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sassan

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Everything posted by sassan

  1. Overall, relatively positive in my view. Most of the sillier bits suggested in the consultation have been dropped/amended. Has the potential to reduce problems, evictions and associated negative press for CRT. I hope this gets implemented. Should result in clearer and less arbitrary enforcement and acknowledgement that even the best of us screw up sometimes. Potential reduced admin and legal costs related to appeals for CRT. I'm pleased they increased the maximum days per month on a single visitor mooring from 4 to 7 days, a bit more sensible. I'm also glad they dropped the nonsense pay and display scheme. The change from enforcing space between every boat for anglers to issuing information to boaters reminding them to be considerate of anglers is much more sensible. The change of wording regarding the 20km rule makes things slightly more difficult, but could be worse. It is at least very good indeed that something clear has been published. 12miles is achievable for almost all. The suggestion of requiring boats to display a "next move date" has gone away, good. Publicly available cruising records have been confirmed to only refer to general statistics and not the movements of individual boats. Good.
  2. We have a 500L tank. Easily lasts 2 weeks, can be made to last 3 without too much difficulty, or 4 if absolutely necessary. Water use is reduced slightly because I shower in work instead of on the boat, increased slightly as I use a fair whack of water for beer and wine making. I've just looked it up and apparently the average household water use is 8-12 times as much(150L per person per day).
  3. There's a lot of us on there, but plenty of spaces to be found. I've never really struggled to find a spot. The river sections are a different matter. I have no experience of the Kennet yet, but the Avon is very short of official places to moor. That being said there are plenty of places on the Avon where you could moor overnight and quite clearly the landowner wouldn't notice or care.
  4. I'd rather have new train lines than new roads. The odd ugly viaduct isn't so big a deal. The only concern I have is the impact on several active restoration projects.
  5. I bought an absurdly loud siren at a car boot sale last year. I've never used it because it deafened me for half an hour when I first tried it... But now I'm glad I have it
  6. I never claimed he had any sense. Also, it would seem that his only contact with legal professionals is through American TV programmes and that loves the word purporting but isn't entirely certain of how to correctly use it in a sentence, so my opinion of him is not high.
  7. I would also like to point out that the last quote on the list was made in jest between two long-standing members and not relevant to this discussion.
  8. As an admin of that group, I would like to make a couple of comments: As I understand it, the whole daft mess sprang from Lynn taking offence at a suggestion that may have been either serious or tongue in cheek. I believe it centred around a link to that "heat your boat with tealights" article that also circulated on canalworld a while back. I did not see that part of the discussions but have been told that her response was rather needlessly unfriendly. I don't place any blame on her for this, a simple misunderstanding and a small amount of rudeness, it is not really her fault that the situation escalated. I was not contacted by Lynn, but was contacted by another recent member of the group, initially complaining about the language used by some members. I informed him that we do not have a policy with regard to language and that generally we do not intervene in discussions except in extreme cases. I was friendly, polite and my general advice to him was to avoid mistaking a little internet bickering for any actual ill-will. He then sent me a message with much more extreme accusations, that criminal threats and defamatory statements had been made. He says that one of the admins falsely suggested that he had messaged her with complaints. His suggestion that this was a lie didn't really tally with the fact that he had already messaged me with such complaints the previous day. He suggested he would be seeking legal advice regarding "defamatory statements". To this I reminded him that the names he had been called constituted "mere vulgar abuse" and therefore not defamation. I asked him to point out to me any specific, defamatory, accusations against him, or serious threats made by members. I also reminded him that as the members of the group were non-anonymous I did not have a legal responsibility for any remarks made by other members. I advised him to let the matter rest and soon the whole thing would be forgotten; that suing your neighbours over a petty squabble was not conducive to harmonious living; that joining a group and immediately trying to impose his own standards on that group was impolite, particularly in light of the great deal of helpful and friendly advice he had received the previous day; and that I was losing patience. He suggested that his "lawyer" had advised him not to speak to me.
  9. We first got our cat (11 years old, male) while staying in the city over winter (winter mooring). Due to being in the city he wasn't allowed out until we began cruising in the spring. The first few times he was allowed out, he vanished for a few days (in one case a week), but after that he settled down to only being out between meals and by the autumn he basically just sat on the gangplank to defend the boat from passing dogs. He doesn't seem too put out by being shut inside again over winter (showed less and less interest in going out as the weather got colder anyway). We didn't have a cat flap, we just let him out when it was convenient (when one of us was home for the day and not in the couple of days before we needed to move). I don't know what your plans are, are you planning to CC? Or live in a marina/mooring and make occasional trips. I think the latter may be more awkward, if you want to move every day during a trip and your cat decides otherwise. If CCing, it's as simple as not letting him out in the few days up to moving. As others have said, keep them inside the boat for at least a few weeks initially, so that they claim the boat as their territory rather than the towpath (and therefore return to the boat after moving, instead of the previous mooring spot).
  10. Another friendly tip, it is better for everyone if your post title says something about what you are asking. Something like "how do I view all replied topics?", or "viewing all replied topics" would be good. It makes it easier for people when reading the list of posts and means that often people who know the answer will see your post sooner.
  11. I think it's funded by lottery money, just organised by CaRT.
  12. We have an older boat, and I gather that on newer boats this is not usually the case, but if we overfill our water tank, the cabin bilge fills with water. Managed to damage some flooring that way, and was fortunate I stopped it in time to avoid electrical problems! But in your case, I'm guessing it's just condensation and nothing to worry about.
  13. Winter mooring arrangements are different this year. You can have a "winter mooring" almost anywhere on the towpath. So you do still need to check. Someone else's overstaying really isn't any of your business, nor is late night wood chopping (we all end up having to do it sometimes, often working difficult hours means either chopping wood at midnight, or being very cold), sure it's a little annoying, but a person can only get through so much wood, so I'm guessing it can only be a 15 minutes every few days. As for late night engine noise, fair enough, since you've already spoken to him about it, call your local CaRT officer and make a complaint.
  14. I've been using homefire "ecoal" a bit lately (due to it being one of the few available at the time), it burns nice and hot and lasts AGES (still some embers 24 hours later in once case), so great value for money in terms of heat output per kg/£. However, it's an absolute bugger to light compared to housecoal, I'm rapidly burning through my "mid sized kindling" collection, whereas the housecoal lights with only some old fruit boxes as kindling. It's also slow to get hot. Takes 90 minutes to get up to full heat, compared to less than 30 for housecoal. I'm considering using a different smokeless coal to get going and for fast heat and then the ecoal or similar for sustained heat or overnight. Any suggestions of easy to light and quick heating smokeless fuels? My approach lately has become "wind blowing out across the harbour: light it with housecoal and add ecoal later; wind blowing towards land: just curl up in bed with a hot water bottle and forget the fire".
  15. Little plastic thing like that, you can just lift it around the locks on the narrow canals!
  16. Ice doesn't just expand in every direction. The water slowly increases in volume as ice crystals form, it's a gradual process. It only exerts pressure in a sealed environment.
  17. Pleased to see supporting restoration of the Wilts & Berks included as a possible way to reduce congestion on the K&A.
  18. The wood makes great kindling/emergency wood. The compressed blocks are fantastic when you want a quick burst of heat (they produce a very nice amount of heat very quickly), but as others have said, you may need to clean your chimney more often.
  19. One point from the film, have I bean mispronouncing bowhauling? I assumed it was bow as in the bow of the boat (or the male equivalent of curtsey), but the narrator pronounces it as bow as in bow tie. I suppose maybe bow refers to the rope, rather than the bow of the boat?
  20. Stoveglass.net have been cheap, fast and seems good quality glass for me both times I've used them.
  21. I've used stoveglass.net when replacing my glass. It's the tough, heat-resistant type and it only cost £14.50.
  22. I too spent half an hour fiddling with the accumulator tank the first time my water ran out.
  23. My (unqualified) advice is this: Before proceeding at all, insist upon current BSS and certification of the gas systems (the BSS is not sufficient). THEN, if these are both in order, get a surveyor. Have a FULL survey done by a well reputed surveyor. THEN, if this goes ok, still insist on a heavily discounted price due to the lack of RCD. (A surveyor will be able to tell you what a "heavily discounted price" should look like). You can pretty much ignore the people prophesying doom and gloom on the legal stuff. Therefore, you are not committing any crime by buying the boat, and you would not be committing one by subsequently selling the boat, even if within 5 years of completion (although be aware that any future buyer within this period will probably also be after a heavy discount). To summarise, do everything you can to make sure the boat is safe before hiring a surveyor (to avoid wasting your money), then listen carefully to the surveyor's opinion, offer a low price on the boat.
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