Bernie

Hi Paul, sorry he's not returned. I presume you have done the usual, put posters up, contacted any houses in the immediate area to see if he has been shut in a garage or shed. There is a site here that you can advertise a lost cat on. Who knows it may help. http://www.missingcat.co.uk/index.html

If anyone wants pages on the heron club survivors website could they please ask on there. Thank you. This subject is being locked for now since there is perhaps enough information for all to follow. minerva/wyndlass if you PM me with the link then I will check and add it for you.

Since he has not yet been 'done' he could have gone off after a female. I do hope he returns safe and sound. fingers X'd

Some friends of ours several yaers ago moved onto their boat permanently with their 2 cats. They did use a harness which their cats hated at first but eventually accepted it. Also to make sure they didn't leave the boat when cruising they made door inserts out of a wooden frame and chicken wire for use when underway or kept the doors and windows closed. To acclimatise the cats they also took them up to the boat in cat baskets on a regular basis and then let them explore inside for a day and then extended this to longer periods feeding them etc: whilst there. They also ran the engine on a regular basis, one cat always hid under the bed the other one couldn't have cared less. Eventually both cats became acclimatised and they moved permanently on board, although one always hid when underway they could eventually let both cats off when moored and they would return no problems. My advice would be to take things as slowly as possible until you are sure that your cat will return after exploring the countryside. Some are fine immediately, some take a long time but a cat will usually return to where it is fed and cared for.

Since two topics are the same and from the same poster I have merged them.

Aquamat tiles are similar and a little cheaper, although we have the dri dek tiles and they have been down for years with no signs of wear and tear.

Have you tried your local chandlers?

For very heavily tarnished brass, Miracle Brass Bright from http://www.miracleleisureproducts.co.uk/cl...g-products.html it is acid based but certainly does the job with ease. All of their products are good.

I think the BMC engines are known for this at tickover and very slow speeds, ours has always done it and once the revs are increased slightly everything is fine.

Forgot about that one, thanks for reminding me.

It's the address box in the toolbar at top of page.

Look at the top of your page 'address' click on it to highlight it, then go to edit top L and click on that, a drop down box will appear scroll down and click on copy. Then compose and write your e mail as normal, then click where you want to place the link in your e mail , click on edit, when the drop down box appears click on paste and your link should appear in the body of the e mail. Sounds complicated but it's not.

We were advised when we bought our boat that nothing was needed due to having a remote holding tank. Being the sceptic that I am we used toilet blue, have since cleared it all out and find that there is now no odour which there was at times when using blue. So we now prefer without.

When we purchased our boat we were obviously very lucky and were supplied with a complete instruction manual which even went as far as 'how to clean the surfaces including sinks and shower curtains, and the best solutions to use'

These are what we have had on our boat since new and they are fine, never had any problems whatsoever.

First of all welcome. Since it is your first canal boat experience I would definitely cruise the Staffs and Worcs, turn right at Autherley junction onto the Shroppie and then head on down to Market Drayton. There are locks but they are not too close, too heavy or too numerous for a first trip. The only place to watch out for is the Tyrley flight which can be very shallow and rocky between the locks, especially the last couple. That's if you get that far before you have to turn round.

Have a good trip Colin, don't forget the thermals.

Oh go on then. We bought our first boat in 1983 a little 19'6" Fairline cruiser for £1400 to see if we liked cruising the canals. It had no hot water and no shower and we had to buy a porta potti and make the bunk up each night. We did enjoy a few months cruising and were hooked our next boat we bought 18 months later, a proper one a 36ft Narrowboat, and we got our money back on the Fairline.