doratheexplorer
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Posts posted by doratheexplorer
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Why would anyone build a boat of that size, with no actual bedroom and the kitchen and lounge at opposite ends of the boat?
It's not a reverse layout, it's a perverse layout!
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On 12/11/2023 at 22:37, Arthur Marshall said:I know I'm a beginner at this, only had the boat 35 years, and I'm sure the "experts" on here will tell me why I'm wrong in a minute. The fact remains, there's only two ways to sink a boat in a lock, and both of them are because you're too near a gate.
This isn't true.
But for my tuppence worth, the best advice whatever technique you use, is work the lock slowly, raise the paddles slowly and keep an eye on your boat at all times. If you go boating long enough, at some point something will go wrong unexpectedly in a lock. The outcome of that will depend on how quickly you spot it going wrong and how much time you have to put it right.
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10 hours ago, Laurie Booth said:
Yep, over run with dogs, I hate dogs jumping up on me and the owner saying"He's only being friendly"
Completely agree.
"Don't worry, he won't hurt you"
But it's fine you him/her to jump up and wipe his/her filthy paws all over my clean clothes???
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I would think it more likely that CRT will bury their heads in the sand and just allow all their waterways to deteriorate. Closing a specific canal would be a tricky thing to justify to all the canal-dependent businesses along its length. I'd predict a major uproar if a canal was to simply close, but maybe that's what's needed.
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14 minutes ago, jonathanA said:
Personally I had such a bad experience with 3 that i would do without a mobile phone rather than use them again
Ditto. I'm not sure the customer service of any telecoms company is great, but Three are utterly abysmal. If you're on Three, just pray nothing goes wrong.
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I usually try to do Grindley Brook early. Especially at this time of year. Set off at around 6am and it's somewhat quiet.
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12 hours ago, Rob-M said:
Don't forget there are some lift bridges that need opening \ closing in the area.
True. They're easier to deal with than locks though.
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6 minutes ago, Drizzt said:
Not too bothered really. In an ideal world it would be a marina so we have others around us, access to electric to keep the batteries charged & somewhere to park. But if a linear mooring was much cheaper, would be happy to look at that providing we could park nearby.
Whixall Marina then
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Do you specifically want a marina, or just a permanent mooring? There's are lots of linear moorings on the Southern part of the Shroppie, and you'd have 25 miles of cruising with just one easy lock in the middle.
Or from the top of Grindley Brook to Llangollen is 32 miles and just 2 locks, and it's a very pretty canal (although popular).
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21 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:
It isn't - Bridge House Marina is in Garstang on the Lancaster Canal
https://www.watersidemooring.com/329-brighouse-basin-l1
is in Brighouse on the Calder & Hebble
If being near Brighouse and having hook-up is needed, Aspley Marina in Huddersfield would be a good option. The linear moorings are charged by the foot so may well be cheaper than CRT moorings for the OP. Huddersfield to Brighouse is about a 10 minute drive.
The linear moorings are also close to the shower block, making living on a small GRP boat a much more pleasant experience.
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Needs merging with:
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BCN does not stand for Birmingham Canal Network.
Nice video though.
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I've never stayed at the marina, but I've gone in the shop/office to get some advice with a view to spending a fair bit of money on works to my boat (which had been originally built at Calcutt). They were disinterested almost to the point of rudeness. I took my business elsewhere.
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13 hours ago, Rob-M said:
There was one stretch in Birmingham if you looked at the sign one end it said 2 days, but the sign the other end said 14 days. No signs in the middle to indicate where 2 days changed to 14 days.
And of course places where there's a sign at one end of the visitor mooring with a time limit, but no sign at the other end to indicate where the visitor mooring stops.
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Just now, IanD said:
Signage only works if people take notice of it, and ignoring the notices seems to be a much bigger problem in many places than their clarity... 😞
But unclear signs give a ready-made excuse for those who want to ignore the rules.
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Just now, Ewan123 said:
I'm thinking much the same. Removing confusion (which seemed to be the main stated driver from the start) could be achieved just by installing clearer signage - trialling and changing mooring restrictions can surely only add to the confusion!
This was pretty much my response to the consultation. The time restrictions wouldn't be much of a bother if the signage wasn't so confusing. Confusing signage obviously isn't confined to Birmingham, and seems to be a universal CRT thing.
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51 minutes ago, Ewan123 said:
As for the durations, it still seems quite transparent that they are intending to block those liveaboards who move weekly due to working during the week. Does four rather than two days really make much difference to many?
In their defence there will still be 14 day moorings, which have been created in recent years in response to demand.
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3 hours ago, Francis Herne said:
The one near Cambrian Wharf is for the Elsan/toilet/shower block and water point.
The newly-created one by Sheepcote St is for the Roundhouse, which now has a canoe launching pontoon plus the relocated Sherborne Wharf pump-out/diesel/coal/gas facilities. It's making official an arrangement that's been in place for a few years.
I don't know what the Gas Street Basin one is, probably facilities for the long-term moorings there.
It seems odd that there's to be a service mooring next to the Canal House in Gas Street Basin. The elsan for the long term moorers is on the other side, between Canalside Cafe and Bistrot Pierre
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1 hour ago, LadyG said:
Not everyone has the latest phone or tablet and not all places have internet. Can you believe that?
The paper maps are preferred by plenty of people. I prefer the simple life when travelling. Not everyone is welded to technology every minute of the day
The types of mapping I've referred to will work perfectly well on a £30 tablet and can be made avaialble offline. That's cheaper than paper maps and with far more functionality.
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4 minutes ago, John Brightley said:
Actually, you can't, and you can miss out on a lot if you don't have OS paper maps or something similar on board. I use all types of maps a lot, and though it's great to have both Google maps and OS mapping on my phone, I still use paper maps simply because you can look at a much bigger area in detail in one go than you will ever see on your phone.
IMO paper are virtually obsolete. OS maps are available free online. The mapping you can have on your phone can contain far more details than any paper map and it even tells you where you are on the map. I'm interested to know what you'd be looking at on an OS paper map while cruising anyway, seems like a lot of faff.
https://www.bing.com/maps/?cp=52.725642~-2.221406&lvl=13.4&style=s
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19 minutes ago, DShK said:
Ooh I wasn't aware of this resource, thanks! I am very excited to make use of a fuel boat for the first time. I am worried envy might get the best of me and I might commit a tiny bit of piracy.
It's really worth supporting the coal boats. They are an invaluable resource to many boaters, often cheaper than marinas, and they come to you and do all the lifting and carrying.
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11 hours ago, David Mack said:
For water, rubbish and elsan, just use the free CRT facilities. For diesel, gas and pumpout use a boatyard or marina - just turn up during opening hours, fill up/empty as appropriate then go on your way. No need to stay the night. You can also get diesel, gas and sometimes other things (e.g. elsan fluid) from fuel boats. Just hail them as you are passing even if they are on the move; they will happily refuel you in midstream if necessary.
I generally use coal boats where I can, but randomly hailing them isn't a great solution.
What I do is go to: http://www.lock13.co.uk/
Find the boat which is covering the area I want, then have a look at their facebook page where they'll generally post their movement over the next week or so. Then text them with my boat name, where I am, and what I'm wanting. I've often had coal dropped off for me while I'm away from the boat.
If they don't do social media, just text them to find out where they'll be.
11 hours ago, David Mack said:For water, rubbish and elsan, just use the free CRT facilities. For diesel, gas and pumpout use a boatyard or marina - just turn up during opening hours, fill up/empty as appropriate then go on your way. No need to stay the night. You can also get diesel, gas and sometimes other things (e.g. elsan fluid) from fuel boats. Just hail them as you are passing even if they are on the move; they will happily refuel you in midstream if necessary.
I generally use coal boats where I can, but randomly hailing them isn't a great solution.
What I do is go to: http://www.lock13.co.uk/
Find the boat which is covering the area I want, then have a look at their facebook page where they'll generally post their movement over the next week or so. Then text them with my boat name, where I am, and what I'm wanting. I've often had coal dropped off for me while I'm away from the boat.
If they don't do social media, just text them to find out where they'll be.
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My advice to the OP is that if you're renting a house for close to £400pm then you've really got to love living on a boat if you're gonna make the change. That is an exceptionally low rent. The only way boat life could be cheaper for you would be to continuously cruise but only do the bare minimum of miles and be able to do most/all of the running repairs yourself.
Usually I tell newbies on here that boating will probably save them money. That's not really the case with you.
BCN 24 Hour Marathon Challenge 2024
in General Boating
Posted
Last time I went through Gosty Tunnel, the vampire had disappeared (presumably to a watery grave). Will there be a new vampire in time for the challenge?