doratheexplorer

The difference between buoyancy aids and life jackets is not whether they self-inflate. Life jackets are designed to keep an unconcious person's head out of the water, buoyancy aids aren't.

?‍♀️

Which post should I have quoted?

If I went to look at a cruiser stern or semi trad which had been left unattended for 4 months and the bilges were completely dry, I'd be suspicious. Water in the bilge is a fact of life on these type of boats, unless you have a good pram hood or something like that. I'd be more worried in this case about a 15 year old boat with only 50 hours on the engine. If you intend to cruise regularly, you may find a lot of problems. Having said that, if you like the boat, don't be put off. Any second hand purchase is a bit of a gamble and you're almost certain to find repairs which are needed ater a few weeks/months. Don't expect to get any come back from a surveyor either.

Not exactly. You seemed a bit confused.

Yours faithfully is where you aren't addressing a specific named person.

Do you understand what you've done? Assuming you mean side fenders: Whatever you do with fenders, it will be wrong. Leave them up, leave them down, rubber, rope, too many, not enough...etc... My advice, buy whatever is cheapest and keep a look out for more when cruising. I find them quite often. Use them how ever you like. leave them down, pub them up. don't have any at all. Do what you fancy. You can't win. The only vaguely decent argument for hoisting them up is because you can get hung-up/stuck in locks. However, a better solution to this is to keep an eye on your boat. Most lock sinkings are caused by cilling. Side fenders won't make a difference there. Or do you mean bow/stern fenders? That's a whole other can of worms.

I imagine he's on an internship for a legal degree. I do find it concerning that someone so junior is dealing with enquiries like this. When I've worked for organisations which are subject to FOIA requests, it tends to be escalated to senior staff. Junior staff may do the research but it is checked off and sent out by someone senior. In this case, I would expect the response to come from someone at least at solicitor / legal exec level.

Interesting, but nothing since last June. I wonder what the outcome was? (I commend the correct use of 'Yours Faithfully')

"In Britain, for example, the nesting population increased from 4,000 to 6,000 pairs between 1928 and 1991, rising at an annual rate of 8% per year during the 1980’s" https://www.heronconservation.org/herons-of-the-world/list-of-herons/grey-heron

When I was young, herons were far less common. Now we see more and more cormorants inland too. It's nature reclaiming former territory after years of persecution.

Hooray for Cormorants!

Does seem strange. I'm also surprised that no other grant funding is shown other than defra. CRT had a load of money from DfT for towpath improvements. Maybe that doesn't class as income since the money went to LAs to spend on CRT assets, rather than direct to CRT.

So the DEFRA grant is a quarter of all CRT income. This is the bit that's going, right? I wonder how the re-branding has gone re. getting new funding in on a Public Health platform? Any news on that?

It's not pretending to be a boat. It is what it is.

If someone sealed up a shipping container and dropped it in the cut, would you call it a boat? No, because it wouldn't be. And neither is this.

Bear in mind that you probably wont get away until mid afternoon on monday and will have to return the boat by first thing friday morning. Check river levels. If the river is up, you only choice is to go North. If the river is down, the Droitwich Ring option would be pretty good IMO. You get river, narrow canal, wide canal, a big town, a city... I'd head down the Severn and aim for the floating pontoon at Hawford for your first night, unless you get away in good time and get head down towards Worcester. The Camp House pub is a good choice for a first night too, moor on the end of the lower lock landing with the lock-keeper's permission. Or you could carry on down into Worcester and moor on the river pontoon just past Diglis Locks. On Tuesday, head up the Canal and aim for Hanbury Junction, but be prepared to moor around Dunhampstead depending on how you're doing for time. Wednesday, head down to Droitwich and moor on the visitor pontoons in the town basin, or in the park. Or if you fancy a nice quiet mooring there are some nice spots further down, e.g. by Salwarpe. Thursday, back down to the Severn, upstream to Stourport and moor on the river pontoon just before the locks. A nice trip.

Do you plan to use a petrol outboard? If so, where do you intend to store the fuel?

If it's an open raft, is there anything to check re. boat safety?