Lily Rose

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.

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.

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.

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.

Better put mine up for sale now then!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

I said hello to him as he went past us, heading north, whilst we were moored up about 25 minutes North of Braunston.

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... https://canalplan.org.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi

The OP said live abroad, probably meant to say live aboard.

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.

Quite possibly, I reckon some scumbags dump stuff in the canal precisely because it may cause a whole load of trouble to someone.

Oh no you didn't.

Nope

Sense of humour bypass?