Horace42

My view based on many years as a committee member (not CRT) I would say it is a logistics problem. It is not practical to send copies of everything to everybody, and if they did, you would drown in data overload. The info you asked for has been 'published' in a sense that it has been entered in CRT records, otherwise you would not have been able to get a copy - and if you know your way around you will be able to access all routine information. Formal papers, Notices, Agendas and Minutes are only likely to be available to you if you are a member of the hierarchy of committees making up the structure - and then only by approved passwords - and coupled to confidentiality clauses where you agree not to publish or circulate 'private' information to outsiders. If you was a member of the Boating Council and published a copy of the Minutes on this chat page then I think you would be in big doo doos. On the other hand, your link to the report of the meeting is simply drawing attention to a document already in the public domain. .

Thanks for details of the route. Please clarify if it is your preference to have one group of steerers (per boat?) who stay with the boat(s) and sleep on board every night for the whole round trip. Or is it a relay of steerers for daily legs - just wondered...

I'm slightly puzzled. Assuming normal locking the bottom paddles must be shut to fill the lock enough to open the top gates. Similarly the top paddles must be shut to empty the lock enough to open the bottom gates. It is not something you can forget to do. In either case the top or bottom paddles must be shut on leaving to lock. So apart from bad leaks there is no loss of water, so how does that drain the pound?? Leaving paddles up is annoying and anti-social but not much else.

I imagine horses would have been used in those day. They just step over the ropes.

PPPS: Some of my comments repeat those already given. But that is because I started my reply after Mike #9, and the others came in whilst writing and I did not see them until mine was posted. It is interesting to hear of Mike's mooring manoeuvre. It sounds logical if you are skilled and alone and with lots of practice. But I would not recommend it for newcomers to fast flowing waters.

What has been already said is exactly as I remember my trip from Oxford down the Thames to Reading then on the K&A to Bristol but decided to turn back soon after Newbury because as we are both getting old and frail we found we did not have the strength and agility to operate heavy swing bridges and unbalanced gates on double locks. Being unbalanced, they were hard to open/shut and once set, would swing shut/open of their own accord. And a couple of swing bridges were so stiff that we had to wait for help from passing towpath walkers. We went at a time just after heavy rain and the fast flowing canal/river water caused steering and handling problems due to strong cross-currents where the river joined the canal below weirs and in narrow sections. There is one narrow spot in Reading as you pass through the modern shopping centre where there traffic lights on the canal to control boat movements. I don't know if they are still there. But when we passed through we had to stop at the lights to push a button to make them go green. The push button was difficult to reach from the boat especially in fast flowing water. In a separate instance we had a serious problem that might be worth mentioning in detail because it shows how easy it is to get caught out. We were going upstream and stopped at a lock and hand-held our boat fore and aft by ropes to await a boat coming down. The initial idea was to let them leave the lock with the gates open ready for us to go in. My wife. who was holding the bow rope asked me to go ahead to make sure they left the gates open and help them if needed. So I tied my aft rope to a bollard and went to the lock. The problem arose as they quickly opened the paddles to empty the lock and the rush of water added to the already fast flow caught our bows. Suddenly the bows started to swing out and my wife found she was not strong enough to hold the boat against the current, and although trying to make a quick hitch around a bollard, she ran out of rope as the bows swung out very quickly - soon to be wedged across the canal because the aft end was securely tied to the bollard. Now we always wrap the bow rope around a bollard to hold it in these circumstances. But don't let this put you off. Good luck. PS: One useful tip, because the Thames is so wide, you can do U turns almost anywhere. So when looking for moorings you can go past the area you want to stop, pick some possible places, and then go back to the one you like. It doesn't matter if you are pointed the wrong way when you leave - just do a U turn and carry on. PPS: If there is a flow/current on the Thames pulling in to stop will be a lot easier if you are heading into the current. So if going downstream, and you see a place you want to stop, go past it and turn round, and come back into it.

An admirable quest. I regret I cannot be of any help, but please advise the actual route to Manchester you plan to take - or is it optional - well-wishers and lock helpers will need to know.

Nebulae #22 and Richard West. #23. Thanks for the book name. There are many on the Internet generally, but none on ebay in particular. I will call in the round-house book shop next time I am over that way. Thanks.

Dad rented a house for us in Hampton in the late forties/early fifties because it was much cheaper to live there than London where he worked, even after paying train fares every day. We have long since moved away. I doubt if we could afford to live there now - in Hampton-upon-Thames that is - as estate agents like to call it. But us kids spent hours in those days paddling around on the Thames in canoes (belonging to the 3rd Hampton Scouts), occasionally venturing to Shepperton and Weybridge on overnight camping trips, and once on fortnight round trip to Wargrave. We might have pitched our tent on Doyle Carte island - Scouts could do that sort of thing in those days - nobody minded if you were polite and asked nicely and left the place clean and tidy. But one lingering memory is pleasure boats (cabin-cruisers mainly) usually found there was a charge to moor - wherever you stopped, there always seemed to be someone with their hand out collecting money. Has anything changed! I've been back once in my narrowboat. Lovely nostalgic trip for me, but my wife is nervous of tidal waters, and below Teddington it clouded the pleasure of our round trip up the GU back to Polesworth, and flooding as happened to us on our excursion on the River Wey at the time, where fast flowing water was the problem as flooding receded (it was quite safe, but it is akin to the 'fear-of-flying' syndrome). Yes, a lovely area around Shepperton, in fact all along the Thames, and I suppose if I had £4m to spare, I might be tempted.to buy an island.

There is a house on the main A5 road alongside the lock. I guess that could have been the lock keepers house - but I don't know for sure. I have not heard of Dr.Langford - any info please. Wharf House is private now as you said. But that was two (or maybe 3) small cottages knocked into one. Next to the house is a small building used as a CRT office. Opposite the house to one side is a large red brick building alongside the lock used partly as a CRT store that also houses the toilets. The round house is now a shop. T.he comment about the pub and stables is interesting. I did not know that. It would be nice if someone had a spare photo of the old cottages before becoming Wharf House and Wharf House before converted to a single private dwelling, and the pub and stables before road widening. Thank you.

Thanks for the link. Perhaps their name should "Huawei Customer Dont Care UK" Incredible. I'm retired now but my company didn't make accessories for our product, but we bent over backwards to provide information how to connect it to accessories provided by others.

PS to previous post. I started writing and posted before seeing this link in Ssscruddy. That is a good one. Are there others?

I hate to admit it, but I haven't a clue about what's needed for mobile communications an a narrowboat, but I am learning. Mainly for my phone, computer and TV - which looks to me as all being rolled into one with a modern phone - and quite expensive - unless you get a lot of use out of it every day - such as business use - or streaming videos (TV ??) - which I am told there are better and (much?) cheaper ways of doing it - yes?. My old pay-go T-Mobile (for talk and text) has served me well for years, but a recent attempted burglary at home has made us aware of modern security camcorders that can be 'viewed' remotely by phone - but it needs (4G for access ?) - regretfully an expensive monthly contract for gigabytes of data I don't expect to use - which gets deleted anyway. My grandson is looking into annual payg for occasional use - but nevertheless it could extend to providing TV when out cruising. At the moment we use a Humax Freesat receiver/recorder. But having to find moorings with a good dish signal is a big nuisance. First finding the satellite and second finding a spot clear of tress and buildings. Worst in the hot weather when we moor where trees give shade. . A parallel thread ('Cheaper WIFI Solutions') gives useful info, but using 'technical' terms different to those above by OldGoat and Bigste - it's almost another language to me. Are there some useful websites to help on this subject. What's needed and how to connect items together. Any help would be appreciated.

(my underscore for emphasis) More fool you if you let that happen. I suppose you could be right if you were a totally irresponsible person and not paying attention. I guess it would overflow if something went wrong. What sort of PO have you got in mind that can't be turned off instantly at the first sign of a blockage. On the fact that I would only use an authorised station, I stand at the pan all the time with the discharge end of the hose held firmly in the pan to make sure there was no possibility of spillage and stay there until all the contents have flushed away. At the first sign of trouble the pump can be switched off. Nothing difficult about it. All clean and safe. Just slow and smelly.

Really! Does this mean clean hygienic self-pumpouts are off-topic then? I thought this thread was about disposal points being blocked and left in a filthy condition by others regardless of where the blockage came from.

Fell in twice myself. Both during maintenance of my boat moored at home. Damn cold!. Not deep, and easy to climb out, so no big deal. Straight into the house for a hot shower and dry clothes. My wife slipped and fell off the rear deck when out cruising. Over-reaching too far when we stopped to help an angler disentangle his fishing line caught in the trees across the canal. More seriously it was a major problem to lift her back on board mid-stream weighed down by soaking wet clothes. I have been looking at a design for a rescue plank/ladder that I can make to carry with us.

PS: to my previous post. Normally in a system with no air trapped anywhere in the whole system then you would expect the pump to start immediately you opened a tap, and similarly stop immediately you close the tap. What happens in normal use, is the tap is using much less water than the pump produces. The pump reaches full pressure in seconds and cuts out, and then starts again within seconds when pressure drops. So normally it stop/start at frequent intervals. It doesn't do the pump much good. That is one reason for fitting an accumulater (which is an air-filled vessel). If you are not using water, and the pump keeps running, it is usually due to air pockets that act as an accumulater. Equally, the water will run for a similar amount of time before the pump starts again. One point to check is if you have a hot water tank you would expect to find a 'safety valve' on it. This stops the tank exploding if the water boils. It might be possible (for whatever cause) the pump cut-out pressure could be higher than the safety valve.- so excess water gets dumped. It is not a leak in the true sense, but somewhat academic, considering you will get flooded unless the water is piped overboard. Probably not the cause in you case because the pump is not likely to stop until the water tank empties. The water level in the tank will drop significantly if water is flowing. It is something easy to check. On balance, I guess there is some sort of restriction at the inlet to your pump, or a leaking inlet valve inside the pump. .

Yes, that's what I was told. The restriction on use is largely to with the limited size of the cess pit at the station. There is normally no problem if the station is connected to mains sewer. I have an in-board macerator PO for emergency use with a 15mm hose. This came about for three reasons. One is the infrequency of pump-outs especially outside 'office' hours. Second is the cost - (an annoyance issue rather than the actual price) - you have to pay full price for emptying half a tank or less. Third is I have an end-of-garden and I need to pump out at home during long stay maintenance periods. My PO is fairly slow so there is no problem of flooding a disposal pan - which together with my in-built flushing system enables me to purge the system thoroughly clean water, and the disposal pan if necessary. The downside is it takes a long time (20 mins) at the disposal station and could cause inconvenience to other boaters waiting to use it. I have only used it 3 times in 5 years. As for the original mess left by an irresponsible and inconsiderate boater, with luck you might catch who it was, and report them to CRT, but even so why would the disposal pan block in the first place?. A PO of 3 or 4 gallons a minute is no big flow compared to 2 gallons dropped in from a bucket'n'chuckit in 10 seconds. And if the culprit was found and reported to CRT, what could they do about it? - not a lot I guess - but in terms of the blockage, as a gesture of concern, they might go through the motions!!

Are you near somewhere or something that attracts flies to the area.

Thanks to Laurence Hogg.for the pic and details. I was hoping to get some old pics of the lock keepers cottage at Gailey. The local Viking boat hire fleet at Gailey now is now run by JD Boats together with their range of time-share boats. . Sadly the previous owner died a while ago - Jim Matthias - it is now run by his son and daughter (I think)

Could be craned in somewhere in most canals. Narrow locks will be a problem, but not if fitted out as a 'Live-aboard' with the intention of going nowhere - or shuttle between locks - and food for thought, does a mooring in-stream away from the bank with an anchor (but not causing a navigation obstruction) count as a mooring, and in terms of time limits, would it use up your time allowance in a 24hr, 48hr or 14 day restricted area for instance ??? And yes or no. right or wrong, what would/could CRT do about it.

In my area (East and West Midlands) the title of the person officially dealing with CRT interests in property use and development. is the 'AREA PLANNER' based at Newark. I guess the same title will be used in other areas.

My grandson came in over the weekend and set my laptop up to receive 4G broadband. The receiver is like a phone but without buttons or a screen. He said it was a SIM card holder. That gets me connected to 4G (anywhere/everywhere ??). I will use it to 'find' wi-fi spots for watching TV and streaming videos. I have also been told the 4G broadband can find satellites for Sky receivers - but I don't know how at the moment. One interesting point, initially using the internet to find a good 4G deal, it seems you would be better off going to phone shop because they have special annual contracts that they can set up.. In my case I wanted an annual 'pay-as-you-go' contract with a basic amount of data that I could top-up as I went if I needed to.. The only deals we could find on the internet were costly 2-year contracts that had to be renewed every monthly, where you 'lost' what was left of your data allowance. My grandson said he will go to the shop to organise a contract for me. .

I know water pipe/tap leaks can cause this, I have checked but cannot find any so I'm not sure what the issue is. Any ideas? If there are no leaks anywhere in the pipework then the pump, once pumped up and stops, will stay off all the time you are not using any water. (all taps off) and this includes the flush toilet (if you have one) - in which case you might soon flood your sewage tank. . You will know if there are leaks because the pump will run at intervals when you are not using any water. The other place to look is in the pump. The inlet and outlet valves might be leaking. or blocked (partially) - due to debris stuck in the valve seal.. Another thing, once the pump has stopped, how long does it take before it cuts in again when you open a tap. If it runs a while then it is probably air. If not air, the pump will start almost immediately you open a tap. I fitted an air accumulater to reduce frequent starts.. I think it has already been said that a blocked inlet pipe/valve to the pump would restrict flow. If that is the case, as soon as the pump runs, see how long it takes to fill a bucket (of known volume) with water. That gives you the flow rate.- you can then tell is working properly. One final thing, if it is a diaphragm type pump, the diaphragm might be punctured. - or an impeller type might be worn.out.

I am interested in the history of Gailey locks and wharf house etc. Any info of 50 years ago and earlier - of the lock-keepers cottage (it is a private house now) and the old round-house (it is a shop now). It is also the base of JD Boats. But I don't know much more. So old pics please would be most helpful. Thanks in advance.