PlasticFantastic

I'll probably get banned for this, but you really are a moron. Have you considered therapy? <edit>you really come across as a moron, you may not be</edit>

D'ya think? Actually I was just trying to start a perfectly reasonable thread leading up to whether canal dwellers were suffering as much as river-folk but, somewhat typically, it seems to have been hijacked by the point-scoring brigade. Please don't call me "sonny" Please do spell wit with one "t" Thank you (c:

It's ok, we've seen you.

Thank you! - a sensible answer; are you in the right forum? (c: So the levels are nothing like as volatile as the rivers, canals are not used to "transport" water at all but just fill up with rainwater? Like big puddles? R Or a pair of chest-waders (c:

Not being funny, but I would have thought the title "How are the canals?" would give anyone of around average intelligence a clue. Some very knowledgeable people contribute to this forum, but I suppose the trouble with an open forum is that it's not a requirement.

<pedant_mode>your opening and closing pedant_mode tags don't match </pedant_mode> Actually I didn't start this thread to debate minor technicalities with pedants, I wondered whether the canals suffer as much flooding as the rivers. I used to live on the Kennet at Reading which was very volatile, but that was on the River Kennet not the K and A canal. On the Thames now and the flooding is starting to get quite severe. The residents of Church Island needs waders to get to their boats and houses.

<pedant_mode>The river runs to both sides - there's a clue in the word "island"; that's a body of land surrounded by water.</pedant_mode> ...and there are boats I would take out in that stream, and boats I wouldn't. Narrow boats fall firmly into the category of "boats I wouldn't"!

This is Church Island on the Thames at Staines, taken by a friend who lives there. May have to be renamed Church Atoll... ...and, no, I can't tell you which bit is island and which bit is river

Yes. Oh, France? No. Not yet...

Well I bought a "pure" sine wave for about £150 for a 2KW inverter - I don't think it is pure sine wave like the beautiful £1500 victron which I foolishly sold with my last boat, but it is not square or modified sine either, I think it is a "simulated pure" or something where the pattern is simulated by increasing or reducing the voltage. I haven't tried a washing machine, but it runs phone chargers, laptop, vacuum cleaner, and microwave which traditionally give these things trouble. It is certainly possible that a sophisticated washing machine has more computing power and is more prissy than my laptop, in which case maybe get a twin tub as Bod suggested, or spend a couple of thousand on a decent inverter. I suppose I'll have to lug the washing machine onto the boat now... (-:

For a washing machine? Really? I think you will get away with a cheapy simulated sine wave from eBay.

I think you're just up the river from me Blackrose Can I post an evening view, taken this evening from my boat.

Saw one swimming across the Thames today and then slithering up a slipway. Not keen on snakes but felt immensely privileged to watch that. Mother Nature being swordidly beautiful.

I think the velcro idea is good Bizzard, but the six foot pole to cast off may be cumbersome. I reckon Simon&Jan has it with the magnets. Most canal boats are steel so you just need giant electro-magnets installed along the side of the canals. You could have a remote control, like for the telly, to switch them on so all you need to do is get close, point the remote control and Ker-LANG, safely moored up. I'd have to fit steel fenders to my placky boat though

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