Ray

True, but the income from all the Non-moorings would mean that the canal would be in brilliant condition! I'm waiting for someone who buys a lock keeper's cottage to complain about boats using the lock!

Stripey (or pink)? (sorry I also could not resist!)

Or they forgot to tell the person drawing up the map that the gates had already been replaced!

Avonbelle appears to have a capacity of only 40 passengers according to their website. What do the other 13 people on the coach do? Don't modern coaches carry more than 53 people?

Whereas I believe that either the southern GU or the Oxford has been open when the other is closed in more recent years, it currently appears that both are to be closed for simultaneous periods this coming winter.

My BSS surveyor is happy with my sink outlet hole at about 4ins above the waterline provided that the waste is fastened to the drain on the sink with Jubilee clips or similar and that any other means of water leaving the sink is 10ins above the water line

Newer Alde boilers are reputedly much more economical than the older ones but remember the newer ones can't be connected to copper. I would suggest that you investigate your stove option thoroughly as you need to make sure it is big enough to heat the boat and not just the area in front of it. Ours delivers hardly any heat to the bedroom towards the rear of the boat which is 57' long. Our stove is at the front. It may be more beneficial if placed nearer the middle. If you plan to cruise then a calorifier makes sense - effectively free hot water (and. sometimes, heat if arranged appropriately). Insulate your pipework and keep as much of it as possible below the outside water level. Basic winterisation isn't that difficult, just fit drain-offs in hot and cold pipes with valves that alloow you to drain water into, say, the shower sump and use shower pump to empty the sump. Turn off water pump, open all taps. open the two valves and system drains automatically. When you return close the valves and taps, turn on water pump. Takes not more than a couple of minutes. To be on the safe side remove the hose from the shower so the mixer can't freeze. I'll leave others to comment more on heating - whatever system you have you'll have to pay to run it. You need to investigate costs and, for some kinds, the noise level it makes.

I had a similar problem, or so I thought. Closer inspection revealed the boiler was firing but the burner was covered in crud - which I discovered when I removed the burner and took it to Alde for a sevice. It hasn't come back yet so I can't confirm whether that has cured the problem. When was the last ime that you used the boiler? We hadn't used ours this year.

I'd have thought Conway Castle was huge - having encountered her heading towards me a couple of years ago when I inadvertently got too close to the wrong side of the channel as I came around a left hand bend whilst heading north! However, their website suggests that she does crusie to/from Upton Upon Severn and may even be based there according to the postal adress.

It would appear that Avonbelle may not be the sole user of the VMs. The Conway Castle is also advertising trips to/from Upton every Wednesday and on some Thursdays, the latter not scheduled to return to Upton until 5.15pm. I think they saw CRT coming and having got access to the VMs for a shorter time period will quietly extend the period to suit their operations and CRT seem too blind to see this coming.

I have just checked their website, some of which doesn't appear to have been updated since last November. Links alluding to their schedule services refer to events in the town, including the two festivals that are at times when their trips aren't supposed to be using the VMs. There's no way that a business venture is going to miss out on the opportunity of running trips when there's extra people in the area. I had misunderstood which boat was being talked about. The boat concerned appears to be not much bigger than a full length NB (or widebeam). Why do they then need the entire mooring? Why can't they just reserve one berth? Boats that may have unskilled steerers/crew, are expected to be able to moor in between other boats, why can't the qualified (and licenced) skipper manage it? Trip boats seem to be able to do this on the tidal Thames so why not the (non-tidal) Severn? I cannot believe that a trip boat company would reject a booking for an evening trip by a coach party so how can they operate the evening trips from their normal base but can't do likewise during the day. One further question if I may. What do they propose to do if they arrive for their first trip and find the VMs full of moored boats? We're planning a trip up the Severn in July accompanied by our friends on their boat. Where can we stop once we leave Tewkesbury and before we get to Worcester? Aren't these the only water, rubbish and sanitary station facilities on this stretch of the river?

I'm sure this was discussed on here a few years back and although the newer legislation didn't get passed it was thought that there was already legislation on the books that enabled the police to take appropriate action when necessary. I'm sure I recall the boatyard where I worked being advised of this as they then had to draw the attention of their hirers to it.

My understanding is that any member of the "crew" actively engaged in the navigation or working of the boat is subject to similar drinking limitations to road drivers. My guess is that "Not a lot of people know that"!

From memory they do make a changeover valve, but I'd suggest you check that I'm right. We didn't need one so I didin't take it any further.

Am I mistaken or can mobile phones not be tracked if left switched on? I thought someone on here suggested a while ago that you could place a mobile on your boat turned to silent and not in an obvious position (and connected to a charger/solar panel). If the boat goes "walkies" you call the phone and the boat is tracked that way.

Have you had a look at these? Low voltage valves? We have two on our boat. One operated by the switch that is the room thermostat and the via the cylinder thermostat on the calorifier (which has a separate switch in series so that the boiler doesn't fire if we're planning to run the engine). They're quite (although you can hear them to confirm that they are operating). We don't live aboard and do tend to cruise everyday so current drain (which isn't that great) isn't normally a problem especially as they're only powered up when they're open.

I have a similar problem with my Beta 43, save that the sqeak lasts a little longer sometimes. We've tried adjusting the tension to no avail and my (more technically minded than me) colleague suggested that the alternator may be slightly out of line. Is this a possibility or is it simply a case of us not getting the tension exactly right - he was a tad concerned that tightening the belt too much might knacker the bearings.

I've read the report once and will no doubt read it again. Two things that strike me: Firstly their reference to their difficulties in monitoring sites to obtain realistic data about potential problems which surely contradicts their proposal to have sites visited every day for enforcement of the proposed plans. Secondly the suggestion that the winter period will start on 1 November and end on the day before Good Friday. Will Winter mooring implementation be brought into line with this - why do we need winter moorings in October when the winter work programme doesn't start until early November. Similarly, with Easter being as late as late April in some years and good Spring weather liable to bring a large number of boats out before then should the end date not be the same as the end date of the winter work programme?

We moored overnight in that pound a couple of weeks ago. We had one pin pulled out by someone and found ourselves across the cut at around 2am. The boat in front was treated similarly. We also got "rained on" by the catkins from an overhanging tree - we'd sought to moor where we were clear of the overbridge and there was space for the other boat we were travelling woth to more behind us. We wlked to and from and ate & supped in The Boat. Pleasant food but we found it a very noisy pub. ETA - IMHO the southern GU has been getting quieter and quieter over the last few years. Where we would see an almost constant stream of boats just north of Marsworth just a few years back we can go for hours at a time without seeing a moving boat. Perhaps a number of boats had gone down to Little Venice for the Cavalcade this weekend.

Having just been involved with the VOA - the valuation office; we were told that tenants should pay thier own council tax rather than the landlord pay and off-charge. Not sure if moorers are regarded as tenants or not - others with bona fide residential morings should be able to assist. On a slightly related topic I am aware of a number of people who live in mobile home parks but are only allowed to do so for 10½ to 11 months per year. I think this enables the site to avoid being classified as residential. On your own admission you aren't around during the summer so I wonder if your absence is long enough for you to escape the residential classification. Similarly, I wonder if those who live on their boats in marinas during the winter but are away cruising for several weeks continuously during the summer would also escape having their mooring classed as residential. How does this work with caravans and the like where people move their vans off site during the summer and live on them on site in the winter? Is it any different to someone who lives in a house but goes abroad for a couple of months to avoid the worst of the British winter?

Water

We moor in a reasonably small marina where access to the pontoon style moorings is difficult for longer boats under normal circumstances and impossible when boats are moored against the towpath opposite. There are also a few in-line moorings (that don't suffer that problem). It is far from unusual for boats to suddenly appear opposite the moorings and the (presumed) owners disappear into thin air until they re-appear when they decide that it is time to move their boat again. From time to time the visitors moor up opposite the in-line moorings and run generators & engines at all sorts of times. Unfortunately the marina operator is not always present when the visiting boaters themselves are around. That said, I am aware that there have been threats made to people questioning the presence and position of the visiting boats. The problem is often worse in the winter months when boats appear and stay for several weeks at a stretch. It is also amazing how many of the visitors say they can't move because their boat is defective in some way or other and yet, despite there being a resident engineer at the boatyard, the said visitors seldom approach him to look at or fix their boat(s). With due respect to the OP we don't know all the facts e.g. are there any houses nearby whose owners may have reported the "offending" boats? Did the OP (or the person he spoke to) actually see & read all the various notices? I don't doubt that the situation was reported in good faith but I think facts need to be confirmed before there's too much tarring with the same brush.

Is it metal or wooden? Could you drill a hole in the runner at the rear of the hatch (when in the closed position) and put a padlock through the hole? Or one of those locks like they fit to showcases to stop people sliding the doors open. Put one in the side of the hatch such that it protrudes under the runner when it is locked. Just a couple of ideas.

Thanks for the suggestion. Alas, all the drop back vents were left open throughout the winter and all the curtains were drawn closed. The door alongside the affected one was unscathed and both are behind a perspec screen that whilst not air tight, means that the air airflow across the doors was from the gap between the two doors, behind the screen. In addition, during the winter the sun never sees that part of our boat (on either side) because of a railway embankment on one side and buildings on the other.