Mike55

We had some blinds made to measure by cabincare.co.uk. Ours weren't cellular, but I know they do cellular too. Ours were made to fit into the window recess, so you could have nets in front if you wanted. They're not cheap, but they are good. Sorry, can't find a photo of them at the moment.

What are "bell boating activities"? Diving bells?

Yet another vote for Edwardian Bedding. Ours is 10 years old now, and still OK. As it's a split mattress it can't be turned so it's stood up very well to always being loaded in the same places. I wouldn't hesitate to get our next mattress from them, when eventually this mattress needs replacing.

I think their justification is that they leave it there to pick up on the way back from walking Fido, although they may 'accidentally' forget to do so. It's the same excuse they use for hanging it on trees etc. The thing that gets me is that they've done the difficult bit by picking it up & bagging it, so why can't they finish the job?

According to the programme (available from the IWA website), Fulbourne (1937), Kew (1960) & Pride of Lee will be there amongst approx. 100 boats. https://www.waterways.org.uk/events_festivals/festival_water/IWA_festival_water

Found this picture of a tractor in use on the GU in 1975. It was in the IWA website mystery photo archive. https://www.waterways.org.uk/support_us/competitions/mystery_photo/mystery_photo_archive

Yes, you're right. I was thinking of it in terms of the water flow when it was built, not to mention also when it is restored. Referring to it as west of the stop lock would be less ambiguous.

Probably more passages than that as due to the low water level above the lock boats had to be lightly loaded.

I think it's pretty accurate. The booklet I was quoting from is published by the Trust, and the webpage you reference is consistent with other published sources.

According to "A Brief History of the Wendover Arm 1793-1968" the stop lock at Little Tring was built in 1896 to protect the summit from the leaks in the Wendover Arm, the idea being that if a lightly loaded boat with a shallow draught wanted to pass it could do. Apparently this was "virtually never used", although there are records of traffic in 1897 with the canal in low water: 620 tons of manure up the arm & 500 tons of hay back. In 1904 the arm was abandoned and the stop lock was used as a convenient point to dam the arm.

The London Canal Museum in Battlebridge Basin is well worth a visit in its own right, but it is also a good mooring close to King's Cross. It's £10 per night (1 night per stay only), accommodates 2 narrowboats breasted up, has access to a water point and electric hook up. It's not the easiest mooring to get into or out of as there are residential moored boats on both sides. The moorings are reserved (quite reasonably) for museum visitors during their opening hours (1000 to 1600). Overnight mooring is therefore from 1600 to 1000 the following day unless you are also visiting the museum (as we did). Access to the water point is by a combination padlock, and there is gated access to the site, also by combination lock. The museum will give you the codes for both of these. One slight oddity is that the electricity hook up (included) is via flat pin 13 Amp weatherproofed sockets rather than the more common 16 Amp blue circular ones, so you'll need a suitable adaptor lead. You can obviously also only draw 13 Amps rather than 16. There are no refuse or elsan facilities there.

And as if that wasn't enough, Alex is a multiple gold winning paralympian at handcycling (2012 & 2016). There seems to be no stopping the guy, definitely an inspiration.

KO is now part of ABC group, so in theory you can moor at any of their other marinas subject to availability. However in reality this doesn't really work. We've tried twice to arrange mooring at other ABC marinas without success. You have to remember that a boat from another ABC marina doesn't bring in any revenue, whereas it may be possible to let the same berth to a paying customer. Result is there is no incentive to find a place for someone who has already paid. They'll accommodate you if you turn up & there's space, but don't expect to be able to pre-arrange it.

As of 1736 the lock is open again according to the CRT website.

Liverpool Maritime Museum is well worth a visit.

Silly me. Does that qualify me to be this week’s idiot?

Sea or freshwater?

Err...what did you do then? Had the shaft or 'just' the prop failed? Either way it couldn't have been an easy or cheap fix.

I thought the basin at Weedon was the entrance to the arm that went to the barracks.

That looks very like a railway lookout’s warning horn used to warn track workers of an approaching train.

I’ve got a book about these called ‘When Britannia ruled the cut’ IIRC. Very interesting book.

Yes, I realise that my current set of batteries are knackered, and may have been on-their-way for some time. We've only had the boat for 2 1/2 years so the batteries are almost certainly at least 3, probably 4 years old or more. Thanks for this, this is really useful stuff, especially 1, 2 & 3. My alternator is a 110 Amp unit, which seems to be a fairly standard size. I do realise that the energy taken out of the batteries has to be replaced including allowing for loses to get back to the same place. I haven't (yet) done an energy audit but I will do.

I have already read that thread. The batteries I currently have and am proposing to buy are all wet open cell batteries. The boat has a voltmeter and ammeter switchable between the domestic and starting batteries. I also have a hydrometer. The boat has spent all winter on a shore supply, but when we go out over the summer we want to have the flexibility to moor somewhere for 2 nights without running the engine. I understand that a days worth of cruising is necessary to restore the batteries to 'fully' charged, but I'd like to be in the position that I don't have to do that every day, and I can occasionally go 2 nights on battery power alone. I hadn't really considered this - I was looking at a simple switch of similar batteries just with greater capacity. I'll look further into this. Thanks.

I did a test yesterday when virtually straight after switching off the charger there was insufficient capacity to start the diesel heater. I had to reconnect the charger to start the heater. By this morning the battery voltage dropped to just under 12V, on a load of a fridge, watching TV for a few hours, running the diesel heater for about 3 hours plus a small number of LED lights. How do you rule out sulphation?

The reason I'm looking at increasing the capacity of my domestic batteries is to give us greater flexibility in how long we moor without having to run the engine. We'd like to have the flexibility to moor for 2 nights rather than one. We struggled to do that on the current batteries even when they were performing OK.