Chertsey

I find 10 or 11 hours a day is still relaxing as it takes your mind of everything else and tires you out nicely so you get a good night's sleep. I know it's not for everyone but it is possible to find long days as good as short ones for unwinding, especially if boating (rather than watching tv/sightseeing etc) is what you love most in the world.

The boaters you know just don't tell you.

Enterprise? <runs away>

What I've never managed to get my head round is how some people think that shovelling it into the canal constitutes 'clearing up' after their dog. Many boaters do this, quite possibly the same people who would throw up their hands in horror about a drop or two of human wee.

True. I defend my basin against PB's slur that it is a new one however, it is best British jumble.

Call yourself a traditionalist? I use an enamel basin :-)

You can turn in a tighter space with two boats breasted up facing the same way by putting one of them in reverse. Presumably if you got the respective speeds right you could do it on the spot?

Another thing that has just come to me, I went with someone once to view a wooden narrow boat. It was well maintained and it was being lived on and it was lovely, I think we both fell in love with it (I was only there for moral support) but we agreed in the end that it needed someone living on it; it would have been no good as a boat that was left alone for long periods. So another key question is what sort of use are you thinking of for your boat.

Yes, I made the comment deliberately to illustrate the level of knowledge and expertise you are likely to get from all but a very tiny minority of contributors to this forum, with the best will in the world. I do actually have some experience of a wooden boat, albeit not a narrow boat, which has informed my view.

I once heard of someone who did exactly what the OP suggests. He later had his hull overplated including the outlet but somehow forgot and carried on using it. Not nice for the next person who had to do repairs!

Talk to Ade Polglase (he's based at Alvecote); talk to Jem Bates; talk to people who own wooden boats - particularly those who maintain them properly. Pete Boyce at Braunston is another name that comes to mind. There will be others, invariably owners of historic boats. The Historic Narrow Boat Club Could be another source of contacts. Try to avoid talking to people who are just about managing to keep their wooden boats afloat with constant crisis intervention, that will give you a skewed idea. Very few people on this forum have the knowledge and experience to give you the in depth information you are clearly seeking. Including me, because I wouldn't touch one with a long shaft - but that doesn't mean it might not be right for you. At least if you go into it in depth with people who really know you won't be left wondering if you made the right decision.

I believe the Stainforth and Keadby Canal is part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation.

I haven't done much single handing (though a bit more planned soon) but I feel more comfortable with my big beast than I would have done with any of our previous smaller boats. This might be partly because I know it better, but also because it does what it's told and stays where I put it (usually). This might be more a feature of its design than its size though. I second or third the comments about staying forward in locks. It's the safest place to be especially if you're not on the boat. And if you're on the bank working the paddles then you're in control and can drop them if anything did catch, which is very unlikely if you're sensible.

I've spotted that and never thought to ask the owners, d'oh!

Didn't the Chesterfield Canal Society people have something similar on their stall at Alvecote? Probably not, I didn't commit it to memory, but it had a long throw and had many people mystified.

I suspect more likely lack of demand has killed it off. Turners still sold it as of last year. I was a big fan, until I discovered easier, less sooty alternatives.

OK, I believe you, but can someone explain it in English for someone with a Grade C O Level in Chemistry from 1981? The paraffin is some sort of (complex?) hydrocarbon and bits of it are grabbing loads of oxygen from the air to combine with its hydrogen to make lots of water and bits of its carbon are grabbing more oxygen to make presumably carbon dioxide and/or carbon monoxide, plus depositing more carbon everywhere as soot, and these reactions produce heat... Is that what the equation means?

Whether its boat's or boats' depends on how many boats you're getting :-)

Bakewell had standard roller blinds and the bottons just tucked behind a little rail, that was also useful for hanging things from. All from Ikea I think. It was a nice neat set up. Blinds shut and windows open is often trickier than with curtains, whatever the window type.

Is that physically (chemically) possible? We have a portable paraffin heater which we use (carefully) in the hold, and I haven't noticed excess condensation, though I can't say we've done a scientific test. I prefer it to gas because it's completely worry free when not in use. Not much of a comparison with a fitted system though. Paraffin is hard tio get hold of cheaply; Turners at Wheaton Aston used to work out about half the price of buying it in 4l containers. I remember being told that no paraffin is produced in Britain now but all has to come from Germany. We used to cook with it too but that was hard work, and we have now discovered ethanol!

Is that easily available anywhere? I was looking for the same myself at the weekend and could only find what I assume is the version in the OP - I didn't bother clicking through.

I'm not sure hiring is much of a preparation or test for living on a boat. Layouts are likely to be different, you won't have your own stuff around you, and you'll know it's only for a limited period. The amount you will learn from the experience will, I suspect, be marginal - it's just not the same thing at all. You don't even have to empty your own toilet. What I would do is spend a lot of time with people who live on boats, experience their boats, listen to their experiences. In my view, this will provide far more valuable information. It will take longer, but cost less. It wuill also enable you to get an idea of what you want in a boat; what you like and don't like and need or don't need about other people's.

I do a fair bit of that too. Probably more, if I'm honest.

I've also just thought, if something *did* go wrong in a lock, the person on the lockside actually has a better chance of doing something about it! So on that basis perhaps I'd rather be operating the paddles while my boat was in the lock rather than being trapped impotently at the bottom of it

Some people seem to be so nervous I don't know how they manage to enjoy boating at all. It must just be one constant worry. Neither I, nor to my knowledge, anyone else, has suggested breasting up with an completely unknown boat/steerer, but when I am with someone who has a similar boat to mine and many years more experience, I am more than happy for them to take responsibility. There are certainly benefits in that you can have another person on the bank helping to work or prepare the locks. If you don't know anyone you trust that much, I guess that's a bit of a shame. But we had this discussion two pages back and agreed that we were talking about two different things. Do neither of you ever ler anyone else steer your boat? Would you not accept a tow from an unknown boat if you broke down? Or a snatch if you were stuck on the bottom? I don't actually know. But breasting up it is, and then untying from each other is singling out.