Mikeonb4c

I was thinking more along the lines of the mystery man planning to make noises of an earthy/human kind in the night. I believe the bluesmen did used to call it 'getting my motor running', but I don't think it was gennies they had in mind, and I'm not sure a neighbouring boater would hold the moral high ground if they insisted on celibacy in the interest of peace & quiet. But far simpler (for mystery man) to moor across two spaces and avoid any awkwardness....until Athy came along

Maybe he was planning to make a noise in the night ( ) and was keen to avoid anyone overhearing him/them. Sounds like the parking might have been deliberate

and/or else keep the motor/switch out of the tube and use some kind of simple drive transfer to the fan unit in the tube?

My thought was that by keeping the electrical components (motor, switch) outside the danger zone, you should be OK? Where might that be? Somewhere on deck and ventilated? Only the ducting would be in the danger area.

I suspected as much. Mind you, a simple device using a manual switch should be easy and cheap to make, for those not too lazy.

Yea but no but (says the v. rare visitor on here)....you'd get better MPG out of that diesel Corsa, plus you have to factor in joker factors (breakdown, repair, accident, theft, vandalism, other capital items) plus occasional capital purchase, plus the cost of moving the car around and returning to boat, if you are to arrive at a meaningful figure for annual cost of owning a car vs. hire cost. Factors like stress and (in)convenience lie outside the numbers, but are also real.

Sorry to pop up out of nowhere, as a v. occasional visitor on here (I joined as I dream of one day cc'ing on a NB - fat chance probably!). Is there not some simple device that could make the bilges of petrol fuelled boats safer? For example, a device using an air suction hose (situated at the best point(s) in the bilge) whose motor (not situated in the bilge!) switches on when petrol fumes are detected (they can do it for CO, why not for petrol?) in the blige.

I've found Briwax polish excellent on things like obechi and pine DIY wardrobes at home. Quick to apply (ensure good ventilation due to fumes), satin finish, no darkening with age etc. BUT, it watermarks badly so is not good for surfaces such as table tops etc. (although ou can substantially disappear the watermark by redoing the Briwax). You can get Briwax in a range of tints, plus untinted, and it is a wax. I have an alarm bell telling me it may no longer be available in its original form though as the solvent did not comply with EU H&S requirements. But you could ask local antique restorers though as its what they used to use to make old stripped pine stuff look good ready for sale. Or maybe just google it.

Is it perhaps just an an abbreviation whose use has grown organically. So where people might once have said "The ocean liner QE2 arrived at Southampton etc....", they ended up thinking it was quicker, made more impact, and was more familiar (when speaking to a sufficiently close audience), to just say "The QE2 arrived at Southampton etc....". And is there something special about ships, especially to a seafaring nation? Why have they often historically been called 'she' for example?

Just returned from holiday to find the forum changed. A bit freaky when you didn't know it was happening. I wondered if canalworld had been disappeared/hijacked, and I couldn't see any more how to view new posts. A member has now helped me out on that one, and I'm sure I'll get to like the new forum although the old one was fine for me (I can't afford the likes of iphones I fear ). We should be (and I am) grateful for all the hard work modernising the forumware. Its a pity the system can't send an automated email to registered users telling them about it as then I'd not have felt stranded (I tried to spot any announcement thread about the changes but couldn't see one amongst the now rearranged and unfamiliar trees...until now!). I'm only a newbie so hope I don't sound ungrateful, because I am actually very grateful for the existence of this forum.

Thanks+++ - this old slowbrain is most grateful for that. ...and just like all the other *change management* I've had the dubious pleasure of witnessing over the years, common sense appears to have flown out the window. It ought to have been simple to send an automated email to all subscribers telling them of the changes, and you'd think that it could be anticipated that if the time honoured convention of making hyperlinks underlined (so that you knew what might take you where) were to be dropped, then people could be left floundering. They might just not have been (left floundering) if the wording hadn't been changed at the same time to something much less obvious in its meaning than 'View New Posts' but.....

Just returned from 3 weeks hols and the whole look of this forum appears to have changed. In particular I can't seem to see the 'View New Posts' option that I've always relied on with forums in order to see what I've missed since last being online. Am I missing something of has the software changed. I do think that sometimes (and especially with online IT) change puts me off more than turns me on (moan moan old mans moan!). Mind you, as long as the boats remain the same PS - no idea where to post this, so dong it here in hope, though I've no idea how I'll spot a reply without the 'View New Posts' option

You are right, and its all quite serious. The only cautiously optimistic note I could sound would be (thinking of what my situation may be in a year or two's time) that people committed to canal boat living and with time on their hands and wanting a focus to their existence, may be a useful resource that may act like one community and contribute to maintaining the waterways. But, against that, they may be ageing and with limited physical ability. And anyway, they are unlikely to want to commit to staying in one place with one volunteering commitment that prevents them from leading the peaceful wandering existence that drew them to the canals in the first place. The alternative is rising taxes for staying on the canals. Tough times all round I fear and a real concern for someone like me who may be imagining the canals will provide an affordable retreat in retirement.

Indeed, and what is the situation with voluntary workers who suffer industrial injury, decide they can't be bothered to turn up for work because its a sunny day etc. etc. - how are the organisation and the volunteer tied into legal obligations to each other? You can't run a dependable operation (statutory duty etc.) without these. It's all a morally bankrupt economic nonsense. But then so much is these days. Anyone fancy escaping on a narrowboat and leaving it all behind? Woops, forgot, that's why everyone is here ha ha!

I agree. This move to try and attract volunteers as a substitute for paying staff is disturbing. How does this help hard up people who need to earn a wage get back into work, or stay in work? It frightens me that we seriously believe this is the road to anywhere. Yes its great to have volunteers who......errrrrrr....volunteer, but parading semi-nakedly a desire to get work done for free on the one hand while collecting revenue on the other hand, is scary stuff.

Thanks for that. I didn't mean to sound negative, its just I use this technique (of scepticism) in order to check any tendency towards foolish dreaming. My only experience of narrowboating is a couple of holidays when a boy, lots of chats in recent years with narrowboat owners, and I'm going down to stay on friends' narrowboat this weekend plus to talk it all over, look over boats etc. No cash or time ot take a holiday on one at present so anything like that (and purchase come to that!) is well into the future. The peace, tranquilility, landscapes and adventure are all what attract me. On the other hand, I will need to decide whether living alone on a boat will for me be blissful aloneness or unhappy loneliness. Lots to think about!

Thanks Mike - thats really reassuring to read. I absolutely intend to read up, ask questions on here and generally studying the form (starting from a standpoint of 'doing this is not a good idea because...'). If I can knock down my concerns and still want to do it then great, if not then walk away. But determination can overcome a lot of obstacles! None of this can happen anyway until we've sold the house and traded down so plenty of time to champ at the bit whilst being restrained by circumstance! Mike

Thanks for the replies on handwashing my smalls (ooooh matron). I fancy the idea of one less appliance to drain power or go wrong - one concern for me is being out in the wild with electric gadgets that fail or else unduly drain battery power

Yes, I've been thinking that 45-50' ought to be adequate in size as liveaboard accommodation for a single man, whilst being affordable with many advertised at around £30k and that seem well presented and specced. Would others agree?

Thanks Derek, Keith and others - lots of useful info there. Mike

Well I'm not exclusively interested in steel. I would like a decent length boat that I felt had enough space when living aboard fulltime. I would like the boat to be 45' long minimum and narrow enough to explore the full canal network. And I would like not to limit my options on spec by (say) limiting my interest to wood when I thought there were not nearly so many wood boats as steel ones. Also, are there all sorts of other maintenance issues that arise with wood as opposed to steel? Out of interest, are there many wooden narrowboats about and how do their compare on purchase and running costs to steel. Crikes, we are wayyyyyyyyy Sounds lovely. I started gliding at Derby & Lancs Club, Tideswell, nr. Sheffield many years back. When their gliders got stuck above cloud in westerly wave lift, the instruction was to turn downwind and fly until over Lincs before descending through could over flat(ish) ground. Sounds like your migratory habits are similar.

sounds like solid fuel fire/c-h (and calorifier) plus diesel or gas blown air back-up for me then. Can the solid fuel fires burn both coal and wood happily and is there much windfall wood to be had around and about the canalside?

lubbly jubbly. And although you seem to be Sheffield based, the boat lives some ay off from there presumably? No idea why I'm asking, just trying to work out how you manage 4 days a week living aboard a coastal waters boat if based in the middle of a land mass

Lots of v. interesting stuff everyone and thanks. I have to admit to personally being inclined towards deletedaccount's line on it as the keep it simple aspect appeals very much (out of interest, can you run these things either on coal or wood, and how much windfall wood is there to be had?). But some back-up plan seems a good idea also. It's be nice to be able to plumb a diesel stove into the same radiator and hot water circuit as the dual-fuel and the calorifier, for strength-in-depth options

I'm not trying to groom you or anything Phylis, but are you sat on your live-aboard boat leading a leisurely life and tapping away on a laptop. How idyllic if so. I'm at (horrible) work where (ironically) none of the IT is working beyond a snails pace except for t'internet, which is working fine. Mad!