[Boater dumps toilet cassette on narrowboat]

Gives a new meaning to the phrase “going for a dump”.

[Can I sell shares in my boat?]

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

Don't forget that after the collapse of Ownerships we did one year of self management, but reverted to a management company because too few owners wanted to help share the tasks involved in self management. 

Yes, I remember now, as I arranged the insurance for the boat, and you negotiated with the owner of the marina where we were based to stay there for a further year.  My memory is a bit wonky at times!

[Can I sell shares in my boat?]

1 hour ago, haggis said:

As it was me who took the case to the Ombudsman all those years ago I don't think that is quite correct. My memory says that a higher licence fee was paid if the management company still owned part of the boat. As that was the case with Challenger, I believe they had to continue paying the higher fee - 247% if I remember correctly. Boats with OwnerShips and other companies started paying the same fee as privately owned boats. Sally Ash of BW fame could never understand the difference between a boat owned by several people and one owned by a company like timeshare and used by several people. 

Thinking back to the saga I have fond memories of Eugene Baston who was on our side and helped "behind the scenes" but not so fond memories of the iWA who when approached refused to help.  

I remember this period when we were able to get a cheaper licence for our OwnerShips  boat, thanks to your efforts.  If I remember correctly, we had to get a nominated owner to apply for the licence, rather than someone from the OwnerShips office?

 

Our boat is originally an OwnerShips one, now 21 years old and I have been an owner from the start.  It suited the group of owners to be managed when OwnerShips collapsed and we went with ABC, who were into management of shared ownership boats at the time. When they pulled out of this, we went with BCBM, which is where we are today.

 

A couple of the things we kept in place when we went to ABC was the OwnerShips syndicate agreement and holiday allocation method.  For those unfamiliar with the latter, we have school holiday shares, who get to chose their weeks first in the school holiday periods, then the other owners choose.  Each year, the order of choosing weeks changes, as pairs of owners move up two places, and the top pair from the previous year go to the bottom of the list.  Hence, with 12 shares, you move up the list over 6 years, giving you more choice of weeks as you move up.  

 

We tend to move base every couple of years to cruise a new part of the network, and usually to a hire company base who are geared up to perform quick turnarounds between different owners.

[OK - so I'm getting past it]

At our local big Tesco, the small trolleys require a pound coin or similar, while you don’t need anything to ‘nick’ a big trolley.

[What Three Words - For the dinosaurs here :)]

It’s a little ironic that one of the three words is “unsecured”.

[Another canal side property for sale]

1 hour ago, Mike Tee said:

The Sunbeam Tiger was the first car I really lusted after when I left school and joined the real world - never got one but never forgot them

I had a Sunbeam Alpine, same body as the Tiger, with a 1725cc engine.  Sadly, it suffered with rust, but was good fun while it lasted.

[Another canal side property for sale]

2 hours ago, Grassman said:

 

Good old Leylands. 

No, Rootes.

[Level dropping, do I contact the CRT? ( Huddersfield Canal)]

23 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

It's still a Marathon. And Jif.

And Cif still tastes the same.

[March of the Widebeams]

13 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I think Blue Lias is more than 12-6 but less than 14ft 

I remember sitting in the pub garden of the Blue Lias pub twenty one years ago, when two narrow boats left the lock before the bridge still rafted together for some reason.  They clouted the bridge quite severely.  So not 14’ it would seem.

 

 

[Installing a WiFi router but I don't want it to run off an inverter, any ideas?]

9 hours ago, Puffling said:

We need a The Three Johns revival!

Last time they came together was just before the wedding of Charles and Di. What better way to get the kids on the street and dancing to "Funk The Coronation" 😡?

And I thought the three Johns were pump out,  cassette and composting

[What Three Words - For the dinosaurs here :)]

3 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

But shirly if you cut 0 in half, the result is n, or u.

Or ( and )?

[Tank Capacities - Water, Waste and Fuel - what capacity recommended]

31 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

.. I am confident that hand washing up in a bowel, not the sink,…

Just going through the motions Tony?

[Are you having a laugh?]

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

Ron Smooth.

Ron Seal?

[Monitoring]

On our shared owners boat, we keep a daily diary, which is useful for other owners to read and spread the word.  We include the journey for the day, where we found suitable moorings, shops. pubs etc, as other owners are likely to be cruising the same areas.

 

We also have on board a copy of the ‘end of holiday’ report where we record engine hours (to determine when the next service is due) and any faults and breakdowns, and the subsequent fix.

[These new log burner rules.......]

8 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Don't be daft.

 

Gold comes from our grandmas or Argos, as any fule kno.

Didn’t some also come from Ratners?

[How many have you got?]

1/12th, just under 5 feet of a shared boat.

[Mooring at Llangollen to rise to £20 per night?]

13 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Having paid a£1000 licence I don't expect to pay £20 a night to moor or even £6

Agreed.  As motorists we all pay a load of money to use the roads, but still have to pay tolls at places such as the Dartford Crossing.  In my town, in places you have to pay to park on the street.

[Discarded fishing tackle]

As the old saying goes:-

 

Give a man a fish, and you can feed him for a day.  Give a man a fishing rod, and you can make him miserable for the rest of his life.

[Food in Ellesmere]

2 hours ago, Lady C said:

Withymoor

It’s the Willeymoor.

 

We had a good meal at the Swan at Marbury, about a 15 minute walk from Marbury lock.

[Info on my local narrowboat builder]

9 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Ooh. That does look odd!

 

Did those door knobs come from a 1982 MFI wardrobe?

[The community of pensioners living off-grid on Britain's canals 'forgotten' by authorities]

9 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Interestingly, originally the NI payments we all made were ringfenced and used to pay benefits and pensions and quite a surplus was actually built up in the fund. This seemed, to the government of the time, a bit daft so it swiped the excess for its own nefarious purposes, dumped the ringfencing and just chucked the lot into general taxation. I can't remember which flavour of government did it, or in fact when but it was many years ago.

Your NI payments were never "saved" to pay your pension anyway, they always went to pay current claimants - one of the problems now is with fewer people working and more claiming, it's all out of balance - one reason the triple lock will soon be dropped.

Many years ago, my wife worked in the pensions section of the local DHSS office.  It was a common misconception by claimants that they thought they had built up a pension pot from their NI contributions, similar to a private pension scheme.  

[Sludge in header tank.... & adding anti-freeze]

46 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Antifreeze in the domestic freshwater system? That's a new one on me. I'll have to put a load into my tank. 🤣

Why not cut out the middle man and drink it neat?

[Winter, coming soon, stock up.]

1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

Weird innit. I got 500 squids, the missus got nowt. Ok so its the same amount but there doesnt seem a consistency in how payments are made??  Maybe its cos we only have one bank account???

We’ve got the one account into which our pensions and winter fuel money is paid, and for us, it’s £250 each.  The wife had hers a couple of days ago, still waiting for mine.

 

When just the wife qualified she got the lot, and then I qualified, it was the same amount but split 50/50 between us.

[Things to look for in a share boat]

8 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Funny, lots of share boats I see have a big notice in the window advertising shares for sale

Our boat has had a share up for sale for several months now.  In previous years, shares have been bought up in a matter of days or weeks.  I wonder if it’s the case that now folk are able to holiday abroad, holiday boating is cooling off somewhat?  I was on board a couple of weeks ago and the hire base where we stay had quite a few boats still at the base.  Back in June, all of their boats were out.

 

I think it sometimes depends on how many weeks are left in the year for a share to sell quickly, or not.

[Living on a boat with Universal Credit]

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

It depends on who is registered with CRT as the licence holder.

 

If it is the management company, then a commercial licence is needed. 

 

If it is one of the shareholders, then a private licence is needed.

 

That is how it worked when I had shares in two boats before buying my own back in 2013.

Our shared owners boat is managed by a management company but is registered with an owner, so we only pay for a private licence.