colinwilks

Thanks for that. If someone would guarantee the Webasto's consistent reliability it's a no brainer, but that is my dilemma. £700 for a Webasto or £2300 for the Kabola. Our Eberspacher is now 20 years old and despite servicing and several spares has got to the point where I really feel I'm throwing good money after bad. I'm 62 now, so if the Kabola gave me 15 years or so without any hassle, compared to what I anticipate I'd have with a Weberspacher, I think I'd see it as a good investment. I don't want the other half to be hesitant of going to the boat through the winter because the bathroom and bedroom were freezing the last time!

Apologies for the confusion. I should have written it as 255 watts, although I think of my power consumption in terms of by how much it depletes the battery bank. The C7 draws 255 watts (21.25 amps @ 12 volt), so via an inverter running for two hours will deplete the bank by about 45 or so amp hours, including the inverter overhead. This is only 7% of the total battery capacity and readily replaced by our typical cruising pattern.

I am thinking seriously about replacing our Eberspacher D5W with a Kabola Compact 7 to run the calorifier and radiators. We have a multi fuel stove as our main heat source, so will use it for comfort in the bathroom and bedroom in the mornings for about two hours a day. My rationale for spending the money? Simplicity and reliability and an acceptable power consumption at 21 amps per hour, also I understand that the Kabola's technology will accept the cycling that the Eberspacher does not like. Alternative would be to fit a 4kW Eberspacher or Webasto, which would cycle less often, but still be noisy. Am I wasting my money?

Is Jeremy Corbyn a boater? Maybe they're for Kendall, Burnham and Cooper after the leadership election?

Does CaRT acknowledge this difference? If so it would have prevented a lot of confusion if its email had stated, e.g. "Our records show your boat does not have a home mooring....". If their records are correct and show Dean's boat does have a home mooring, then why are they writing to him at all? Or am I missing something?

Since I appear to have struck a chord, I have written to Waterways World as follows: Sir, Etiquette It strikes me that an increasing proportion of those venturing onto the cut are bringing with them all the stress and angst of modern life, and failing to allow the slower pace of life as a boater to dispel these. You may choose to have a look at a thread on Canal World Discussion Forum ( http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=78345&view=getnewpost), which illustrates an example of what I mean. You expend a lot of column inches informing those new to boating about the best bog/charging system/12 volt domestic appliance etc, but rather fewer educating people about how to behave. How about an article such as "Old world courtesy - how the community afloat still respects and helps each other today", or if you want to go tabloid, "How not to look like a git: Some dos and don'ts"? Regards Colin Wilks nb Tramper

It seems more and more people are bringing their car driving mindset onto the cut. This bloke was behaving as if watching his car in a car park. Normal behaviour would be to come out of his boat, apologise for causing you hassle and offer to take a line off your boat and help you round by walking down his gunwale. One of the joys of the cut is that boaters look out for each other. Perhaps an article about etiquette in Waterways World would help. There's always going to be the occasional grumpy git, but I suspect ignorance is the real problem.

Does anyone know if the Horse and Jockey at Congerstone is still good? It's now a gastro pub, so more of a restaurant than a pub with food. Quite pricey, but we had a good meal a few months ago. Don't miss out on the joys of Stoke Golding. The George & Dragon has some seriously good beer and there's an excellent Indian tagged on the back of the Three Horseshoes. If you tie up at Duck Bend, just after the permanent moorings north of Stoke Golding, the Dog & Hedgehog in Dadlington is a short walk away over the fields and has excellent food, although it's not cheap.

The Narrow Boat Trust is a charity which owns and operates two historic Grand Union boats between the midlands and the Thames, K&A and River Wey. We welcome new members. Have a look at http://www.narrowboattrust.org.uk/ and call anyone in the contacts section for a chat, or pm me. Colin

A lady fell into a side pond and was sucked through into the lock. Thankfully she survived, but I wonder what hideous modification may now be deemed necessary to prevent a recurrence? Article here: http://m.leicestermercury.co.uk/Foxton-Locks-Elderly-woman-miracle-escape-sucked/story-27558460-detail/story.html#GGC8dq13Ig61buZz.01

Mike Third from the right in Ray's photo is a Dunton. My Wheelock is similar to, but not as nice as the one extreme left in the same pic. Is it phosphor bronze Ray? Slightly worried we are descending into "windlass porn". Hey ho.

Ray T Dunton Double is still produced, albeit a bit intermittently. I bought one from The Canal Shop at Hillmorton Wharf a month or so ago. A clever design providing both large square and tapered holes in one. Mine was on order for a few weeks, so I think you may be unlikely to pick one up off the shelf. Annoyingly, I finally managed to get a Wheelock, or at least Wheelock style, windlass off ebay whilst waiting for the Dunton. Colin

"In retrospect, I opened the top paddle too much too soon." Nuff said.

We may be talking about different left and rights, but my experience is that when you slow the motor the butty goes from being pulled on the strap to the tunnel hook to pulling the motor via the anser pin line to the motor's dolly. This generates a snatch on the motor which tends to pull the motor's stern towards the butty side, i.e. butty on the right, the pair heads left, and vice versa. This might matter in open water, but in a lock flight does it matter? Having said all that, the effect is minuscule except when manoeuvring in reverse. Have just re-read your post and I now think we're saying the same thing, except I think you meant left rather than right at the end of your second paragraph.

You could try this book by Ben Selfe (RIP) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Knots-Cut-Clive-Field/dp/095576002X

Keith on Hadar told me recently about an interesting idea to increase oil pressure in his National. Fitting a 12 volt fan from a computer under the sump lifted his by 5 psi. Afraid I did not think to enquire what this was as a percentage, but it seemed a neat low cost idea.

I've spent a couple of days boating with Richard Parry with the Narrow Boat Trust on Nuneaton and Brighton (one on the Oxford last year and again on this year's BCN Challenge). Being an old cynic I confess I was expecting a glad handing politician, but I found him both interested and interesting, and I got the feeling he's committed and in this for the long haul. I just hope he can come up with a cunning plan for financing our waterways in the future. He's going to need one.

We live in Leeds and I can understand people feeling iffy about staying at Knostrop overnight. When we headed home a couple of years ago from our usual mooring on the Ashby we stayed over at Thwaites Mill, which is safe and just east of Knostrop. It's also an interesting place to visit if you're interested in industrial heritage.

I started to fill up at Swarkestone a couple of years ago and was shouted at (quite politely) by the lady in the cottage there because I had interrupted her shower, the pressure being too low to provide flow to both. Irritating, or just one of the quirky things that makes boating interesting?

We bought a motorhome and have travelled the UK and Europe fairly extensively, particularly Spain where we have family. And then we bought our boat! We're lucky in that we still have both, but if it came to a choice, we'd definitely keep the boat. You sound like you've made a life changing decision and are looking to move on both literally and metaphorically. If you're content to stay in the UK, life on the cut would give you a lot more thinking time.

If true, this must open the way to the boating equivalent of putting false number plates on your car. CaRT now have a service to allow people to enter a licence number and, if licensed, a message comes back saying "This boat is licensed. The owner might have forgotten to display it." See https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/boating/licensing/boat-check Seems like all you have to do to avoid paying is find a boat similar to yours, check its licence status is good and paint the number on the side of your boat. The chances of the two boats being checked by CaRT and the "how can this boat have got from Bingley to Braunston in one day?" question raising the alarm seems remote. Or am I missing something?

You're quite right, it's the butty that's the Woolwich. Apologies.

Our own boat is a normal leisure trad with a Beta engine and exhaust exiting sideways through the counter. I also crew the Narrow Boat Trust boats and the motor is a 1935 large Woolwich with the traditional vertical exhaust stack from a normally smokey Lister HRW2. I don't find a problem with diesel fumes from the Lister, but I would certainly make sure you have a tall pipe for normal running and a cutter for tunnels, which is a short pipe with a loop over the top designed to divert the exhaust to the sides so that all the crud and spiders on the tunnel roof don't end up in your tea. I think I'd leave the diverter mod on the "possible things to do in the future" list and see how you go. The engine 'ole is pretty full of pipes and stuff already and my personal view in boating is very definitely that "less is more". Good luck with your search!

I'm starting to get outside my comfort zone, but I'm pretty sure the tax point is the date of completion, although paradoxically the vendor's liability to pay an estate agent's commission is triggered by the exchange of contracts. All a bit hypothetical, and even worse, getting rather far away from the important stuff - boating!

I would not like anybody to think I blamed anyone for our early arrival at West Stockwith, apart from myself that is. My boat is my responsibility and in unfamiliar surroundings I ask anyone I can get hold of for advice. I can see how this thread might put people off going on the tidal Trent, which I think would be a great shame as it's a really great experience. Richlow publish a handy book called "Navigating the Tidal Trent", or something similar. It deals with safety equipment, transit times and gives a guide to using tide tables. For the record I have found all the lock keepers on the Trent to be friendly and efficient, my point was that it's worth seeking advice from your proposed destination as well as your departure point.