Ewan123

I've met plenty of boaters with fairly boring, middle-of-the-road English accents (and I'm one of them). I've definitely met a good few with stronger regional accents too, and perhaps they stood out for being outside of their 'native' range? As we've slowly gone from south to north over the last couple of years, it's been great to track our progress by accents- the first time getting called pet or duck is an interesting moment! @Gybe Ho across how many regions of the canal network have you observed this phenomenon? I wonder whether it's more prevalent in some than others.

Fair enough. We often work a full week at the desk so it's worth the separate space for us.

Regarding the workstation, I personally find it much better (mentally) if I can segregate work from other things. Working at the dining table would be pretty unpleasant after a while for me. We've got a desk in its own space that fits two comfortably (with proper office chairs) on our 62ft narrow. Best change we made. I think the space compromise to achieve this, compared to yours, is a smaller galley and a saloon with a table that folds up from the wall for eating on (opposite the 6ft long sofa) , no dinnete. The chairs fold down and store behind the folded down table. It's a personal thing but I can't imagine wanting a dinnete on a liveaboard boat - I know they're a compromise for space and storage but I just think they're really uncomfortable and permanently take up space that could be much more comfortably furnished.

Apparently not 😐

Do you have a permanent mooring arranged? At 24m long it looks like it might not fit through the locks in most of London... you'll be limited to the Lee Navigation. https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/boating/go-boating/planning-your-boat-route/waterway-dimensions Regent's:

You probably wanted these options: (first list) Option 1. Are you a boater... (next list) Option 2. Make a booking.../report an issue with a canal (third list) Option x (whichever region you're in) I'm not sure why we only get to the 'reporting an issue' option by saying you're a boater though, that's certainly a flaw as it loses any non-boaters wanting to make reports at the first stage. A major issue like a breach should certainly be the emergency number 08004799947. That's the number that a swing bridge control panel pointed me to for reporting a malfunctioning bridge as well. I got an answer straight away, they had passed it to the local maintenance team within a couple of minutes when the first attempt at resetting the bridge controls failed, who then called me one minute later by which time I'd tried resetting again and it was all good.

I see, that does make more sense now. One just hopes there could be no emergency that requires urgent draining then, though even with that being a very remote possibility, having people on watercraft on the canal/Drawdown Channel might prevent them 'releasing the flood gates' when the need arose. I'm sure that really would be a remote possibility, but they would surely have to design to allow for that to happen.

I'm not sure I quite get it... is the W&B Canal Trust saying they want the Auxiliary Drawdown Channel/emergency run-off channel to be combined with the restored canal? If that's the case, surely the canal would need to be made with the capacity to transfer a very large volume of water out of the reservoir, presumably at high flow rates. For one thing, that would make for a pretty high towpath relative to the water, no? Any canal users might not be happy in the event of that drawdown being needed in an emergency! Maybe I've misunderstood.

Sounds like they're planning to try and sort it out on Wednesday night... they're not opening it for the sake of boat passages at that time.

I did ours a couple of months back with this: https://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/products/siderise-aquafon-27mm-soundproofing-with-silver-foil-5kg-x4-801126 and used a spray-on contact adhesive (don't recall which, ASAP Supplies recommended one). I did all of the underside of our semi-trad stern deck, and it did make a noticeable difference (we can now hear the exhaust really well). It was a bit of a faff to fit but not awful.

Absolutely, always take them off to cruise. I wish everyone did that with pipe fenders too - I've picked up two on the prop in the last year at least, both by a lock.

They really do make a big difference, it's almost as though they're designed for the job 🤔.

Where's that one? We're in Parbold now... That was our plan (B - plan A was Summer but didn't realise how far in advance we'd have to book)! There's supposed to be an update on the Ribble Link on 30th July but it seems doubtful that it'll be open to any normal service.

If it is Giant Hogweed, not just Common Hogweed, I urge you to report it to CRT please. I'm sure they have a duty of care to remove hazardous plants where people might come into contact with them, and Giant Hogweed can have nasty effects lasting for years. Just checked and they do want it reported: This is that online link: Ways to contact us | Canal & River Trust (canalrivertrust.org.uk)

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

I have no idea just letting the OP know that it's offered there since the process was referred to earlier. For our 62ft narrowboat, Debdale quoted (in 2022 so it would be a bit more now, including everything - bow thruster tube, baseplate, lifting, hull prep etc.): Grit blast + zinc spray + Hempel 2pk epoxy = £8,683 Grit blast + zinc spray + Rytex Bituminous = £7,915 Grit blast + Hempel 2pk epoxy = £5,472 (We chose the third)

I believe Debdale have been doing that for a few years now, I'm sort of assuming they know what they're doing. It looked like a professional setup when I was there.

My wife and I find that a 4-day working week is perfect (we can work from the boat). Put simply, that's a day each for Moving the boat and visiting services/facilities etc. once a week/fortnight* (if fortnightly then that spare day can be for jobs on the boat) Shopping, laundry (we use laundrettes, that's half a day every fortnight for us) Relaxing, exploring etc. Boat jobs obviously bleed into other days or occasionally take a whole weekend/week depending on the job (e.g. painting or blacking could take out a few days in a row), but after 3.5 years so far on a 20ish year old boat, I've never needed any more time than that for boat jobs. We have a 580l fresh water tank and 4 Thetford C200 toilet cassettes (just about 2 and >1 week's worth respectively). * moving weekly/fortnightly is just on CRT waters as others have pointed out.

If you want to pay more for extra protection, I know Debdale Wharf offer the zinc coating under epoxy.

https://gofund.me/20b8fcb6?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3MPW6KAAYGo5Uk54mN_Om4mcz17DJPiyvpihNqGd3c-CxMexqfUupi2lM_aem__leaivuibq4x8Tr65UzymQ From reports on Facebook, no one was hurt 👍

If we're careful, our 580l water tank lasts two of us 14 days (no washing machine, cassette toilet flushed by an efficient water pistol, usually just a standing wash at the basin - only a few showers). Your mileage will vary - some manage on much less than us, some could only do a week with the same. We have enough cassettes to last a week, maybe two at a pinch if we're not on the boat 24/7. We can take them to empty if we get stuck behind a stoppage/frozen/broken down etc. 120l diesel tank lasts... I don't know, been years since it got near empty. Always got 40l spare in jerry cans and easy enough to fill from fuel boats or passing marinas. We use heat logs for the fire, usually one pack per day, keep just over two weeks worth on board, delivery from Wickes or I pick it up if I've got a car for work. For most things, I'd say just keep moving every week or two (passing facilities and marinas) and you'll be alright.

Is it naïve to assume that the stud and nut sitting within the anode won't rust so long as they initially have good contact? Would the anode not deal with that risk?

That... sounds so sensible. It seems so nuts weld on/cut off anodes when that's an option. A very quick look at MG Duff anodes shows the prices are almost identical between bolt/weld-on. The depth of the anodes (how far it sticks out from the hull) is the same. I suppose with the larger two-stud varieties you're committing to that stud-spacing and relying on the next set of anodes having the same spacing, but a quick check of two brands (MG Duff and MMA) suggests that once you commit to a size (e.g. 3.5kg) the stud spacing might be fairly standard. One would hope you could rely on those companies to keep on providing a standard stud spacing in the future. Well, I know what I'm asking for next time our boat is out! Unless there's a downside I'm not seeing? Presumably the bolts shouldn't shouldn't deteriorate whilst there's an anode attached. Is it just one of those things where boatyards say "we've always done it this way with the weld-on ones, why change?", or they don't want to do themselves out of future work?

Has any narrowboat stuck in a lock ever been stuck by the anodes? Surely we would have heard about such an incident. Anodes are generally pretty low profile, I'm pretty sure ours aren't even the widest point of the boat, the highest rubbing strake probably has that honour. The risk of corrosion probably isn't that low for any narrowboat that cruises frequently, they all get bumps and scrapes to the blacking don't they?

I'd rather have an excess than a lack. I think our 62ft narrow has 8 anodes (put there by the previous owner). Someone will be along to tell us the effective "range" of each anode. I think it's supposed to be about 3m from the anode? Someone else might come along to argue with the necessity of them as well if we're lucky Edit: this site is fairly convincing - it depends on the weight of your anodes as well as the number and placement: Narrowboat Guide To Anodes | Information On Electrolytic Corrosion On A Narrow Boat (thefitoutpontoon.co.uk)