Andy Healey

Horrendous is not the word I will agree, but certainly not trivial and going to cost, the Aluminium Frames are bent, possibly leading to leaks, approx £200 each + fitting, so say £500 plus inconvenience, cannot ascertain paint damage from photos. if they are unable to make an insurance claim because of insurance excess (I know ours is in the region of £500) it would have to come from the owners pocket. Lots of hassle due to a liability of an ignorant person.

Thanks Mike.

We are having a trip to Oxford in a few weeks, We where thinking of going out on the Sheepwash Channel then back into the Oxford Canal at Dukes but just calculated 1 day licence at £43. Wont be doing that for a few hours cruising. We are 62 foot, anyone know if it is allowed to turn in the Sheepwash Channel without a licence? Have been told only up to 50 foot can turn at the junction with the Hythe Bridge Arm.

We had to get back to Weltonfield from Braunston on Thursday to get the daughter back home from a week out on the Southern Oxford, so we came up Braunston Locks during storm Doris on NB Centurion, wind was behind us up the locks, very strong though, but boat controllable, only difficulty was keeping bottom gates closed before filling, quite a few branches down but no major trees, tunnel was a blessing for once. Only problem was when we turned onto the Leicester section, just past the tree cover we where pinned to the bank so game over and a short walk to Weltonfield and the car. No relation to Storm Doris but we had 2 empty pounds on the way up Knapton Locks, 1 long and 1 short pound below the engine arm, 4 hours for CaRT to refill.

There are some right sights on the stretch in question, looks more like the Kennet and Avon between Bath and Bathampton:-) Funnily enough loads of big, expensive houses overlook the waterfront! and a couple of pricey restaurants.

Confess that on Edstone Aquaduct on the Stratford I always try to get water over the edge onto road and rail below with a quick blast with the tiller over, succeeded once but missed the train underneath:-(

Really sorry to hear this, Fi wrote one of the best, most informative blogs around, very helpful for planning and finding good moorings, met in passing a couple of times, our thoughts are with John and family.

OP here, our friend definitely said Canal towpath knowing of my canal interests, I am loathe to ask for more details, cant even remember if they said East or West Midlands. We met the lady in question on a classic car trip in Llangollen 2013 and am certain she was not 71. Either way lets not speculate on fault or blame until something official appears.

Speaking to a friend on a Classic Car run at the weekend, his close female friend, known to us through a Classic Car group has died after an incident on a towpath in the East or West Midlands area, apparently hit by a Mountain Biker whilst out walking. The lady was hit hard by the biker and had a severe blow to the head. Very tragic, happened around Wednesday last week. Have checked news sources but can see no incident mentioned. Anyone heard of this incident?

We had a similar situation a couple of months ago with queuing, although first on the lock landing, we found other boaters moored around the corners below the locks had spoken to the volocky so went in first, as with the op it was all up or all down, with about 7 boats all coming up those at the top had a long wait before starting down. It was a sunny Wednesday, The place was crawling with Volockys, however most where either painting or gardening, actually locking there was 1 at the bottom, 1 at the top, and a pair in the middle all on radio's, plus a couple more chuggin. We prefer to be left to get on with it anyway. We saw both Blue hire boats and ABC boats operating from Union Wharf at Market Harborough. I remember way back when the real lockies lived on their boat at the top it was always 5 up then 5 down.

Not surprised it came adrift, the pontoon looks past its sell by date. Don't suppose Cart have any jurisdiction on the safety or strength of the pontoon as it was on the pubs land.

Word of caution, last winter CaRT turned the visitor moorings at the bottom of the staircase at Tower Wharf into Designated paid for Winter Moorings which where fully occupied on the dry dock side, the moorings opposite where also nearly full so best send someone to walk down before you descend the staircase. otherwise its onwards towards Chester Zoo.

Clever, but sh-te looking, so bog could be composting!

There is some rubbish built or been built in this programme!

Saw him last week and had eggs and large mushrooms from him plus kindling, he appears to live locally, I gather he has to buy some of his produce from the farm down the road, we have been through Quoisley a number of times over the last 2 years as our boat is moored nearby, he seems to be more unkempt now and looking more frail, maybe through ill health or life style at a guess so we make a point of buying from him. We where only 2 handed last week and the wife was wielding the windlass and he did not help, same on the way back, he seems less keen to help at the lock. Can confirm proper, big yellow yolks on the eggs, better than the supermarkets.

Poachers Pocket at Gledrig before Chirk Bank is OK, Jack Myton at Hindford is now shut for what looks like a long refurbishment, Moor at Chirk Bank and walk into Chirk across Aquaduct then above tunnel for more pubs. Lion Quays seems to be well used by boaters now but don't think there is anything else to see there.

Tardebigge, down Worcester and Birmingham, on to Droitwich Junction Canal and Droitwich Barge Canal, then River Severn down to Worcester, then back up Worcester and Birmingham to Tardebigge is easily doable in a week, we easily managed this from Alvechurch, lot of locks though. If I remember Moorings where Stoke Works (Queens Head was full), Droitwich in the pontooned Marina, Worcester above the locks from river, Dunhampstead, Tardebigge, and back to Alvechurch.

4 more are crossing with Daryl the pilot this coming weekend I believe.

We own a 12th Share in a share boat that has worked out reasonably well for us over the years, we where in at the beginning so had a hand in the planning, decorations, furnishing, etc, the boat is 11 years old now, we survived the Challenger fracas and went to ABC for management who looked after it well, kept costs down, and if using their bases gave discounts on mooring, maintenance, and Chandelry items. We are now transferred to BCBM, not through choice, ABC decided to partner up with BCBM which we are not keen on especially as the owner is ex Challenger. We have been given notice already that management fee's are due to rise over the next couple of years to bring us on par with other BCBM managed boats. Share Owners Fee's at the moment are approx 1K a year, which include Management Fee, Licence, Mooring, Insurance contributions, a contribution to the maintenance budget, and a contribution to a contingency fund + Gas, as a comparism 1K would get you a week in a decent hire boat out of high season. We expect the total fee's to rise to about 1.2K. On our weeks on the boat we only pay for Diesel and Pumpout. We have 4 weeks a year, this equates to a week in each season of Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, weeks are drawn randomly per season, with only a couple of owners getting school holidays which suits us fine, there is some mutual swapping of dates involved at the yearly AGM where the draw takes place. In general the boat moves to a new base approx every 2 years, this has worked out reasonably well, and has given us the chance to do most of the Southern waterways including Thames/Wey, K & A, GU South and Midlands, GU Leicester, Caldon, Maccy, Peak Forest, T & M, Bridgewater, all of SU including Llangollen, and BCN. In General share boating works out quite well for us, If we could afford our own boat we would do so at the drop of a hat, but not to be so this is the next best thing. Yes we have had a few disagreements within the syndicate usually over trivial things but with a good chairman and a voting system these things are resolved without malice. We have recently looked at cost savings within the syndicate, the management fee been the most obvious, this would save over 300 a year for each member at the moment, but this would be offset by having to pay certain expenses to whoever in the syndicate has the time to be the link to boatyard's/marina's for issue resolving. Hope this helps.

Are there any self managed share boaters out there who would like to share their experiences with me, preferably privately via email or other media. For example choices for home mooring, servicing, weekly turn rounds, insurance questions, etc.

There are over 200 boats on the Golden Nook Moorings now, I know because we went down their 2 weeks ago in a heavy wind and I was counting them until the horizontal rain arrived!, then I could not see a thing, I was tempted to go fast but did not. We remember seeing the offending boat near Christleton.

Bet your bottom dollar that any of the boats built abroad, ie:- Poland, etc are not made of EN43A Steel. I am thinking there are a few boat building companies now using foreign shells, New and Used boat company may be one? Also from what I have seen most of them start of with rusty steel sheets in the first place, also don't know what effort they take to remove mill scale before blacking and painting a new boat!

Full story not yet out, so I would have reserved judgement until all details known. I think the main point the chap might be making is about the effects of galvanic corrosion as a guide to owners.

Cannot really compare to a car, A fully assembled car body is fully immersed in a protective E Coating process, so slightly different scenario.

Seen some comments on blacking on here recently and also some talk of grit blasting. I have just spotted this sad and cautionary tale on a blog I follow.Story not fully told yet but looks like an absolute nightmare scenario. http://www.nb-kelly-louise.com/2014/11/the-dream-that-turned-into-nightmare.html I am sure they will not mind this tale been shared to make others aware of potential pitfalls.