Dave_P

Until the goal-posts are moved.

How about "I can't afford to live in London"? You can make a comparison with that and not owning a Ferrari, but, as far as I'm aware, no breakdown of social and community cohesion ever occurred due to a lack of Ferraris.

The problem for CRT is that any re-drafting was needed about 15 years ago. As each year passes, the situation becomes more entrenched.

I'm well aware that BW's guidance for continuous cruisers used to be substantially different to the guidance given now. However, that only goes to show that there is no single definition of a continuous cruiser, despite what some members would wish. For clarity, my original post was designed to speculate on the reasons for the 100 mile range suggested by IWA - that is, to prevent liveaboards who work in a single site from avoiding having a home mooring. I wasn't passing judgement on that other than to imply that members tend to look after their own interests (in this case, relatively well off retirees).

Your self-made-up definition of continuous cruisers isn't really helpful in this discussion and doesn't match with CRTs either, thankfully.

Thanks for the pedantry. I was (obviously) referring to continuous cruisers.

The cruising range suggested by the IWA is 100 miles. I work in Oldbury, West Midlands. To exceed the minimum range, I would need to go as far as Macclesfield in the North, Northhampton in the East, Sharpness in the South and Llangollen in the West. This effectively rules out any chance of commuting to a specific place of work, which, I suspect, is the whole point. I'd also wager that the majority of IWA members are retired. When I'm away from my mooring for a length of time, my cruising range is around 50 miles, Worcester, Stratford, Tamworth, Stafford, Gnosall etc. This keeps my commuting time to around 1 hour, which is reasonable for me.

Never remove the rope until you've removed the nappy pin, that way you'll never lose one.

A similar thing happened to me. While away, my calorifier exploded in my engine bay (cruiser stern). On my return I was puzzled as to why my water tank was suddenly empty. I proceeded to start filling my water tank. Then I noticed my water pump was running and I was very confused. Eventually I checked under my deck boards. I have no auto setting on my bilge pump. The engine was pretty much submerged. Boat didn't sink though.

Perhaps I'm not keeping up with price increases but is looks like a pretty well worn and tired boat with a basic fit out. Maybe a little on the cheap side but what are others saying it could be worth? £30k? £35k? I'm always having a half a look out for a longer boat but this one wouldn't interest me at all, even at that price.

I've used both types and never had one come off (that I can remember anyway). If put on correctly, I'm not really sure how that is even possible unless the whole section of armco is torn away.

I've been using mine for 8 years now and find them very useful. What's your problem with it?

I've been with Collidge & Partners since day one. The initial reason was that a saw their flyer at a marina, rang them and they seemed nice. Now I'd be unlikely to go anywhere else because, a few years back I had a large and potentially complicated claim. C&P were excellent throughout the process. I've been singing their praises to anyone who asks ever since.

I was quoting the article, not the bullet points. the article is not clear.

"Recently, a spot on the coveted Broadway Market stretch sold for £12,500, more than the cost of some of the barges floating there. " What this doesn't make clear is that the £12,500 is an annual charge.

I hear ya! Sounds pretty familiar actually

Thanks for this. It's always good to have a reminder of the things which can go wrong. As ever, the best advice is to remain vigilant and don't wander off or be distracted by gongoozlers. Were the folk lockside part of your crew or just members of the public? Or were you single-handing?

Answering my own question. This is Smethwick top lock about 1 minute ago. Maybe 1” down.

I'm interested to know your route. It seemed to have an unfeasible number of locks.

Thanks

I was referring to the Wolverhampton side.

I can imagine that Ironbridge must be tricky but how hard would it be to get the river navigable up to Bewdley? It's a nice town and I would think that having boats come and go would be good for the town's tourism etc. If all it would take is to dredge the shoal every couple of years, then surely the town council could budget for that? It seems such a shame to see the mooring rings there unused.

Interesting comments. Thanks.