Peter Thornton

The OP asked for some facts about CT. The thread seems to have moved on a bit but perhaps I can help? CT in my area has four separate components: 1. County Council portion - the largest part. This goes to a variety of services but the big money is spent on adult social care. 2. District Council. Largely goes on services that might be seen as somewhat similar to those provided by CART. Waste collection etc 3. Police. 4. Parish Council, normally quite small charge. In a logical world, CC's would pay something towards 1 and 3 as I would expect that they would want to use these services. But CT isn't really logical in the first place is it? And I speak as the leader of a (District) council and the portfolio holder responsible for collecting it! But we don't have a (working) canal in our area so have no experience collecting from boaters.

Thanks everyone. I have seen a couple of two bedroom 58ft boats and they were indeed ex hire. The dinette solution is not on as we do this at the moment with our share boat and making up the bed nightly is a real pain. If my dream boat is not possible then the engine room will be the first thing to go. And yes, ear plugs etc have been tried and are ok for short breaks but not as a permanent solution. I just think it's strange that two bedroomed boats are quite so rare. And having written the previous post, look what's just come up! http://apolloduck.net/362952 Not ready to buy just yet but this seems to fit the bill, as long as 60 ft will get through the Leeds Liverpool and the Rochdale.

We're looking to become liveaboards in a couple of years, when I retire. Not sure how long we'll manage it for but planning on 2,3,4 years or so therefore it doesn't make sense to buy a new boat and I'm starting to look at the secondhand market. We want to cover the Northern canals so it's a 58 footer, or around that. Problem is that, like many couples, we have separate bedrooms because one of us snores. It seems that boats with two bedrooms are rare as hens teeth. My ideal boat would be a 58 ft trad with a small boatmans cabin containing a single bunk. Then a compact engine room followed by a double bedroom. Is this impossible in 58 ft? Perhaps it is. Any ideas, other than abandoning the North and going for a 70 ft boat? Perhaps the Leeds/Liverpool is incompatible with snoring couples?

Actually..... I used to work for BAC when they were building the Concord and they DID market the engine as a stand alone generator!

Now I do have a little story about the catering! I have a part time business making Cumberland sausages here on our farm and three years ago the guy with the franchise rings me up and says "How would you like to sell your sausages at Crick Boat Show?" OK says I, "what's the "deal?" "£2000 all in he says, for three days including electric" (ever wondered why the food is expensive?) So, we do the deal,and I transfer the money into his account. Unfortunately, for everyone but especially for my friend, he dies of a heart attack a couple of days later. My £2,000 is still out there somewhere, but one day I might be able to sell you all Cumberland Sausages at Crick Boat Show! (Should say that no one is to blame and the organisers have not got the fee - just one of those things)

Depends entirely on the viewing distance. Just look for your local sign maker, almost all of them can now do this on a large format inkjet printer. Get a couple of quotes, price can vary quite a lot.

I didn't say that it would be a good idea! Just that to a health and safety enthusiast the sight of a singe hander balancing (apparently) on the back of a powerful vessel weighing several tons and moving through crowded canals would be somewhat alarming. And that's before they start looking at locks with no guard rails and no guards over the winding mechanisms. Best thing is to keep safe and make sure we don't have too many accidents.

Very difficult issues these. How far do we take these things? If we're not careful we'll have "kill cords" on canal boats. A case could be made...............

I do think that householders have a point about the running of engines. We all accept that motorists can park on the street outside our houses but it would be different if they then ran their engines for half the night.

Does anyone know why Aynho Weir Lock, on the Oxford Canal, is shaped like a lozenge rather than the normal narrow canal coffin shape? We've come through it today and couldn't think of any reason for it's strange configuration. I'm sure there's a simple explanation.

Our local news is carrying a story about a proposednew canal from the Kielder reservoir to London via Leeds and Birmingham. It's 24 metres wide and cost is estimated at £14 billion. It will be used to carry water from the North to the South, to transport biomass materials, data and power transmission. The water will move South largely by gravity so presumably traffic will go one way. No details of how the vessels get back up North again. Details here http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/update/2013-05-08/plans-for-huge-canal-from-kielder-water-to-london-to-help-south-in-times-of-drought/ An interesting proposition?

Err, why, and why?

We were going by there a few weeks ago and my crew told me to check the stove as they could smell gas - look behind you I said!

It was in the late sixties that I holidayed on the Broads, when it all went into the river. I don't remember it being especially unpleasant and we had a small sailing dinghy with us which meant getting pretty close to the water. Likewise with the canals in the mid seventies, my memory isn't of them being much different from today. Thinking hard, I seem to remember that there was talk of hire fleets being fitted with tanks and it was something about stopping uncontrolled growth of vegetation. I'm certainly not suggesting that we all pump out into the canal but I'm pretty certain that the odd bit of dog mess kicked into the cut isn't going to cause any bother. I think we're all getting a little sensitive about our natural waste products and, as has been suggested, probably more harm caused by the chemicals in the toilets.

Yes, I thought that it all went into the canal/broads. I can't remember it being all that bad then, but perhaps we were all less sensitive? Reading some of these posts I'm getting really worried as I live on a farm and I don't think I'm going to be able to persuade the farmer to bag everything - there really is shit absolutely everywhere. What can I do?

So what happened in the "old days" before pump outs or cassettes? I seem to remember that when I used to go on the Norfolk Broads it just went into the river and I can't remember what happened when we hired a canal boat in the seventies - can't remember pumping out?

Don't know a place called Thursday?

I met him near Blisworth, he asked me if me was on the right canal for Milton Keynes! I forgot to warn him about the tunnel but later met someone who said they'd seen him at Stoke Bruerne. Still don't know how he did it but I hope he didn't paddle through the tunnel!

If buying a genny, look for one that can be converted to LPG

I think that's the one.

Or me! I can give a good impression of a wide beam when in a tunnel

Have just got back from a trip down the Grand Union from Braunston to Camden and back. It was a great month, if a little cold, but just going over some of the things we saw and remembered a boat with half a car attached to the front. It was it her on the Paddington arm or was it near Rickmanswoth? Anyway, I'm sure others know this boat and I'm wondering if anyone knows the story behind it? The other thing that comes to mind is the canoeist we met near Blisworth. He was heading South and asked us, which way was Milton Keynes? He had a sleeping bag strapped to the back and it was only when we had passed him that I wondered if he knew about the tunnel. We later met another boat who had seen him at Stoke Bruerne so he must have got there somehow and I don't think he would have carried it over the top! Apparently he was on the way to France. Anyone else come across him, a guy with an Afro haircut?

Could have used one of those for the occupant of the cottage at lock 38 on the GU this afternoon!

Bu you do get a good 3G signal by mooring near the West Coast line!

We've spent the last 3 weeks on the Grand Union ( and are hoping it stops snowing so that we can get back from Tring summit to Stockton Top by Friday!) and have a couple of questions about the locks. Firstly, what's the current practice regarding the closing of gates? We always close them behind us but we've passed several boats that look as if they know what they are doing and seem to have left the gates open. I know that they sometimes blow open in the wind but most of them have been left open deliberately. I have to admit that with just two of us I do welcome the sigh of an open gate ahead of us though! Secondly, why do some locks have a request to leave them empty with a paddle up? Some have cottages next to them and some don't, I did wonder if it was to stop damp leaking into he cottages? And if anyone's going North from Tring tomorrow then we're happy to share!