1st ade

Not sure if this belongs in stoppages but it seems the logical place so here goes! "Please be advised that Milton Keynes Council will be closing the following footpath from the 7th September 2015 until 19th October 2015. CLOSURE DETAILS REASON FOR CLOSURE: Works on the footpath (In order to upgrade the existing canal path) (The Temporary Traffic Regulation Order will therefore be made under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984) PERIOD OF CLOSURE: 7th September 2015 until 19th October 2015 LENGTHS OF FOOTPATH TO BE CLOSED: That part of the Wolverton Canal Towing Path, Wolverton between a point adjacent to Canal Cottage and a point adjacent to number 56 King Stephen Meadows, Wolverton EMERGENCY CONTACT NUMBER: 01908 252353"

I'm not totally with the "what was good for boaters 100 years ago is good enough for me" brigade. The market has changed, attitude to risk has changed and even those happy to live without separate "domestic" batteries, inverters and tumble dryers are probably still grateful for LED lighting and the cellular mobile network. The winch on the boat trailer I used to tow had a useful function to stop people "forgetting" to engage the ratchet (AKA pawl) as they winched nearly two tons of RIB off a slipway. With the lever in one position, you could wind the boat in, but you could neither wind it out nor let it free run. With the lever in the other you could pay out line but not wind it in. The lever had an "over centre" device so it had to be in one position or the other. So you couldn't start to wind the line in without engaging the pawl. I'm sure some bright engineer can design a pawl for a paddle with two positions - "Up" and "Down" - with it in the "Up" position it will allow raising the paddle with two hands and won't allow it to slip back - with it in the "Down" position it will allow you to lower the paddle with two hands or (in an emergency) allow it to fall but won't let you raise it.

Thanks - and still with some of the boats (or at least the names) we hired.

Our beloved Bagpuss - sadly passed away about four years ago. (and. before you ask, sitting in one of those polystyrene box's that fish for the aquarium come in!)

We were moored at Ellesmere Port Boat Museum once - got used to visitors (to the museum) wandering around but our lunch one day was interrupted by a childish squeal "Mummy, Mummy, there's live people on this one!". Parents went slightly pink but we offered them (and their child) a quick guided tour of our hire boat [Off Topic - I'm guess Chas Harden has long gone now?}

Would seem to be a show stopper!

Greenie for that (and I work in Government IT!)

There seems to only be "Member" and "Long Standing Member" (following a cursory look through a couple of threads) Can I volunteer to be the first "Medium Term Member"?

All - it has been pointed out to me that specifying a geographical area along with comments about the state or otherwise of a vessel was unwise - for this I apologise (and thanks to Dan / Paul for drawing my attention and taking action). From reading other posts on this fine forum I would say the area is not the best but certainly not the worst in terms of damage to or theft from boats. I'll leave the discussion on rope or spring to others - despite my first canal holiday being at the age of a few months and continuing annually for the next fifty-odd years most of my recent cruising has been on lumpy, salty stuff where we have painters, lines and halyards to add into the mix!

Daniel - thanks for modifying

Calling narrow boat "Tobias Sam" As of this morning - it looks like someone may have nicked your centre rope (but not the mooring pin) I did rap on the roof, see if anyone aboard but no answer. More details please PM me.

Not an issue but a query. When searching the forum's for a keyword the result list has two dates; there is a greyed (and therefore less obvious) entry on the left and a bold (more obvious) on the right. Both seem to be aligned to the same poster but the less obvious result is the last posting (by anyone), the more obvious is some random earlier posting by hte same person. Not sure if this will work but (scroll past image) In the first result the last post was today (7th) by matty40s at 02:10; the right hand side has the same poster on the 4th July. The second entry has the same date in both. The third entry has the last post yesterday (6th) but the same poster on the 3rd displayed to the right... Each entry links to the appropriate post. As searches will (may) be looking for recent updates and are sorted by update time it's possible to stop looking thinking there must have been no recent updates on the topic you were after.

I know nothing about Mastervolt but 13.2 sounds awfully low for batteries that have been / are on charge?

Using email address as an identifier is an area paved with issues but many (not just CRT) go on using it. The problem is that an awful lot of "mis-spelt" emails still get through. Most email providers are not case sensitive so (for the sake of argument) if I had registered at CWF with "1st.ADe@gmail.com" (not my real address) I'd still get emails but they would (or may) not recognise 1st.Ade as the same user. Google muddy the water still more as they ignore periods (".") in email address's. So 1.st.Ade is the same as 1st.Ade is the same as 1stAde is the same as 1.stADE. Short of having a huge database of email providers, I don't think there is an easy way for a website owner to work out if the email address you type in online will route to the one they have on record unless they are identical. So a slight typo when registering may work fine right up until you need the "please confirm your email" feature.

Greenie for MagicTime We've (almost) always had bikes on towpaths. I think myself and Magpie Patrick once indulged in an activity called "Lock Wheeling"; riding ahead to get the next lock ready for our boat. And I don't see it as CRT's fault although they could maybe do more to push the "considerate and share" aspect of multiple usage. In Wolverton I've almost been knocked in the cut by high speed cyclists coming under bridge 68 with (if lucky) a "Sorry, late for work" call. I've also met some very considerate cyclists who see the dog, stop and wait for us to pass. Funniest event ever was at Marple Locks involving a Mountain Biker whose chain fell off just as he chastised a group of walkers for not getting out of the way quickly enough. They gathered around sympatheticly (not) offering helpful advice (not) as his efforts to rush the job ended with the chain wedged tight between two of the front sprockets.

I spent two days earlier this year helping to dredge / clear the canal round MK. I'm not sure whether it was IWA, C&RT or another outfit that actually organised it - many logo's were in evidence. I was one of about 15 'independent' volunteers I wasn't paid (not even expenses for driving to site) nor would I expect to be. However, if there had been a fee I would have quietly got back in the car and gone home. What would the response had "billh" offered (via his personal email address) to bring a few friends along?

Yes - same area - name of Puffin. Not much consolation to the owner but we were able to tie the Puffin break in to a 12 hour period - we passed it one morning and it was OK, the same evening we walked past and saw the owner and two PCSO's - gave the police my contact details.