StephenA

All we do is : Ensure the Optimus is topped up with antifreeze and its been circulated. Ensure the engine is topped up with antifreeze and its been run long enough to open the thermostat Turn off the water pump at its switch (so when you turn the BMS on the water pump is still isolated) Open all the taps which allows the water to expand out when it starts to freeze. We have flexible hosing so if it freezes it blows the joints open. That is all we have done for 22 years. We went to the boat one New Years when it was at Braunston and it was frozen in so solid that jumping up and down on the back deck didn't make the boat move. Water lines were frozen tight so we powered up the Central heating, left the water pump off and went to the pub for a few hours. Came back and closed the taps and powered on the pump and there were no leaks.

I think that the number of "home built" boats has decreased and there has been a proliferation of "shoved out of the mould" boats. I remember in the old days being able to recognise a David Piper boat from about 100 feet away. Those were in the days when they were built and painted and pushed out but the lettering and scroll work was identical on most of them and you ended up with things like "Captain Scarlet No 325" because they numbered all the boats. Then with the big hire fleets like Black Death Prince you ended up with a lot of identical hulls being brought into the market. Same with Challenger and CanalTime So yes in many ways there is less individuality in hull shape than there used to be I think and I think that maybe some people could be a bit more "risky" with their paint jobs ;-)

Avoid the 02 dongle. Complete pile of pooh. I've got one for work and it can't maintain a connection for more than a few minutes without it just stopping working or disconnecting. Its not just me and 02 just dont give a damn.

We've got wedged up/down on wood floating in a lock several times and I have a photo ( http://www.tty.org.uk/photos/misc/trafficjam.html ) which shows a pair of hotel boats going down Devizes. A chunk of wood in their lock wedged them when they were going in which forced the stern of the motor boat over which then forced the back end of the boat by the bank hard over onto the bank which pushed the front of that boat out to a point where it almost wedged on Avalon who was half way into the next lock. So a chunk of floating crap (not usual on Tardebigge) gets wedged between the hull and the side of the lock and then either falls out when the boat settles and wedges or falls out when the crane comes to lift it. I think that's much easier to believe than a mysterious vanishing structural defect.

But as this will happen at the speed of light we will never actually know about it!

Its up. I suspect there were problems with the server or its connection and as its running from a PC in someone's house in the USA there isn't 24/7 on call support! Steve

Nope - we're not going and we've sort of decided not to attempt to go boating from Market Drayton a week or two either side. Given that Wheaton Aston clogs up solid on an Easter weekend and we spent over 4 hours on Audlem on a Monday in September I hate to think what the queues are going to be like.

Actually it was down earlier today. Nick is off boating (so if you see Mintball on the LLangollen or the Shroppie anywhere between Chester and Market Drayton in the next few days buy him a beer!) and we didn't manage to get the backup copy working on my server due to some huge change in the C compiler which means that code that compiles on Chris's server wont compile on mine or Nicks!

Relevant dates: Registered on: 03-Dec-1999 Renewal date: 03-Dec-2009 Last updated: 13-Jun-2008 Registration status: Registered until renewal date. So its still registered by them but its been dis-associated from a webserver. Which is not something that usually happens by accident.

http://www2.mihalis.net/canal/html/history.html But I can never remember if the initial concept of a planner was mine or if it was Nicks and I simply used it as I needed to have a couple of programs for my O levels.

Chris was moving house and this is his latest post on uk.rec.waterways: I finally got connectivity and hence the canalplanner is (or should be back in action). Turns out to have been faulty wiring by the local phone company. I expect this is deliberate and designed to foil wholesale DSL and server-allowed independent ISPs. After I booted up the server one of the first things to show up in top was the canal planner software. Looks like people spotted it pretty quick "

The problem is that CanalPlan AC uses things like google maps which needs an API key to work. Also its all driven through a web server which means installing Abyss onto your PC (or something bigger like WAMP). Nick and I are working on getting the standby setup running on my server (but some things like photo uploading and data maintenance would be disabled).

Not as far as I know and it doesn't sound like Nick's writing.. but I'll get Nick to check.

It also seems to contain the CanalPlan back end... which of course its linking to so it doesnt work but it took about 3 minutes to render the back-end options page

If Chris hasn't got his internet connectivity back soon I'm going to work with nick about getting a backup copy running on my server. We used to have this set up in the past but when I rebuilt earlier this year I didn't rebuild the backup site as it was rather out of date.

They look like the "jack cloughs" (I think that is what they were called) on the Leeds and Liverpool.

We've done it in our 52' and I remember it being a bit tight but not that bad. I suspect that using a rope and pulling round the bend would be much easier than a powered steer through it. CanalPlan AC uses the published information from things like Imray's Guide (Edwards), Nicholson's guides, Waterscape and other various sources. You've got to believe some of them or you'd never actually go anywhere!

I've had a word with Nick and he replied "It's actually some sort of small bug - there is a flag in the data that should make it 72 foot long - or I suppose now it should be 80. " He says he will fix it in the next build and he asks that if people find mistakes like this to let him know by using the link on the CanalPlan website. Steve

I remember when Kittywake (or as some at Wayfarer Boats called her - "Killywabe") was run by Wigan Council. Used to have a nice BMC engine in it - but it did get some abuse from the people who started her up (like using Quick-Start with the heaters!) Oddly enough it was due to Kittywake that we met the builder of our boat who came over to Wigan to look at Kittywake as he had been asked to quote to build a similar boat.

This was mentioned in a way during the item on BBC Midlands Today the other day... a LOT of people use the canals and gain benefit from them and never pay a penny.

Well most of the boats in Upton Marina never moved, stayed sheeted up, never had lights on them.....

So next year we have to cope with BW screwing us over licences and the Chancellor screwing us over fuel tax, on top of all the other tax increases being dumped on us (there is another Treasury rise in Road Fuel duty due early next year) Maybe its time to scrap the boat.....

They probably are safe - when installed correctly, with the proper spaces round them and the correct insulation and the proper ventilation. Oddly enough they (solid fuel stoves) dont seem to feature highly in the BSS although they do seem responsible for a significant number of fires over the past few years. I suspect that a lot of stoves that have been installed are fine for occasional use but not for daily use.

That's like Viking Alfoat above Gailey - they fill up the winding hole with boats and then double moor them along the cut.

Of course if Vandals want to get in then unless the fence and gate is at the far end of the lock (i.e. by Napton's buildings) then they will simply climb down from the bridge onto the lock side, walk across the lock, carry out what they intend to do and then climb back over the bridge wall. A simple gate will stop walkers, it will stop fishermen, it will stop someone walking down the towpath and deciding, on the spur of the moment, to vandalise something. It will NOT stop a determined criminal.