Richard T

Redhill Marina is next to East Midlands Parkway. Sileby Mill Boatyard is 10mins walk from Sileby station. Proctors and Meadow Farm are close to Barrow on Soar Station. Neark Marina gives a choice of two stations depending on where you want to go.

Peter - nice to see a picture of our boat and its sign writing.

When we went up Watford on Wednesday 2nd June ( The day with a closure from 11 til 4pm) The locks opened at 8am - we were 6th in the queue to go up. The lock keepers were very organised in a 3hour slot they planned to work 5 boats down the flight and 11up. They did 2 down to start with the first two boats up moving into the intermediate pounds. Boaters waiting to go up managed these two locks. They then did 11 up to be followed by three down. One of the up boats was single handed so a lockie worked him up the flight. It shows what can be done where there is a will - everybody helped and I'm confident they acheived their target. Foxton the following day was not as organised and speaking to a lock keeper it appeared that only 8 boats up the flight and 12 down would be managed in a 6hour opening slot. I've suggested to Friends who are hiring from Braunston in August that they do not go to Market Harborough and back as it will involve both flights in both directions with the possibility of delays.

When I weighed ours in earlier in the year batteries were £400 a tonne. So got £40 for our set of 4 110amp ones.

Ours has cracked. I filled with fire rated silicon and then put a large jubilee clip round it for good measure.

Also if it is one of those fillers flush with the deck renew the rubber seal annually. Rainwater gets past them and into the tank.

I think that around 150 locos were saved from the gas axe at Dai Woodhams scrap yard. Some have yet to be rebuilt like 7027 Thornbury Castle. After being moved around a few times and having had several changes of ownership it is now at Loughborough Great Central where restoration has started again.

A nice tiller pin. A large bundle of cable ties - they solve a multitude of problems. A yard arm so he knows when the sun is over it and he can break out the bottle of single malt that accompanied it!!

There's no washers on it so it can't be a copy!! I don't like the offset cabin at the front either and the step in the gunwhales - it all looks contrived.

Brian I don't normally carry waders or withies with me when boating!! I certainly was not going to take my shoes and socks off and go for a paddle to put poles in. I've sent a suitably worded email to CRT about it and the one at Stoke on the Trent. Cheers Richard

Ratcliffe lock is still difficult. one top gate cannot be fully opened. However the real problem is that the downstream lock landing is completely blocked by a shoal. The only way to operate the lock is by picking up and dropping of people in the lock mouth. The flood water has overtopped the lock wall flowed into the adjacent ditch and then washed a large hole the contents of which are now blocking the landing. The first two photos show this hole and the third part of the shoal. There are no warning signs or bouys especially when going upstream. We failed to pull a boat of yesterday morning. Fortunately we were boating with friends and they have a more powerful engine that us and they got it off.

We were instructed by the lockie to turn hard right when going downstream and not turn again until well into the weir stream. This worked for us but we didn't have to pick anyone up. Going upstream we reversed this manoeuver but the stream pushed to a point when we just touched the shoal but still managed to get into the lock. There was a lockie on duty with the gates open. The shoal does need bouying.

Did one of these boats become the community boat Northeaster which was based at Thurmaston until a couple of years ago? 12berths in 42ft!! That was an ancient Springer. The community group lost their grant and stopped operating I don't know what became of the boat.

Has the Severner Fir featured on here before? https://narrowboats.apolloduck.com/boat/narrow-boats-traditional-for-sale/655585 The asking price is eye watering!!

Why not take a winter mooring at Sileby Mill Boatyard on the Soar? The owner lives on site and when the river is in flood checks the boats regularly. We sre there and never have any problems. The lane to the yard does flood at least once a year. The other advantage is that theres diesel, pump out, electricty and a good chandlery on site. Its a working yard so a bit rough round the edges but safe and secure.

Mecca is also in LMS colours - or was when it was moored in Loughborough. I doubt if its changed as the then owner had a steam loco driving ticket.

13 Leaking water tank Thats what we have and it will be a PITA to deal with. The tank is stainless steel under the front cockpit deck. We will have to have the deck cut out then the tank pressure tested to find the leak. Hopefully it can be welded if not its a new tank or a plastic liner in the existing one. And yes we have eliminated options 1 to 12 it has taken us nearly 2 years to do so. We had got it down to two possibilities - the tank or the concealed pipe that runs from the tank to the water pump at the stern. Oddly the lockdown has helped as the boat has been left for 6months with the wter turned off at the stop cock by the tank. We arrived back at it to find the bilge full of water and the area around the tank dry!! It had very slowly leaked to the point where the water level was below the hole. The volume of water in the bilge meant it had only one source. It could not have been the pipe. Ah well BOAT applies as it will not be cheap to sort out!!

Mike, you need to talk to the people who bought the island between Sileby and Cossington locks. If you ring Sileby Mill boatyard they may be able to give you a name and phone number. Boats are moored on the backwater of the island. At Sileby Mill boats moored in the backwaters do not need to be licenced but this may be because of 'grandfather' rights. Where we currently moor in the mill pool we don't need a licence until we move onto the main section of the river. Another place to ask is MGM at Thurmaston as they have boats on the backwater. What happens at the offline moorings at Redhill, Kegworth, Zouch, Meadow Farm at Barrow, and Proctors at Barrow are boats licenced. You could try ringing them pretending to want a mooring and ask about licencing. All the best Richard

Calcutt should have one and they are nearer than Braunston and I'd be surprised if Kate Boats didn't have one and they are nearer still.

Nick, Alex is still at Sileby. We are still moored there. I will be going there in the next few days so I'll remember you to him. As for the river Soar Ally has given most of the information. Good shops at Birstall There is water at the Friars Mill moorings in the city - these are not yet in all the guide books - they are just north of Castle Gardens. The next facilities are at Kilby Bridge. There is an Aldi on the offside at Aylestone - you have to moor against a fence. Plenty of shops in the city centre and convenience stores on the straight mile. The next place for diesel and pump out after Leicester Marina ( Sileby Mill is more accessible and is very helpful) is Debdale Wharf. If the river does go into flood moor somewhere safe and don't leave your boat unattended as levels fluctuate rapidly. If all else fails moor in a lock. Above all relax and enjoy the river.

Update today works to start is 22nd March. The boaters moaning about inactivty by CRT will now have something else to moan about!! Update on 09/03/2021: Assessment of the work required to return Ratcliffe Lock to operational condition is now complete, and a provisional start date for this work is below. Monday 22nd March 2021 In order to begin the work a crane boat is required on site, and this date is the earliest that the boat will be able to arrive. Please note that the date above is the provisional earliest start date for the work and is subject to change dependant on other materials/equipment required on site. Further updates will be made available as plans progress.

Sileby Mill boatyard on the Soar are also good. They have a slipway and then a semi covered area. A 70ft boat hangs out the end of the shed.

A reputable marine electrician fitted a fail safe method to our boat which means that we cannot have the inverter and shore power connected at the same time. He terminated the feed from the inverter and shore power in seperate 3pin sockets. We then have the feed to the 230v circuit terminating in a 3pin plug which has to be physically put into the appropriate socket. We find that this works for us. If we do change the source of 230v power we just have to remember to move the plug.

According to CRT it is not possible to open the bottom gates of the lock because of silt build up. River Soar Location: Ratcliffe Lock - River Soar Starts At: Lock 58 - Ratcliffe Lock Ends At: Lock 58 - Ratcliffe Lock Sunday 21 February 2021 until further notice Type: Navigation Closure Reason: Maintenance Update on 22/02/2021: Due to the recent bad flooding we have experienced, there has been a large amount of silt build up, which is stopping the bottom gates from opening. Our local team have been on site today, working hard to clear the silt away, however the job is bigger then we had expected. We will now need a dredging boat to come down and clear the rest of the silt, to enable us to open the bottom gates again. At this moment in time, we do not have a timescale for when the dredging boat will be on site, but as soon as we have more information, we will update the website accordingly. We apologise for any inconvenience this may be causing. Original message: One of the bottom gates at Ratcliffe Lock wont close due to an unexpected maintenance issue. Consequently, the lock is temporarily out of action. The local team will be attending site tomorrow and we aim to have the lock working again by the end of the day. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Last September/October a large amount of silt was dredged from above the lock and deposited on the bank in such a way that at the next major flood it would be washed back into the cut!!

Before we start cruising after the lockdown we will need to change our domestic batteries. We have 3 110ah ones which are 5 years old and one of which has failed. The chandlery where we moor stocks Shield batteries. Has anyone any experience of them? Their LM range is open cell LA which is what I would probably buy. Any thoughts? I could get alternatives from Tayna but would prefer to give my business to the local yard.