Mad Harold

'ere, Mister , what's an Onanist? It's not in my Collins dictionary, but on the web it says summat about it being Spanish or Portugese.

Since CRT took over the canals, there has been a collossal transformation of the system.Any maintainance has been carried out promptly and to a high standard.Great effort has been put into maintaining water levels and ensuring lock gates and paddles work smoothly.Towpaths have been greatly improved, no more ankle cracking holes.The managment deserves praise for being 'hands on' as demonstrated by Mr. Parry actually operating a lock! Now,how do I claim my discount? 😜

Good! I'll drink to that!

The Roughouse and Blastit band is actually one of the finest bands in the country.! Brighouse is a good mooring spot.Plenty of pubs,Sainsburys close by. Suggest not mooring on the towpath outside Sainsburys as I once had some pilloc banging on my roof at 3am.

A point to bear in mind with living on a leisure mooring, is that you have no security of tenure. You could be asked to leave with little or no notice. As a Northerner, I will stand up for my part of the country. The cost of living is much cheaper than the south.The beer is better and cheaper.Boats are cheaper up here, and the people are friendlier and speak proper english.(at least we do in Yorkshire)

A marina that is on paper a leisure mooring but does allow living aboard (or turns a blind eye) possibly with limits on the time you can spend aboard will not usually divulge this information over the phone to a complete stranger. They could get hassle from CRT or the local council. Best to visit the Marina in person and ask.

We didn't do Serbo Croat at school. Only Anglo Saxon.🐵

Used to work with an old Clarinet teacher who when he got really fed up and jaded with the job, used to say to a really bad student. "I never realised how difficult it was to play the Clarinet, untill I heard you"

The ownership or the rights that a piece of canal bank has can be quite complex. I know of one private mooring who's mooring rights are difficult to completely understand. There are some half a dozen boats there at the moment, and the moorings have been used uneventfully for several years. That was untill one rather silly moorer complained to CRT about the level of the moorings going down when a boat went through the lock.(it's a short pound) The result was CRT came and had a look and declared the mooring illegal. The landowner produced documents to show that the mooring rights were for an old mill that was on the site, and that these rights were still valid as the landowner lived on the site. CRT of course disagreed but so far have not taken any action, as it was pointed out that they had accepted 'water rent' from the moored boats, so they were in fact accepting that this was a valid mooring.

Are you also paying CRT's "water rent" This is for CRT's permission to use a private mooring. Usually charged at 50% of average moorings in the area. You can then declare your boat's home mooring, but if not, you will be a "continuous cruiser" and bound by the T's + C'c. Best thing to do in your situation is pay your moorings and keep your head down and not open a can of worms.

There is a Dawncraft owners group on Facebook. Might be worth joining?

Can you expand please. Tried clicking on the link and it said, 'warning,adult content'

A fellow moorer had a pretty foolproof way of knowing when to pump out. His boat started listing!

You can make one quite easily from a length of rope. Simply tie a loop big enough to accept the windlass, but small enough to prevent it slipping through. Tie the rope ends together with enough slack to go over your shoulder and hang the windlass about hip level over one shoulder to the opposite hip. I have used a bought leather windlass holster, but it didn't last very long.

iHim again! If he, as has been claimed is being mentored by the NBTA,one would have thought they would advise him to stop being a prat, and get his boats somewhere near being legal. To threaten to burn his boats and stab anyone who threatens "his way of life" is in my opinion (a) a complete nutcase, (b) a self entitled me,me,me,arsehole. If he can afford to buy forty gallons of petrol at a cost of £200+, then he's not on the bones of his arse, is he? The canals are knackered enough (especially up north) without piss takers like him ruining them further. SPHERICALS!!!

CRT say the booking system is because of fluctuating water levels. The University abstract water from pound 1 and I am fairly sure it goes back into the Broad as there is a grill on the lock landing below lock 1E. The last time I came down there, I moored above lock 1E and couldn't get near the edge untill they started running water down.The level rose, but almost immediately you could see it dropping again.There was another boat in front of me, and when it was my turn my boat only just cleared the cill. Although my mooring was in the marina in Huddersfield, I have given up on the HNC.

The pound above lock 1E may well be too low to get in if there has been no boat movements.Mooring above lock 2E is good in that there is no towpath access there so will be quiet. If you can get into the lock 1E pound moor with your bow in the lock entrance as the water level is unpredictable. Better to overnight above lock 2E but you can only get in and out by water.

The HNC is listed as 70ft length,so even if you make it to Huddersfield, you will have to turn around and go back as the Huddersfield Broad is listed as 57ft.

Walked along there this morning to get my bread.I counted four mooring rings and a bollard.These are not new, they have been there all the time, but were buried in undergrowth, and are now visible .

There have been some real tales of woe on here from new boaters buying their first boat, and I think this one ranks among the best (worse) As Alan says, either pay what's necessary or walk away a sadder (and poorer man) Speaking as one who has been done buying a boat, you have my sympathy.

An abandoned yoghurt pot will not have an outboard for long! It will be nicked PDQ.

Spend a few? hours perusing this forum and look at old posts as most boating problems have been aired at great length. Tony Brookes (bless him) has done free downloads of mechanics and electrics, of boats and I am sure would be worthy of study. Talk to boaters, they are generally a gregarious lot, and chat about boats and canals, there will be various (conflicting opinions, as there are on this forum) but your research will be helpful when you start boating. Many people on here may suggest hiring a boat for a week or so to get a taster of boating, and I agree.