Mike Tee

Yes, mine varies when at the house from 8 to 9 meg down to less than 1. Time of day does not seem to matter. When out on the boat, don't know if the speed varies, but have been less than successful in getting a useable signal. (Putting the phone outside in direct view of the ipad). When I first got this I was impressed with the home speed and came close to cancelling our home phone and broadband (with the Co-Op, 40 gig per month, all in always less than £30). This was also one of the salesmans selling points. I complained about the large variance in speed, and have been getting regular credits as '3' agree there is something wrong with the signal at home, so rarely pay more than a fiver per month. So, not too unhappy as I'm paying £5 for a phone sim - which I was previously paying Virgin - but have failed at getting consistent TV and Iplayer etc on the boat. (Had to buy a smartphone so out of pocket there!!)

I've just read the blurb on digitalspy and the spokesperson from the production company said 'and John is even sleeping on the barge'. As opposed to being driven to it in a Mercedes every morning, and having an oily flunky start it up for him? I have to admit to being naive on this - it never crossed my mind that he would not be sleeping on it (the narrowboat, not the barge). Well, Lysander spotted that too!!

It's the black oil in Alan's gearbox that prompted my response - never heard of that before (in a happy engine).

Just out of interest, are there any warranty potential problems doing the work yourself or are Beta OK with that? I know when we had a Nanni from new, I first got involved with Ed Boden to cover the initial changes - that was many years ago, and poor old Ed has had to put up with me ever since!!

Isn't that a bit worrying about the gearbox oil? Mines been going for years and always looks as if you could put it back in the tin and sell it off - now there's a thought!! Or did you mean engine oil?

Free tyres from local Kart track, sharp knife, plasterboard screws (which for some reason pull two layers of rubber together like magnetic glue!).

I'm moored there. Narrowbeam only, so not for you! After 3 years it reverts to the regular price for that mooring, you don't need to rebid, it is yours for as long as you want. At the auction, I was the only bidder, so got it at the reserve price. So after 3 years it went up, not by a lot though - and yes, they are one of the cheapest C&RT moorings on the system, and no, not (officialy) residential. The water point is not C&RT, but supplied by the pub. No idea who put in the bollards, but they are for anybody, not tied to the pub (although I do remember one time a few owners ago, when the pub tried to charge for mooring - that one floated like a lead balloon).

Great Linford, between 76 and 76a. That place has changed hands so many times over the past few years. Was once a pub that had a rough reputation, through various refurbs, owner operated, italian cuisine etc. Some awful, some great, but if a place can't consistantly supply good food its off my list. As to cost, I'd rather go out once every few months, pay a relativly high price for good, well cooked food, than get cheap tasteless out the freezer food that is two for one. Years ago I had one of those cheap ones at The Peartree in MK - it was so tasteless, I had no idea if it was beef or pork (may well have been chicken). However, the mooring there is fine, and the pub have put a tap outside for boats to fill up (at least, my mate put one in during a refurb and said they should leave it for boaters!!)

I understand near the NIA there is free wifi, but we were not close enough, also my phone is only 3G. Picked up loads of other wifi from the flats but wasn't cheeky enough to knock on doors for the code!!

As an addition to the thread, Catweasel says he intends to use his phone mainly on the boat. We have just got back from Llangollen (from Milton Keynes via Shrop. Union, T & M and around Birmingham) and while the '3' phone reception seemed to be fine everywhere, the data reception was awful. We intended to use the one plan to tether to the i-pad for watching TV (very basic boat!) and iplayer etc. I think we only got data reception about 3 evenings in total, so a bit of a failure there. We moored close to the NIA, about 300 yards west, and couldn't get a thing. Although I have to say the customer services at '3' give me a healthy rebate every time I complain about the data reception. (Its lucky I don't watch football or tennis, because the TV programming seems absolue crap at the moment so haven't missed much!!)

Unless it's too early for me to convert mb to gb, 3-2-1 works out at £10 per gb. I'm on the one plan and get through 5 to 10 gb per month without trying, so (for me anyway) 3-2-1 would be way too expensive. (We only use it for browsing, emails and I-player, don't download films or music and don't use it for work).

I thought everybody did - obviously not!

Vigourously ringing a bell when 3 or 4 yards behind a pedestrian is scary and downright rude, but a single 'ding' when 15-20 yards away, and then a polite 'thank you' does wonders for boater / walker / cyclist relations. If you get no response from the 'ding', then maybe, as mentioned in a previous post, the target may be hard of hearing, so just be polite and pleasant and get off the bike to walk past. If you are in too much of a hurry to do this, catch the bloody bus.

Maybe one of the companys producing PVC advertising banners would point you in the ink direction. If I remember right, they use inkjet printers to produce waterproof/durable banners, but I've no idea what ink.

Driving on the right seems to upset other road users for some reason

Sadly not, being dropped off on Monday mid-morning.

Temp for the last few weeks, although it seems to be a regular annual occurance - same pontoon as you, on the other side about 2 boats up. But not for long, moving back south on Monday (or thats todays plan anyway!)

I doubt if any Hudsons will be in the parade, unless heavily disguised. Rather than waste the weekend, we are moored just in front of you, and the boat could do with a wash and polish after struggling to Llangolen......................

If its nylon, hold a Stanley knife in a flame till red hot, then it will slice through the rope literally like butter, leaving a very tidy end. Depending on what the rope is to be used for, remember that a back splice can jam in a rope wound round a bollard, so I tend to finish all rope with a hot blade. I take it you mean that beating naughty school boys did you no harm?

Then it'll be £10 busy

As I understand it, best practise is to leave all the gates shut, and open paddles at both ends of the lock. This prevents possible damage to the bottom gates, and gives you more control over the flow of water. I know its probably a stupid reminder, but if someone has left paddles up to drain the pound, don't forget to drop them before trying to refill it. And if its in a flight, they've probably done it to the next lock down.

A Dulux trade centre will mix for you, but might take a few days to get the base for the mix if not in stock. I'm fairly sure that Weathershield is still available as gloss oil based, but I'm not so sure about undercoat, and if you use another undercoat, will it react with whatever Dulux put in the weathershield? I tried a trade centre 3 years ago when painting my boat - won't go into it all here, but eventually I got all my money back and won't go near Dulux again. Bought from Craftmaster and the price was similar to the trade centre and quality was off the scale in comparison. eta - and Craftmaster do their own 'Owatrol' under a different name