lionfish

New deck plate, who dis? The new plate looks great and is keeping the water out of the engine bay. To my absolute delight I also found a mooring in Manchester. The boat now has a home and feels a bit more secure and looked after.

Hello, Anybody have some good tips for removing Diesel fume smells from the boat cabin? My best bet so far is to give the bilge a good clean. My suspicion is the vapour is getting in through door vents but potentially originating in the bilge. She's a big boat 57ftx10ft. I ve been on my friends Semi-trad and no bad smell at all, very strawberry jelly.

New deck is ready for pick up tomorrow. ☺️ It's a 5mm mild steel and they powder coat and paint it in the workshop. I ll share a picture of the new set up when I ve installed it and then I ll be heading out of there.

I went for a classic viper and mamba combo. Will bare the Anacondas in mind for future pit ventures.

I have built the trap. I added snakes to the pit just in case.

That's pretty accurate. We are just at the bottom of the flight, past Castlefield Basin. Just before Deansgate Tunnel. Thinking of moving it up to Islington Marina.

Thank you for you nice replies. I felt a bit wtfy, but as Leggers says if it ain't bolted down... Luckily it's been straightforward getting an order in for a new steel plate, thanks to local steel manufacturers. Here's a picture of the random graffiti in case anyone else gets done. And the red one from a few weeks ago. ( When we still had a engine cover)

The plan is to have a good walk up and down the tow path tomorrow. We're in Manchester City Centre. Wondering if it may be a scrappage thing.

Hello - we had one of two large steel plates stolen that covers the engine bay on the back of our barge ( the bits you stand on). Before this incident we'd noticed the boat get tagged with grafitti, once red, once silver ( small stuff) . Pretty much removed the grafitti as soon as. But we were away from the boat for a few days to come back to a hole and missing plate. Not really having the best of luck with this boating stuff. There very heavy and around 90cmx70cm . I had a fish around the boat with a magnet, no dice. Has this happened to anyone else?

Thanks all, got me some goat chains, extra spikes and a bit more knowledge, will let you know how the next moor up goes. Restlessnomad I think i've settled on it being cool after all. Looking forward to getting back out on the water.

I did loop the rope through the pin hoop and tie it off on the boat. I think that's why I was so willing to jump to the conclusion it had been untied and moved with intent. All the extra ropes had been left on the roof of the boat. Ray I think I know the blacksmith, I brought this boat up the Grand Union via Blisworth Tunnel.

I found this image useful and am ordering some chains now. Haggis and Nick you're both right, there isn't a lot of Armco and chances are someone actually did me a solid. The mind loves a negative bias and to jump to the worst possible conclusion. I ll keep working on that. Your responses have helped me feel a lot more positive about the whole situation. Hopefully I can use some new mooring tactic to avoid it happening in future.

Thank you for the replies. I will aim to pick a spot with armco next time and use chains and hooks. I m still learning so happy to take some advise. First time this has happened so I didn't know what the most common causes are. I went for a scramble and climb to get to it Halsey.

I hope it's that. I ll be turning around soon and heading back that way, so will get a magnet and have a rummage around near the spot.

Hi - I m new to the canals and boating world. I am continually cruising atm before bidding for winter moorings in a week or two. Sometimes I need to leave my boat moored up for a week. Moorings in Marinas are hard to find, I feel I have to go towpath. I was on the Liverpool and Leigh canal just past the Pennington Warf Swing bridge and came back to my boat to find it tied to trees on the other, inaccessible side of the canal. They had left my wonky stake/pin on the roof and the two good ones were gone. I had picked a spot with plenty of room for a wide beam or narrow boat to get past. I m glad my boat wasn't vandalised, but feeling a bit sad and down about it. Not feeling to keen on the Leigh, Wigan area now. Can I please make friends with some boaters around this area who could keep an eye out.