NBDensie

To what objectives and with what priorities? The waterways provide a lot more now than the ability to travel slowly from A to B. We also have anglers, cyclists, wild life enthusiasts, joggers, people who want to volunteer, people looking for somewhere cheap to live and perhaps in the future many more interest groups. I was disagreeing with any implication that boaters should expect a dominating influence.

Working with CRT doesnt mean having to agree with then on every point surely it would be rather more constructive if you were to agree with them on some, or even the majority of points. Slanging C&RT off as incompentant and/or corrupt all the time as is done by some of the usual suspects on this thread is unlikely to achieve anything. Why do you think CRT Boating should have such a high profile? Looking at the 2014 annual accounts I see that boaters' license fees and non BWML mooring income amounts to some £24M net after deduction of costs of collection, only slightly more than the equivalent figure for income from utilities and water sales and significantly less than that from property. That is out of a total net income of some £125M. How can you justify such an enormous subsidy for what is essentially a leisure activity enjoyed by a comparatively small number of people? The only answer is surely that we support C&RT in their aim of getting "ownership" of the canals accepted by many diverse groups across the country who will expect a significant say in how the waterways are run. Without this the future of the canals is pretty bleak. Boaters wont be prepared to pay for it. Finally you want to get rid of all the committees. But it is only through such formatilities that consultation can take place. How would you propose that C&RT consult and bring interested organisations/groups into the decision making process? It cant sensibly be done on an individual basis.

It seems to me that there is a significant difference between (a) bringing an understanding of boating to the council so that its decisions are made with a consideration of boating and (advocating a narrow sectional interest in oppostition to other interests. It is important that the council, who ultimately have responsibility for the direction of C&RT with respect to its operations as a charity, present a unified view. It isnt appropriate for it to be another battleground in duplication to what may happen elsewhere. So the boaters reps should represent boaters in the sense of being examples of boaters, not in the sense of being union reps.

Active boaters are far more likely to be members of IWA than any other organisation. IWA cant command its members to do anything - either to stand for elections or not to. Do you believe individuals should be banned from putting their names forward if they happen to belong to particular associations?

Its publicly available on the net if anyone wants it, why bother BW, C&RT or even Nigel Moore- here.

I think you will find the vast majority are solved by negotiation, but these never get reported. In a small number of cases boaters decide not to cooperate and ultimately there must be some sanction. The only enforceable sanction open to C&RT is to withdraw the licence on the grounds that the boater concerned isnt meeting the legal requirements and then to insist that the boat be taken off C&RT waters as it isnt licenced. Perhaps it would be better if fines could be imposed and enforced, but they cant unless the law is changed. And I cant see the law being changed because of parliamentary time. The only way to minimise the time effort and cost taken up with such matters is for all boaters to follow the letter and spirit of the law.

So you dont believe there should be enforcement?

So you are showing your displeasure by not making the waterways a better place for everyone else? Thanks.

We dont use anything and have no major problems with smells - at least we dont now since I replaced a non gas-tight carbon filter housing. We also pour in a cup full of white vinegar and flush shortly before every pumpout. This cleans the bowl and the exit pipe reducing flowback.

Comparison with the road system is a useful one in my view... At the moment as far as I know there isnt an issue with motorhome/caravan owners setting up a permanent base along the roadside, perhaps in a back street in outer London. Should people seeking cheap housing decide to go down that route one can be pretty sure that removal of the vehicle would be one end result - look what happens to "travellers". I cant see that they would get very far claiming they were really on the move since they popped around the corner every few days. C&RT arent just a licensing authority, they are responsible for management of the transport infrastructure as well. Rather different to DVLA.

Surely it's dependent on the engine configuration. A modern engine running 2X90amp alternators is hardly under "no load" - the alternator load cant be orders of magnitude less than that required to rotate the prop. The engineers advice may possibly be more appropriate to an old engine with a single 50amp alternator.

Semi Trad every time. We are a couple and like to be together when cruising. Rather more difficult with a Trad. The advantage of Semi Trads over most Cruiser Sterns is the Semi Trad comes with lots of storage space for windlasses, spare ropes, the tiller handle, spikes/chains/hooks etc etc. Would agree with going for a Semi where the doors open fully, ours do. I find no problem picking up a centre rope when leaping off at locks. The one disadvantage of a Semi Trad over a Trad is that any work on the engine is done in the open - not good in heavy rain.

We have an Aqualine with a 35HP Isuzu. Our standard practice for the past 8 years when moored for a day or more is to run at tickover (700-800rpm) after the initial 5-10 minutes at 1000rpm. We normally run the engine until the voltage stabilises, typically 2-2.5 hours.

Its not a question of just being "not square" with a 60'. On the Calder & Hebble (Salterhebble top lock?) a 60' boat we were travelling with had to remove front and back fenders and then after 10 minutes wiggling only just squeezed in between the diagonal corners of the lock. Perhaps more of problem is going downstream with water pouring over the top of the top gate. You dont want to be too close to the back.

Clearly the ferry is undertaking bona fide navigation as the sole purpose of it crossing the Mersey is to travel from one side to the other and can be reasonably shown to be the case. This seems to me quite different from a bridge hopper moving two miles up and down the cut as his/her purpose is probably not to enjoy the regular journey but rather to avoid having to move further as they have commitments which requires them to remain close to a particular location. "bona fide navigation" is primarily a question of motive rather than distance. Motive is a little difficult to prove, but that is a problem also faced in criminal cases where motive is also important. Lack of motive for bona fide navigation can be indicated by the circumstances, one of which is distance. Others could be regular employment, children at school and more generally the inability of a boater to provide a convincing alternative purpose for the navigation.

When we were there over the summer the council bin rubbish collector told us that the council own the bins on the south side and empty them daily, from what we could see they do a good job. The bins in the central area between the main basin and the Rochdale are owned by Castlefield Estate (I guess they are MSC Co aka Peel Holdings) and were in a terrible state. The council people arent allowed onto the Castlefield Estate property to empty the bins.

If you are visiting Astley the Colliery Museum is well worth a visit, the steam engine looks great though we missed out on the steaming. Astley is a small place with a decent pub and easy "out in the wilds" mooring. On our summer cruise to Liverpool we moored on the towpath side in Wigan, and at Parbold and Astley. All were fine with friendly locals. If you like steam engines visit Trenchard Mill in Wigan on Sunday PM when they run the engine. Trenchard Mill is now a block of flats on the canalside, but there is a museum housing the steam engine round the back.

Narrowboat to the Medway? Follow in the wake of the Tuesday Night Club- see here

We have an Isuzu 35 with a PRM120 gearbox. When we first bought the boat we found the starting clunk rather loud. After the idling speed was reduced to improve handling at tick-over we found it much less obtrusive.

I agree with the doing nothing option. For the past 8 years since I bought the boat I have just disconnected both the engine and domestic earth side cables and left the batteries all winter, checking the voltages across each battery occasionally. They have always kept their charge fine until spring.

We moored on the towpath side at Wigan a couple of months ago, it was fine. The town centre is surprisingly (to us) attractive with useful shops including a Morrisons. The Trencherfield Mill Engine should be worth a visit particularly on a Sunday afternoon when it is steamed. The Mill (now a block of flats)is alongside the canal near lock 87 and the engine in its own museum is round the back.

We moor in King's Bromley Marina. It is well run with very helpful staff, we are very happy with the service they provide. It meets all your criteria except a pub on site - the nearest is about 1.5 mile walk on a busy main road.

The licence doesnt even cover 50% of the maintenance of the canals. Your and my facilities are paid for by the government, property rents, facilities for the electric/gas/water utilities etc etc. If boaters paid their way it would be different, but we dont.

In my view all of this is just ridiculous paranoia. If you are operating within the letter and spirit of the rules, ie undertaking bona fide navigation, you have nothing to worry about. On the other hand If your objective is to really stay in one place moving as little as you can get away with then you are at risk - and rightly so.

Lots of good moorings. Polesworth is good. Bottom of Atherstone flight. Atherstone is a pleasant small town and the mooring is fine, we have moored there many times and never even heard of trouble. Its a good stop for provisions with an excellent butchers. Hartshill is OK, nicer moorings a bit further on before Springwood Haven marina. After Nuneaton there is a surprisingly attractive area just before Marston junction around bridge 16. Hawksbury is OK and interesting but busy. Nothing much from Hawksbury Junction until Ansty. Then attractive mooring at All Oaks Wood near Brinklow. Rugby is fine with a large but not well advertised supermarket (Sainsburys I think) south of Bridge 58. The town centre is well worth a visit, though you would need a bus.