Alan Wheeler

I bought a new ash pole, as the original one had rotten and broke. Any tips and/or recommended tools/method to whittle the end of the pole to fit the boat hook, other than a huge pencil sharpener!? I'm assuming a descent wood knife or chisel knife as I don't have a lathe.

We are planning a cruise from Newbury to Marlow, and we hope to stay a couple of days in Marlow next to Higginson Park. We had a great time last year in Henley by Mill Meadows and hope to repeat this in Marlow. We are aiming to arrive around lunch time as we've learnt that's when people start to move on from the previous evening. Are there any tips for the Thames section, other than turning upstream before mooring?

The two brass T-bars/cleats on the bow of our canal boat have caused bimetallic corrosion as there is no isolation between the hull and brass fitting. The plan is to remove the two brass cleats as these are superfluous, remove the rust and fill the bolt holes. Then prime and paint the exposed metal. I have been recommended to paint using non-slip paint, but I think this would work well if the whole section of the raised bow (as indicated on one of the two attached photos) would look better, as matching the paint will be difficult to achieve and a small square around the repair would look awful. Also, stick-on non-slip mats can cause rust, I understand. Does anyone have any recommendations on products, method and/or an example of what it could look like?

Can anyone recommend where to moor at Sonning and Henley? We plan to moor for one night (<24 hours) at Sonning, but a moor for a couple of nights at Henley. We are happy to pay for good mooring especially if there is a power hook up. Is there normally a good choice of moorings? We have a 60' narrow boat. Thanks, Alan

We have a Spinflo HB14000 6kW hob with four gas burners and a Country Leisure Midi Prima 3.1kW oven with a separate grill on our narrow boat. We find the gas oven is difficult to keep alight even though it has flame failure protection. We also find the oven setting needs to be low to prevent burning food. Does anyone have suggestions to prevent this or install a different oven? Thanks. Alan

Hi All, We (the family), are moving our 60' narrow boat from Cropredy to Newbury soon. Can anyone recommend places to moor along the River Thames and whether it is advantageous to book/who with. We are planning to moor at Abingdon and Pangbourne, but appreciate this may need to change subject to moorings and availability. I note moorings are defined by the Vale of White House District Council in Abingdon. We've been given plenty of advise, e.g. turn upstream to moor, take shears to cut back the overgrown bank at a mooring, all moorings along towpaths are 24 hours unless stated otherwise. However, as we are so used to the ease of mooring on the canals, the River Thames is a bit of an unknown, i.e. ease of mooring, private land, etc. We are ideally looking to moor near pubs and shops for provisions for the evening. The https://www.thamesvisitormoorings.co.uk/ doesn't allow to book moorings at locks. Also, what are people's best guess at how long it will take from King's Lock to Kennet Mouth? I'm estimating two days. Any help, advise and recommendations would be gratefully appreciated. Alan

Thanks Lily. I'll re-post this query in the General Boating forum instead. Thanks also for the information about Abingdon. It does seem easier to moor there and the information is so much more clearer than anywhere else on the Thames.

Hi All, We (the family), are moving our 60' narrow boat from Cropredy to Newbury soon. Can anyone recommend places to moor along the River Thames and whether it is advantageous to book/who with. We are planning to moor at Abingdon and Pangbourne, but appreciate this may need to change subject to moorings and availability. I note moorings are defined by the Vale of White House District Council in Abingdon. We've been given plenty of advise, e.g. turn upstream to moor, take shears to cut back the overgrown bank at a mooring, all moorings along towpaths are 24 hours unless stated otherwise. However, as we are so used to the ease of mooring on the canals, the River Thames is a bit of an unknown, i.e. ease of mooring, private land, etc. We are ideally looking to moor near pubs and shops for provisions for the evening. The https://www.thamesvisitormoorings.co.uk/ doesn't allow to book moorings at locks. Also, what are people's best guess at how long it will take from King's Lock to Kennet Mouth? I'm estimating two days. Any help, advise and recommendations would be gratefully appreciated.

Thank you all for some wonderful and helpful advise. I will re-read them all in more detail. Another concern I have is apparently the maintenance of locks and moorings have gone downhill over the last few years, but this could be subjective. Also, I have heard it can be very difficult to find decent over night moorings on-line. I'm lead to believe some boaters block moorings the 'one nighter' boaters as they have an arrangement amongst others that every two weeks they play musical boats, i.e. one boat moves off and the other two or three slightly move up to block the site until a replacement boat comes from another blocked mooring site. I'm not sure if this is true or if moorings are few and far between on the K&A.

Hi Neil2. Thanks for the reply. We have traveled up and down the Oxford and recently found it very shallow. There are also very few pubs north of Banbury along the Oxford Canal. We also want to try other places and have heard the K&A is beautiful.

We are planning on moving our permanent mooring from the Oxford Canal to the K&E next year after enjoying the winding Oxford Canal and Grand Union. I've never cruised on rivers and I am researching as much as possible. I've read about mooring the stern before the bow, travel upstream to moor, right-of-way to downstream traffic, etc. My main concern is navigating the Kennet junction without being washed down the Thames to London and advise on how and where to moor on the Thames. We have a 60' narrow boat with bow thrusters and would welcome any tips, advice, books and websites that would prepare us. Also, what anchor and chain length should we check we have? Many thanks. Alan

One recessed ceiling downlighter has failed and I would like to replace it. However, I tried to carefully remove it and there seemed to be some resistance. I got sight of a spring-like mechanism on the recessed body of the light fixture. The light fitting is a circular downlighter with a chrome bezel and opaque lens. I think it is a LED fitting. I know this is very little information to go on, but can anyone suggest how to remove this light fitting, what is the potential resistance and the best place to get an exact replacement? I'm worried I'll damage the ceiling or wiring. Thanks Alan

Hi, no I meant turn just after the top lock in the pound. We may brave the flight, but we won't have much time on Saturday.

Thanks to all, you have been very helpful.

We bought our first canal boat last month and I'm enjoying finding my way around the boat, especially the engine bay. The boat has a Nanni N4.43HD diesel, 4 cylinder, 43hp Kubota engine. I noticed the fluid level in a reservoir container raised above the engine was below the minimum markings on the side of the capsule. I assume this is the coolant recovery tank. The engine's manual states it should be topped up with clean water. Is this correct? Many thanks for any technical guidance. Alan