Rob-M

We had ours painted at Streethay Wharf last year and our very pleased with the work. We had full repaint plus blacking (including grit blasting), various external welding jobs and quite a bit of internal woodworking done. The boat ended up being with them for quite some time but that was partly down to us keep asking for more bits to be done. Whilst the painting was being done no other work was carried out as the boat was in their paint shed so most of the internal work had to wait until the painting was finished.

Surely you just send the butler out to stand over the porthole with an umbrella when it is raining.

I've added a few pictures from Saturday to my Flickr album, I'll add some more when I get home next week. https://flic.kr/s/aHskXCmDqm

Some prefer to travel downstream on the river.

I think it was Hadley that came round behind us on Saturday, he must have missed the bank by millimetres but the steerer kept it wound on so I presume it was what he expected. Certainly didn't look worried he was going to hit anything. When I came round in Scorpio it just seemed to keep going straight and I had to reverse back and try again, not sure if it was the wind blowing towards the locks or something on the blades.

Thanks, I'll wait for the comments about why I'm not looking where I'm going.

Maybe not quite the walk Charlie was supposed to have but he seemed to enjoy his time on cabin. You can almost see me steering as well.

i don't think CRT would approve of us drinking whilst steering one of their boats.

Tumblehome is the angle of the cabin sides.

Hopefully Scorpio has arrived, I will be there Saturday and it would be good to have a dry parade.

It was one of my playgrounds as at the time my parents boat was at Alvechurch. We watched the canal being dug and the motorway constructed.

The canal runs under the M6 toll at that lock just past where the M42 joins the M6 toll. The building of the M42 caused the diversion at Alvechurch to be built.

You could make having a new BSC part of the purchase conditions.

I had the suicide seats cut off last year.

My only requirement was a trad stern so that when boating in the cold or rain I can stand inside the doors to give some protection from the elements. We were fortunate that the boat we went for had an oversized hatch so we can both stand in the hatch whilst cruising. The OH would still prefer a semi trad so she has somewhere to sit down.

I've done the Avon Ring in a week with a novice crew and it wasn't easy, it was on a hire boat, we arrived back a late on the Saturday and had to moor overnight in one of the short pounds on Lapworth as to have any chance of making it back we had to keep going until it was dark. Didn't get time to stop in Stratford. If you just go down the Severn and up the Avon, then return the same route you should be fine depending what time you get away.

I have sealed Numax batteries, same ones for domestic and starter, all purchased through Tayna. I can't remember what model number they are though.

And is affordable to use, my experience is it is cheaper to use a MiFi.

Look around the £40k mark as I would expect to be offering around £35k for something in that price range. If you need to keep some of the budget for any work then come down to the £35k-£40k range. You should be able to find something less than 20 years old and in a reasonable condition for that budget.

Don't worry about noise as you stick it outside by somebody elses boat whilst sitting inside your own boat with the doors closed .

Rugeley recycling centre is near the canal, just along from Tesco. We disposed of our old fridge freezer there. They didn't ask for proof of residence in the area.

That makes it more attractive in my opinion, fed up with neighbours cat being sick on my counter and dragging it's claws up and down my cratch cover and my shiny paint job.

It's like postal chess.

Not sure how old ours is but we had it restitched last year and some reinforcements added to the corners where it had started to wear thin. This was less than £150 and as the canvas is in good condition it was much cheaper than getting a new one made.

Perhaps LadyG is still stuffing the fivers in to carrier bags.