Morat

While I would never deliberately cause disturbance to a moored boat I think that people moored online should expect their boat to move around and be prepared for it. Even if there was a law to prevent speeding past moored boats it would still happen.

Is this a thing for stoners?

As with most pet questions, it's more about the owner than the dog. Although, as I'm sure you're aware, the correct boating hound is a Basset

Nice of someone to line the bottom with tyres to protect our base plates!

Sorry! I'm pretty sure you're right. It has been a few years since I took a 70ft boat down the Oxford. It's a single lock for a full size boat but you fit without swinging about. It is the shorter boats that are free to spin around because they are not held at both ends by the narrow parts of the lock by the gates. Shorter boats can use the extra width of the hexagon locks to fit in side by side. I think I combined the two experiences in my head to come up with bad advice....

It says something about the viability of the plan to invade England that they went off and invaded Russia instead, doesn't it!

They're fine. Two 70ft boats fit like they would in a normal lock just with extra space to the sides. If you're shorter and/or on your own in the lock you'll swing around a bit but a rope from the bow to someone standing near the gate will soon sort things out...

I'd expect it to ease off a bit in spring when the demand for heating oil goes down, but only if the other market conditions stay the same. You never know, China might set off again like an economic juggernaut and push prices back up again!

But you could switch it off at night

Take him with you but choose a route/section with lots of locks. Maybe the Stockton and Hatton flights. Don't let go of the tiller! He'll be in much better shape by the end of the trip.

Although the thread has moved on a bit.... it strikes me that the best place for the sill warning sign is on the boat in front of the steerer. I can't be 100% certain but I'm pretty sure that the Canal Boat Club boats (the ugly blue ones with no front door) from Market Harborough have just such a warning sign.

It's crazy. IMO all the London Weighting paid to public sector employees should be funded exclusively from the Council Tax raised from the boroughs within London. That way you end up with the people who benefit from the ridiculous house prices having to pay for the public sector workers who make it possible to inhabit those same houses. As it works right now, the regions are subsidising London house prices to their own detriment.

"Vultures" is a bit harsh! I'm happy with any and all comments (within reason!) Our mechanic is happy to give it a go, and he's convinced it will run even if we leave it for another ten years. The good news is that is has been sitting in a stock trailer all this time so it has been largely out of the weather. Stand by for another youtube video of two guys disappearing into a cloud of diesel exhaust

Thanks for the help folks. The engine will probably go up for sale in a few weeks time. The question really is whether we put enough effort in to get it running for a quick video first. We have a mechanic who can definitely do it, and the engine last ran probably 5 years ago, but the garage workshop is still being rebuilt and doesn't really need a lister in it just yet!

Hi Folks, We're replacing an old generator at work, and it turns out that the engine is a Lister. I doubt it is anything special or valuable but here are some photos if anyone is interested. A definite ID would be nice to have, if possible. Thanks

I was there on Friday and didn't notice any restrictions. Having said that, we moored above the locks at about 1800. Enjoy the Folly - we did!

I hope you were moving at idle! badummm tisssshhhhh

Not much of a surface Navy, unless you count Aircraft Carriers without Aircraft but I reckon our sub fleet is pretty impressive. Not that I know much about Navies....

This place is hilarious. I bet that if I posted a thread entitled "Someone gave me a free beer" there's be open warfare by page 2 between at least three factions on some subject completely unrelated to beer.

Sparkling news - our boat is 47ft. Now I just need to book 4 months off work so we can go and take advantage of our total fluke excellent planning!

Fracking, innit.

Aggh, it really does seem to be achingly close to being a major boon to navigation. Let's hope it gets funded sooner rather than later. Thanks for all the informative replies.

Riparian Landowners eh? I bet those objections could be overcome for a decent bung. That's probably all they're hanging on for. Once it's open they'll be letting moorings and setting up coffee shops all down the banks. /cynicism It looks to be a really good scheme, judging by the routes that it will join up.

I was just messing around with Canal Planner AC during lunch (as you do) and found the Higher Avon Navigation. Apparently there is an association that plans to restore it, but does anyone know what the current state of play is? thanks Morat https://www.waterways.org.uk/waterways/restoration/campaigns/restoration/avon_higher/avon_higher

I don't honestly know without checking against BSS regs. They only show ratings for A and E on the side of the extinguisher so you may have problems with getting a BSS inspector to sign off if you only have water mist on board. The good news is that they can be used on A,B,C,F and electrical fires (anything you're likely to encounter on a boat) to great effect. The only type of fires that they're not recommend for are type D which are metal fires. Unless your boat is built of Magnesium, you should be OK with that. I was talking to the guy who sells them to us (an ex fireman) and he said that the problem with getting them rated on all fires was to do with the way the testing regime works rather than with the extinguishers themselves. I can't remember the details but it was something to do with having to design a new test to cope with testing water instead of CO2 or Powder. OK, he was selling, but he looked me in the eye and I believed him. Anyway, you can see from the video how well it works on liquid fires. I'd carry the minimum required for BSS and a couple of these on top. I've got two 1L water mist extinguishers next to my desk as I type this They're light and handy - just what you need in a tight space. here's a better link http://www.safelincs.co.uk/e-series-water-mist-fire-extinguishers/