Leaderboard

Yes I read it - non-story the Daily Mail of the canal world. I'm also fed up with the CRT baiters in this forum. We're soon going to have a fight for the survival of the canal system and all some people want to do is pick holes whilst the whole edifice (the canals,not those running them) collapses. There you go, battle line drawn.

Our boat has been at Glascote Basin since last November where it is being repainted to a very high standard by the team at Norton Canes Boatbuilders with experienced supervision provided by Sarah Edgson. There is more information on our website here. We did start repainting 'Alnwick' in 2005 but for many reasons, progress slowed when we had completed the outside of the back cabin. By 2016, we decided that the paint we had purchased more than ten years earlier was by then too old to use!

That's fine - but tell me how your stance will save the canals as the funding dries up. Personally I feel that the CRT baiters have an irrational grudge, and probably had it against BW. That's why they go for issues like this. The big battle is to stop canals closing - that might mean doubling the licence fee if no other funds can be found. The nitpicking troupe have not yet come up with a workable answer to this one. All they can bleat is "mismanagement" without explaining how better management would produce the millions needed.

So Waterways have 1569 locks to look after and two dedicated workshops that manufacture lock gates. And the above link details ... "The team have now assessed the damage and, unfortunately, this isn’t going to be a quick fix. A new gate will need to be manufactured. This could take a number of weeks, as workshops will need to procure materials and make the gate. The gate will then need to be transported to site and fitted, which could also take a few weeks." Yes. of course a gate will need manufacturing, that's why you have two workshops dedicated to doing just that. You own up to not carrying enough materials to make one gate! Why? Why will it take a few weeks to transport the finished gate? Do you move them by bus? I know all about tight budgets, no money etc. And I also know about P155 poor management. What are your Agreed Service Levels and how does the above stack up against what you're saying? Everybody else in the world is accountable for their actions and are not permitted to make up their own version as they go along without explanation, so what gives?

Hmmm. It certainly looks like you're getting your self-justifications ready for some deliberately non-compliant cruising, plenty of buzzwords in there. The trouble is that just because you can't find a way to act legally in order to get what you want, doesn't actually give you the right to break the rules. These aren't "challenges", they're the law. So just because you can't find a mooring exactly where you want one, doesn't give you the right to hang about pretending to be a continuous cruiser. Waffling about diversity, discrimination, able bodied or whatever is, sadly, irrelevant. It's easy enough to find a home mooring, same as its easy enough to buy a house - somewhere. You're just not entitled to one precisely where you want it at a price you've decided you want to pay. Tough. This is the real world, not a paradise for the wishful thinking. You are perfectly within your rights to do anything you want. And CRT is perfectly able to make your life hell if you break their rules consistently, take you to court (if they can be bothered - they don't need to), refuse you a licence and take your boat off you. So I'd think hard about this move. Living on boats is not always easy, it's expensive, and there are rules to follow which are being enforced more and more. Starting off with the intention of being non-compliant is not sensible.

As one of those young whippersnapper new liveaboards people love to moan about, I'd say we've done pretty OK over the last 90 days...

Any care charity has the option of not providing the care if it can't achieve the standard - CRT don't have that option - they don't just have to meet statutory requirements, they have statutory duties. There is a difference between holding CRT to account and "being on their case" - one frequent FOI user was found to be vexatious and CRT no longer have to comply with their requests. Those who want CRT to improve (and that's probably most of us) should pick their battles, not just try and make CRT's life difficult.

Dealing with ridiculous FOI requests must waste loads of money that could possibly fix a paddle or two.

Tixall Wide this evening.

Are you describing that as a "Grubby Boatyard"?

Interesting discussion, if a bit sad. We're headed into the UK for a fortnight around the 4CR starting next week. Looks likely that we will experience actual weather this time. (We're from California. We don't have that. Not like you'd know, anyway.) I guess we don't mind low traffic, but I hope it's not a desolate experience. We've planned 4 weeks a year for the next several. We've bought a share for our cruises starting 2025. Hope not to see the canal boating economy go south. We'll do our tiny part. Hope to see someone!

Only because after Terry Darlington made it sound dangerous in his book (it wasn't), no-one would insure narrowboats crossing the Channel any more. We did take Snail out to sea in Europe a few times where she behaved very well, even in chop. Unlike Chris Coburn who has achieved all kinds of exploits in his very ordinary nb, we had ours especially made with a 15mm bottom plate, ballast cut to fit so they couldn't slide, 67hp engine, PRM260 gear box, large prop (22x22), double sized skin tanks, all portholes, trad stern, tender that was always available for use if needed, easy to tow along behind on the big European waterways. Snail easily makes 10 kts, (we tested this on the Gent-Terneuzen Canal,built in 1823 which is 200m wide and capable of accomodating ships up to 125,000 tons, with a draught of up to 12.5 m) not a lot of use now we've come back to the UK canals. My blog and book illustrates what's achievable.

Ah, almost every sensible contribution to a debate needs a bit of racism to spice it up, doesn't it?

Howdy all We're out on the cut again and enjoying the sunshine we were gifted today. Checked my posts and saw that 5 years ago we shared some photos from our canal mini-moon, so we will have to recreate it tomorrow as our anniversary is next week! Leaving Mercia in the morning for Shardlow, then back again tomorrow. Did the opposite on Wednesday heading down to Branston pools, but the river was shut so we turned around to head back this way. If you spot Penelope given us a shout and a wave! Its so nice to see so many familiar names on the forum, we hope you're all doing really well. ❤️

This is just the stern end of the butty Achilles, now going backwards. Achilles was cut by Roger Farrington in about 2015 amid much concern from historic boat enthusiasts that yet another of the few remaining full length butties had been lost. I see this displays the name of the original boat. At the time it was cut I thought it would be more appropriate for the front end, which is most of the original boat, to carry the name Achilles, and the back end should be named Achilles Heel.

Let me get this straight. You think CRT should: 1) Spend more on maintaining the canal system in a navigable condition 2) Charge boaters less Do I have that about right?