Matt and Miriam

Hi Ritchard, tried to PM you but it wont let me. I'm asking around people I know at the moment to see if anyone's got anything they're getting rid of but failing that am going to have to fork out for a new one and might well take you up on the Honda genny. Which Honda genny(s) can you get and how much are they? Cheers, Matt.

We're moored at the first bridge on the Coventry and had our generator stolen from the back of one of the boats sometime Tuesday night/Wednesday day. Pretty philosophical about it, it's usually chained to a post on the deck but wasn't for the last week or so - so I was kind of asking for it. Just a heads up for anyone passing through Fradley Junction to keep anything out on display locked up. And if you bump into anyone flogging a cheap red frame mounted petrol generator (a bit like this) point them in my direction Matt.

Have had more than one occasion to be less than impressed with BW in the past but on two occasions over the last couple of weeks I've been thoroughly impressed by the West Midlands office. My wife is currently pregnant with twins. We live aboard and have been, and were planning on, cruising but decided we wanted a base for a couple of months before and after the births. They've sorted us out with a temporary mooring straight away. Guess moorings work like council flats, so if any of you are struggling to find one you know what you need to do! Then last week a fallen tree blocking the canal was cleared within a couple of hours of notifying them, cut into nice managable sections for me to cut up Still stuck though because of a stoppage at Colwich locks. Saw a boat go by yesterday, then a few hours later the owner pullling it back by rope! Was low on water so had to pull it around 1 1/2 miles back to the next winding hole

Just found these 100deg screw drivers: http://www.carbtune.com/bevel100.html Think I'll buy one of those instead and just use saddle clips

Will be installing gas soon and am looking for clips for supporting the gas pipe. I'm going to be hiding the gas pipe just under gunwhale height with a small overhang on the lining on the cabin sides obscuring it. I need to be able to fix the clips before I put the cabin lining up as the overhang of the lining will prevent easy access to the clips. Was planning on using some kind of push fit clip similar these Hep2O clips. I've had a look through the BSS guide and found minimum distance for supporting pipes but can't find anything about what to support them with. Would there be any problems with using plastic push fit clips? Any other suggestions? Many thanks, Matt.

John, I'm curious whether you object with the same intensity to the 'weekenders' who occupy the same moorings/same area week after week throughout the summer? Theres only so far you can go on a boat in a day before having to head back to the marina after all. Seems a bit like double standards to me. A little jealous maybe? Matt.

Having had the mooring pins pulled out our boat by a large group of kids on friday night I reckon it would be worth having some kind on list of hot spots worth avoiding, and decent places to moor near them as it's usually town centres. Having moored in and around Rugeley lately we'd not recommend staying at the visitor moorings or anywhere near the town. Theres been a lot of vandalism and several assaults lateley. However we wouldn't want anyone to right the whole area off. A short distance either side of the town there's some nice places to stop for a day or two. On one sides there's BW long term moorings near Spode Hall House(I think that's the name!) and the villages of Armitage and Handsacre. Canalside pubs and bus stops nearby both. And the other side moorings at Wolesley Bridge/Great Haywood. Some beautiful countryside and again, pub and bus stops nearby and not far from the Chase if you want a decent walk.

I worked at a school in Tamworth last year, mostly with kids with behaviour problems. The canal bridges closest to town on the Amington Rd and Glascote Rd are favourite haunts for a lot of them to drink and smoke (and cause trouble) at the weekend. Even with the good rapport I have with a lot of the kids their I wouldn't moor up their. I'd still be wary in Fazeley. You could always go through to the other side of town and moor up in Hopwas. Couple of nice pubs next to the canal and woods to walk in. Incidentally we were moored up in Brereton(Rugeley) on Friday night and a group of about 15 lads unpinned our boat (we always tie on and off on the boat so you have to climb on to untie). It was chucking it down with rain so the dog didn't hear them and we didn't notice till we were completely untied and floating away. Phoned 999 when they started chucking bottles from the road over the fence at the boat. Took the police over 30 minutes to respond, by which time they were well gone. Ended up more annoyed with the complete lack of interest displayed by the police than the kids that unpinned the boat. I'd avoid Rugeley visitor moorings and a good mile or two either side for the moment. Despite the descending dark and cold theres been a lot of kids and a lot of trouble lately. Mostly just benches, wheelie bins, road barriers etc. chucked in the cut but have heard of a couple of assaults in the last few weeks. Would it be worth having a sticky thread on here somewhere so people can give others a heads up to places worth avoiding?

I've just fitted a pair of Enfield Garage Locks to our rear doors. They throw bolts 70mm up to stop the hatch being lifted and pushed back. At the moment the bolts are just thrown into the air, and do the job fine, but i'm going to fit a nice meaty chunk of wood at the back of the hatch and drill holes for the bolts to fit into. Works a treat. Can be operated with key from both sides so solved our problem of needing to lock the boat from the inside. Saves messing with ugly hasps and padlocks as well. Link to one on ebay for £19 + postage. Well worth the money.

Yeah, thought that when i'd posted it but am loath to edit things too much. You'll have to excuse the hypocrisy just this once I'm sure it did, and i'm sure he loves how it looks. The point was different people have different likes/needs/etc. Trad vs Cruiser, CCing vs Marina, etc. People often insist what they own/think/do is right, and it oviously is for them, but fail to respect others choices. What suits one doesn't suit the other. Eye of the beholder and all that. Anyway, enough from me. Made my point and don't want this thread to go any more off topic.

The intention of this isn't to hijack the thread or wind people up, but I doubt if I'm the only one that feels like this. When I started a thread a few months back asking for advice on how suitable verticle sides were on a narrowboat we got a mixed response ranging from really useful to pure opinion to the irrelevant, including you calling us 'philistines'. We've since bought our barge style narrowboat, complete with vertical hull and cabin sides and a square stern, from Ledgard Bridge and whilst you may think it looks like a brick, we think its looks gorgeous and has found it meets our needs perfectly. We've taken it all over the place and not had a single problem with bridges, locks, mooring, pushing off, winding etc. related to the design of the boat. I'm sure you also think you're boat is gorgeous, but I think the decor in your kitchen looks like a cheap council flat bodge job. But thats just my opinion. Stop referring to a tradition that doesn't exist and realise times change and things evolve and, usually, improve. Different people have different needs, hence differently designed boats. What fictitious 'tradition' is your boat based on anyway? It looks very very little like a traditional working boat. Whilst a lot of people are prepared to sacrifice cabin space/etc. to make their boat look more 'traditional' a lot, including us, aren't and are perfectly happy with the boats we have. Why can't people on here offer advice without trying to twist their opinions into fact? I have found these forums massively useful whilst deciding on what style/size/etc. boat to buy, and now for tips and advice whilst i'm fitting it out. It can be a thoroughly unpleasant sometimes though and the tone of a lot of replies puts me off adding my own. Having got so much from the forums I'd like to contribute whatever I can back but a lot of the time don't bother as it saves getting into irrelevant 'debate', re:"How Green", as people rarely seem to be able to agree to disagree. Rant over...

We wanted something different to the Squirrel/Squirrel-esque stoves you see everywhere and went to look at those exact stoves at a Machine Mart. They didn't have that tiny one on display, just a couple of the bigger models. The door was tiny and they were'nt brlliantly made. You get what you pay for I suppose and £70 is *very* cheap for a stove, but i'd save my money. There might be other makes of pot belly stove that are better but was thoroughly unimpressed with the Clarke one. Ended up with one of these, not much smaller than a squirrel I know, but the smallest/reasonable size/decent quality/different stove we found.

We took delivery of our sailaway at the end of July. We're in the process, pay cheque by pay cheque, of lining and fitting out. We also spent a while umming and ahhing about whether or not to seal stuff before lining but in the end decided we'd rather spend a little extra time and money now than risk having to rip off and redo anything in the future. Agreed, it's probably be fine without but it's a bit of extra piece of mind. Trying to keep as solvent free as possible (apart from the spray foam ) we used OSMO Fence and Garden stain to paint the battens and backs of lining with. No odour/dizziness whilst painting etc. Incidentaly, is there any reason you've scraped the foam off metal battens? Our wooden battens are fixed onto the metal ones (I'm sure they have a proper name!?) so protrude meaning when we cut back foam we didn't have to reveal any bare metal.

Depends what the mole smells like now I suppose...

Rather than kill the mole perhaps you could catch him in a humane trap and keep him alive to harvest his hair to make your own yarn/wool? Would solve both your problems at once. To quote the last link: "Clothes that are made with dog or cat hair are very comfortable, very warm and exceptional without saying unique.". I'm sure the same applies for Mole-hair trousers.

Without wanting to hijack the thread I'd be interested in anyones experience of these air blown Eberspachers or other dry diesel heaters in their own right. Reliability, fuel/power consumption (as they're usually different to those quoted by manufacturer), noise, etc...

What could be more fun on cold autumn night than learning How to Darn a Sock.

See no reason why it wouldn't work. I'm sure I've seen something similar used in conjunction with diesel heaters. Will have a look and post the link if I can find it. Bear in mind though that if/as the fire cools overnight you'll be blowing much cooler/cold air into your bedroom. http://www.eberspacher.com/airheating.php?section=airheating This isn't the one I was thinking of but looks similar. Shows the idea works fine anyway.

At the risk of being accused of preaching or spreading mung-bean links around the forum... If you're interested in how/why you purchasing or boycotting Nike, or other trainers, has an impact have a read through the following: Boycott Nike web site (one of many) Ethical Consumer/Ethiscore report on trainers The more products you buy that are produced in sweatshops the more people in them are required to work. There are ethically produced alternatives (vegetarian shoes, no sweat trainers). The idea of the boycotts being that if the company loses enough financially (as shaming them doesn't seem to make the slightest difference) then they'll be forced to improve pay/conditions of their workers. There is of course the argument that if you didn't/don't buy these trainers/clothes/etc. then the people employed in the sweat shops would have no work at all. It seems that ignorance is indeed bliss. The more you know the more dilemas there are...

If it helps give an idea of prices ours was built up in yorkshire and wagoned down to the midlands where it was put in the water. Cost us about 400 for the wagon and the same again for the crane this end, hired firm crane not the boat yards.

Is that really it? You're entire argument consists of childish insults, talking like you own the forum and not wanting to hear other peoples opinions?! Continuing this would seem to be a waste of time... That's something you can do yourself at home, Ecotricity amongst others supply residential green power (comes from wind farms rather than nuclear though).

Will that not work? Is he as narrow minded as his reply portrayed him?

Don't worry, not that I imagine you will, you'd have to try an awful lot harder than that to upset or offend me. I do wonder though why a difference in opinion/lifestyle offends you so much? I realise that the choices we make in how we live don't appeal to the majority and was in no way trying to preach, but rather point out that if we can make such massive 'sacrifices' and still be fit, healthy and very happy there's no reason why others can't. The computer this is being written on is the one i'm meant to be working on at the moment. I'm not suggesting you shirk all technology, just think about how and when you use it. Why drive to work/shops if you can walk? Why watch other people taking part in life on TV when you can go outside and take part in it yourself? etc. I'm curious as to what you believe is so special about yourself that entitles you to live your 'one life' with no regard for those that follow and blatant disrespect for the way other people choose to live their 'one life'.

To a greater or lesser degree we are all to blame and all responsible for doing something to fix things, or at least minimise damage. I consider myself to be very green, but still recognise there's always more I can do. I cycle/walk/bus to work every day. Apart from the occasional organic free range egg I eat no animal derived foods. I consume no other animal products. I don't own a TV, fridge, washing machine, microwave or any of the other 'life essentials'. I take a rucksack/old plastic bags when I shop. I try to buy second hand wherever possible. I try to repair things instead of throwing away and replacing. The list goes on. These aren't changes I've made overnight but over a long period of time. Anything you can do to reduce your impact will help. 50 years ago people survived quite happily with no TV, with no washing machine, no fridge freezer, no 2 cars per family, no foreign holidays. I find it amazing that in such short a time these items have turned from 'luxuries' into 'essentials'. Some links that might be of interest: We Are What We Do Buy Nothing Christmas Vegan diet can save the planet Imagine earth without people The Schnews

Yup, you just need to experiment and see what works. I think it's got more to with ventilation though than the amount of fuel you stoke it up with. We have one of these, that I installed a week ago today. There's a butterfly vent in the flue, that we leave 100% open all the time, and the door below the grate can be propped open at 2 different gaps but that's it, no fancy top or bottom vents or anything. More through luck than judgement ours has been on 24/7 for the last week, most of the time just ticking over with the bottom door completeley closed. Haven't needed to stoke it up at night, just a couple of small logs or half a dozen pieces of the brandless smokeless coal we've got and there are plenty of embers in the morning to get it going again.