MrsM

Plenty of council estates are not 'sink' estates, but seem to be decent places to live. There is no reason why a well run social marina couldn't be the same. (Not speaking from personal experience of living in social housing, but my brother is a mental health crisis social worker).

But aren't they already in the area, which is why they are a problem. And in a marina it would potentially be easier to meet their needs and address issues before they get out of hand.

For a large group of people who want to CM I would suggest that yes there is. One of the first things that newbie posters are told is "good luck getting a residential mooring - they are rare as hen's teeth". In my marina there is a waiting list of several years. At the risk of sounding snobbish it is also unlikely that a proportion of the more ramshackle boats I've seen would even be allowed in the marina. I very much doubt it is somewhere they would want to live either. What are they (the CMers) supposed to do? Councils are obliged to find sites for travellers that don't want to travel so why can't we do the same for CMers? Why not create more residential mooring sites where the more 'earthy' CMers can live comfortably, without judgement, without encroaching on visitor moorings and without being under constant pressure to be seen to be moving? Spend the money on providing a facility and turning unacceptable behaviour into something that is acceptable for all sides, rather than in prosecuting them. Quite how and where is another matter altogether.

Obviously I can only speak as a leisure boater who is able to live in a house for the majority of the year, which I appreciate may make my comments a bit empty/distasteful. Is part of the problem not the lack/availability of home moorings? As mentioned, we all know there are those who wish to live on a boat but need to be near a workplace or school, and therefore end up CMing. Why not create more official CRT towpath moorings for them? This way CRT will get the income from the boater if they can afford it or the state if they cannot. Mooring sites are generally much tidier than the random areas of floating townships one passes. Genuine CCers can then continue as they are. Hopelessly simplistic and impractical I'm sure.

Agreed - we've met plenty of 'proper' CCers this spring/summer who navigate the system widely (indeed spent the day locking down with one on the T&M) and who should not be penalised. However, we have also spent 4 seasons now passing the same collections of boats sitting on the same short stretches of tow path, often with piles of junk littering the banks. How to differentiate between these 2 very different groups? Doesn't seem very fair.

Not sure I understand this. Do you mean the more someone travels around the system, the more they should pay? We are leisure boaters and are in a marina for about 7 months of the year - for which we pay a large fee - and are out cruising the system for the remaining 5 months. We do not overstay when moored and like to think we do not cause issues for others. Are you suggesting that our contribution should be higher than continual moorers who potentially squat on visitor moorings, litter the towpath and worse? It's a tricky one. I can see the point that we are using much more of the network, which needs to be maintained, but rewarding people that do not have a home mooring for not moving by charging them less would not make the canals a nicer place to be for anyone. Apologies if I have misunderstood (I'm good at doing that).

Pushing the gate is one thing but ramming it is quite another.

https://www.robertellis.co.uk/property/trent-side-barton-in-fabis-nottingham/ If I won the lottery! For sale by auction to cash buyer only. The stunning Dunkirk little shop, Lady Sylvia, moors nearby. My idea of paradise.

Heard from some boaters this morning that someone they recently passed on the Soar was witnessed ramming into gates to exit a lock before it was fully ready.

The panic element is why I asked questions in the other thread. Glad I'm not the only one that isn't confident they would know exactly what to do.

If OP is serious about life aboard I expect (s)he will be back. The forum is a tough place for a newbie but no better advice when you learn to be less sensitive/thin-skinned. We are leisure boaters so probably not very relevant but we don't get much change out of £6k/yr for a town centre marina leisure mooring on the Trent, licence, insurance and RCR. Add at least another £1k/yr for running costs and consumables.

Really good points but it's the worst case scenario I think I would be weakest at and, being a good former scout leader, I'd like to be prepared. In a case similar to the subject boat, with the bow immersed in a deep leaky lock would you lift the bottom paddles to prevent the lock filling?

Thank you all. So paddles dropped and all safely off the boat. In the case of a sinking/cilling I presume the next step is to phone CRT? Then what?

Thanks for the information. In the panic of the moment I'm not confident I would know what to do. Could you talk through the steps you took? I'm not confident I would know how to react in the panic of the moment. Really glad you got through it relatively ok.

Can completely sympathise with that - was just commenting to other half that the paddles and gates there are really heavy as I recall. Glad to hear it is safely recovered.

I use the long blast and the starboard, port and astern bips regularly so some of us newbies do use them. Wouldn't be able to claim I know the others off pat though. Would ideally like one of the brass plaques with the list of signals on for my binacle if anyone knows where I can get one.

Out of interest if a boat partially sinks like this one has, when it is floated does the water in the bow not drain back as the bow is raised? I would imagine this means that all of the bilge gets a thorough soaking regardless of how much of the boat was under water during the incident itself. Really hope this boat gets sorted quickly and no lasting damage is done. Must be extremely traumatic for the poor owners.

Following the recommendations we are currently in Lichfield, having caught the No.12 bus from Alrewas (£2/person). I think it is a charming city with a wealth of history. The Samuel Johnson birthplace museum is free to enter and has lots of artifacts including, not surprisingly, first editions of both volumes of his diary. The Guildhall is also free to enter and has prison cells to look around. The guide was a delightful lady, as was the guide at the Johnson museum. There are a good number of craft/fabric shops for a small city and of course the cathedral is rather wonderful. Really glad we came here. Alrewas is somewhere we tend to pass through and perhaps nip to the shops and pubs so it has been really nice to stay a few days. Yesterday we went to the National Memorial Arboretum which was very moving. It was an easy walk from Alrewas and well worth allocating several hours to. I was delighted to find my grandad's name on the memorial wall. Thank you to all who recommended we visit Lichfield. Lots of green space including 2 pools which are great for those of us with dogs (on such a hot day).

Sadly wasn't able to go in the end as had to get back home for a family crisis. Crisis averted and we are now on our way to Fradley Junction. Will definitely visit next time we are passing through.

Exactly how old ours is! 😩🤢

https://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/23567840.evicted-boater-given-new-deadline-leave-bradford-avon-canalside/

That sounds a good idea, thank you.

When starting this thread I did not intend to advocate that new boaters should only look at shallow draughted boats, but that they should be aware of their boat's draught and how this might affect them and where they wish to take it. I completely get the advantages of a deeper draughted boat and the importance of the waterways being able to accommodate them. We're in our 4th season of boating now and do an average of 600 hours/year. I am a lot more confident steering than I was at the start but am aware that my skills are still very much at the beginner stage compared to many other boaters. It takes a certain amount of time for new boaters such as myself to gain all of the handling skills discussed in this thread, and I'm grateful that I've got a very easy and forgiving boat to learn on. Saying that, I have limited experience of handling other boats and perhaps I would have become a better steerer more quickly with a different boat?

Sorry to hijack but I'm currently in Rugeley and debating getting the train to visit Lichfield. Never been before. Worth a visit?

Yes electric hookup and water is included. I was personally happy to pay to be in such a prime location in a gorgeous town. It still represents great value compared to camping or staying in a hotel. There's free towpath mooring near the lift bridge before the narrows for those that would rather not pay (forgot to mention that in my original reply).