MrsM

'Ephemera' - quite a pretty name for a boat 🙂

For me north of Oxford up as far as Leeds is the Midlands (incl. Manchester). North of Oxford = North. South of Oxford = South.

We will be coming through tomorrow on route to Nottingham. Will keep a look out for White Angel. Marianne

When you see it set out in black and white it seems ridiculous that Miles Away (and other boats too large for their local waterway) should be pandered to.

Ooooh nice. I think they would look lovely if you glued them to the back of the box. Lidl and Aldi often sell v cheap (£5ish) hot glue guns which would be perfect for the job. This sort of thing

We had walkie talkies when we started (old kids' set) until o'h dropped one in a lock. Our old deck boards were very rattly so it was quite hard for the steerer to hear someone speaking any distance away. We soon developed hand signals which work well for us. Now have very quiet deck boards but we still use hand signals.

You are right - much of the heavier duty work he does is in creating jigs. These need to be very robust and they will be used over and over. Minor DIY type jobs sounds a very sensible way to go. Good point

Thank you all, this is so useful. He is coming to the end of nearly 5 years of apprenticeship so I don't think he could cope with starting another. He's mostly considering a way to expand his welding/fabrication practice and to earn a bit of extra cash. His day job is primarily on Aston Martins (mainly DB5 and DB6) and he's just been nominated for apprentice of the year in the Historic Motoring Awards so I'm an extremely proud mum! He's at college this week (based at the Brooklands Motor Museum) so I'll pass on all this great advice when he's back. Much appreciated.

Thanks so much - that is really helpful. Think I might drop the Council a line.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. I think he envisages doing more evening/weekend mobile repair work rather than shell-building from scratch. I will forward your comments. Thanks again.

My son is coming to the end of his apprenticeship in classic car restoration. He is a fabricator and welding is his favourite part of this. Can I ask the experienced bods here what welding qualifications and equipment he would need to do work on narrowboats? (I'm presuming there is a specific certification he could achieve?) Obviously welding 5mm+ thick steel is very different to welding the thinner sheets often used in car fabrication. He enjoys boating and is interested in offering a mobile welding service at some point in the future to supplement his full-time work on classic cars. I have suggested he talks to Martin Kedian as his name regularly comes up in relation to fabrication questions. Thanks in anticipation. Marianne

What a handsome creature! Started married life in Bedford and have fond memories of our time there.

I never claimed the rats created the hole, merely that it was 'rat-sized' and therefore encouraged them to visit for a rat picnic. We are not going to eradicate them from public parks but we can discourage them from feasting right next to boats by maintaining bins adequately. Last week there were 3 bins on the pontoon - 1 complete bin on the left (as you look at the park), 1 in the middle with the rat-sized hole and the 3rd on the right with no lid (as shown in the photo). Would you be able to confirm if this 3rd bin has been replaced? Many thanks

The rats have frightened off all the squirrels!

Poor things - they really don't have much going for them.

I wasn't very clear, apologies - I don't think the hole was started by a rat, but it does provide a convenient entry/exit point. Is the lidless bin still there to the right of it?

Could you mount them in a deep frame as a picture?

Aren't they inspirational! A very strong pair of reading glasses would also be needed in my case. There are some stunning examples of different styles on tinterweb.

Interesting you raise this - I've been admiring the growing craft of painting on shells and think they can look amazing. Why not give it a go? An example is attached (all done with a blue Sharpie apparently!), but people are doing all sorts of different designs. If you have Pinterest do a search on 'Painted shells' to get some other ideas. X

I nearly fell off the back of my boat in shock on Friday cruising back to Newark after our travels - a very jolly fisherman on the Trent waved cheerfully and actually doffed his cap as we went past! I commented to my other half that he was the most friendly fisherman we had ever encountered. To anyone planning on mooring in Nottingham near the Fellows Morton and Clayton bar they are doing Let's Fish on the following dates: 7am-5pm on 22nd & 30th August and 17th and 22nd October. This affects the bollards below the lock. Presumably there will be enough space available to use the landing.