NB Alnwick

It is worrying that there are six narrowboats listed as having been stolen in 2005/6 of which one was added as recently as 17th October 2006. We shouldn't re-invent the wheel but we can help by drawing attention to this site . . .

I even heard Sara Kennedy talking about it on Radio 2 this morning - or was I dreaming?

I have the day free and the use of a car if I can be of any assistance . . .

Isn't Morecambe Bay a bit like Weston Supermare? Nevertheless, the trainspotting is good at Hest Bank . . . Then again, the Lancaster Canal is very handy for Blackpool

There's a Kelvin P4 - or rather the components thereof - on eBay at the moment: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kelvin-Marine-Engine...emZ200044201619 Comes complete with gearbox and could be a nice little engine; 20 shp at 1500 rpm, 2175 cc, ticks over at about 400 rpm. Designed to drive a 16" prop.

We were 'buzzed' by the police helicopter this afternoon - very low and following the course of the Oxford Canal northwards towards Wigrams - we heard it fly off round the corner but didn't see which way it went because it was the other side of Napton Hill. We recognised the chopper because we used to see it a lot when we were moored at Welford - it is shared betewwn Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Police and based on the border between the two counties at an old WW2 airfield near Welford Reservoir. It would be nice to think that it was searching for a missing boat . . .

We arrived at Braunston from Weedon at lunchtime on Wednesday, 25th October and moored up by the old entrance to marina/docks/dry-docks not far from the stop-house. We left first thing Thursday morning and proceeded to Napton where we are still moored just below the bottom lock. I cannot remember precise details but I believe I saw your boat on Thursday morning some time between getting underway at Braunston and when we tied up at Napton - say between 8.00 and 11.30. As I said before, I particularly noted the welded name so, if it helps, that means that the bows of your boat were facing the same way as ours - towards Napton. Today, we have both walked the towpath beteen The Bridge pub at Napton and Wigram's turn. There was no sign of 'Cragdale' there. We will have another look south of 'The Bridge' tomorrow. Napton locks were still open today and several boats passed through in the direction of Banbury. Work is due to start on Monday, 6th November and they will then be closed until the Christmas break.

I think it would be classed as an 'unattended vehicle' rather than a home or otherwise expensive asset. The police are inundated with reports of stolen vehicles but because such cases are usually dealt with by insurance etc. they are treated with lower priority. Having said that, I have been pleasantly surprised to see several police patrols along the towpaths recently - one last week between Braunston and Wigram's . . . Does anyone know if the notorious 'Finch' is about again? He has a string of convictions for breaking into boats in the Braunston area and living in them until the fuel/food/booze runs out. Reputedly an ex Special Forces soldier, he can break into any boat and is not the sort of person you would want to tackle without armed back-up. There are loads of warnings about him around Braunston marina and although he has been locked up a few times, he rarely gets a long sentence . . .

We saw your boat when we came down through Braunston last week - particularly noting the name welded on the stern which we thought to be unusual. We are currently moored at Napton but have our car with us and will have a good look round for you this weekend. Noting that the boat on eBay has been withdrawn from sale - this does seem likely! In any event it would be nice to know if the boat belongs to the same 'Cragdale' who sells 'iron on transfers' . . .

Are all policemen Fascists?

We did have our cat onboard ('GC' aka 'Ginger Cat') who had been seasick and was not in the best of moods. Perhaps he frightened the policeman?

We did have a letter from him subsequently - he has two new nicknames: 'Splash Gordon' and 'Bob'

Earlier this month we travelled up the tidal Thames from Limehouse to Brentford. We found the river quite rough but were able to maintain just over nine miles an hour (about eight knots) with our Kelvin K3 running at about 450 rpm. As we approached Blackfriars Bridge, a police launch swung round behind us and then came alongside. The water was still quite choppy as one of the officers attempted to board us - he managed to get on to the roof of our back cabin and introduce himself before he fell over the side and into the water! We were still moving through the water very quickly and, before we could do anything, he was left far astern of us with his life jacket inflated - the police launch circled round, picked him up and then sped off away. The whole incident happened very quickly but we telephoned the Metropolitan Police and they confirmed that the officer had been recovered safely and was already taking a hot shower. Nevertheless we can imagine the shock that he must have suffered and he would most certainly have had some nasty bumps and bruises. Has anyone else been 'boarded' on the Thames - or is just that we look suspicious?

It really depends on how good your insulation is and if your boat is sufficiently air-tight to keep out the cold winds. I saw some horrendously frozen pipework once on a railway dining car that had only been exposed overnight - burst pipes everywhere but it had very poor insulation . . .

That has got to be the best solution - can there be a better place to be?

Last year we had a couple of days when the temperature in Northamptonshire dropped to -5. We had been away and our fires had gone out so we expected it to be seriously cold when we got back to the boat but when we opened up the temperature inside was still just above 55 degrees F - I know that because one of my old Imperial pub cellar thermometers hangs in the engine room. Certainly if it gets that cold again this year we will stay put aboard and keep the fires going as well as running the engine from time to time. For one thing it is easier to keep warm on the boat than in a house and the canal is quite serene in the frost. There is a picture on our website that shows what it was like when we were iced in at Fenny Compton in November last year - http://www.eaton.demon.co.uk/

It may have been said already but the Aylesbury Canal Society publish a useful guide to Laundrettes. www.aylesburycanal.org.uk/

This seems to be getting out of context, we clean the bilges under the engine daily and wash out the rags in warm water and detergent so that we can use them again - the amount of oil suspended in or attached to the detergent will be minimal and probably no more than the cooking oils and fats that most people discharge into the canal from normal washing up activities. The only difference is that we wash the rags in a bucket and don't dump the waste in the cut.

We wash the rags out with 'Ecover' detergent - I suppose the oil must be still there but the waste water no longer resembles 'oily gloop' and looks no different to the water after washing a pair of soiled overalls . . .

Where do you empty your buckets?

What can be wrong with watering the hedge?

Washing machines use bags of power and take up space so we decided to get rid of ours. Since then we have used the occasional laundrette but mostly wash in the sink the old fashioned way. For drying we use an old spin-dryer which we acquired second-hand. It doesn't drain the batteries or take up much space and it gets the clothes nearly dry.

According to BW there are over 29,000 boats on their waterways - not sure if this means all narrowboats but most rivercraft will be on EA waterways etc and there will be a lot of narrowboats not registered with BW so seeing 300 odd advertised for sale (about 1%) is not really that significant. When we were looking for a boat last year we found 'Apollo Duck' and 'Boats & Outboards' extremely useful but even so we only found three or four that we were really interested in - one of them was 'Hector' and we came to see it at Brinklow about 18 months ago. A really nice boat . . .

We've found it easier to use old corduroy rags - usually torn up from old trousers- and ring them out into a bucket which can be emptied in the hedge away from the canal. If you clean up regularly (in a trad engine room you can do it every day) and then wash out the rags in soapy water and dry them in the engine room, they will be ready for re-use next time. It works for us . . .