Richard T

Moomin talk to Eric of NB Firecrest. It is an all electric boat with a generator and land line. He does a blog so google firecrest blog to find him

Thanks for posting - it has been a really enjoyable read. Glad to hear that you are back safe and well in Hull.

We started by hiring and then a private share boat. We were responsible for setting up the share with a group of friends, we had shares in this boat for 10years when we bought our own. The share boat is still going with new owners. There are advantages of a private share rather than with one like Carefree:- maintenance may be done by shareholders which keeps the costs down, you also get to know how boats work which will help when you come to buy your own. We used to decide on a loose itinerary for the boat each year and handovers where made wherever the boat was so you don't end up cruising the same canal each time you go out, that way we got to boat most of the main cruising areas in our 10years. You also get to know what you like/dislike in the way boats are laid out which will help inform your choice when you come to own your own. We don't regret being in the share as we got a tremendous amount of enjoyment from it and the experience gained means that I am not phased by problems on our boat. I agree with the comments about looking for an older baot.

The subject of Christmas came up over dinner tonight so I thought it must be time to think about this years banter. The first question is when? Saturday 29th or Sunday 30th December? I would prefer 30th as family may be staying with us on 29th. The next question is where - I will talk to the Paget and see if I can resolve issues relating to food if thats where people want to meet. Alternatively given the lack of banters elsewhere during the year do we want to hold one or not? I'm going to do nothing until early November as we hope to go boating for a couple of weeks - we intend to go to Birmingham via the T&M, Staffs&Worcs and Wolverhampton so wave if you see us.

If you are going to leave the boat on hardstanding over the winter you will need to fully drain down the water system to prevent freezing or you will need to have some form of background heating permanently connected such as oil filled radiators. If draining down remember to do the shower mixer unit. Frezing is less likely if left in the water. We have a 68watt solar panel which keeps our batteries topped up during the winter but we do go and run the engine for an hour or so every two or three weeks.

We have not seen Dane on our patch. It could be lurking up one of the back waters at say Thurmaston but this is unlikely. I'll keep an eye open for it whem we next go boating. I'm not certain where anyone would go to get work done on a wooden boat round here unless Paul Barber is able to do it. Alex Ramsey at Sileby is good with wood boats but would struggle to slip a full length motor.

CanalPlan gives 35 boats built by 'Parker' some are small launches others are steel narrowboats so I think there are two builders. One of the narrowboats gives a build date of 1991 and another 2005. Beyond this I cannot help. https://canalplan.org.uk/boats/boats.php

Good to see another boat with a skeg that extends beyond the rudder bearing. This is the one on Tyto Alba It doen't have a magnet attached.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I can't understand why people go on cruises but your journey is interesting as its on a working ship of the type that help to make commerce in the world happen. Keep posting the pictures. Richard

No video on my computer. The paint job looks very good. It will need keeping clean and scratch free.

Bosley are to re-open next week. Notice Alert Macclesfield Canal Starts At: Lock 1 Ends At: Lock 12 Monday 23 July 2018 12:45 until further notice Type: Navigation Closure Reason: Water resources Update on 28/09/2018: In the latter half of September the Macclesfield & Peak Forest Canal reservoirs have benefited from significant rainfall, resulting in an increase in water levels both in the reservoirs and the canal. We appreciate this summer has seen significant disruption to our boating customers and many need to return to home and winter moorings. We are now in a position to re-open the canal at the Bosley Flight on 6th October. However to try and conserve water, we will initially operate with restrictions between 8am and 1pm daily • Last passage at lock 1 and lock 12 will be at 1pm, this is to allow our teams to assist boats through the flight. We will review these restrictions during the first week with the aim of removing them as soon as possible. The Bosley Flight will then close on the 5th November to allow the winter works at Locks 8 and Lock 12 to be completed. (The winter works stoppage notices will be updated to reflect time duration changes).

Try this web site https://www.myshiptracking.com/

Like the sign writing especially the linked K&M!!! Whens the wedding?

The lowset two bridges on the canal are both flat spans. They are below Castle Lock (Wilford Street) and then London Road A lot of crap was cleaned out from under the bridges a few weeks ago by volunteers working with CRT. They used grappling hooks to clear bikes etc and unlike magnet fishers it was all collected by a CRT work flat which they filled three times!! Insert other media

Mike, I agree that Theophilus has very subtle curves in the hull which are much better than nearly all shells currently being constructed. There are a few builders who create versions of original working boat hulls but they are so far out of the OPs budget that they are not really worth mentioning. I was really referring to the cabin curves which are subtle. I would rather have a Colecraft hull than many clonecraft ones. Colecraft hulls also do have a reputation for swimming well. Cheers Richard Glascote.