magnetman

I have my fleet on the Thames. Wilf moorings. A bit like Wild moorings but with a convenient christian name . Its been a crazy winter. Marlow lock, which I came through today in my launch, has been on red boards / Strong Stream Advice since 20OCT23. Obviously a lot of talk of climate change etc but every ten yars or so one does see big floods. A lot of Boats including quite nice ones were lost last winter. So one must take care. One major difference between the River and canals is that above St Aines upon Thames the land owner also owns the bed of the River to half way across so it is up to them what to do about moorings. The Environment Agency (EA) do own a lot of land and riverbed but unlike the Canal and River Trust they do not own all the towpath land. Most of the towpaths are across privately owned land and because of a lack of horses due to the late 20th century horse plague these former highly managed towing paths or barge walks have been adopted as footpaths. No rights exist to access the water or moor Boats. So yeah. On canals if you moor to the towpath you are obliged to follow the 1995 British Waterways Act. On the Thames there is the Thames Conservancy Act and others which indicate how one is supposed to behave but in the end it is a land owner question. If the land owner (private) does not want Boats then they erect signage and tell people to 'do one'. If they do want Boats they can employ a bank manager who can collect mooring fees by threatening passing Boaters with flintlock rifles or scary dogs or pickups. If they don't care or know about their land or are a public body without byelaws to control moorings then you can more or less do what you like. In a nutshell you can come on the River but be careful.

Land Registry map search is useful for this. Free service no login just put a marker on the map. The results do not give you the owner unless it is an estate but if it is CRT land from the original CPO when the canals were enabled then the land will come up as 'part of the xxxx canal' even if it is in land not water. Canals consist of land -and- water. In fact they consist only of land in reality its just that some of this land has been dug out to enable it to be flooded. So for example the towing path beside the Grand Union would be classed as 'part of the Grand Union Canal'. service https://search-property-information.service.gov.uk/search/map-search/find-by-map

Yes. If it is a lock keeper then there will be public liability insurance.

I mean an untrained individual operating lock controls. If someone drowned in the locking procedure and the person operating the sluices did not notice them going into the water and carried on with the lock cycle there could be a claim. People do fall in from time to time.

No it wasn't scrapped. Last year the EA had 24 paid summer assistants. This year it will be 10. Volunteers are in addition to these but volunteers are not authorised to operate the lock on keeper power (faster movement of traffic) without a paid lock keeper on site. So the result will be more times when locks will be unmanned and operated on public power which results in slower movement of traffic due to the timers and the likelihood of a random Boat owner being less efficient at packing the lock chamber than a lock keeper. An interesting question arises. If the lock is being operated on public power and there is a terrible accident in which several children are killed in awfully undescribable ways (chopped up by propellers, throttled by taut lines and struck by flying bollards etc) would the person operating the lock controls be liable? As someone who is generally selected to operate locks 'he knows how it works' I am interested to know what the legal position would be if I inadvertently killed other people's children. A lock keeper is presumably insured.

I threw a molotov cocktail at some scrotes once quite a number of yars ago. They were throwing stones at my Boat and they obviously didn't see the milk bottles full of petrol with old socks sticking out on my back deck. No one died but they stopped throwing the stones.

PU18 is a pretty good PU sealant/adhesive. Available for a low price if you buy 4. I used it once to stick two pieces of wood together and when I later attempted to separate them it was the wood which split not the sealant bond. Good stuff. Available on Fleabay.

It can be fun looking at satellite views of backwaters. Like this one which is accessed under the iron footbridge just below the Oxford boathouse on the towing path side. Several quite large canal Boats down there.

I often see these houses and think they would be nice for deaf people but then I wonder if their augmented other senses would pick it up anyway. To people with a full suite of senses the noise is the first one and then perhaps the smell but maybe a deaf person would be able to 'feel' the traffic and become disturbed by it even if they could not hear it. When the deaf dumb and blind kid is playing a mean pinball beside the M6 does he know the road is there ?

Penkridge?

There are quite a few unexpected moorings around Oxford. Including the backwater below Iffley where the old iron railway bridge is. Quite a lot of Boats up there but the footbridge carrying the towing path is very low. And it was a bit of a zombie land when I went up there in my canoe. Also Castle Mill stream and the backwater opposite the college Boathouses.

It depends how you want to approach things. There are wild moorings all over the place where you can tie to trees. Shillingford bridge hotel worth investigating but I think they are full. Ask lock keepers and possibly get an EA mooring on one of the lock islands. Abingdon is good but I expect he already has plenty of askers. Its going to be a bit tricky because although Boats seem like a cheap option they actually aren't once you start looking into it and needing to be somewhere. Its OK I have been through this process 15 yars young free single and rich with an amazing narrow Boat followed by another 15 yars of dealing with woman and children interaction issues. All the while remaining on Boats but spending a lot on moorings and a barge. The Woman and the girls have gone ashore now so I am on my Boats with my dreams and aspirations and some beer. Which is ideal as far as I am concerned because I am entirely dedicated to living in Boats. If the Woman is demanding more space then you have to think about what is happening. A lot of blokes really want to have a partner. I am not of one these blokes. Reproduction is a biological imperative.

Below the bridge. Lechlade always a fun run. Might try again in the light cruiser this summer. Its funny when people ask how it goes under bridges. Its very low air draft with the gear down but 3ft4 water draft is interesting above Oxford. The Boat on the right this morning at the country estate. Its been a while since I had the the other one at Lechlade must be a decade or more.

I avoid mooring near these things as there is a very high probability of getting woken up early by engine droning noises. Its just the way it works. Nobody would ever have such a vessel and use it as a Boat. There will be power and hot water demand. Its a rotten situation but in the end it is better than clutching your nuts, everyone's going to pieces, guns being pulled for a mercy clipping and all your intestines is mashed out through your balls. There were several at Lechlade last time I went up there a few yars ago.

the wide bean situation on the River is crazy. I saw three of them in the Cliveden reach yesterday on various random towpath side moorings. I hope these are not being used as floating apartments or reality is going to kick in.

Been there done that got the tee shirts and now live on my Boat by myself. Much like I did before the whole reproduction thing happened ! She asked me to marry her but I said no not interested in marriage. We have great kids and are there for them and no bad feelings.

I don't know. It was the other poster who mentioned it. This wants investigating although the unit must be getting power if it is capable of illuminating the control panel...

I didn't ever fix it and it remained on the Boat when I sold it. the reverse polarity fuse thing is interesting. I've got another Statpower prosine 1800 which works alright.

I can scrap it for you if it helps.

Yes. Using the land is a problem. It always has been and always will be a problem. Territorial disputes are the basis of major international wars. If you live on Boats (I do) then be careful with your use of shared land resources. There is an instinctive driver to take control of land but where this is publicly owned then it is important to avoid using it for anything other than tying the Boat up. The CRT need to have a zero tolerance policy about this and enforce it rigorously. Nothing on the land or conflict will come.

Are they Selby motorbarges?

Good question. Somewhere there might be a traditional name for it which one could use occasionally to look all erudite/anorakish/traditional. Like 'the steering bar end'.

Marsurv. https://www.marsurv.com.

Place the tube beside the spigot and mark where the hole goes. Also why has the OP changed the tiller bar for a new one? I don't see these as items which wear out so I suspect something unusual about this particular arrangement. Possibly there was a bar which was too short and it was replaced. It seems to me that putting it beside the new one could help with working out hole position.

Being able to create fire by burning wood is a very basic human skill. It goes back an awful long way. One could describe it as a foundation of human civilisation. Start messing about with the foundations and you could get serious unintended consequences. It makes sense to not have ridiculous smoke in urban areas but over time these policies will spread and eventually people won't be allowed to have fires. If that happens then things will go pear shaped.