Arthur Marshall

Thank you. The cash buyer thing not reporting it is so odd that it becomes suspicious, but what can you do if the police aren't interested? I become less and less sure what the point of them is... Anyway, I'm sorry about it all. It's an awful thing to happen to someone and you seem to have recovered from the trauma.

And then someone who paid cash for it (or says they did) walked away from the loss without going to the police or taking any further action? Wish I could wave goodbye to a few thousand quid as comfortably. It's an interesting point though. Someone buys a long unused boat for cash from someone who says they own it. Neither the real owner nor the fraudster have any proof of ownership (although the real owner would have a relationship with CRT and copies of docs), the only person who has anything is the buyer who has some kind of probably uninformative receipt. There is no proof that the real owner didn't sell the boat to the fraudster who then sold it on. You can see why the police don't want to get involved. I wonder what the insurance company, assuming it was insured against theft, made of it.

That makes even less sense. If the boat was sold on 12 April for cash, by hilaleigh432, and disappeared later that month, then it wasn't the OP's boat when it disappeared. So none of this is their business at all, it would be up the purchaser to pursue it, if it vanished at all. Presumably the OP was happy with the cash; the only reason CRT might dispute repaying the licence would be lack of registration from the purchaser, but they did repay so accept it had been sold and gone off piste, so to speak. Also odd, I think this is the first mention in a long thread that the boat had been sold before vanishing. But how can a boat that you've sold, and pocketed the cash, be referred to throughout as "my boat"? It's really not a stolen boat story at all. Some has bought it legitimately, paid cash, didn't want to licence it, sailed it off and repainted it somewhere. They'll be living happily in it on the towpath somewhere with no name or number and avoiding spotters.

I think it's more or less what was quoted before. Here it is: "Since the breach at Little Bollington in early January, the Bridgewater Canal team has worked hard to protect the canal and surrounding infrastructure. With emergency measures now in place – including stoplogs, an earth dam and temporary Portadams. We’re pleased to share that procurement work is now underway for a more robust medium-term solution, involving new timber stoplogs and a permanent earth dam on either side of the breach. This will allow us to safely remove the temporary Portadams and maintain canal integrity while long-term repairs progress. This will further reduce the unnavigable section to half a mile. Although it’s still early days, we’re currently aiming to have the canal fully reopened to navigation – including the Cheshire Ring – by December 2026. Initial consultations on repair design have begun, and we hope to appoint an engineering consultancy in the coming months. To date, around £300,000 has been invested in stabilising and protecting the canal following the breach. We remain committed to keeping the community, our boating customers and all interested parties updated as plans develop. We’re also in early discussions with the local Inland Waterways Association (IWA) branch about supporting a potential event in Lymm this August, where we’d look to showcase plans, graphics and a repair timeline."

I don't think I've mentioned he's on my ignore list recently. He is, of course, but sometimes I just can't resist poking the silly old bear so I have a quick look to see if he's grown up yet. Fat chance.

Better get down to it Alan! You really can't stay a total novice much longer now you've heard from an expert. How long is it now you've been a danger to everyone on lumpy waters?

OK, so you found it quicker than I did! That's exactly what I used. Probably took me longer because I didn't know what I was looking for in the first place.

It was off the shelf part, made for some kind of ducting connection. I just picked the one with the right diameter hole. Then I just bolted it to a plate the right size to fit to the Lister outlet and the hole in the hull. I had to cut those myself. I have no idea where I got the connecting doofers from, I'm afraid, or what they were called. I do know it took me a while on Google to find them!

Vey similar, except on my engine at least there's just one vent for the cooling air so I've just fitted a single outlet with that kind of tubing, and an equivalent plate at the hull vent. I was worried that it might be too small (presumably why the photo has two) but as the original canvas sagged so much it cut the capacity right down I thought it would be ok. Engine hasn't overheated since I did it.

Can't find one, but I'm down the boat Thursday so will take one then.

I don't quite understand what you are looking for. Initially you said you wanted to let someone else use your mooring while you were away, but now we are discussing how a continuous cruiser can park up for a while. I suspect CRTs attitude may depend on whether one is a home moorer out on a cruise, or a ccer who want a mooring for a bit.

I use a bit of flexible aircon ducting - a bit like the stuff you used to get for a tumble drier that you chucked out the window. I got a plate with the right size flange for it and bolted it to the outlet hole in the hull. I did make an aluminium box originally but the angles were a bit complicated and it ultimately fell to bits.