IanD

The whole thing smells like week-old haddock in August to me -- lots of excuses about why anything that would make the deal safe are turned down for reasons that don't really make sense. Ivan, step back, take a deep breath and look at everything you've told us, ignoring the fact that this is the boat of your dreams. Does it all really stack up? A genuine seller in the position they claim to be would not be insisting that you do what is being asked for, and turn down all your suggestions. It's most likely a scam. If nothing changes, walk away.

Have you tried putting your boat/engine/gearbox details into the calculator at https://www.vicprop.com/displacement_size.php ? In previous discussions this always seemed to come out pretty close to recommendations from engine suppliers and other people in the know like Crowthers.

An inch of pitch is roughly equivalent to half an inch of diameter for a "square" prop (e.g. 18 x 18) because absorbed power at a given rpm goes up proportional to [pitch*swept area] and area is proportional to diameter squared. So for an undersquare prop (most out there) an inch of pitch is equivalent to more than half an inch of diameter -- for an 18 x 12 an inch of pitch equals 2/3 of an inch of diameter.

Given that -- like us -- you like pubs and don't mind locks, if you want a week-long ring either Cheshire (with Peak Forest) or Stourport rings might suit you better than the Four Counties -- we've done all of them as well as the Warwickshire (and various other week-long trips) and I think they'd be our two favourites. If you've got a few days longer (9/10 days) and *really* like locks (and pubs, and a *long* tunnel, and fabulous scenery), you could do a lot worse than the Rochdale/Huddersfield Narrow ring. Or in the same time you could do the Four Counties and the Caldon, the Black Lion at Consall Forge is lovely...

The basic problem for the OP is that the canals with the best scenery and pubs -- and often, the most interesting places to visit -- tend to be those in hillier areas with plenty of locks. Like mrsmelly we also found the Llangollen pretty boring (except for the obvious couple of brilliant bits) and it certainly doesn't have a very high good pub score, and as noted the southern Oxford also has a pub problem (some nice pubs but very long stretches without one). The other problem for a booking in Sept/Oct is that a lot of the routes that might suit them are out of action due to water shortages or other closure reasons...

You prefer alternative facts, then? 😉

No, it'll seesaw around the centre of flotation, which is usually not the same place as the CoG. But this is only exactly true if you move a weight in the boat, if you add weight to one end the CoG shifts as well, so the seesaw point is somewhere between CoG and CoF.

Maybe here would be something like you're looking for? I've attached one of their sample CAD drawings, no idea what their reputation is though... https://www.thefitoutpontoon.co.uk/ https://www.thefitoutpontoon.co.uk/narrowboat-widebeam-hulls-sailaways/

That's exactly what we started by doing, but they were still slow because the sole lady (husband steering) was the meat in the sandwich and didn't really understand how to speed things up with two boats. When we overtook we had 2 on the bank locking with our boat and I stayed back with the other boat following us to help them through, this speeded things up a lot because they were following not leading. They did appreciate it, they were also booked into the Queen's Head for dinner and we'd both have been late if we'd carried on as we were. When we swapped everything got faster and the lady on her own found it much less effort since I was helping her, in fact her husband passed me a pint of rather nice cool cider as a thank you 🙂

I've travelled overnight with boaters when we had to get from Broxbourne to Cosgrove in the 3 days running up to Xmas 1985 (more than 50 hours travel according to Canalplan). I especially remember going down Marsworth locks about 1am with mugs of hot soup, everywhere around was covered with snow, and it was dead still with a full moon -- absolutely magical, like being in a dream. Then the bows got hung up on a protruding stone and we had to get the bloody hydraulic paddle gear closed before we sank in the lock, which wasn't in any way pleasant since it was badly maintained and took tens of turns to close. I've hated that gear with a vengeance ever since -- why didn't the idiots who designed it at least fit a bypass valve so the paddles could be dropped quickly but under control in an emergency?

Also tried the Bitter Brummie and didn't like it -- it wasn't in bad condition, I just didn't like the taste. But they had several others (all well kept) which we did like, so no complaints -- I'd rather have distinctive tasty beers (that may or may not be to particular people's taste) than bland ones which offend nobody but also please nobody. The original use of "gastropub" may indeed have been what you said, but there isn't really another term for "mostly a restaurant but with a minority of pub left" places which are now in the majority, especially outside towns -- what I'd call proper pubs need enough local regular drinking trade to keep them going, which is rare outside towns and cities. In my mind if you can't walk in and get a beer and find somewhere to sit because it's all reserved for diners, it's not a pub any more, it's reaaly a restaurant with a bar that looks like a pub not a restaurant... Not that some of these aren't very nice, the Navigation at Dobcross is an example -- great beer and food but the first time we passed four of us couldn't even go in and sit at the bar. Second time we rang ahead to book and had a splendid evening. Can't blame pubs for going this way to make enough money to keep going, but we're losing something as a consequence.

Two pump-out. Each in their own bathroom, with shower. Luxury 🙂

I'd say it places much more emphasis on food than beer, which in my mind makes it a gastropub. But we stayed until closing time plating crib at our table without feeling out of place, so definitely a pub not a restaurant -- and the beer was good and had several choices. Some of us had pizzas for dinner (which were good) others decent upper-class pub food. Weighbridge is good (see last night) but small, and we couldn't try the food because it was fully booked -- but what we saw looked good. After the diners left more drinkers arrived and it turned back into a nice local pub. Weighbridge at Alvechurch Marina is definitely public now, as reported...

I didn't list the beers because there were many and I didn't write then down, not being a trainspotter -- also many are likely to change if you go next week. All had multiple beers, all from small breweries -- from memory... Queen's head -- 4 including Salopian Cardinal's Hat -- 6 Black Star -- 5 (4 from Wye Valley) Duke William -- 6, all Craddocks Bull and Bladder -- Batham's Mild and Bitter Ma Pardoe's -- 4 Old Swan : original, a stronger pale, a very good dark, and NPA (Nethrton Pale Ale) Fountain -- 4 including good Banks's mild Weighbridge -- 4 including good Holden's mild In every one we found at least 3 or 4 beers that we liked (different people with different tastes) so there didn't seem much point being more detailed, I'd happily spend an evening in any of them. Except the Bull and Bladder, the bitter was ambrosial and that's all I'd need for days... GBG is much more selective than WhatPub and has a lot more detail of the pubs that are in it.

Good Beer Guide (CAMRA) not Good Pub Guide (obsessed with furnishings)...