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Mushroom polishing definitely won't send you blind... (and I hear @roland elsdon is particularly proud of his). But it is an excellent description of some of the posts from some of our more veteran forum members.

A bit vague perhaps... There are various roof venting options these days. Solar and everyfink. Innit.

"Trouble is" that is a bit like saying take a walk through a social housing estate before you accept accommodation/private rent/buy there. People aren't not living in mansions becasue of optimism; they aren't living in mansions becasue of lack of funds! A 'floating skip' may well be the best accommodation available to the individuals on your trip (if they value independence/enjoy DIY/the community and so forth and/or are not eligible for any available social housing). And many of them cruise.

Grasshopper, you are learning.

So what do you two call the mushroom shaped vents on the top of many canal boats? Y'know... these things: https://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/search?query=mushroom

I have hull and machinery cover (plus frost, a bunch of personal accident stuff etc and so forth on one boat) as well as third party. Didn't need to send my survey details for it as far as I can see (oldest boat is 1986). Some places did ask, insure4boats (who I are Royal Sun Alliance's boat bit) didn't. They were cheap and easy for the first boat so second is with them too. Not had to claim for anything yet so can't comment on that side of things.

Agree. My limited Dark Side ventures have been friendlier and less canalsplainy than here. They do seem stay remarkably on topic though which is disconcerting. I'm greedy. I do both ?

It strikes me that I'm disinclined to explain to someone who claims to be both an experienced boater and (male?) human a mushroom vent / masturbation pun. Either there is more disingenuity in his posts (so to speak) than is apparent or all hope is pretty much lost... For the more earnest I'm slightly tempted to make some responses to 'those of us who enjoy it', 'abuse', 'Ive been doing that on my boats since 1980 and its never been commented on before' and so forth but I'll leave those as an exercise for the more word-play friendly reader. (There is a long tradition of bad British humour so you can have fun imagining how museum like the atmosphere is right now.)

Nah, he/she also had a thread about boat size... "me and my partner are thinking of living on a narrow boat instead of my 30ft/9ft steel cruiser, we've lived on it comfortably for 2yrs with our little dog"

I fink the OP has (had) a steel boat but is looking for smthing bigger but not too pricey?

Words are boats... no apprenticeship required to play with them. Glorious isn't it?

'Yes' it would be CRT's fault (according to the act referenced in that post). I wasn't sure either so I looked it up. You'll probably get better/more info on this on Thunderboat becasue the owner posts on there. You don't have to have a darkside log in to read it either iirc.

Have you resorted to sounding like a mushroom polisher again?

I was seeing desirable from a 'crowdedness of free moorings' and 'expense of allocated moorings' point of view. Just wait until I tell people I 'work from boat' on occasion and see how much they love that... Canal spotting ticklist dropped down side of 'I made it on a course' rope fender in apoplexy... ?

Entirely agree. With the exception that 'vegetation' doesn't really come into it much on the most desirable bits of canal... where there is often another moored boat (or nice concrete feature) on the other side!

Perhaps CRT can use the new fat boat license increase to assist with maintenance...

Yes, I've not time to find a nice map of the whole GU and highlight on it which bits (vast majority of the 'fun' or 'likely to provide employment' ones) were considered fat boat friendly at that time but shall consider it an exercise for another day. I don't even have (or much like the look of) a fat boat but people canal-splaining that they don't fit places where they do fit but ppl wd rather they weren't could do with a nice graphic I feel ?

The good news is that the 'southern end' includes the best to commutes to Hoxton coffee bars so the baristas are good with their chubby boats. And my coal boats are not a figment of my deluded mind.

Here we go... found it on a FOI site. Says fat boats are good on a reasonable amount of the GU as far as I can see...

See, that is kind of interesting! Can you pop the GU bit on?

If the older grasshoppers around here are anything to go by that is not a given... (I like that there are plenty of canal-splaining comments headed in my direction but no actual, erm, real contrary information...) I do and so I have one. Some people (land or canal based) either can't afford that or are happier commuting for the cost saving/quality of life. There are plenty of CC-ing plans which don't take you much further than 10miles (in either direction, making 20 miles in all) from where you need to be at certain times. Think the CRT provide examples for people who need to be near schools in term time. Edited to add: I've ALSO used pre-bookable mooring in a busy location I was passing through which guarantees the same thing for visitors (such as canal spotters)... but those wandering around the network sometimes object to having to pay for moorings in particular locations. The argument ("if you wanna be guaranteed a mooring in a popular spot for n nights then pay for it" is kind of the same regardless of the size of n though...)

That's OK, canal spotter was not a pejorative! Some of my closest friends are railway enthusiasts... I'm just not sure it gets anyone automatic rights to feel more entitled to any particular mooring than someone trying to accommodate themselves/loved ones within reasonable travelling distance (e.g. 10miles, plus a little bit...) from a place of work/education/other loved ones etc.

They visibly fit. I pass them double moored daily. I've never seen my coal boats not breasted up. Etc, etc... 'Tis worse than saying people shouldn't have fat ugly cars on the road because the GU was built to take fat boats in a way that London streets weren't built for fat cars. Instead we tax them and let them get on with it. I get the fear that the location commitment-free may not be able to park their boats there easily. It is valid. But I'm not sure their rights to handy free (at the point of use) mooring spots are necessarily greater than anyone else's. PS I am now slightly wondering if it would be OK for Alan's spare bits to enter the food chain if the (ex)colt is only buted afterwards...

That isn't about loosing it though - just making sure only suitable ones make it into the food chain.