Paul C

You know when you're searching for a secondhand car, and you go see it, then later the dealer texts you and says "sorry, you've missed out, the car you were interested in has just been sold to someone else". They've not really sold it, they're just filtering out undesirable customers. Its a great list but I can't help thinking its too long and too customised, it will put off a well respected shellbuilder from dealing with you, even though on the face of it its a sound idea to have it. Maybe a better approach would be speak to 3-4 previous customers, get a feel for what their boat is like, whether they're happy, whether the process was easy and enjoyable, what happened during snagging, etc. And just go with a gut instinct rather than overanalyse it. I wish you all the success though.

If they can fix and maintain the Anderton Lift, then they can fix/maintain the swing aqueduct. Of course, the problem is the aqueduct's cost/(visitor)-attractiveness ratio is much lower, so there's not much incentive to do it.

A good approach would be to go ahead and canvas the shell builders, progress all the discussions etc, in private. But then report back with a time lag (of say, a few weeks or months) of the build progress on here. It would have advantages and disadvantages: Disadvantages 1. You will lose the possible insight of others more experienced and wiser. Advantages 2. Greatly cuts down the amount of drivel you'll have to wade through on the forum. In fact, it could virtually eliminate discussion and it just be yourself posting into an otherwise empty thread (this sometimes happens with build threads on other forums, eg engine conversions where the audience is less skilled and the poster is pretty much the most knowledgeable on the forum). 3. Long term, its a better reference for others in later months or years - because of less side-discussion which is more than likely irrelevant Of course its a disadvantage to the audience, because this forum is "infotainment" with each thread one or other end of that spectrum, depending on how it goes. Given how the other threads have historically progressed, I would encourage you do think through if you need the forum's insight and how it might end up if you missed it. And an alternate - for example talking to shell builders directly, paying them visits, engaging with other boaters more directly rather than online. Heck, you could even do a Youtube on the build - its the modern way, after all. I suspect it would not prove massively popular and not achieve decent monetisation though, what with the somewhat limited audience. Its not like you're as attractive as "Betty on a Boat" for example (I'm going to guess..)

I don't blame you.

A commercial boat operating on a commercial waterway, seems fair enough to me. How is a boat being lifted out of water damaging to it?

Normally, the value of an asset goes down considerably when its broken. So maybe, in the grand scheme of things, this is the time for CRT (with Government money...) to buy the Bridgewater. And add it to the "to do list" for fixing broken things......

Very susceptible to graffiti damage.

No you don't know what the Commission does, or no you're not Allan Richards? Given that I CBA finding them, and you seem to be unable to provide a link (or do a FOI request), does anyone else have these elusive minutes?

I did a Google.................found https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/section_77_complaint?nocache=incoming-1161056#incoming-1161056 and got distracted. I am sure they're very interesting. You are Allan Richards, right? I think we all know what the Commission does, its a first step in a law-changing process.

You've not quite got the idea of the Commission - they're looking to CHANGE the EXISTING laws you keep citing.

That's a good one for the CRT Commission to recommend then. They'll thank you for the suggestion. They could call it "Allan's Law".

You could have an exponential scale for time on VM

I think the idea was that even if they did have a HM, if they're not on it and they're on the towpath then it still gets charged. Original post this stand came from, with ALL highlighted in red and bold. Your reply immediately afterwards, in which you quoted cuthound (quote-in-quote isn't a thing on this forum platform). Of course, one way to do it would be to blanket increase the licence fee by 365x10, then have optional trackers for the home moorers which shows the number of overnights at their home mooring, for which they earn credits for next year's licence - or a refund if they cash out of the system. The tin foil hat wearers can pay the £10 if they are worried about being tracked.

Which is kinda the point? If they FRO the honeypot visitor moorings, we are half way there.

The failure was most likely because of the instability of the bank due to its method of construction combined with the torrential and prolonged rainfall that evening, which had the double effect of weakening the ground and raising the level of the canal (since it performs a drainage function and its overflows were overwhelmed by the quantity of water).

He was the Legal Officer for the NBTA at the time. I am unsure whether he still holds that position, or if he (possibly with help) paid the £15,000 costs incurred.

I believe part of the problem with Nick Brown's "challenge" was it was all theoretical - he was asked to bring a case to court of his own circumstances, rather than against the guidance in general. But it was a massive own goal, all the same.

p=mv They just need the momentum of a car and the load rating of a decent strap to impart the necessary impulse on the cash machine. Because of the v term too, its possible a car can generate sufficient momentum to do the job. A truck would be slower and more conspicuous for the getaway, after all.

There is a danger that your tone and frequency of posting loses its focus after a while, and you edge closer to the "drivel" we have seen an amount of, in recent times, on this forum.

That's the key issue - and why the CRT Commission has been set up.

Give them a chance though - they've not even properly assessed it. Rome wasn't built in a day, and canal breaches don't get fixed in such a short timeframe either.

I can't find it

I can't see how it would bring in that much per year.

To be honest, if all you can do is monitor voltage, you'll only get a very basic sense of what the batteries are like (good/fully charged, knackered, or somewhere in between). If you're getting back from work at 7pm and being its winter, its hardly worth running the engine for an hour. I assume you work 5 days a week?

You have to feel sorry for them. I suspect, after an initial couple of weeks flurry of "Someone is going to Die!!! The canal is breached!!! Water is flowing downhill!!!!!!", being beached on the drained Bridgewater water point is going to get a bit, errr, "samey".