magnetman

Composting loos are interesting. As it happens someone living on a wide bean canal Boat in Cookham is leaving bags of their waste beside a 'dog waste' bin. It is one approach I suppose. Waste companies don't like it and the CRT have officially banned it in their domestic waste stream. Its not a negative point at all its just that all the used food must go uphill after disposal from the body. I'm commenting on this from a jovial position not an argumentative position. It is actually quite an interesting psychological position to be in. Body waste is something one wants to get rid of so the various different allowed circumstances on an inland Boat are all slightly unsatisfactory. If you did have a pump out Bourne End Marina have a good service for about £30 each time. There are quite a few people living around Cookham on wide beans so its obviously doable. Having said that if one puts the capital in then one could be committed so whether it was in fact a satisfactory life would not be all that relevant. Its not an attempt to discourage its just exploring things people may genuinely not have considered. Lugging coal and Diesel from the car to the Boat on a wheelbarrow seems arduous to me. I don't have a car or a wheelbarrow or use coal or Diesel. Solar power and firewood. Being able to provide enough electrical power in winter can prove interesting . Lots of people on the River have decent filtration systems for fresh water which is handy. I think drinking water wants to be bottled which again means lugging heavy articles across land. I suppose I only ever wanted to live in a floating shed anyway so perhaps not all that typical and I do not engage with road transport. If Henley area is acceptable you could phone SRB Moorings and ask Steve if he has anything. End of field mooring with a private car park, Elsan and tap 5 minutes walk from the Boat. Just off the Marlow road half way between Henley and Marlow. It is a really nice site with good neighbours. The River will go 2 feet over the bank in a flood so a dinghy or big waders.

Be careful with thinking that a wide bean canalboat is in any way similar to an apartment. It isn't. Not being flippant but the lavatory waste must go uphill. it is not legal for it to go downhill. In a apartment it will go downhill. i am sure you know all this but it really is critical to know and it is not meant as discouragement. For the last 31 years all of my used food waste has either traveled uphill or been burnt in my fire. So no it is not an apartment. It may emulate some characteristics but it is a completely different situation. The marketing around wide bean canalboats is pushing the idea it is a cheaper alternative to an apartment or flat but this is simply because they want to sell products to people. Crapping uphill can be arduous for some people. It gets right into the fundamentals of animal behaviour and depending on one's flexibility it can become a problem. I will always maintain the view that the biggest topic on inland Boats is the lavatory.

As a rule you don't really want a mooring just below a lock. It is better to be just above a lock. For example Marlow downstream level changes very quickly and in the 24 flood it was about 7ft above summer levels. Just above Cookham was more like 5ft up. It's how the River functions. Further down from Maidenhead to Windsor there is the Maidenhead, Windsor and Eton Flood Alleviation Scheme (Jubilee river) which does prevent over-bank flooding very effectively. Generally a mooring above Maidenhead will be prone to severe flooding especially if it is just below a lock. Same applies to moorings below Windsor because that is where the MWEFAS discharges back into the River.

Level changes are caused by rainfall. But yes the lock/weir keepers obviously manage the flow and levels to an extent once the weirs are fully drawn the River is in charge and you have to be prepared. There are always vessels ending up on weirs or washed onto the banks from poor preparation. In the 2024 flood there was a barge on a weir and a wide bean canalboat on another weir plus various other vessels. When it gets going it really gets going. It is marvellous.

The River was two feet over the bank there in the big flood in January 2024. That wall is called the Cookham Wall it is indeed a flood defence structure. There are good deals for winter mooring but no facilities. So one is liable to be stuck for several months in the same position as it would a bit wreckless to navigate to the water point at the lock with both weirs drawn. The rule about finding safe moorings during red boards does not necessarily extend to using lock cuts because vessels may only be moored in lock cuts with permission. The whole area around Marlow does flood quite significantly and the River really shifts for the winter season. Lot of water big river. It is the enforced stationary position which may cause problems for some people. The canal is different because in a lot of areas one can cruise about subject to lock closures even if the rivers are flooding.

Halligan bars are good for opening padlocks from a distance. Useful kit Just twist it off. Easier than bolt cutters and the operator does not need to be on top the padlock.

I wonder why it was deemed necessary to put "GAS ISOLATION !!" rather than "GAS ISOLATION" on there. It reads like the person arranging the casting had experience some sort of terribly nasty gas related accident and transferred their insecurity onto a product commonly sold in chandleries.

Is this perhaps rather an erudite description of the English canal system? Nail hit on head. Someone else once posted 'I do not particularly like other people playing with my train set but I also know that without them paying I would not have a trainset' Interesting times for the canals which will only survive as viable assets if there is funding from others aka DEFRA. Its not particularly pleasant to lose exclusivity but the alternative is to lose everything. Shared asset.

Maybe if one could put other customers off by exaggerating climate change one could get hold of a nice little plot for not much money.

The term 'think tank' is part of the great dumbing down. It has been going on for a long time. It should probably technically be a 'thought tank'..

Parry hinted at it in an interview by using the word 'declassify'. Could this Mr Robb be the Dr Beeching of the canals?

That's what I thought. He is also a trustee of Demos. Interesting read here https://demos.co.uk/our-approach/a-stronger-state-2/ The question remains what exactly is the function of a canal and the land upon which it was built? The word 'obsolete' comes to mind for some reason.

It's a bit odd. Maybe 'people who live there' refers to canalside developments. An awful lot of people in these developments would rather there no Boats. Maybe fill in 2/3rds for low cost housing (shelter) then use the remaining part as a wildlife channel with clean flowing water and no Boats.

No mention of leisure use of waterways in the statement. Vital for people who live there, work there, volunteer there and wildlife. No mention of public amenity or leisure. No mention of leisure in his statement.

Interview with Elton John

Just another one looking for a big wage then I suppose.

That could get interesting. He is also apparently previously worked for the Shelter charity. So can we now expect the residential use of towpaths to be encouraged. Should be a good transition to watch. Eta Cross posted with Lily rose.. Rowan Atkinson would have something to say about the name.

This topic is moving towards discussion of paddle windows. I don't think the new composite type of paddle can tolerate a window but some locks had them in wooden paddles as a way to handle the problem of having a river crossing above the lock. Stockers lock and Aynho weir lock are two examples. There will be others. Square four inch holes in the paddles one each end. Regular reliable water feed to the next pound without worrying about the varying level above associated with the river. Nice bit of problem solving.

I am attempting to help others save a bit of money which they may otherwise have spent on a dodgy hole under the water and expensive electrical equipment which is unreliable and also not needed.

Yes. In this particular circumstance I actually am right. It is easy to steer a leisure vessel throughout the inland waterways of our wonderful country without ever using a bow thruster.. That is not a made up position it is one based on fact.

I don't hate new things at all. I do know from experience of steering various different leisure vessels including a 57ft barge 12 feet wide and a 72ft narrow that there are in fact very few circumstances where a bow thruster is beneficial. The point is one of psychology. You will find that if a bow thruster is present in a lot of cases it installs the idea into the brain of the person steering that they do not need to understand how to steer the Boat. This is bad news. Yes the bow thruster can be a useful aid but I have seen people who blatantly don't know how to control their vessels using bowthrusters for steering. Adding these contraptions to leisure vessels on canals degrades the capability of the people steering and is likely to lead to problems when they rely on something which turns out to be unreliable. BANG. For commercial vessels definitely use thrusters but for leisure use vessels on uk canals they are worthless trash which should be be binned.

It is unlikely to be a problem as bowthrusters are entirely worthless and of no use on an English leisure canal Boat. Most people worked this out ages ago. So yeah. Weld a 5mm steel plate over the holes and bin or eBay the other bits for someone who still does not understand. Vetus seems to be a brand aimed at people with too much money. Stops working buy another one.