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Dave_P

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Everything posted by Dave_P

  1. My link What do you think?
  2. Mechanical paint? It doesn't say exactly which engine it is. No mention of batteries( although it worryingly mentions a 'area for batteries' as if there aren't any), charger, tank sizes, calorifier, immersion heater, 240v system, toilet type etc. It does look nice but it's clearly the work of designers who put certain practicalities low down the list. I've said before, I'd always want at least 2 ways of; charging batteries, heating the interior and heating the water. Assuming there is a calorifier, this boats scores 1 out of 3 for me. On that basis, I'd pass on this boat. I'm sure there's a buyer out there who will love it though.
  3. Ah, so that's 228 Barleycorns then?
  4. Yes it's nicely done but £42,000!!! That's more than £1000 per foot. Remember this is an old boat which has been tarted up and may well need plenty of ongoing repairs. There's no mention of the mechanicals on their site. Definitely not well set up for cruising - although straight off the back deck into the bathroom might be handy for a speedy pee!
  5. Wow! spreadsheets! I just had a very clear idea of what I wanted and kept looking and not finding it. Then one day I popped into Braunston marina and there was a new boat in. I had a look and, bingo! it was perfect! I placed an offer there and then. The boat had been in the marina only a matter of hours but I didn't want anyone else beating me to it. Months later there were plenty of the other boats I'd looked at still hanging around for sale. Many were dirty/smelly inside and generally made you feel miserable as soon as you stepped aboard. Made me wonder what was going on in the heads of the sellers? Don't people have any idea about presenting things well? If I ever come to sell mine, I'll be scrubbing it inside and out for days! p.s. Alan, how tall are you again?
  6. The Moseley Folk festival in Birmingham is a short bus ride (or long walk) from the canal if you moor somewhere in the centre My link Last year there was a spin-off festival called the Lunar Festival which was pretty close to Hockley Heath on the North Stratford. I've been to both and can highly recommend. My link In response to Laurence, what does it matter what kind of music other people like? For many people, Folk is the music of today. There's a huge contemporary folk scene going on worldwide at the moment, although it doesn't always fit the mould of the hey-nonny-no 'trad folk' of yesteryear. I suspect that there's many reasons why folk and canals go to together. For example: The 40 odd years that Cropredy has been running has encouraged many folkies to get into boating. Folk is predominantly acoustic which suits boating perfectly (I've had a number of impromptu boat jam sessions). Folkies are fond of big bushy beards which keeps you nice and warm when cruising on a bitterly cold winter's morning
  7. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  8. In response to the OP, it's not just the stove itself that matters, it's also the layout of the boat. Some boats are quite open-plan, others are very compartmentalised. A boat with lots of little 'rooms' and a stove at one end is likely to be much colder at the other end. A fairly open boat with a centrally located stove will provide a more even heat throughout. Another common thing is the cold floor effect. I can easily have a ten degree temperature difference between the floor and the ceiling. Before living on a boat i never wore slippers. I do now! Also, when buying a boat, good insulation is probably more important than a good stove. The stove is much easier to replace! A poorly insulated boat is likely to be cold, damp and draughty irrespective of the stove you have. Finally, if it was -5 outside and I decided i wanted something akin to a sauna inside, I could probably crank up the stove to raise the temp inside to about 40 degrees! Not that I ever have.
  9. From memory I paid £100 per month for my 55' in the centre of Brum, with no facilities whatsoever. I was new to boating and just wanted to be sure of having somewhere to moor through my first winter. If I went back to continuous cruising, I wouldn't bother. Apart from anything else, the CaRT mooring inspectors aren't too fussed with over staying in the winter. There's far fewer boats on the move so far less pressure on visitor moorings. The cruising options a fewer anyway, due to closures. And then ice forms and you can't move, even if you want to. I think this is why people don't take up winter moorings. Where's the incentive? I've seen boats moored a few yards down from a combined sani station (elsan, water, bins, toilets, showers) right through december, january and february and nobody bothered them at all. So they got a better winter mooring for nothing than the one I ended up paying £500 for! Once I realised this, I moved closer to the sani station myself.
  10. Is there any plan to open the Lancaster to Kendal?
  11. I first got my first boat in November and needed to moor in Birmingham City Centre so I got a winter mooring which took me through to March. From March to August I cruised an area from Rugeley to Stratford so I could still get to work. In August I got a permanent mooring exactly where I wanted. I'm pretty sure I stayed within the guidelines. But... what if from March to August I had shuttled between Birmingham, Earlswood and Alvechurch (on the same pound), as some do? I'd be the equivalent of satan, according to some it seems. But why? What difference does it make to me now, on my permanent mooring if the boat on the neighbouring visitor mooring has only been moving a few miles? I can see the need to move on, to give others a chance to moor there and to stop people always hogging the best spots, but I honestly can't see why moving 20 miles away is any different to moving 1 mile away. In fact I can see mutual benefits for all boaters if cc'ers do stay within a local area. I get to know them and then get regular updates on local canal 'happenings' which I might not be aware of. They get easier access to work, education, healthcare etc etc. It seems to be that those who can't accept this are the boating equivalent of jobsworths with a 'those are the rules' attitude, without actually considered whether those rules are sensible. I'm glad to hear that CaRT are beginning to relax their position on this.
  12. I occasionally have to do food premises inspections which lead to these scores, as part of my work. Currently not all local authorities are signed up (e.g. Solihull as John6767 pointed out). As Ally says, it's not compulsory to display your score - yet! That may come soon. The inspection criteria is, to my mind, pretty straighforward, covering things such as: Do staff wash their hands when they should? Do staff receive any food hygiene training? Is the kitchen area cleaned properly? Are fridges and freezers at the correct temperatures? Is food properly cooked? It's not actually that difficult to get 5 stars if you do the sorts of things which common sense says you should. Personally I wouldn't touch anything scoring less than 3 stars. I take the earlier point about the dangers of living in an overly sterile world but if you saw the state of the kitchens in some 0 or 1 star places, I doubt you'd want to take a chance! Here's the link to the iphone app version, which can show all the places nearest to where you are My link
  13. I suppose that what makes it hard to give a definitive answer. How about including only waterways navigable by narrowboats and unlikely to cause the average skipper to soil himself! So: tidal trent to keadby is ok. round the isle of grain is dubious!
  14. I wondered about that, but is it further than Bristol? CanalPlan gives 428 miles from Ripon to Tonbridge but that involves going past the Isle of Grain. Allowing that wouldn't be much different to continuing from Bristol to Avonmouth, down the Severn Estuary to Bude and up the Bude Canal.
  15. What's the longest journey which can be made on British canals? Canal Planner has 430 miles for Ripon to Bristol. Is there anything longer? I don't mean artificially inventing a long and winding route. I mean the shortest / quickest journey between two points. Just wondering...
  16. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  17. Thanks for the suggestion. Just one small flaw in the plan: new squirell - approx £800. Minus approx £130 for old one. Amount to pay approx £630. Right now I'd struggle with £30! We students aren't known for our limitless wealth!
  18. Thanks for all the responses guys. I've been watching the readout on my CO detectors regularly and they've never showed anything other than 0ppm since this happened. (They have in the past but that's a different matter). So I'm not overly worried for the time being. I think I will be putting a new stove top on my shopping list though. If the screws on the old top have set solid (likely) what's the best way forward? Grind off the screws and drill new screw holes? I'm not sure I'm handy enough to do a proper job of that.
  19. I wasn't really worried about a fire hazard since the bit that has broken off hasn't left a hole leading to the fire box. It's really just from the sort-of back lip of the stove top. There is a smoke detector nearby and there's no smoke escaping. The fire triangle (heat, fuel, O2) doesn't exist here anymore than if the stove was undamaged, I don't store wood nearby and the surround is correctly tiled and hasn't changed since my last boat safety inspection. I'll try and upload a photo of the damaged bit later. My concern was that that if the damage caused further deterioration over time, CO might start to escape. So how can I prevent that? And how can I repair the stove? As things are I would be more concerned about the risk of hypothermia if I stopped using it!
  20. For a while now I've had a small crack on the top of my stove in the corner at the left rear. Recently I've noticed the crack getting a bit bigger so I had a poke at it with my finger and a small section of the stove top has completely broken off in the corner. About an inch or so long. Should I be worried about CO escaping and is there anything i can easily do to repair it? Also, what might have caused the crack in the first place? My stove in centrally located in my boat and I have carbon monoxide detectors both fore and aft of it, neither of which have gone off.
  21. My first move would be to arrange an appointment at the citizens advice bureau. They will be able to tell you where you stand legally and what measures you need to take to recover your costs. As other people have said, walk away from this boat. These people don't deserve your custom. I bought my boat at ******** and I now have mixed feelings about them (long story). I used to moor next to someone who bought from Whilton and he usually starts swearing as soon as their name is mentioned!
  22. How would they know which fuel suppliers you had used, unless you told them?
  23. Yes, I was glued to Johnny Castaway too! Is it still available?
  24. How does that work? Depending on the way the rudder is set, it will just push the bow or the stern over the staithe. Won't it?
  25. Taxman: Could you show us your fuel purchasing records for the last 5 years. Boater: No. I haven't kept any. Taxman: Why? Boater: Didn't think it mattered. Taxman: Why? Boater: I only use red-diesel. Taxman: Do you move this boat ever? Boater: No. Taxman: We've been spying on your boat for the last five years and we have proof that you've been all over the place. Boater: Oh yeah. I forgot. Taxman: So why haven't you used white diesel when travelling? Boater: Oh I did. I carried diesel back from petrol stations in a jerry-can to cover my propulsion costs. And I paid cash. Taxman: Er.....
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