enigmatic

Bow hauling is even more fun and quite a bit quicker if the reason you're doing it is because you really, really need to attach to Armco before the coming storm

Genuine question, what do you mean by handling? As others are pointed out, longer narrowboats actually tend to be better at staying in a straight line than shorter ones. Shorter narrowboats might in theory be able to fit round tighter corners, but the canal network was designed for 60 foot plus boats: it's only when winding that the smaller size is likely to make much difference. Shorter boats like cruisers with a proper boat shape are a different story. But all narrowboats are shaped a bit like a brick, and the swims at the bow and stern that make it slightly more boat-shaped and cut through the water slightly better tends to be longer on [better-designed] 50+ foot boats than 40 foot boats Shorter narrowboats weigh less, but heavier boats aren't especially difficult to pull in or forward on a rope and lighter steel boats not especially easy. I suspect the only time makes a big difference in favour of small boats is if you're "handling" the boats on a rope and pulling it in against the wind, which is pushing against you on 30 ft of cabin side, rather than 50 ft. But you try to avoid this where possible!

Yeah, this. Adding additional solar panels is relatively inexpensive and probably shouldn't put you off a boat. Getting a gas locker built and connected to a new cooker, replacing a 240 V system with a 12 V system and installing a stove and possibly a new diesel heating system is a lot of work with pricing measured in thousands and timescales measured in months. Apart from anything else, if the owners don't understand or are being less than honest about the suitability for continuous cruising, the boat may have other undisclosed issues... Lots of other boats for sale at the moment (mine included) where when the vendor says it's suitable for continuous cruising, they mean they've actually been living outside marinas and dealing with the power requirements (without running the engine all day or relying on pubs to feed themselves!)

More general info Cambridgeshire's navigable river system is the River Great Ouse. The end of this connects to the Middle Level (partly navigable fen drains) which connects to the River Nene at Peterborough. 37 locks upstream the Nene connects to the canal network in Northampton via a flight of 18 locks up to the Grand Union. Transiting the Nene takes about a week (quicker is possible, but it's hard work and places to stop are very pretty!), the Middle Level is usually crossed in a day and a half, so if you wanted to go and visit canals, it'd be 10ish days each way... maybe if you want a longer holiday? Also lots of marinas on the Nene and on canals in Northamptonshire which might still work for being nearish friends and family, but the public transport won't go to Cambridge. The river itself is really and has three broad section: The Bedford Ouse runs from Bedford through St Neots, Huntington and St Ives through pretty meadows and small towns and a few slow electronically operated locks. The towns all have a good selection of pubs too. This is the nicest bit for actually boating and has a lot of marinas. The Ely Ouse is a big, wide lock-free stretch through empty fenland, which connects Cambridge's River Cam to the sea. Ely is great, Littleport is fine, Cambridge is full, everywhere else feels like the middle of nowhere. There's a reason why Upware's pub is called Five Miles from Anywhere! A couple of tributaries out towards Norfolk have pleasant, very rural moorings you need a car to access too The Old West River north of Cambridge connects the two. Really more of a tiny fenland drainage channel that feels a bit like a canal and passes only a couple of tiny villages, some trees and the occasional cow. There are quite a few narrow boats here, but it's further from Cambridge then it looks on the map, especially if you're hoping for a bus. Public transport from Huntingdon, St Ives and St Neots into Cambridge should be good, and Ely and Littleport has a rail link. I think Buckden Marina would need a connecting bus, and have no idea what the buses are from places like Upware or Pike and Eel or Fish and Duck Marina but suspect the answer is "not good" or "none". Based on what you've said about wanting public transport access to Cambridge and a pub, I'd probably go for Hartford or Huntington Boathaven or one of the ones in Ely or littleport. Rivermill Marina in Saint Neots is a cracking location too but no idea how to get in touch with them and doubt they have space (other St Neots marinas unlikely to have space for a liveaboard narrowboat either) P.S. It sounds like you're quite early in your search, but just in case you happen to be actively looking to buy a narrowboat, I'm in the process of moving my narrowboat out of Cambridgeshire to sell it - let me know if you'd be interested in a look before I do that!

not really sure what a one-in-one-out policy would accomplish other than shutting down a few boatbuilders, and shifting boat use away from weekend use in pretty parts of the network towards residential boat use in London which seems to be the opposite direction from the one most people want. I guess it'd make the business case for shutting the Pennine canals easier....

Here's a UK govt one. It's very simple, although the stuff about authorised representatives of companies that are irrelevant to 99% of narrowboaters makes it look harder https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e25c5f0e5274a6c3ee68f9b/MSF_4705_Rev_1118_Bill_of_Sale.pdf The RYA one is even simpler http://www.anchormarinesurveys.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/RYA_BILLOF_SALE.pdf Ideally I would like one that also simply states that the buyer has had an opportunity to inspect it and it's sold as seen with no warranties as Tony suggested. Does anyone knows any standard templates that do that?

How relevant is the Ashby to your situations? Looks like the Ashby Canal Association has full responsibility (including agreeing a stoplock and the right to charge for access) for the sections of navigation they are reinstating, with CRT interest ending close to the part of the navigation which has always been open. They acquire(d) rights to land for the route from private landowners as a new transport route with council support rather than acquiring partially restored navigation from BW/CRT though

That route is a pretty good and varied intro to boating. Nice, first day with two easy locks and a gentle cruise in a straight line, then on your next day or two you've got a nice canalside village and the well maintained Audlem flight to really get to feel like you understand locks, then after that it's pretty easy cruising all the way to Wolverhampton. Then you completely avoid the built-up area for a couple more pretty rural canals, and by the time you reach the Trent, you'll actually feel you know your boat pretty well. The Trent is a lot bigger than your boat but should feel a lot less daunting joining the gentle downstream way, as it gradually increases in size to Nottingham.

For minor work recently I've been happy with a short notice T-stud weld from Jim at Red Hill Marina and zip repairs at Cover & Canvas at Venetian. Scott Wragg near Wakefield did a good job diagnosing a minor electrical issue at a remarkably reasonable rate considering there aren't any other marine electricians locally. Wish I could recommend the outfit that did my engine mounts, but after doing a tidy job on that they did manage to leave the alternator rather wobbly on a minor belt change they suggested doing at the same time...

Funnily enough I noticed Brum missing too. Not surprised they didn't bother when I was the only boat on the Curley Wurley in March, but thought they might have seen me when I was round the corner from their offices for a week! Assume the records of organised vollies and bookable stuff are kept separately, as there's no Foxton, Tuel Lane, Keadby or even 5 days in Salthouse on my list This is making me think could have overstayed on 2 day moorings a lot. Haven't been seen on any of them, not even the ones I stayed for a week when allowed in winter.

Interestingly, they've now added a "sightings" tab to your online CRT account (under "My boats") so you can see where you've been seen It's interesting what isn't recorded [transit through Keadby, Foxton and a few other very systematic vollie-operated locks, my Salthouse booking, mooring in front of CRT offices in Brum... or anywhere else in Brum] and I can see how people take the mick on 2 day moorings...

Not sure whether it's Paypoint or my bank making a mess of the website, but apparently I was supposed to ignore the "you may close this window" messsage that appeared after entering my details and wait to be redirected to a new page I had to click "OK" on. Money went in quickly after that Why we can't just opt to receive them through bank details the government agencies have for us, I don't know...

I'm sure the big builders can all do this, but a lot of boatbuilders and outfitters (including the good ones) are cottage industries involving a handful of people whose skill are welding and cabinet making, not 3D computer visualization, so I think they'd need an independent to make the 3D model if they ever wanted to offer it Whether they'd actually be interested is another question. Presume the easiest way to find out would be walking round Crick when they're all in talk to everyone mode and ask There's also these guys who started doing design services only, and ended up doing their own fitouts too https://www.thefitoutpontoon.co.uk

So in conclusion, gay people should integrate properly into modern society by socialising with normal gay people and not hanging around with fringe minorities that are into canal boats?

So So let's see The CRT decides to increase its licence fee by doubling its licence. The government sees this as reason enough to cancel the block grant Casual boaters sell up or move to other waterways, and some people withhold licence payments in protest, so CRT has less money than before. The costs of replacing lock gates every five years, hiring full time staff to maintain it and putting up blue signs remain unchanged. So the canals are actually slightly worse condition but everybody using them pays more Except London based people who live on boats because they're "cheap", thanks to a massive publicity campaign about how to get DWP money, which turns out to be easier than getting social housing in your preferred area, and there are suddenly even more cruisers being basically given away. Maybe those numbers actually go up (!) but not nearly as much as the numbers of people who like to have a boat to take canal breaks on goes down. So the government doesn't actually save as much money as it hopes because the DWP is shelling out for accommodation, including some £5-10k residential mooring fees. Some private sector mooring providers (London and licence-free, and the Peel Group) make much more profit. This is such a bad idea I'm surprised CRT management and the present government haven't already agreed it.

I like that idea. A sort of slow motion pub crawl through all the pub locks in different parts of the country

And you get used to asking and being asked, though I haven't threatened to breast up to a cruiser yet! Think my favourite is the one on the Nene which is both a very short lock landing and a water point. Which inevitably means the only other boat you see all day is stopped there taking up the full length of the only bit that isn't reeds. tbh most of the time I see people moored on lock landings they're inclined to help...