Onionman

I can see what you mean and I might have been more forgiving in summer but both the bad ones' rudeness was astounding (and it was midweek on a deathly quiet canal). Unfortunately the diesel pump at the marina on the Prees branch was out of order (but the owner managed to discuss that quite civilly, with a sense of humour and a suggestion for the next available fill - I'd have no qualms about using them in future).

Just back from a two week cruise up the (marvellously quiet) Llangollen. No names, no pack drill but the startling variety of service in marinas astounded me. Two were rude to the point where we just passed them by after phoning one and walking in to check the other before entering. Brusque and unpleasant and made it clear that our custom (and money) were just an inconvenience to them. Lucky for them we moved on, I guess. Three others were fabulous. Couldn't help enough, keen to make our brief stops as easy as possible. Seemed very much like one extreme or the other. How do the former ones stay in business? Do they truly have a captive market so they don't need to care?

Apologies, posted then caught covid and didn't check in as I was feeling a tad miserable. Thanks for all the suggestions; we were at the bottom and I think it was just a night's leakage. We did manage OK but I will definitely bear in mind the half open sluices to avoid moving too much silt. Thanks all!

Arrived at Stockton flight the other morning and the flight was pretty much empty. Someone was having a go ahead of us but it all looked a bit slapdash and they were clearly making it up as they went along. What's the correct way to fill a flight?

As I've grown older I've come, more and more, to realise that irritation comes from within me, not from the situation.

Oh my word. I'm so tense after just reading that!

Thanks all - down and back at Isis lock it is. Shame.

Resurrecting a slightly old topic but does anyone have a rough guide to the cost for a day pass to go round the Thames past Oxford rather than turning back at Isis Lock? Looks like close to £50 on the EA site - is that correct? Sounds a hefty chunk of cash for an hour on the river... Thanks.

It's one way to dip your headlights.

I thought that the benefit of an insulated flue is that, in staying hot, it reduces the build up of deposits that block the chimney and the safety problems that causes. I assumed it was that rather than direct fire or burns that led to change.

This arrow by the pump sign tells you which side the filler cap is:

Except that flow of cars will be minuscule. Given that well over 90% of journeys will be in the range of an overnight charge at home, there's not going to be much of a volume to that business.

Seriously, get a cardboard box of roughly the correct size (see video). Put in layers of cardboard with a pan-shaped hole in them as insulation until it's full. Total cost, zero. Uses up old cardboard. Works as well as a slow cooker and uses no energy.

You need a haybox. Plenty of videos out there; here's one made of cardboard that should cost a couple of quid if you go wild. Many years ago I made one. All you do is make a stew (or whatever) bring it to the boil, pop the pan in an insulated box and leave it for several hours. Some of the best meals I recall eating came out of ours. Unfortunately some species of black insect took up residence in ours and we had to part company. Having thought about this for the first time in ages, I may well make one again out of some offcuts I have around.

I'm with three. So is the wife. And the two adult kids. Purely because their customer service works. We had phones with Vodafone and gave up. We went to O2 and gave up. We've been with three for around five or six years and never had a single cause for complaint. A sample of four people is small so don't base decisions purely on this.

There's a point on the K&A between Bathampton and Bath where there's a chain link fence and a side path joins the towpath. Early last summer I walked past it and there must have been forty or fifty bags of dog crap (in various stages of rot) hanging off the fence. What lovely people.

Got it. Like that idea.

Thanks for all the ideas. The step idea is a good one as Mrs Onionman has trouble seeing the front of the boat. However, a step would cause a major problem, namely that if I were crossing the empty vastness of the Sahara on foot, I'd trip over a coffee table. I'm so clumsy it's unbelievable. Add a step to the back of the boat and I'd be over the side before you could say "Don't trip over the st". It's a shared boat so welding an extra tube, while a fine idea, is not going to happen. I'll post whatever we end up with. Thanks again, all.

Mrs Onionman is significantly shorter than I am and suffers arm strain when she's steering us as her hand is up nearer shoulder level than waist level. We're considering having a tiller bar for her with an S bend in it. Does anyone have experience of this. We have plenty of good engineering firms around who should be able to do it; just wondering if anyone's done similar and if there are any drawbacks.

This'll last forever, a metre is 3ft 4" long, it's cheaper and it'll stand out as being different. https://www.metals4u.co.uk/materials/stainless-steel/stainless-steel-tube/14752-p

Don Corleone (The Godfather) has this to say: “There are men in this world,” he said, “who go about demanding to be killed. You must have noticed them. They quarrel in gambling games, they jump out of their automobiles in a rage if someone so much as scratches their fender, they humiliate and bully people whose capabilities they do not know. I have seen a man, a fool, deliberately infuriate a group of dangerous men, and he himself without any resources. These are people who wander through the world shouting, ‘Kill me. Kill me.’ And there is always somebody ready to oblige them.” One day he'll meet someone more aggressive and more capable at fighting who will teach him a lesson he may survive to remember. Until then, he'll look like he's winning every confrontation but, unknown to him, someone will one day drill a hole when he's off the boat. Or one night when his generators are blanking out all noise from outside, someone less capable of face-to-face aggression will be pouring a bottle of full-sugar coke into his generator fuel tanks or putting sand in the genny oil filler cap (and possibly the boat's engine for good measure). He'll pay. Someone will punch him from behind like this. And, if not, he'll still be first to a coronary. Vin

Here's someone using it incorrectly.

The blurb says it has a 1/4" (6mm!) hose. Cripes. You'll have time to cook a Sunday roast as you fill up.