gosser

Thanks for the suggestions - I got a great result from BW: a winter mooring at Cambrian Wharf, literally 5 mins walking distance from where I'm working... £5.70 per metre per month

I'm due to do a 3 month contract in the middle of Birmingham and intend to chug my 59ft boat there from Hemel Hempstead and live on it. Does anyone know of any reasonable moorings within stiking distance of Birmingham? Alternatively, does anyone with a mooring near there want to do a temporary swap for mine in Hemel Hempstead? I don't mind 30 minutes drive, but the nearer to Brum the better

My soul is on board all the time, but the flesh is often elsewhere

Being honest, I reckon if everyone took this line then there would be very few liveaboards on UK wateways. Most seem to get the boat first and then gravitate towards a good 'leisure' mooring through trial and error, waiting lists etc., eventually quietly settling there. It's unofficial but few of them seem to get any bother. It's a good idea not to have rows of beans, a goat and chickens, though. Anyway, what makes a liveaboard a liveaboard? Living there two thirds of the time? Four fifths? A private address on land seems to resolve most problems for the floating non-voters I know.

I put black Protectacote on my counter and well decks 4 years ago, and only now is it beginning to show any wear where I step on and off the counter. It's a rubberised paint wikth a dull matt finish though, so I don't really want to put it on the gunwhales because that would detract from the appearance of the boat. Neither do I want to be continually scrubbing two 60ft strips of sanded paint, and if you don't do that regularly sanded paint quickly goes gungey. I therefore risk it with smooth Hammerite paint, and tread very carefully on the rare occcasions that I venture along the gunwhales. The roof is the same, put then I've no intention of leaping onto it anyway.

The Lee Sanitation Self Pump Out kit is good for the purpose. Contrary to oher posts, it does not smell in storage (after each use just pump a few gallons of plain water through it before rolling and storing the flat hose). In my experience it certainly gives off much less offensive smell than that which occurs when emptying the Porta-Potti. But dor is right: BW are restricting the number of Sanitary Stations where you can use SPO kits. I woder if its a scam to make people reliant on their expensive pump-outs? This ban has happened at Apsley on the Grand Union, and my complaint to BW was a waste of time. They said the sewer pipe system wasn't up to it, and that they hadn't the funds to replace it. There are alternatives. none of them good. It's often possible to find a convenient sewage manhole near the towpath and discharge straight into that, for example. Also, you can pump effluent into a container (or Porta-Potti cassette) and then empty that in the Sanitary Station. This takes a few trips, obviously. Not ideal!

Actually, I reckon it's a good buy. The box and branding is Mobyl but its made by Thetford and badged accordingly on the product, and guaranteed for 2 years by Thetford BV. I bought one as a reserve (not being prepared to pay the extortionate price charged for a Porta-Potti spare cassette). It is just 1.5 inches lower than the Porta Potti, so that shouldn't really push knees up round your ears. Also, I reckon the styling will make it easier to clean than the Porta-Potti. The disadvantage is that the 1.5 inch height diference comes from the height of the cassette, which only holds 12l.

So, just to be sure, the existing fittings for Calor on my boat will fit Shell bottles without any amendment whatsoever? My believing the connections are different is the one reason that kept me using Calor, which is way over-priced, particularly at boatyards or Texaco garages in my area.

Thanks

Not that brave!

Hi I'm thinking about craning French Peel (59ft narrowboat) onto a low-loader, taking it across the Channel on a ferry, and craning it into the French waterways at Calais. The idea is to liveaboard and cruise the French system for a couple of years, punctuated with trips back to the UK to earn money. I've been quoted c. £1400 plus cranage costs for one-way transport. In the early planning stage.I'd welcome relevant information, links, advice etc.

With my Alde heating a 59ft boat narrowboat (three big rads and skirting heating plus hot water) I reckon on getting 4 days from a 13k gas bottle, running 24 hours with the stat set to 22 deg. As the barge is wider, the usage seems about the same as mine.

Oops - sorry, first post and not got the hang of it! I had the same problem as Beck when my old Paloma died. I had a Squirrel with a backboiler running three radiators, and also a calorifier linked to the engine for hot water. I installed an Alde, linking it into the same rad circulation system as the Squirrel for heating, and also linking it into the calorifier for hot water. It worked great except that the circulation flow of the Alde was in the opposite direction to the Squirrel! When it got really hot there was a bit of a fountain from the Alde header tank. I 'solved' this by bypassing the Squirrel. For everything else, though, the Alde's been very efficient and I was able to site it away from the bathroom area. This gave me the chance to completely refit and reorganise the bathroom without having to accomodate the Paloma