Ex Brummie

Ignore the demand and see if they look to enforce it. I had similar with car insurance and advised by phone I would not be renewing. I was told there would a small charge for the admin fee minus refund. I told them I would accept a 1p charge if they insisted or they could take me to court. I paid nothing, and have since reinsured another car with no penalty.

The Police and other public services are always complaining about the delays and costs of DNA testing for more legitimate purposes, so that would be a non starter. Dog mess has always been a problem and the provision of bins has polarised this because they are not emptied consistently. Like many public services, litter collection has cost significantly more for a poorer service and generally we have no answer to this as the charges are levied with impunity. And don't mention we have the ballot box option because everyone in public employ has the same outlook. The overly bureaucratic behemoths will always save money at the sharp end whilst maintaining their empires.

When your 14 days are up, pick another mooring where they dont have outlets next to your bedroom.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/specialist-teams/managing-our-water/annual-lockage-report this gives some ideas about your query.

This thread reminds me of many of my customers. 'Nothing to do and all day to do it!'

Chester residents are notoriously possessive about 'their cycleway'. I once upset one as I had tied my centre rope to the railings whilst closing the top gate, going down. He didn't quite garotte himself and was most abusive when I suggested he followed B.W.'s (at the time) guidance from the back of their Towpath Permit he should have.

New to boating for anyone is a steep learning curve. Also, as there is no definitive literature or consistency in boat building ( yes, i know newer boats come with a manual but none tell you which panel to remove to access a fuse), thinking outside of the box becomes a way of life in some matters. Responders on a forum can help, but without being there can never be totally confident of their response.

Is it another sound/timing effect or does he, as appears to me,stop the engine whilst gliding into a mooring? I've always worked on the principle that before you untie any ropes, make sure the engine is running, and leave it running until securely tied up.

My blood ran cold when I read about leaving the engine in idle and the gearbox in neutral. He was the only one on the boat, so there would be no-one to knock the control whilst enquiring how he was progressing with his hand down the hatch. I once saw something similar when a friend we were cruising with caught a bladeful, and having stopped the engine, managed to catch his feet in a loose rope which caught the Lister start key and started the engine back up again whilst he was positioning himself for the weed hatch.

Two hours will easily get you to the top of Bratch which is very pleasant and safe enough. It also gives you chance for an early passage through the locks to speed you on your way.

Knowing the propensity for the 'helpful poster' to continually labour minutiae, maybe in your mischieviously termed reply you should have spelt it as "baited" .

who? The model shop or Auntie Wainwright?😏

The original Waterworld series sparked much the same response with many new boats appearing, and with price inflation as people who had sold bricks and mortar were cash rich. By the third series, much of the content had become how to work round the rules of C.Cing. and this is where much of the You Tube content is now concentrated.

The reciprocal mooring arrangements can obviously vary from Club to Club. Some clubs have caretakers or permanent residents which makes it easy for visitors to arrive and get the guidance required. Likewise, upon returning to collect their boat, there is no real time constraint. Other clubs may not have permanent presence on site and can therefore appear unco-operative to visitors. Visitors should also be aware that if they have have booked for a specific period, then they have a responsibility to adhere to that arrangement. Visitor moorings at clubs are not infinite, and where you are now may be promised to another, so an 'unexpected circumstance' that delays your collection by a 'day or two' is not really fair. Likewise, a late arrival coupled with a correspondingly late departure may not be able to be catered for. How is a host club expected to handle such a situation without causing upset?

Fortunately, most affiliated clubs have such reciprocal facilities to offer which are funded by their members.😕

A former customer of mine stopped keeping sheep on his meadows as he said he awoke every morning wondering what form of suicide they had discovered overnight.

I note that most replies refer to the non slip surfaces on the boat. Over many years, I've found that nothing gives you purchase on normal paint or painted plywood, and the places off the boat like brickwork around locks or lock woodwork where the non slip surface is damaged or missing. I usually wear waterproof trainers and find the soles reasonable everywhere except as above and in wet mud by lock beams. And Tony's comments about boots and falling in are very valid.

The combined boiler/heatstore system would certainly overcome the failings of the Bubble PJ's I encountered in narrowboats. As the boiler uses generic parts, it should be as reliable as any domestic oil boiler, but still a little power hungry for off grid use.

How did the integral tank fail?

Have used TFM for many years, their main site being near Telford, with local branches at Bridgnorth, Penkridge, and Newport (near Norbury). They also do a comprehensive of oil and fuel filters but you may need to asses your own cross references to match their range. Very good also for fasteners and small engineering supplies and tools. Their main customers are farmers, hence the name Telford Farm Machinery. Useful also for pet supplies and food.

A domestic type pressure jet boiler might well be suited to a wide beam, but there are drawbacks to their use on smaller systems. Bubble did make a small PJ boiler, but with a small load it came up to temperature very quickly and cut off, shortly after it would restart as cooler water came back, but the ones I commissioned never really brought the boat up to temperature, as the pre purge and post purge operations circulated cold water. There are also problems with small pressure jet boilers running on diesel, requiring a high pressure through the nozzle, and a preheater in the nozzle supply, otherwise you get poor/non ignition and very dirty electrodes and nozzles. The higher combustion temperatures require good design in the flue system to stop the blast tube disintegrating.

I appreciate that the tap can only turn 1/4 to 1/2, but if it's still loose when you reach the limit, turn the whole assembly, including the nut back to the other extreme and tighten again. Also, as these lever taps do not require any great force to operate them, they don't need to be rock hard tight.

Disconnect the flexis, use a mole grip to hold the nut firm and turn the tap from above. Reconnect the flexi's; job done.

Depending on the head of the fuel supply, and whatever filters you have in the supply to the heater, you may find this is where your problem is. when I installed my Bubble, it fitted a filter with a paper element, and found when really cold it restricted the minimal flow the heater demands. I removed the element and left the body in place as a sedimenter. The flow rate is nowhere near fast enough to stir up any particles, and the stove works perfectly. The filter in the Toby valve is still clear.