Lily Rose

Similar, if a bit more drawn out before finally taking the plunge (so to speak) very quickly (in about 4 weeks) at the end... 2010 day boat Early October 2011 1 week hire Early July 2015 midweek hire Early August 2015 bought a 45' narrowboat Very expensive outcome from the 2015 midweek hire but still glad we did it.

Are you the ex-wife then?

I think I'll pass thanks. I suspect you're off to the dentist tomorrow to be measured up for a complete set of false teeth to replace the set of real ones that have now been ruined.

Thanks, that appears to be the Rescue Ladder from Miracle Leisure Products at £110 then. I think I'll get the 1.93 metre one from Hewitts at £50 as it's a lot cheaper and I don't need the plank bit as I already have the dedicated and none-too-cheap Midland Chandlers one. The 2.43 metre ladder looks like being a bit of a tight fit in the car so the 1.93 will have to do. It's also a bit lighter so hopefully more manageable for the missus when I'm in need of rescuing.

I've been re-reading this thread with renewed interest after the missus and I both recently got up close and personal with the North Oxford Canal (she fell, I jumped in straightaway after her without thinking whether or not that was a good idea, I got out easily thanks to the ledge at towpath side, she only got out with the help of folks nearby) and am interested in utilising Theo's splendid idea. I currently have a Midland Chandlers rope ladder but I'm not sure how much help that would be so I'm thinking of buying one of these... http://www.hewittladders.co.uk/ladders/Single-Class-1-Ladders and taking it to the boat (need to check what ladder length I can get it in the car first, 2m should work and hopefully 2.5m but 3m will probably not fit) to rig up as Theo did. Theo - these ladders range from 2 metres to 6 metres, what length is yours? My boat is trad stern and has suicide seats which I have not yet found a use for, perhaps this is it. I also wonder if I might be able to wrap something (rope?) around part of the underwater section to hold the steps 2 or 3 inches from the sides to make for easier toe holds and perhaps at the same time protect the blacking from scrapes. Do you raise and lower the ladder before/after cruising? I was wondering about ropes through several rungs so it can be lowered quickly if necessary to make it easier to get onto the first rung.

I've got three. I started with one when I got the boat last year but soon got fed up flipping it over the mushrooms, and will be having a couple of solar panels fitted in June which would make things even more diificult, so I soon added one of the spares as a 2nd line. So then I had one each side. Recently I sorted out a few spare bits of rope I found in a locker and one was a 14mm rope that had been cut in half for some reason. I've now added this as a 3rd centre line which is kept near the centre ring and run side to side so I can access it from either side. This sometimes comes in hand for quickly securing the centre of the boat temorarily, e.g. in windy conditions, so I can tie up fore and aft without having to keep pulling the boat back in. I find it easier and quicker using a short rope for this.

I don't understand how they decide which stores to do this in. My local Tesco in Abingdon, which I wouldn't have thought is a hotspot for trolley dumping, brought the £1 trollies in years ago and yet I recently went into the Tesco at Brownsover, Rugby, which was a 5 minute walk from where I had moored the boat, and there was no such charge. Perhaps they have some other way of stopping trollies being taken off the site although but I didn't notice anything. Didn't spot any in the cut though, fortunately.

Surely they've been filled in by now, it's been almost 50 years!

If you are going the Huawei way then why not give 3 a go. (Note: it worked fine for me over a number of days at different spots in the Rugby area). I found the Huawei device was £60 to £65 on Amazon but by buying it direct from 3 on a 1 month contract it cost £39 up front plus £10 for the first month's 2GB of data plus a pro-rata amount for however many days you use it before giving 30 days notice. The device is unlocked so you could cancel quickly if 3 doesn't suit and get a SIM from another network. If you are happy with 3 you can amend your data plan online to get more data for not much more money. Better still, when I phoned to cancel (having bought a 1 year SIM containing 12GB for £30 as this means I'm not paying for data on contract when I'm not on the boat) they offered me a cheaper price. I declined as I'd already bought the aforementioned 1 year SIM.

I had read about the aerials but I thought I'd give the thingy a chance without it and see how it got on. The answer, so far, is... splendidly. The device has been put in the window on a bit of velcro tape so I can easily remove it when I go home at the end of each boat visit. I have trouble getting phone signals inside the boat on both Three and O2 even with phones close to the window but with the Huawei device reception so far in all 20 - 30 places I've tried it has been excellent.

Blenheim Palace still has a great play area for kids. It's at the other end of the narrow gauge railway line from the palace. However, if you are only going to the place once you really need a whole day to do it justice and include walks to the secret garden and along the lake to the cascades as well as the palace itself. You would also do well to have a look round the small town of Woodstock that adjoins it. Probably best to do all this at another time if possible rather than use up a day of an expensive narrowboat holiday.

Here's my recenct experience of mi-fi... I bought a Huawei E5573 from Three just over 2 weeks ago (http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Devices/Huawei/E5573_4G_Mobile_Wi-Fi?memory=0&colour=White) at £39 plus £10 per month for 2GB on a 1 month contract as it was cheaper than just buying one on Amazon. I will now cancel the contract (30 days notice) as I have bought a 12GB sim for £30 which lasts one year so I'm not paying for data when I'm not on the boat. We have just been on a 106 mile round trip from Stockton to Snarestone over 13 days and not once did we find we had no signal in probably 30 different locations. Pretty much every day we got 4G rather than 3G and it seemed very fast for emailing, web browsing, Facebook etc. Didn't try streaming or downloading. The unit was placed halfway up one side of a window (near a 12v socket to make charging easy as battery life seemed to be the only downside). We did not use, or feel the need for, an external aerial. So far, so good. It proved much better than I expected and we will use it in the marina as well as out on the cut as performance was streets ahead of the marina wi-fi.

I've never tried that before... Until now. Seemed easy enough to me.

You could try one of Paul Smith's discovery days at Calcutt (a few miles south of Rugby). According to the link below it's £199, or £149 if you are prepared to share the day with another person, for a very full day covering all aspects of life on a narrowboat, not just how to steer it. Have a look and what some of his other customers have to say about it. https://livingonanarrowboat.leadpages.net/narrowboat-discovery-day/

What, the sign? If it is then I failed to notice it in December and January when I turned there on my short lock-free winter runs from Calcutt to Birdingbury and back. Mind you, I'm only 45' so I didn't really penetrate Kate.

It's a Barrus Shire 1552 dating from year 2000 or thereabouts. I thought bleeding would be neccessary if the fuel cock was used which is why I was hoping there was an alternative.

My main concern is what to do if the solenoid fails and it appears that just shutting off the fuel at the cock is the answer for that as I don't believe that there is anything on my engine itself to enable an emergency stop. I think the solenoid has to be removed to do it manually and that's not in an easily accessible place. Regarding runaway engine scenarios, I have no reason to think that will ever happen but I'd still like to know what to do if it did. My conclusions (at the moment) after reading this thread plus a bit of Googling (including this... http://www.autoevolution.com/news/heres-how-you-quickly-stop-a-runaway-diesel-video-87344.html) is that if the engine is onfire or already revving alarmingly fast then get the hell out of there and keep fingers crossed that it won't completely destroy itself before it seizes up. On the other hand, if it isn't yet going crazy then it sounds like the CO2 extinguisher method is less scary than the plastic bag method as the former only needs a small engine cover beside the air filter to be opened in order to quickly spray in from outside and still being able to make a quick getaway if it feels too scary. However, the latter requires removing the large horizontal board over the engine to be lifted and then getting up close and personal with a runaway engine.

A bit rude and unneccessary. 1. I'm talking about spending not-a-lot of money on a CO2 extinguisher to keep in the engine room if the one already there turns out to be a different type. 2. I'm well aware that a runaway engine is unlikely and my concern is more about how to stop the engine if the solenoid fails which I believe is rather less rare. 3. I said I would ring RCR for *advice*/assistance which I would hope would mean they would tell me what to do rather than send someone out if there was a simple solution. 4. I have spent plenty of time, not "5 seconds", educating myself including 2 days and £100 going on the RCR maintenance course recently. Talking to the course tutor, Keith Duffy, it appeared that there is not a simple way to stop my Barrus Shire if the solenoid failed. However, perhaps you could share a bit more information about this "simple lever" that you know about so I (and others) can be informed for future reference and I can also let Keith know. Edited to add "(and others)"

I've been reading articles about CO2 as well which has made me feel more comfortable that this might not be a bad idea so I will definitely be adding a CO2 extinguisher to my engine room but only for use with a runaway engine (which hopefully will never happen). If the solenoid fails I'll ring RCR for advice/assistance.

OK, maybe I'll bin the extinguisher idea then. I'm now thinking of the following... 1. Engine won't stop but other than that no problems - ring RCR for advice/assistance. 2. Engine won't stop and there are other more serious factors such as smoke and/or burning smells - try to stop it with a bag for life (fairly strong) with a carrier bag over that (to seal it better). 3. Engine won't stop and looks or sounds as though it's about to explode - abandon ship, run like feck up the towpath and ring RCR if no flames appear or 999 if they do. Must try and stop worrying about things that might never happen. On the other hand, having some idea of what to do for the best is slightly more reassuring.

One of my 3 extinguishers is in the engine room but I can't remember what type it is. I'll have to check and maybe replace it if necessary.

I think I might give that a try with a slightly rusting metal toolbox that's been sitting unused in my shed for decades. I had recently thought of getting rid of it but perhaps I'll take it to the boat to see how well it works for this purpose.

Brilliant, thanks! I'll slow down and have a good look at that when I go past on Sunday or Monday. I think I may remember that quite wide looking bit there, IIRC it looked like the offside bank had collapsed into the canal and had one or more ominous-looking rocks sticking out of the water making me think what a shame as it could have been a good turning point otherwise.

Hmm... I might well consider that if it weren't for the fact that I'm dreading the first time I have to use my weedhatch. Crawling to it under the trad deck wouldn't be too bad but getting an arm down it, let alone some form of cutting tool, when there's so little headroom above it looks like it could be a challenge.