Bacchus

I'll keep quiet about my new project then... 😬 Thames is a funny old place, there do seem to be an increasing number of ridiculously expensive boats with "attitude" issues who seem to think it's about getting somewhere rather than being somewhere. I have the same tranquillity issues when sailing the Tinker.

Jerome K Jerome on steam launches at Maidenhead "Maidenhead itself is too snobby to be pleasant. It is the haunt of the river swell and his overdressed female companion. It is the town of showy hotels, patronised chiefly by dudes and ballet girls. It is the witch’s kitchen from which go forth those demons of the river—steam-launches." and "I do hate steam launches: I suppose every rowing man does. I never see a steam launch but I feel I should like to lure it to a lonely part of the river, and there, in the silence and the solitude, strangle it. There is a blatant bumptiousness about a steam launch that has the knack of rousing every evil instinct in my nature, and I yearn for the good old days, when you could go about and tell people what you thought of them with a hatchet and a bow and arrows. The expression on the face of the man who, with his hands in his pockets, stands by the stern, smoking a cigar, is sufficient to excuse a breach of the peace by itself; and the lordly whistle for you to get out of the way would, I am confident, ensure a verdict of “justifiable homicide” from any jury of river men." Funny how now they seem so gentile... Great pics though, thank you for posting!

There's reds and reds. this one is RED, I wouldn't try to navigate in anything less manoeuvrable than a rib or a powerful Dory. A narrowboat would be right out. The EA use something called Excedance to measure flow - up towards Oxford that is currently 2.8%, which basically means that 97.2% of the time it is carrying less water, and only 2.8% it would be carrying more, and that includes the floods of 2014. If you have to move downstream because you are in danger, point the bow upstream and go backwards downstream so that you are going forwards through the water but backwards over the ground. This is not advised for anyone without significant experience, and if you're asking the question I would infer that that isn't you. There will be places where even then the flow will be faster than a narrowboat can push, which will be very dangerous. turning one round would also be an extremely foolhardy manoeuvre. I think the current spate has peaked, but it is unlikely to be do-able until at least the new year, and that is if we don't have any more rain

Hi @Suzie, and welcome from me. There is a vast wealth of knowledge on this forum, but you might need to be a bit more specific if you want sensible answers. Are you planning to live on the canals or getting out there as tourists? If the latter, for weekends away or retirees who can cruise for months on end? Also an idea of budget would be very helpful.

I knew that boat was an over-stayer...

I used Shaun Barratt in Castleford for plastic tanks in the van. Great chap, great product, great price. https://www.tank.me/introduction

the photo claims to be taken in 1885, that boat will have moved at least fifty yards towards the lock by now...

Is that George Michael's house? Looks about right with the position of the church (and assuming that the turret on the house is a later edition...)

The last man to enter parliament with an honest motive?

The OP wants a plot of land. Not a bucket...🙂

Nice. Ship's lifeboats were a good source of hulls in the 30s - being timber they could only be kept for so long on the side of the big liners, but they had to be tough enough to be dropped into the sea. There's a boat near me at Laleham that looks like this - I think she's called Broomstick - seems to spend nearly as much time sunk as floating. I don't think I have ever seen her move, but somebody must love her enough to keep refloating her...

Cheers, yes, one of my treasured possessions (along with another half dozen or so of his paintings... I try to encourage him to do more but one of those people who's always busy...)

I had a lovely old clinker (larch on oak) ships lifeboat conversion on the Thames at Henley years ago. Aspen Lady. Raymond Baxter approached once to get the serial numbers to investigate whether she had been involved in the Dunkirk evacuation, but sadly an empty wallet forced me to sell her (to a complete dick as it turned out) before we could go down that path ☹️ No photos, but a good friend did a very nice water-colour of her

The Linssen has an access panel in the after cabin - I haven't actually lifted it yet (new boat...) but I would be amazed if it isn't for the shower pump.

I have what I guess is a very similar boat (Linssen 32) which has a wet-room/loo adjacent to the after-cabin. It looks like a gravity drain to (I am guessing) a sump with a whale gulper on the midship side to pump the grey water through a skin-fitting. I don't know what the sub-floor is built of, but the flooring is lapped about 4" up the side of the walls to form a sort of integral tray, which is exactly what I did on my camper with fibre-glass (except that is gravity drained to a tank). If I was doing it from scratch I would be tempted to source some proper marine ply rather than WBP, but the latter will do the job for a good few years. The shower area has a curtain to separate it from the loo, but you would have to walk through it as mentioned above (by @Ken X ), however I have found in the past that can be mitigated with a slatted mat type thing like this

I don't live aboard (and I have a steel cruiser rather than a narrowboat) so my opinion may be of limited value, but from what the OP says, he (she?) won't be living aboard either; it's an extended holiday boat so some of the full live-aboard "must-haves" may not apply? They don't say whether they will be retaining a land-dwelling somewhere, but by suggesting that the boat could go on the hard for the winter, I would assume that to be the case, so they won't need space for the entire toolkit and family heirlooms, and a smaller boat might be easier to start with? Also could probably get away with something like a diesel-powered central heating if not living aboard during winter - can be set on a timer for ease of use during cold spring/autumn mornings but doesn't necessarily need to mitigate prolonged snowy weather. Also bigger windows to take in the views without worrying about winter heat-loss Making up a bed for six months might be a pain, and big tankage would help. I was looking at narrow-boats before buying the current cruiser, and from what I saw cruiser sterns seem to sell more readily. I would say buy a cheapish boat with a good hull and engine, cruise it for a couple of seasons and take it from there. A well-priced 48-50' cruiser stern is usually going to find a buyer quite readily when the OP has a better idea of what they want and decides to move on.

I do actually think this is a genuine request rather than a bot. I assume that the engine of said barge is fubar, and the snorkel comment is to swim along pulling the barge, however the lack of information isn't really conducive to serious or helpful replies, and the choice of username doesn't help the OP's cause if he/she is making a serious request for information. My take is that this is probably a typo - house won't start

"her" - your partner or the barge?

I put beautiful, individual pane, Georgian bar timber double glazing in my "marital" home - they looked stunning and worked brilliantly, but they were a pain in the harris to paint every few years...

They must really be scratching their heads wondering why the cycle-tracks are called "towpaths"