Ewan123

Gosh this all sounds very exciting, we've not had anything thrown at us in our (yes we're still fresh and new) 3 and a bit years on board. Is this more a thing of the past?

We use one of these, it's more effective for those stubborn bits anyway

Ask your employers. Mine is happy for me to tell them I'm No Fixed Abode and to use a family address for correspondence (though in practice they email everything to me anyway).

And if our experience elsewhere is anything to go by, lockies can be rather keen to go home before the advertised ends of day. OP does seen to have the right flexible mindset though so I expect they'll be alright.

If you're happy to learn, you can save a lot of money by DIYing the engine service. Getting familiar with all that down there could also save an expensive engineer call-out fee for when when something goes wrong (and it probably will) if you can take a look, have a fiddle and realise it's an easy fix.

Unless the previous owner has overtightened it (entirely possible) it only needs to be finger-tight anyway (or so I've been taught), so shouldn't need anything for that one. That won't work for some, it depends on the engine bay. I'd never get the tray out from underneath without tipping it enough that all of the oil spills out. I've treated myself to a pump for next time as I've got bored of filling/emptying an old yoghurt pot multiple times from the drain plug I'd be inclined to get a basic set of sockets plus a filter wrench and then find out what you need to add to it by seeing which bits you can't undo. You never know whether the builder/previous owner of your boat has done something unusual, or whether what works for someone else will also work for you (e.g. see above for draining the gearbox oil). I'd recommend asking for a recommendation of someone to teach you about your engine in the first instance if you're unfamiliar with them (I'm assuming you might be). If you happen to be in London, there's a fantastic chap called Keith Duffy who will teach you all about your engine and how to service it for a very reasonable cost; he's somewhat famous within the community down that way!

I've been through a couple that might have been troublesome this way - coming out of Hallingbury Marina comes to mind where our stern basically needed to slide along the inside edge of the bridge as we turned sharply on exit. It would also be true for anything at tiller height on the canal edge in tight manoeuvres though, be that walls, other boats, vegetation etc. Regarding the general idea, it presumably wouldn't be any help if the tiller is over to starboard and the throttle is on the port side, for example. I'd have thought the sort often seen on sailing dinghies would be a greater advantage, and it would fold back along the tiller arm so no trouble with getting it caught beyond the side of the boat. Or some way to extend the human arm rather than the tiller arm!

It does all sound like a lot of faff doesn't it? Alternatively, I'm pretty sure our stainless steel tank has been in the boat since it was built in 2004 (no marks on any surrounding metal suggesting anything has been cut out to enable access) and still functions perfectly with no maintenance. Condensation would be my bet as well, I'd actually be surprised if there wasn't any on non-insulated steel surfaces that are kept cold by contact with water (on the other side). If not on the tank, what about the inside of the hull? Also when you say "some damp", how damp is that? Pooling water? Soggy wood? Just a bit visually discoloured? A few photos might assist with suggestions.

Without living on board, our cruising aspirations would be worthless as we couldn't afford to own a boat as a luxury. Not only that, but by living on our boat, we just move our home where we like. Our aspirations have taken us from the south-eastern end of the network and we'll soon reach the furthest northwestern. Living on board has not only not limited our aspirations, it's actually made them achievable.

That was my thought too, in such an enclosed basin you'd only need one or two smoky boats on a still day to turn the apartment residents against the idea.

Well I emailed CRT and got a call back from a lady who spoke to the local team. She said they were unaware of an issue and that the normal key should fit, so they're going to go out and take a look. Watch this space?

I wonder which customers have the right key then.

Alas I can report that a (genuine) BW key does not fit that padlock, as you all suspected. Which does seem to contradict the sign on the swingbridge 🤔 I'll ask CRT.

Also just for the sake of discussion, I'd argue CRT itself is probably closer to the definition of QUANGO than the consultancies, no?

There's been a seemingly infinite number passing us at the Cheshire Cat over the last few days we've seesawed from no neighbours to a whole gaggle of shiny neighbours a few times this week. It's been quite fun to watch.

I hope this helps understanding: the article refers to framework contracts. This basically means that CRT has picked out a group of consultancies that it can offer work to as and when it needs to. This isn't CRT committing to paying the consultancies on a long term contract, it's CRT saying "When we need something doing, we can go to one of these selected ones." They've established that these consultancies can offer what they need, at an agreed rate of cost - rather than having to go through an expensive and time-consuming tender/bidding process for each individual project. This should save CRT money.

I think this one sees water come up to the hull very infrequently. It looks like it's sat on a saltmarsh that's rarely submerged.

I shan't bank on it then, thanks. I've not had much luck with similar types of specific queries before, the person on the other end often doesn't have easy access to much detailed info it can seem.

Does anyone know whether the locked swingbridge for this basin opposite Taylor's Boatyard can be opened with the usual BW key? I'd check myself but I'm only passing on foot and my key is on the boat out of town. I'm on a recce for mooring spaces but most out in the main basin are suspended/reserved for those travelling to the Ellesmere Port gathering later in the week. There are no private/anti-mooring signs in there, loads of rings and a CRT sign instructing users to unlock the padlock of present to swing the bridge... so I'm optimistic!

Fair enough. I still think it's an odd exception to allow.

I reckon it could look good. I think that boat pictured looks bad to me just because of the shape and proportions rather than the paint job (I think widebeams can look good, just not that one).

I walked into this with my eyes wide open lol. Something unexpected could happen towards the end of a day, delaying passage such that the boat ends up moving in the dark. That seems as likely to me as a sudden engine failure and need to drop an anchor. Maybe the engine fails late on the day and gets fixed but not before darkness falls. Is that so much less likely?

That's interesting, I wonder whether anything has changed since that. It rather assumes that everything will always go to plan. In fact by the same logic, I wonder why they would enforce the requirement for an anchor given that it shouldn't be needed either, unless things go wrong. I'm crossing the Mersey as well so do intend to have things in place just in case things go awry. I don't think anyone is suggesting otherwise are they?

Thank you, that's a nice solution 👍 To be fair, my question did rather open the door to botch suggestions. I've been happily convinced not to botch it though . Sparkly nail varnish is probably the best type then I reckon? Certainly not matte.

Ah that's more affordable than I saw elsewhere, thanks. Yes reducing brightness was my concern with the painting bodge too.