Lady Muck

They've cleared a lot of it since I was last here in the summer. Funnily enough the beekeeper on Tottenham marsh says it makes the best honey of all!

Theres none up here (currently on the Stort). It had started to grow between our boats and the bankside before we set off on Monday. (River Lea in Tottenham) It's definitely worse in town, where polluted tributories come into the canal and where there are a lot of boats. The trust removes 70 tonnes of it a week in London, apparently!

I can't as Im on the home mooring in those months - Id probably have a lot more panels and one or two more batteries, if we permanently cruised. On the non shore power moorings near us a friend has 1200w of panels and that suits him all year round.

They didn't! The guests were complaining of both gas and petrol fumes, the 'landlord' said, 'well you did leave the canisters in the heater.' We've got one of the little cookers that uses the same cans, we use it as a gas barbie, (you can buy a barbecue plate for about a tenner), it's great, but both cooker and cans are stored outside on the boat and the cans are not left in the stove.

Oh hell, we reported a cabin cruiser owner a few weeks back, he was renting it on airbnb, he was advising the guests to use the oven to keep the boat warm at night and had also provided one of those gas canister camping stoves. You know, the ones you're not supposed to use in boats? A guest complained of the smell of fumes and said something like, 'yes I know the petrol genny was leaking but it's fixed now.' We thought we'd better do something before he accidentally killed someone. It's amazing how many people know nothing at all about these dangers.

substandard happens though, I can think of two boaters who had replating done recently and it failed, I think you've got to go to yards who are known for doing a good job of it.

three bog standard cheapo leisures bought at a boatyard, last set was the same and lasted 8 years (we never run them down). Panels and controller from bimble costing about £1000, half of that cost was for the outback mppt solar controller which was well worth the money. Especially as it keeps him indoors entertained as it saves your stats on how many amp hours of energy you got each day. Yes we run a fridge but I always defrost it every month, keep it nearly full and keep the back clean.

We've now got 600w, we both work on laptops all day and run a fridge, we're only away from the mooring a few months a year ( usually some times between May and October) and unless we get a sucession of dark, rainy days there is no need to run the engine. Solar is really worthwhile for us, I also like to moor up at a beauty spot and enjoy peace and quiet rather than destroying the atmosphere with noise and fumes.

When we moved onboard we took two desktop computers, the old style tower pcs. We found that the metal cases attracted condensation and a whole lot of dust from the burner. Now we're on solid state laptops, use far less power and much more robust.

not really theres mostly cabin cruisers up that end of the river as you know, only they are one or two tier ones rather than five tier ones. just couldn't beleive how empty it was in the school holidays usually we have to moor after the round house, nearer to inglesham as theres no space!

it hasn't happened to me, but friends have been moored near to boats running gennies or engines and it has set the carbon monoxide alarms off on their boats. My partner complains he can smell exhaust fumes even when boats are moored across the river from us.

We were on the Thames in August and September, last year, it wasn't a great summer and it was totally dead, the wedding cakes only come out in good weather. We were even one of only two boats moored at Lechlade and we had no problems mooring wherever we liked.

You can't moor below Teddington, but that lock is manned 24 hours a day and there are ample moorings above,

they don't bother me - can always go to the Oxford canal if I want to be only with my narrowbeamed brethren.

I agree, I often look at these 'designer' boats and think, 'but where do you keep all of your stuff?' It still has far too many windows for me, I'm used to portholes.

We followed her from Napton to Oxford when we cruised last summer when we went up to Braunston and then down the Oxford canal. From the photos the fit out has certainly changed!

You may still fall foul of the BSS. Here's the relevant bit here http://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/media/164540/bss%20guide%20chap7.pdf

You probably would void your insurance as well, there was a boat moored up the river from us that had a bad fire, there was a genny stored onboard, but not in a BSS compliant way, even though it was empty of petrol therefore supposedly not a fire risk. They got no insurance pay out. After that I was so paranoid I had my genny locker welded/fitted by a tradesman who is also a BSS inspector, I wanted to be sure. I don't run it onboard, only store it, as others have said, that can be expensive to do safely.

it doesnt have a mooring, but estate agents website have no option for inputting something without a location and their ads get shared with the likes of Zoopla and Rightmove which are also location based searches. Will they have to change the listing every fortnight?

Possibly, we've met people who bought a boat moored to a lock mooring, thinking that's where it could be kept, only a little day boat, but still......

My friend bought his boat from a broker, the ad was still up nine months later, I think she possibly left it up to drum up trade. This annoys me though! You either have it to sell or you don't.

on the other hand, we found the upper Thames very quiet indeed when we were there last August. We were offered a mooring, by a riparian owner.