Lily Rose
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Posts posted by Lily Rose
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Nah, don't believe it one little bit. He could easily prove he's Rod The Mod if he wanted to. He hasn't because he isn't.
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13 hours ago, MtB said:
Looks like a contender for next time.
I don't know what they used when they replaced mine (I should have asked). It was a 40% pink ready-mix they obtained in Braunston from one of the units near where the Days Afloat bloke had his boat near the junction. I've been topping it up with the Halfords concentrated pink stuff mixed 50/50 by me.
Top-ups seem to have become less frequent so hopefully not an external leak.
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23 years old.
I didn't know there was such a test so I'll bear that in mind if the problem persists. I've been keeping a record of how much additive I've been putting in and It does seem to have been reducing so I'm hoping it was just air that is now mostly gone.
It was out for blacking this time last year and I wasn't told of any signs of a leak, though to be fair, no-one was looking for it.
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I had my 5 year coolant (professionally) replaced a few years back. The experience of that makes me inclined to think adding corrosion inhibitor instead next time would be a good idea. The damned skin tanks (one either side) must have guzzled about 100 litres of mix initially. I never needed to top up before but since then I've had the engine overheat, requiring quite a large top-up, and have subsequently had to top up many times since. I reckon I must have put in another 25 litres. No sign of a leak so I can only assume they didn't manage to get all the air out (they certainly spent time trying) and quite a few large air pockets remained and took a long time to work their way out.
I really don't fancy going through that again. Corrosion inhibitor seems like a more attractive option.
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3 hours ago, gatekrash said:
We do ours fully, 3 coats of potable bitumen every 3 years, but we also patch it every year if we spot it starting to rust. But we have really good access to our tank so it's not a terrible job (especially as the Mrs is smaller than me and has to get into it 😁 ).
Once you've done it you need to leave it for a couple of weeks to dry off then keep filling and flushing it for a couple of weeks as the water starts smelling of bitumen.
Blimey, that looks like me about 5 years ago. Happy memories (not).
Mine was in a right state when I first did it about 5 or 6 years ago. I got inside and cleaned and de-rusted as best I could then a coat of Vactan followed by two of Black Jack. Horrible job!
Last year I decided enough rust was coming back through to be worth doing something again but it was nowhere near as bad as the first time and as I didn't fancy doing the full horrible job again I just emptied it, dried it and gave it a good brushing plus used a wire brush on the obvious rusty bits. After another rinse and dry I just gave it a coat of Vactan, mostly from the outside with a brush taped to a length of wood. After a couple of days drying I gave it another coat, mainly just in case I'd missed any areas. After a couple more days I rinsed it with a hose and removed the rinsing water with my wet and dry vac. Repeated this a couple more times.
That was a much easier job than the first time and a year on is still looking pretty good. If I can get 3 years out of that before needing to repeat it I'll be happy. Even 2 years would do.
I expect the water would be fine to drink but we always carry drinking water separately so would only need to do that if we ran out. Hasn't happened yet.
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6 minutes ago, matty40s said:
the market is still strong, no new licence changes have been announced yet, so it still seems attractive
So if, or probably when, they do announce serious price hikes the market might well be expected to weaken. All the more reason to sell now rather than later.
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2 minutes ago, matty40s said:
doing locks, jumping on and off boats at 67 isnt exactly what their doctor recommends
Better put mine up for sale now then!
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It wouldn't be financial for me either, at least not in the sense that I needed the money from the sale. On the other hand, I would be thinking that if I wait (say) 3 years for the market to get better, from a seller's point of view, than it currently is (which may still be fine for all I know) then I could be waiting in vain. Whilst I was waiting I would be continuing to fork out licence fees, mooring costs etc etc for another 3 years. For me that would be roughly another £15k wasted on something I wasn't using.
If you think you will eventually sell then waiting strikes me as gambling on a better price in the future being more than enough to offset further depreciation and further annual fixed costs.
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I expect the responses will be along the lines of "yes, if priced sensibly".
If I was in such a position, and not expecting things to improve, I think I would sell as soon as possible even if the price was lower than I'd really like. I'm not keen on forking out lots of money year after year for something that's not getting used much.
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I can't help feeling this is precisely the wrong place to ask this question. Surely people without boats are far more likely to be interested in this than those who do.
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I've got one of those sheets Ray hands out, from the man himself but not because I made rude comments to him I hasten to add!
Nicely laminated so it's still in good condition almost 8 years later. Kept in a cubby hole within easy reach of my steering position. The trouble is there's never enough time to grab it and refer to it and I've never managed to learn it. Apart from no. 7 that is. I'll have to try and find somewhere I can attach it so it's always visible.
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Surely this must be at least close to being a record?
Started 3 hours ago and then bailed out after 1 hour and 6 posts.
Shame as I'm sure there would have been plenty more useful information to come, particularly as the OP did seem to be particularly uninformed even for a newbie. Hopefully they will come back later as a lurker to see if any further worthwhile stuff has been added.
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I can't help feeling that horn signals (apart from a single long blast at a blind bridge/corner) are a bit pointless on a canal as it's far more likely than not that the other boat won't have a clue what is being signalled and, indeed, may even react badly.
Different on a river where the other boat is very clearly being steered by someone who should know e.g. an RNLI boat.
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I use my son's Netflix account. Netflix via the Fire stick in one of my TV's (I haven't tried the others yet) now comes up with the "not part of the household" message. However, on my two Fire tablets and my Chromebook it is still working as normal.
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11 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:
Many years ago I did that and the boater coming out remonstrated with me for not coming in. I told him I wanted to photograph the lights, not him.
It's a "damned if you do, damned if you don"t" situation.
We go through Newbold tunnel each way pretty much every year and my approach now is to wait if they're not far from my end but go straight in otherwise. I've not yet had any complaints but the potential for someone to have a moan is always there whichever way you choose to do it. If you always wait then there's a good chance that by the time the boat you waited for has come out at your end another one has just gone in at the other end.
It's a dead easy straight two-way working tunnel with good visibility so I don't see why anyone should have a problem meeting someone half way. It''d rather meet someone there than in Braunston tunnel!
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35 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:
I think that is a dangerous generalization. Some, but not all locks have moorings that you might be able to pay the lockkeeper for if they are not already taken. On the stretch the OP is travelling the only EA 24 hour mooring close to a lock that I can think of are Goring and Sandford. Osney does not count because the OP will need to be off the river by then (assuming as 24 hour licence).
Unless something has changed there are also EA moorings (about 3 or 4 narrowboats worth) above Abingdon lock. They're just past the waterpoint and pumpout. They are often full by late in the day, if not earlier, though.
If the OP's timings require/suit a stop at Abingdon then I would suggest starting to look for somewhere as soon as he leaves Culham lock. There are a few spaces on the left just up from Culham lock. There is also a very good wild mooring space opposite the entrance to Abingdon marina (or at least there was in 2018 when I made use of it). Once past the marina start looking for spaces on the R/H side opposite the almshouses, church and pub. Between the bridge and the lock there are numerous moorings on the right and several on the left at Abbey Meadows and the outdoor swimming pool. Beyond that there are a number of spaces on the right just before the lock.
All of these are popular but Richard (Abingdon lock keeper) has told me on more than one occasion that the river has been quieter ever since Covid so there might well be a space or two still available late in the day in August. If not, the river is wide enough for breasting up. I'd be surprised if it was not possible to find at least one narrowboater willing to allow someone arriving late in the day to do so, particularly if they intend setting off fairly sharpish the next morning. There's a large Waitrose nearby as well, useful if a bit of shopping is needed at that point in the trip.
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I said hello to him as he went past us, heading north, whilst we were moored up about 25 minutes North of Braunston.
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I know nothing about this but I think it might be helpful to the OP if someone who does could list the pros and cons of each direction. Might help with that bit of their planning.
Mentioned above but here's a link...
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2 hours ago, zenataomm said:
I don't see why you think there should be a problem. The restrictions you mention only refer to English & Welsh canals. Plus I doubt the water authorities abroad even have rules relating to Continuous Cruising.
Why do you then mention London?
The OP said live abroad, probably meant to say live aboard.
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As the smoke and CO alarms on the boat and at home come due for replacement I'm going back to replaceable batteries as I've had at least two (Kidde or FireAngel, can't remember which) of the long life battery types start giving a low battery warning after about 2 years. CBA with the hassle of claiming under warranty as I expect they'd find a reason to wriggle out of it.
I like the convenience and lower whole of life costs of the long lIfe types but only if they last as long as they're meant to. Seems to be a bit of a lottery.
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49 minutes ago, M_JG said:
I wonder if the total idiot who dumped that in the canal realised how much aggro they were going to cause?
Quite possibly, I reckon some scumbags dump stuff in the canal precisely because it may cause a whole load of trouble to someone.
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Just now, M_JG said:
Yes I knew that really. But thankfully others have.
Oh no you didn't.
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3 hours ago, M_JG said:
Any hireboats to recommend as per my OP?
Nope
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Sense of humour bypass?
Giant hogweed
in General Boating
Posted · Edited by Lily Rose
Put it on CRT's Twitter and see what they say.
I did similar about the the large weed/bush/tree growths at the edge of the Puddlebanks visitor moorings some time back. The following year it had been removed. May have been coincidence, I don't know, but it's worth a try.
I don't really do Twitter but I have got an account to use for complaints, getting the attention of firms' customer services etc. The more keen they are on using Twitter the more effective such complaints seem to be.