Grassman

Mine was identical to The Gravy Boater's. My wife has reminded me that for the last couple of years there was a small crack in the mica. It didn't affect the performance and there were no issues with carbon monoxide leaks. When the firebrick material lining disintegrated the only option was a complete new stove (I checked with Lawtons about this). I know I could have sought a 2nd hand stove as a replacement as per Stillearning's suggestion, but we decided to abandon having a stove altogether as it's removal created a lot more room, rendered the inside of the boat cleaner, and saved me having to hump bags of coal around.

No Gravy Boater, but I never bothered to clean it very often because I couldn't see the point being as the view of the fire was obscured so much by the ornate patterned ironwork covering it. I can't fault the performance of the stove but if you want a nice cosy view of a glowing fire then this isn't the stove to give you that, The boat had the Godin when we bought it and I was pleased that it did, because despite the problems cleaning the flue and the billowing smoke emitting when filling it, it was a smashing stove, but when it came to replacing it I didn't think it was worth paying over double the price of most stoves for another one.

We used to have one. A marvellous stove, great heat output and with so much capacity that once loaded up, a 'fill' would last for nearly 24 hours. The downside was that being a top loader, every time you lifted the lid to fill it the smoke used to pour out. We had the same problems as the OP with cleaning the secondary flue. I can't fathom out why it was so narrow and the best way I found to clean it was using a long handled spoon and scraping or pushing the ash/soot into the stove or out from the opening. A long winded job and it usually resulted in sore knuckles afterwards. Last year the firebrick lining cracked all the way round and dropped onto the grate. The cost of rectifying it was too much so I got rid of it.

The site changed hands a few months ago and the new owners don't want boats moored there anymore. There is one boat moored there but I think the owner is 'winging it' rather than having permission. I don't think anybody knows what the plans are for the wharf but prior to the sale going through the tenants (small businesses) wanted to buy it. I don't know if this is true but I've been told that the horrible looking grey building (an old bakery that looks like a house) has some level of listed status and can't be demolished.

Very useful and timely information, thanks everybody. Our fridge freezer is showing exactly the same symptoms as the OP is having, and we are having a new one delivered on Thursday.

I know it's the council who are responsible for the swing bridge and that could be where the problem lies in that he/she isn't actually on site and maybe just assumes that because it's out of commission it means boats cannot get through. Whereas the museum staff are actually there and should therefore know if it's stuck in the open or closed position or would be able to physically check. As I said, for the sake of a just phone call it would surely be worth checking .

The second pool in Kings Bromley Marina is surrounded by flat fields and can be a nightmare if the wind is above 10mph. The first pool isn't too bad because it is fairly sheltered.

The swing bridge was out of commission last July when we came off the MSC but was permanently in the open position. It looks like they might have closed it since then because it forms part of the emergency evacuation route from the hotel. But for the sake of another phone call to the museum it might be worth phoning them again to check that the out of commission means that it is definitely stuck in the closed position and not in the open position because folk do sometimes 'have their wires crossed' and give out wrong information.

The BMC 1.8 in our 1995 built boat has done 12,000 hours, starts at the first attempt and doesn't smoke except for a few seconds at start up, and uses hardly any oil. I've cruised an average of 400 hours a year since buying the boat in 2013, about 20% of which has been working it hard on rivers including tidal (Ribble, Thames Tideway, Trent, Yorkshire Ouse mainly). Last year we did the whole 32 miles (and 4 locks) of the Manchester Ship Canal in 7 hours, averaging over 5 mph, and it coped easily, with no overheating or nasty smoking. It used to be prone to getting dangerously close to overheating on rivers but the fitting of a larger skin tank 4 years ago cured this. I do an oil change every 200 hours and fuel filter every 400 and this I think is the key. I used to have a shared in a boat with a BMC 1.8 and it used to have a service of some sort between each owner's use of it, and when I left the syndicate it had done 18,000 hours and was still going strong. Regular servicing and looking after it properly should considerably reduce the chances of problems occurring. I think high and regular use as well as occasionally working it hard also helps, and is much better than it sitting in it's moorings for most of the time.

This is probably one of the reasons. They are contacting all volunteers in my patch asking who will be okay to resume if/when the situation begins to ease. I haven't received that other CRT email but I don't have a problem with them asking what my boating intentions might be. I think it's good that they are trying to be proactive in preparing for it.

I was in the convoy of boats emerging from the Savick Brook with Foxes Afloat. Like most Vloggers they do tend to over dramatise some of their videos, but on the Ribble Link one they genuinely were swept away towards Preston. Unfortunately it wasn't captured on video, but when they emerged onto the Ribble they were swept sideways for about 20 seconds before regaining control and turning to face the right way. It was quite scary! They had made the mistake of heading too far out into the river before making the turn and the stronger current in the middle of the river caused it I think.

W've moored in Overwater a few years ago when we were part of a shared boat, and at Aqueduct for 5 days last year while having some repairs carried out on our boat. Our experience was that both are nice environments to moor in and both have a good cafe', excellent staff, and good facilities. The main difference we found was that Aqueduct can be rather noisy with having the workshops, particularly if you are moored near the back of the marina.

I meant to ask in my original thread if you know of any other marinas who are either stopping or considering stopping serving customers? If true it' just seems over the top to me and very unfair on their moorers who are paying the exorbitant fees, many of whom are reliant upon on them. Also any passing boaters who are expecting to get fuel of a pump out.

It's only a rumour but apparently a marina in South Staffordshire near Fradley is considering suspending their toilet pump out operation and serving fuel to boaters due to the Coronavirus. Surely this is the height of paranoia? This could have serious consequences especially for liveaboards if other marinas follow suit.

Yes it's the classification of the vehicle rather than the actual weight of it empty or loaded. The same applies to the 7.5 tonne limits you see everywhere, often in residential areas which are there to stop all but little 'box van sized' lorries going there.

Granted they could probably do better with Facebook and Twitter, however they do post a lot information on their website but people still have to be bothered to look at it (which you obviously haven't ). I don't know about Facebook or Twitter because I don't use them but I've heard from several sources that they are somewhat lacking with those. They've recently had a new chairman whose background is in sales so I think we will probably see that changing.

They do keep members informed. My comment about GDPR was in reply to Ditchcrawlers comment that they don't do a very good job of informing NON members of what they do. GDPR has made this extremely difficult now, unless potential non-member recipients specifically give permission to receive information/updates.

This has been made more difficult since the introduction of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) in 2018 which prevents them sending emails without the specific consent of the recipients, and this has severely reduced their scope for informing people about what they are doing. I doubt they have much of an advertising budget so they are reliant upon getting news published in the printed media or on the internet.

A friend sent me these photos from last week when a brook behind the marina over-topped it's banks. They were glad they were in a floating dwelling rather than a house as all they had to do was loosen their mooring ropes.

It was the IWA who brought about the change from HS2's original plans of crossing the Trent & Mersey near Fradley Junction in 3 places to just one place now. They, together with some professional architects, worked out an alternative route which crossed the canal just once instead of the originally planned 3 places and also saved HS2 £55m. Understandably HS2 agreed to it. Another thing the IWA have been working hard on is noise mitigation. HS2 currently are only agreeing to these measures where there are fixed dwellings but the IWA are arguing that boats are dwellings too ,whether they are continuous cruisers, people on holiday, or boaters moored in a more permanent mooring such as a marina or an online one. They are campaigning to have noise mitigation measures put in place wherever to line gets close to a canal/river. They are currently being 'listened to' but how successful they are we will have to wait and see. But whatever the outcome fair play to them for all their efforts. The IWA also do a lot of work reviewing planning applications throughout the country and raise objections to the ones which will have a detrimental affect on the canal environment. They have been quite successful with some of these over the years. Sometimes it may be modifications to plans and other times it's resulted in a complete abandonment of them.

It looks to be painstakingly slow process but obviously cheaper than erecting armco.

I agree Captain Pegg. Sadly it certainly won't be finished in my lifetime but this and other restorations are for the long term and for future generations to hopefully be able to benefit from.

The management of the Finger Post has recently changed for the umpteenth time. We moored there in December and were very impressed with what the new management has done. Good beer,nice food and well priced, friendly staff and generally a good ambience to the place. It's also a good quiet mooring right next to the attractive common.

The full restoration of the Lichfield & Hatherton Canal would also provide another through route as well as a ring, both of which would significantly improve the condition of that part of the BCN. They're making decent progress on the restoration but there's still a heck of a way to go.

Last July we were booked in at Mode Wheel Lock for 8.30 and we reached Ellesmere Port at around 4,30pm. We maintained a fair pace all the way but in doing so I didn't need to work the engine that hard really.