are trying to say. You may then find people deal with your problems with more care. I hope that you can find a way of being understood properly with less necessity for people to guess what you mean, and please continue asking for help here if you need it. I know that I feel sorry for the predicament you are in, and suspect most other members do as well, but we can't sort the difficulties with your text. Or Canal Ministries. The same applies, good listeners, and they try to help https://canalministries.org.uk/

Just seen this on BBC Midlands Today - the Birmingham BULLSINTHECITY includes one decorated with Roses and Dudley Castle https://bullsinthecity.co.uk/sculptures/bill-bull-barge/ springy

No they are not incompetent, they only have a certain amount to be spent on infrastructure and they do maintenance on a risk based work selection process as do many if not all industries. If you gave them £1b they still would use the same work selection process and rightly so.

Where do you get the idea that paying money gives you access to all canal? Your licence fee to C&RT allows you to put a boat on C&RT water. It doesn't allow you access to all canals. Perhaps if such a licence existed it would cost an amount which would enable all canals to always be open which would be several times (10 times?) what licences currently cost.

Interesting, Watching 'Escape to...' on TV last evening, train times to London from Newark 1hr 15 mins, I am in Chesham, end of underground Met line, time to London 55 mins......Newark sounds good, I collected my boat from a marina there 20 years ago, sold it last year, it went back to the same marina, can't be bad.

I seem to recall that (all? some?) of the marinas now run by Aquavista are leased from the CRT property arm. The buyout was for the business, not the properties. While technically from boat mooring fees, this will (correctly) be identified as investment and property income on CRT accounts. Income from CRT direct moorings will be reported as mooring income.

I'm afraid I don't remember the detail, and I didn't take any photographs at the time. But it certainly looks like a donkey engine and a couple of air tanks.

Yes https://www.annetvin.com/ https://www.majestic.co.uk/stores/newark https://www.aquavista.com/find-a-marina/kings-waterside-marina

Many/most suppliers use RAL colours, even if they actually give them fancy names... RAL3026 Luminous bright red is RGB(255,42,27) -- this is the "reddest" RAL colour RAL3024 Luminous red is RGB(255,45,33) -- very slightly less red https://www.ralcolorchart.com/ral-classic/red-hues As pointed out above, red paints fade faster than any other colour... 😞 (this is because red pigments absorb all the blue light which has the highest-energy photons, this degrades the pigments and causes faster fading)

I lived in Knowle during my teens, and family boats were moored at Knowle top lock. By 1976 the boats had been sold, but I was still a regular visitor to the flight. One hot 1976 day I arrived at the top of the flight to hear an amazing thumping sound coming from the direction of the bottom lock. It was coming from the small brick building on the towpath alongside the lock cottage, that I had never previously paid much attention to. The door was open and inside I found the lock keeper, Bob Knight, who had started up the two cylinder Bolinder semi-diesel engine which powered the back pump up the flight. Bob explained that the pump hadn't been used in years, but with the summit level low due to the drought he had decided to see if it could be got running again. It ran like a dream! A pulley on the shaft drove a wide flat belt which disappeared through the floor to the pump below. So successful was the pump that BW decided it should be used regularly, and the Bolinder was soon replaced with an electric motor. Bob Knight with the Bolinder at Knowle (c1978 according to the CRT archive, but I suspect may actually have been 1976). The engine had originally been installed in a Thames docks tug owned by the Regents Canal Company, but after the formation of the Grand Union Canal Company and the widening of the locks between Napton and Knowle it was installed at Knowle. I believe it is now in the museum at Ellesmere Port.

TBH I don't know much about other non-C&RT run waterways. So I shouldn't have mentioned ANT are 'like' other network providers. I was really just trying to point out that a lot of the saving is due to their use of volunteers. As I understand it, I think there were only 2 paid staff. Both of whom get their hands dirty! Bear in mind that C&RT do get large income from wayleave charges and subsidies (for the time being anyway). You are right though, it's not a very good comparison...and it doesn't change the fact that the infrastructure is gradually getting worse each year due to lack of preventative maintenance.

Lower Heyford area, Lovely quiet area with easy parking and a Railway station 10 feet from the Canal (lieteraly ) 15?20 minutes commute to lovely Oxford and less than an hour to the Big slum

No need for that either. His point was legitimate considering how little sense the thread made initially.

I think I am going mad reading this drivel. Do you have anything sensible, correctly spelt and punctuated to say? We all have problems but its rude to inflict them on others.

I remember trying to get down the arm to Aylesbury before the locks shut for the day to be greeted at the last lock by the lock keeper laughing as he put the padlock on stopping me above the lock, there was no love lost between the lock keeper his son and ACS. This meant I had to leave my little marine ply cruiser tied to the towpath whilst I went away to work for a couple of weeks, I took the outboard and boat contents home with me. Sometime in that period my mother had a call from the police asking my whereabouts as the boat was sunk and they were concerned I might be inside. She assured them I was OK and the boat remained where it was for the time being. A while later duly returned with the boat trailer ( I said it was small at 14ft) put the trailer half in the canal, there was no hard edging, tied the trailer to a tree, winched the boat onto the trailer, then winched the trailer out of the canal and assed the damage. There was a spark plug sized hole neatly drilled in the bottom of the boat so I screwed a spark plug in there and relaunched the boat and took it down to the basin. Over the following weeks I discovered through the grapevine that it was the lock keepers son who had drilled the hole and I worked out a way if getting my own back. He had a motorcycle that he used to leave on the road and one night I filled his fuel tank, there were no locks on tanks in those days, with cement. Took him ages to work out why it wouldn't go and to correct it. I was 24 at the time and a bit of a rebel🤔

My understanding is that they didn't go any faster per se, as they were still horse drawn. More that they were "faster" because they travelled for 24hrs a day