terriegym

thank you Alan, sorry we haven't been in touch. how are the Chris's doing? Ive been a bit busy re building the front cabin roof, talk about baptism of fire!

Thankyou Peter I really would love some help when the time comes, as im not experienced i would not feel safe trying to get my boy to help as he's still only 9. he'll throw and catch lines but thats about it at the moment, good info on the keys thanks i havent read about that yet, as their are bridge keepers here i never thought about it either

Thankyou OldGoat. I never saw that one when i looked at YBW earlier i'll go back and have another look. Thankyou ill save that one and look later

Chubby i believe my response below does suggest what sort of advice i am looking for. I also did not say i could not afford a mooring i said i cannot afford 'a marina'. I am well aware of the cost of road transport as my boat came down from Newark as Alan has mentioned above. and i managed to arrange most of that all by myself!! i was asking for advice on this forum as everyone has been so nice in the past and i was hoping to connect to people who have actual real time experience of being on the non-tidal Medway. Now as a 'Mother' my eldest son needs me to help him make his new venture a success. driving for approx an hour each way from near the estuary to Tonbridge every day for work is really not going to be practical. 'She' certainly CAN be bothered to do as much research as needed, but google cant compare to people on the ground. i am working from 3am til 7pm most days to raise the funds for the move and a well deserved holiday, and have 2 sons to look after also, so please excuse me if i can not respond to replies straight away. thankyou for the responses with further information on bridge heights and moving the boat. i will get to each one individually, but we are celebrating having a working oven on the boat for the first time in a year, with Pizza! Thank you Traveller, I really dont have much choice needing to be near Tonbridge. i Pay £267 per month for mooring (no elec or water) and licence at the moment. im not sure how much my son can pay me to begin with so i cant really say what i can or cant pay at the moment.

hi thanks. i cant afford a marina, plus i have 3 dogs and two lively boys. i need to find places near somewhere to park the van but away enough not to annoy other people.

Hi thanks for your response. my boat would have to come down by lorry, we are on the Gloucester & Sharpness canal at the moment. shes a 10.6 wide wood/plastic. i need advise on moorings (cant afford much) bridges, locks (ive never done and am the only adult on board) where i can and cant go, boater communities etc etc.

Hi. i havent been on the forum for a while, its been a year now living on board and we love it, even with no roof for 2 months in the height of winter. things got a bit crazy, front cabin roof fell in and side deck went in with it. so been busy trying to fix it all by my little self. but thats a whole other topic. I am needing to move down to the Medway to help my son with his new business in Tonbridge and need some advice and information. non judgemental please as i dont think i can handle any more stress

Thanks. I've brushed the flue out. Not a lot of muck out of there. Cleaned the burning pot and the diesel is running in fine ?

I don't know, I'll try and take a pic of it

Hi can anyone help, my heater will burn for a few hours then I'll wake up to find its gone out and I've got a pool of diesel in the bottom of the heater. This has happened for 3 nights running now and we have no other forms of heating.

that's brilliant thank you.

Thankyou, although i don't feel very brave sometimes. luckily my boys are also CCers (continuous cuddler's!!)

Lol it might have been if I knew what last night was going to be like in that wind. Had to put 2extra ropes on her and an extra fender. Hoping we wouldn't crash into the side heavily or end up half way down the canal while I was sleeping.

Thanks guys. am hoping the tarps will at least hold on long enough to seal up the wheelhouse. will attach more ropes and bottles later. my new song to my boat!! https://youtu.be/UtKADQnjQmc

oh my days, well that was an eventful or un-eventful pump out depending on how you look at it. went to have her pumped out yesterday, nothing happening, so looked at the pipes, not connected, so i try and re connect the pipe, still nothing as the pipe is too large , so i throw a paddy, leave the boat at the pump out station, drive to the garage and get some old pipe i have ready to tackle it again this morning. 6am start at the boat. pipe i have is too small, so sit with cuppa and stare at pipes again, figure out there is a yellow pipe near ish the pump outlet, take apart, clean and reseal all the (house plumbing) connectors that join the other end of said pipe to the tank, attach the other end of pipe to the pump outlet and hey presto, we get a bit of a pump out!! so next step, lots of blue stuff poured into tank and try another pump out when things are loosened up a bit!! and have also managed to get tarpaulin's over her today, just hope they are still on tomorrow. lol

Yes I'm afraid the alternator/engine is a priority along with making her watertight and getting that front cabin done so i can get the boys in there as i need the space to do work once i have to leave the house in 2 weeks . I didnt brave the 5 bridges in the wind/rain to get to the marina yesterday but i did find out there is a manned pump out just the other side of the bridge to me and he can help me clean out everything apparently! so i'll phone and hopefully take her after work today. Thankyou all for the great advice and support, it does mean alot

thank you, sadly its just me and my 2 little ones trying to do this project. my ex has been up a couple of times to help move stuff, but we'll get there.

starter battery is new and was taken to the house to charge up the other night. it squeals more when revs are high! was going to try and have a look myself at some point (my father despairs at me not being able to do my own mechanics, but when he used to try and explain that stuff, it just sounded like he was talking a foreign language) yes i had the idea of tenting it, i have a round tarp and some old tent poles so will try and do that after visiting marina, if i'm brave enough to go through more bridges!! failing the tent it will be a lot of black plastic and duck tape!!

Well 'we' (yes, my children were actually helpful yesterday) had a fairly successful afternoon yesterday. Cabin is cleared out. But then I took the carpet and vinyl off the walls and ceiling to unveil more rotten wood and fungus. Am hoping the rain will hold off today to fill some of the areas where the water is pouring in on the deck and wheelhouse!

the front cabin (boys bedroom) I have cleared it out a bit more since these pictures (why do the pictures always come out sideways? )

Thanks. i did have a bit of a personal melt down yesterday after id left the wrong battery switch on and the engine wouldn't start again. and my shoulder was bad so had trouble starting the generator. But i'm back at the house this morning, i put the heating on an hour ago and im still bloody freezing, now i just want to get back to the boat!! (which now warms up in about 15 minutes!) I'm hoping to get the house cleared out by this weekend so i can just get on with doing jobs on the boat.

Hi guys, thanks for the responses. am back in the land of internet for today as i try and clean out more of the house!. ok update. the batteries were all wired back to front so the domestic supply was using the starter battery. has started every time since being looked at thank goodness. there is no way i can fit in a solid fuel heater due to space constraints in the living room where the heater is. i took the valve off near the heater and gave it a clean and tightened it up properly and its been working fine all day yesterday. was 85 degrees in the kitchen!! was wondering if i can extend the flue pipe through the kitchen to come out of the wheelhouse roof, as it seems a bit of a waste that the heat just goes straight up out of the roof!! most of the front cabin is now gutted, now to take down the mouldy ceiling vinyl, :-/

I'm not sure what the heater is, I'll try and put some pictures on when I'm back at the house.no the battery was fine at the time, as I don't know how the heater is supposed to work its hard to try and figure out the problem. All i know is that the diesel isn't coming through. Signal is awful here so I've swapped from vodafone to o2 which seems a bit better. I was hoping to keep all the wood on the outside but I think I'm going to need to reinforce the trim round the deck with fibreglass, but I'm just filling in gaps for now. But we came back to the mooring tonight, in full moonlight, stood at the boat watching the bats in the tree next to us flying about. My son Zak will now sleep with the lights off for the first time in 8 years and he's not afraid of the dark here, so its all worth it :-) lol I may not still say that if the temperature drops before I fix the heating :-D

i knew there was going to be a lot of work needed to be done on her, but obviously not the amout of sodden wood in the front cabin. im trying to attack it from the outside in at the moment. i think im just feeling over welmed as im totally on my own with 2 small kids and not enough time to get stuck in between work and moving!

just a quick update, nearly 4 weeks in and its proving to be a baptisum of fire. so far we still have no heat, i managed to figure out the diesel heater and had it working for about hour, but now the diesel doesnt seem to come through. the water is still not working as it has a leak that sets the bildge pump off. i bought a brand new battery for the engine which is now flat (electrician coming tomorrow), spent a few days trying to seal up the front deck on one side as the front cabin is rotten right through with various types of fungus growing everywhere. still havent got the cupboards all cleared out. and trying to move out of a house singlehandedly. but on the bright side. we are now camping full time on board, my morning and evening coffee's on deck are delightful, and im meeting some wonderful people. :-)