Cheese

So if burglars keep below the roof line they won't be spotted? Good of you to let us know! 😀

That doesn't give me a great deal of confidence in craftinsure. They appear to not know that 'UK' automatically includes Northern Ireland! .

Thanks for all the replies. So it probably has to be 'market value', in order to put you back in a similar position. Initially that would be purchase price but subsequently needs adjusting to current value. New build would clearly be putting you in a better position, and it is not really feasible to build a worn / pitted shell! With any sort of unique / historic boat you could argue for a full re-fitout back to the previous condition, so understand that an 'agreed value' above market value might be necessary in those cases.

What should a boat be insured for? With a house, the buildings insurance should for the rebuilding cost (including demolition / site clearance after say a fire). This can be much lower than the market value, because the latter will include the land value. With a boat, should it be for a new build cost, including fit-out, or for the current market value? The former might be rather greater than the latter.

I don't think that's right. You just have to get a court to agree a term is 'unfair'. If the court agrees then that ruling would apply to any marina using a substantially similar clause.

You don't have to moor up in the middle of nowhere when you leave it for a fortnight. Choosing somewhere close to other boats is probably some of the best security you can get, except perhaps in some of the rougher city/town centre parts. The places popular with others are also likely to be closer to transport and other facilities, which will be what you also need in a place you want to leave it. Some of those other boats may move on during the fortnight, but in popular spots others may move in. And have others have said, making it look occupied may be better than making it like an unoccupied fortress!

It would be a shame if Willow Wren's training videos disappear (which is indicated might happen when their website expires, which looks to be in about 6 months). Hopefully they will sell the business and the new owner will keep them available. If not it would be good if it could be arranged for someone else to host them.

4 miles from Falmouth. Perhaps somewhere like Restronguet Creek - where a depth sounder could possibly be useful.

Difficult to know what to advise without knowing more about you & your parents' desired lifestyles. If they are say early 60s, no ties, fit and healthy, and enjoy a 'basic' lifestyle (like say bush camping) and want to spend 10 years really travelling around the UK canal and river network then get a narrowboat and go for it. Continuously cruise all summer and perhaps look for a marina mooring each winter (stoppages, poor weather, short daylight hours, more challenging electricity management etc). But keep enough in reserve for maintenance and for moving onto land in say 10 years' time. As others have said, not sure I would recommend a permanent marina mooring for them. If they want to be fixed somewhere, then better options might be a house in a cheaper area of the country, or if not affordable a (mobile caravan) park home, which may have similar residential restrictions but at least has a permanent water supply, plumbing and electrics. For the London show, bear in mind that many canal dwellers in London are what are often referred to here as 'continuous moorers'. They have a continuous cruising licence, but for either work or family reasons don't really want to move, so they aim to get away with the minimum that doesn't breach the licence terms. With London canals also being quite crowded, this can mean periodic 'moving days' every few weeks, where everyone simply shuffles around swapping locations. This doesn't really compare at all with 'true' continuous cruising away from cities, where you can moor almost anywhere you like, moving on around the network as required; simply stop for water, fuel and waste disposal as needed; and visit many interesting places around the network.

But I think the civil service scheme also paid a lump sum on retirement, of 3/80ths per year of service, making it broadly similar overall. In private sector schemes taking a lump sum was optional, but doing so reduced the pension to closer to eightieths.

I was taught that lines should be perpendicular to pegs/pins. For mooring pins that means the pin angle depends on bank height: with a high bank, so close to horizontal line, the pin could/should be more vertical?

And some idea of what you mean by 'a long trip'. Someone who usually moves only a few miles every 2 weeks might think a week on say the Warwickshire Ring is a long trip. Others might think that anything less than 2-3 months is trivial

I think he said it was a natural rope, so splicing could have been a better option than buying a new one

No wonder there are so many leaks on the network!

With calm conditions at present it can be difficult to properly ventilate a boat when stationary. How often do you move? Cruising, even for a short distance, can be quite effective at clearing out damp.

Interesting article: https://www.harboroughmail.co.uk/news/environment/amphibious-machine-brought-in-to-dredge-sideponds-at-foxton-locks-3464894 Although the 2nd paragraph is amusing: "[they] had to wade into the ponds to carefully relocate them to another part of the canal" 😂

With a stove and never-ending supply of wood, why not look into options for utilising that for at least some of your cooking in winter?

Interesting. Any idea why the Malham / Rowner / Northlands section now seems to have dropped into the "longer term" part of the restoration plan (https://weyarun.org.uk/node/5), given that this work was done some 40 years ago?

I agree that the Ecoflow / Jackery units are just another battery, so installing one on a boat doesn't do anything that any other equivalent battery wouldn't do. But each is quite portable, so it may be more useful in situations where you can take it off the boat. E.g. if in summer you prefer to use your laptop / music player / tV /etc when sitting in a nearby field. Or for non-liveaboards, being able to take it home midweek and recharge it fully, so perhaps avoiding having to run your engine if your batteries are low when you return to the boat. Or avoiding having to run a noisy/smelly generator at shows etc.

The Basingstoke is completely outside the M25 (admittedly only by about 25m). But I agree it is nothing like a slum!

If it's more expensive than that I think I'll look into opening a marina! 🙂

Perhaps they tell them exactly that - it could explain why there are now fat boats on the North Oxford and other inappropriate places 🙂