IanD

Including mine, and many others I've been on. Does that mean they're all illegal, or is the inspection hatch not actually required? I know which I think is more likely... 😉

So that's a fiddle to get an insurance policy in the first place, so you can get a license. Whether the insurer would pay out in the event of a claim once they spotted the (obvious) fiddle is another issue entirely...

I wonder how many narrowboats with integral fuel tanks have such an inspection hatch? AFAIK mine doesn't -- but then it doesn't have a "diesel engine" as such, only a generator... 😉

Decent MiFi are quite expensive; the Netgear M2 (which is often recommended) is more than £400 new. You might be better getting a domestic router, there are plenty of good ones available secondhand (e.g. Zyxel NR5103E for £130 or so) which will even do 5G for "future-proofing"... 😉 (these can run off 12V via cheap DC-DC converter, about £10) You don't need a screen, a phone app is a much easier way of managing them.

Because they're got used to paying SFA for years, and don't like the fact that their fees are now going up -- even though they'll still be *far* cheaper than living on land... 😉

All the CART waterways and rivers including Ribble Link, Trent etc. are perfectly doable on a properly designed series hybrid boat, as is crossing open water areas like the Wash in good weather, because typical power use is quite small and high power (well, not that high, maybe 15kW/20hp maximum for a narrowboat) won't be needed for more than a few hours. But for a boat to be able to cross the Channel and navigate strong flows on large rivers abroad (as well as travel on the inland canals) where you may need lots of power for long periods -- and long range -- a parallel hybrid with a big diesel (for offshore) and smaller electric motor (for still waters) makes much more sense. If you want something getting on for 100hp for many hours (in a seagoing wideboat) the cost/size/weight of electric motor/batteries for a series hybrid will be huge, and there's still the risk of running out of juice.

Moored up, not moving...

Because it's still much greener than burning fossil fuels, as pointed out above... It's not perfect, but than nothing is... 🙂

I forgot to book the Bridgewater last year and nobody arrested me, even though we stayed overnight on it twice... 🙂

Like planes (or even cars...), boats have the issue that there's a design tradeoff between lateral stability and drag, especially with relatively short light boats like this one -- but also more stability means slower to respond when manoeuvring. As you say, this usually gets better the faster you go, which is of course not an option on the canals... 😉

I believe "bag of sand" is the accepted rhyming slang... 😉 Still cheaper and quieter (and more reliable?) than a stern thruster though... 🙂

Maybe that's where the name came from then... 😉

IIRC mine (made by Tim Tyler) cost about £1000 including VAT, but this was instead of a flat plate so presumably a replacement would cost more. Or maybe less, depending who the welder is... 😉

It was an open goal... 😉 For an unbiased comment about how well it works (or doesn't...), maybe @Up-Side-Down could comment -- he spent a couple of days on Rallentando with us last week when we were moving between marinas.