Big John

You are invited to visit the New NABO website .... listening to boat owners................. speaking out for boat owners (even T-Mobile users should be able to access the website!)

Would you T-Mobile users like to see if you can get on NABO's new website, please? We have moved to a new host as well, and as long as the nabo.org.uk domain has been propagated around the World, which can take up to 72 hours, I believe, you should see the new site.

Is that the Webasto unit's fuses, rather than the boat's fuse panel? Take the former out, try again - make sure you put them back in - try again. If you've got the same problem, give us a bit more detail.

What no-one seems to mention is what they do when they go on holiday. When we had a cat on land, the neighbours would pop in to feed our cat. When you're cc-ing it doesn't seem it would be so easy. Do cat-parents use boarding kennels or what?

ISTR as long as there at least 2 "able-bodied" people on board. I was frustrated several years ago not to be able to hire with just Craig, who uses a wheelchair, and me. H&S! Nothing to stop me doing the same on my own boat now, of course. Would you consider that to be irresponsible?

Except the leaflet could be out of date! We are currently at Sneyd Junction, where the BW leaflet said there are 7-day VMs. Wrong! Neither that leaflet nor waterscape.com's Boater's Guides are accurate or up-to-date, which doesn't help at all. The dearth of enough moorings where you can stay and explore for longer than 48 hours is becoming a disincentive to using the canals for cruising, whether you are a CC-er or someone with a mooring who wants to travel the canals for more than a fortnight. Let's hope that fact gets noticed by the BW consultation reviewers.

Who was it that said, "This is the age of volunteers"? Somebody with a 20/20 Vision, I think.

Use your mobile phone

Once the new NABO website is on-line, I will be looking to develop a new fault reporting system.

That is good news, David. Sounds as if your mind as well as your body is responding well. Keep it up. As for the hair - you know what they say about bald men ;-)

Surely, like an MOT a BSS only states that the relevant regulations were complied with at that point in time. In the case of the BSS another test is not necessary for licensing purposes for another 4 years. However, there is no guarantee that during the 4 years it will remain "safe"

With respect, Allan, I think that was for me to say and you to acknowledge.

Have I missed something, or has someone already mentioned the RBOA? Sounds like the sort of situation that they should be able to advise on

NABO is trying to find a solution.

Actually the property portfolio is not the canal network - it's the canal-side and other non-canal properties that BW uses as an income source to part-fund the waterways network, if the property investments are succcessful.

If there are only 4 boats down there at the moment there is plenty of scope for flexibility - in theory. It needs User Groups and Boaters to flex their muscles and say what WE want, instead of being dictated to by an inflexible business-minded, office-tied organisation. They work for us! We all want to see the link used more - that must be the priority

Oooh is that the plan - I'll tell Council when she's snoozing after lunch on Saturday. IMHO AGM went well and people seemed to have time to vent their feelings about the waterways without shooting NABO down in the process. In fact the message seemed to be, Carry On!

Sad as that is, I'm relieved it's not GC that's gone missing!

The supporting documentation talks about "a relocated boat users pumping station" but has no detail that I could see.

NABO has been pressing BW on the topic of facility gap analysis for some time. After a long silence BW (SA) has invited NABO to do the analysis! i.e. instead of doing their job, ask volunteers - the new BW method. With the large number of "consultations" BW are churning out at the moment, and other important issues, it's debatable whether or not NABO Council has the resources to do this. However this would be a valuable exercise.

Sounds like a very good idea. We'd be interested