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Tom Morgan

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Everything posted by Tom Morgan

  1. Reading with great interest, but one thing I'm not quite sure of. Does the old phone doing the tethering need any internet connection of its own? If it does - is it using up data all the time?
  2. I didn't think there was an actual CC licence which is cheaper than everyone else's. I thought we all pay the same (dependent upon boat length) and I thought that CC-ers were just excused the requirement to have a home mooring as a licencing condition.
  3. Is there a manufacturer's name or a model name/number I can use to search for one of these online?
  4. They're called Tri-Point or Tri-Wing screws and screwdrivers.
  5. Great photos! Lots of places I recognise, including one taken very close to my house and instantly recognisable. Thanks for posting the link, ditchcrawler.
  6. I don't know the answers to your questions but I was over 70 when I bought my first boat. Good luck and best wishes to you.
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  8. From a boat-steering point of view, the nearest vehicle that most people will have experience of is a shopping trolley. Bear this in mind and the concept of boat-steering becomes easier.
  9. I don't have a "big" steel narrowboat, just a 23 feet GRP (fibreglass) cruiser, and I don't live on it. But I bought it within the last 3 months, and it was my first boat. So I was in the same boat (if you'll pardon the expression) as you. The main problems I had to overcome before being able to go to my boat and step aboard whenever I liked, were to do with finding a boat, buying it, and tying it up where I wanted it to be: 1 - I didn't know anything about boats - just always wanted one, though not to live on. So before taking the plunge, I joined this forum (and another one for the make of GRP boat I had decided on getting) and spent a very long time reading through previous posts. I read everything. This taught me a lot about what I was letting myself in for - costs, pitfalls, legal requirements and so on and on and on. I learned a lot. I think this was the most important preparation for boat ownership that I made. 2 - I didn't have anywhere to keep a boat. This is something you need to think about before you buy. Where is it going to live? Can your hoped-for mooring-place accommodate you? What will you do if it can't? In my case, there were two marinas relatively close to my home, one 35 minutes from home by car, and one 45 minutes away. Both could fit me in. I went for the least costly one, which happened to be the nearest one. 3 - When you find you ideal boat, where is it? My ideal purchase happened to be 55 miles by road from where I wanted to keep it, or 65 miles and 104 locks by canal, which would take me between 5 and 6 days. As a beginner, I didn't fancy doing 5 or 6 days, single-handed, on an unfamiliar boat. It cost me several hundred pounds to have the boat craned out of the canal at one end, moved the 55 miles by road and craned back in again at the other end. Hope this helps.
  10. Dunno if it's true, but I heard that many years ago, a radio programme had an interview with a Romany family, about their way of life. They told the mother that as the Romany custom of cooking hedgehog by the ball of clay method was a well-known thing, they couldn't really avoid asking her about it, but they wouldn't ask her anything about catching or killing the hedgehog, or the actual cooking, to avoid lots of complaints from animal lovers. Ands she wasn't to talk about these aspects in her answers. The interview went on something like this: "I'm sure a lot of our listeners will have heard stories about Romany people eating hedgehogs. Is it true?" "Oh, yes, quite true." "Have you ever eaten hedgehog meat?" "I have, yes, but not for many years now. It's something that goes back to the Old Days. It's not done as often as it used to be." "What does it taste like?" "Difficult to say. It's a bit like cat." The switchboard went into meltdown.
  11. Thank you all for your advice. All good, but I think Alan's explanation might fit. I've just changed my location within the marina and was reversing in for the first time. The boat that was in the space before mine had been there for ages and had never moved in that time. So there is quite a bit of weed about a foot below the surface. I'm thinking that a bit of this might have blocked the water inlet, and fallen off when I stopped the motor. Or it might not work in reverse, as Wotever suggested. If I can get out on Sunday I'll try a bit of reversing in the main canal, away from the weeds, to check this. Dyertribe, I haven't found the Thunderboat posting yet but will keep looking. All very helpful, and thanks again.
  12. I took my boat out on the canal today, Norman 23 with a pre-1997 Honda 9.9 hp outboard. This was only my 3rd bit of cruising. But when I got back to the marina, reversing into my berth, I noticed that there was no water coming out of the telltale - just steam. During my 1.5 hour cruise, there had been no problem. I stopped the engine, which didn't seem to be unduly hot, waited for 5 minutes while I tied up, and restarted the motor. Water flowed out of the telltale immediately, as normal. I could do with some advice on what might be wrong.
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  14. Also worth bearing in mind that the Royal Engineers had an Inland Waterways and Docks section. The soldiers in this section operated boats on the UK canals and hospital barges in France and Belgium.
  15. Thanks, Croftie - that's definitely worth knowing, too.
  16. Wow! Thanks, Alan. You provided the solution in 6 minutes. I've just visited the CRT site and declared Off Water as you suggested. Thanks very much - Tom
  17. A first timer question. I bought my boat on 8th October and got a 3-month CRT licence starting October 1st. This licence is about to expire. My boat's kept in one of those marinas which doesn't require the boat to have a CRT licence when it's in the marina, (something I learned about here) so I plan to not licence the boat for January, February and March and won't be taking the boat out during those months as I'll be working on it. Do I simply not renew my current licence and buy another in April? Or do I have to tell CRT that I won't be re-licencing - rather like SORNing a motorcycle? I'd be grateful for any advice.
  18. Now reading Around Britain by Canal by Anthony Burton. Originally published in the 1970s with the title Backdoor Britain. But when the new edition came out, the title was changed to include words that today's canal fans looking for books might type into search engines. A sort of road trip around the 1970s system (not all of it) with a focus on the architecture of the canals and the towns they pass through, as much as on the canals themselves.
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  21. How many boaters does it take to fill a lock? It depends on how much they've had to drink.
  22. Lovely video - thanks for posting it. But they seem to be going a bit fast, don't they?
  23. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
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