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As promised, here’s a little writeup of our week long trip on a Narrowboat with a 6 week old baby! There were 4 of us (My wife and I, my sister and her husband) and when we booked the trip we were unaware there would be a fifth guest! Trip was booked through Aqua Narrowboats on the Aqua Vida- would highly recommend them for anyone who is looking- great boats, nice location and brilliant staff. We collected the boat from Barton Turns Marina and, as advised by the friendly folk on here and the chap at the marina, took a right and headed SW awards Fradley Junction. Now for some baby stuff- our primary concern was sleeping arrangements. Justin from Aqua was very helpful and took the liberty of measuring the spaces next to & between beds so we could work out what she could sleep in- she’s a little small to be on her own in the Saloon. 58cm between the smaller double bed and the bulkhead was the magic number, and after a lot of digging found an ideal bed at Smyths Toys which worked a treat- easy to fold up and could disappear during the day. Beyond that, we bought her bouncing chair along with us too. It was a bit of faff moving bits around between day and night- our bed became the cot storage location during the day… but it was honestly fine. One of the saloon benches became a changing station as needed, but again, no real hassle. Baby is breasted, so we didn’t need to faff around with any bottles, sanitising etc- but I imagine that could be a bit tedious with the limited space. At that point she wasn’t bothered about dummies either, so we had no need for any sterilisation, but a lunchbox and Milton tabs would have sufficed if needed. First night we made it to Fradley junction end enjoyed a nice dinner in the Swan pub. We bought a very compact pram with us (Joolz AER+) which is fine from newborn onwards and folds up into a very small package- that lived in one of the cupboards near the back door of the boat. It was ideal for the short journeys to pubs etc and gave her somewhere to sleep while we ate. We also had a Tuya baby carrier with us which was very useful. Day 2, we stopped at the big Tesco in Rugely to stock up, then continued on to Great Haywood and had another nice dinner in the Clifford Arms. We also rescued an uninhabited boat that was blocking the canal… that was a bit of excitement for us! (The mooring rope had totally disintegrated, so I was pleased to see my knot still holding tight when we passed it again a couple of days later!). Day 3 bought us to Stone. We moored right outside of the big M&S (Near the winding hole) and marked our ‘turnaround’ point. For the life of me I cannot remember the name of it, but we found the most amazing Italian restaurant. Probably some of the best Italian food I’ve eaten in the UK, would HIGHLY recommend. Day 4 turned us around and we got back to Great Haywood, then continued along the Staffs & Worcester mooring opposite Stafford Boat Club. Lovely quiet place… can’t remember where we ate! On Day 5 we span around and headed back towards Great Haywood to go back onto the Trent & Mersey canal where we stopped just outside of Rugely for the night. There was an epic rainstorm just as we were getting towards the junction itself- and for anyone that’s been there you’ll know it’s very narrow and stopping isn’t an option… so that was fun! Day 6 took us on a leisurely trip to Alrewas where we stopped early in the day and visited a nice coffee shop, then had some food from the local takeaway fish & chip shop- would recommend! They had a great variety of food. That left us the short journey back towards the marina to reluctantly return the boat. We had a lovely, relaxing trip and in the same circumstances, I would absolutely do it again. In reality, I think we were at the perfect age window for the baby- even now she’s far too interested in things to want to laze around on a boat for days..! It does still remain the only time she’s slept all the way through the night though… I believe that was the case on 3 of our 7 nights, so that was a treat for us. The other couple on the boat were incredibly excited for the bonding time with baby and were well aware that there would be sleepless nights etc… in reality I think we have lucked out as she’s still not a particularly fussy baby. Mum had a wonderful week and was able to get some well deserved rest between feeds which I know she appreciated- there were plenty of naps happening throughout the week (For all 5 of us!). Not having to work meant I got to spend a lot of valuable time with her… plenty of photos of her in her carrier being worn by Captain Dad! We ate in pubs virtually every lunch & dinnertime, so that was pretty easy. Someone had mentioned breastfeeding in a pub may be an issue… if any other pubgoers had approached that subject I’d have (not very politely) told them where to shove it As expected though, it was a complete non-issue. All in all, a 10/10 week for us and we were able to create some lovely memories and take some great photos that she can look at when she’s older. Thanks all for the advice- it was all very welcome and extremely helpful!

What actually seems to annoy you is that people dare to give their opinon on the subject matter at hand rather than a direct answer to the specific question you asked. I suspect that's a function of the way your brain works. Unfortunately for you the rest of the forum membership doesn't work the way you want it to. You assume that's their fault and respond by showing your frustration far too readily and with a posting style that I think grates with many members. What I think most contributors to this thread will have experienced is that you asked for advice on fenders, they gave you plenty, and then had it rudely thrown back at them. Largely because they didn't take the initial question in as literal a sense as you intended. No one here will be bothered if you choose a long button rather than a tipcat. But they will have noticed how you've used negative descriptions of other people's boats in the course of the thread as a means of justifying your own preference.

I also don't actually mind paying some more in principle (liveaboard CCer); however, I don't expect this move to increase CRT's budget for maintenance, rather just try and plug the gap left by the lower DEFRA funding, so it seems more likely that it might enable them to maintain current standards rather than improve anything. To increase the budget significantly they'd probably have to hike the price to beyond what many will pay and thereby not gain much overall when some chose not to. I think high management salaries are a red herring/not useful in this discussion - they take pennies from the overall budget and you do actually need some high paid bods in an organisation as big as CRT, which is responsible for the generating and spending of many millions of pounds.

Fewer blue signs and lower executive pay. Surely if it’s been beaten to death many times that means it’s likely to be correct? But actually the main thing is the dissolution of the primary asset - the skilled people and the plant. And the switch to near sole reliance on contractors. A model that had been discredited at least 10 years previously. The better model being the retention of the majority of skill and plant, with the use of contractors limited to massaging the peaks and troughs of demand.

I like the bit about some people not being happy about the increases. I'm trying to work out who are the over-joyed ones...

She looks very nice, I like the paint job. Is that an Aintree shell?

Yup. The majority of canal boats have a diesel engine and a propeller. Put a gearbox on the end of the engine and then a rotating shaft to the prop and you pay the standard licence fee. Put a hydraulic pump on the end of the engine, some pipes and hose and then a hydraulic motor to drive the prop and you pay the standard licence fee. Put an electric generator on the end of the engine, some wires and then an electric motor to drive the prop and you pay a reduced licence fee. Where's the logic in that? Ah, you say, but some of the electricity I use to power the motor comes from the mains or my solar panels, and is stored in my large battery bank, so I use less diesel than the boater with a mechanical or hydraulic drive. But if I get myself a large battery bank and connect a generator/motor setup to my mechanical or hydraulic setup, I too can store electricity from the mains or solar and reduce my use of diesel. But I don't get a licence discount. Where's the logic in that? If there is to be a discount for electric boats it should only apply to those that have no diesel engine on board!

He might.... I reckon you were on a train going through Neath, where the railway crosses the Neath Canal, the River Neath and the Tennant Canal in very quick succession - technically all three are navigations, none are used now.

Remember those ads in the 'Miscellaneous' section "Make a fortune for very little work, send 2/6d posta order and a SAE to find out how" ? Well my dad sent off the 2/6d postal order and an SAE to find out the answer. After a week or so his SAE came back containing a note saying: "Put an advert in Exchange and Mart like I did". 😅

This one isn't needless but its useless

I really don't agree with you. Welding in steel sheet to replace large bus windows would, I expect, involve considerable stripping out of the interior in the window area to prevent heat damage to panels, insulation etc. This would not be a straightforward job that could be undertaken during a typical repaint as far as I am aware. Not an issue with a shell but very tricky with a fitted boat. I think the Kedian insert panels would be straightforward to fit and would look amazing when painted.

It has been suggested that some users may enjoy a thread specifically for homebrewing. Its a hobby I used to do a lot of around 2009-2013 but haven't don't for best part of a decade. @Moley pretty much taught me everything I know about winemaking. I'm currently brewing a few things, if anyone wants the recipes let me know. Here's what I've got on the go: - Wurzel's Orange Wine (WOW) with red grape juice instead of white - Apple Juice and Black Grape Juice - Rose hip and lavender (experimental sparkling) - blackberry and cherry - rhubarb and plum Each one is one gallon, so 6 bottles per batch.

? It's a 22 foot cruiser, it might have an outboard on it so all your waffle could easily be irrelevant, it would have a separate petrol tank no fan belts etc. The original question was what river do I need to go on which is the Trent of course, if they are asking questions like that the answer really is a trailer home is best for you

A spare one of most things for when you lose one.