Liam

Glad to see you had a very nice time.. hope you have more of them! The majority of us are very friendly You said you were pleased with the perfomance and general driveability of the liverpool boat. I've driven lots of boats ranging from 17ft cruisers to 72ft barges - Not had the chance of driving a liverpool boat yet, and I was wondering what you were comparing it too. A very nosey Liam

Can't cook, WON'T cook!

Hi Barry, Nice to see another younger face on the forums. I am 20 now, but was 18 when I got my first boat, a 30ft narrowboat which was in the same state as yours was. On my parents old boat, the gas locker was steel with a wooden lid and that boat went through two BSC's and passed both times.. so you shouldn't have a problem there. A 350W inverter would happily run a TV but I don't think you'll be able to run a washing machine on it. They normally require much larger inverters. You mentioned springer, and from the description you gave it does sound a bit like one. Does it have a 'moustache' on the bows, is the tiller attatched to the back of the boat rather than going through the counter? Do you have a pic of the boat so we can have a look? We may be able to tell who built it as all boat builders have their own style which shows boldly in alot of boats.

I too am fitting out my boat which is floating. It's not been a problem so far, but it runs and I am able to move the boat to the other side of the cut to where the car is parked, to load heavy stuff. I have electric and other handy stuff, such as water, elsan, pump out, toilets, work area and small crane. Not the usual kind of stuff you get on a linear mooring!

Just little things which make a big difference. I remember Dan saying, and quite rightly so that he's forgotten the amount of times he's heard "We now have a new boat, what do we do now?" kinda thing. Fitting out a boat is a lot of hard work, I know, I'm in the process of doing it at the moment. Just make sure you've got it all planned out to a T, then check it and check it again over and over to save any heart ache in the future. I'm sure you'll get yourself sorted.

Gaggle, I'm guessing you mean the one at the top of the page, the one I chose when starting this topic? Well, it's just a question mark. I was wondering if anyone had any further info on the whole marina thing.

The only problem I can see with fitting the boat out on hard standing is that you better like going up and down ladders all day as you can't step on and off like you could if it was in the water. Something to think of I suppose..

I have an audience, wow.. Wildife - I think it will have an effect on it. The flashes are quite big and it dissapears around 'the corner' behind a load of vegetation. This has got to be the home of god knows how many animals/fish etc. Most of them will probably be moved on. My mooring is within a comfortable days cruising, and I've often been there to enjoy the peace and quiet. When you're moored up there, the only thing you can see are the starts and the water. You can't really hear anything at all as there's nothing around. If, or when? the marina is built, it'll loose that beauty. There'll be boats in the marina and there'll also be a lot of boats coming out of the marina at weekends and holidays to moor up at the wides, so finding a mooring may be tight. It'll just become 'another marina'. Not really sure about this one, but the flashes have been caused by subsidence, so won't that affect the way the marina? I mean structure wise, for the buildings and the pontoons/banks that are made. As a conclusion, I think the marina will ruin that part of canal. I'm sure the people behind it could find a better location. Yes, there's a higher demand for more moorings, and with a marina you can get a hell of a lot more boats in comparison with linear moorings, but that's because there's a hell of a lot more boats on the cut now to when I first started boating. It'll get to a point where it'll be no different from driving a car, along with the traffic jams etc. I'm wondering how long it will be before it gets impossible and I'll have to hang up my windlass. There we go, I've said it, please don't have a go because you don't like my opinion. Liam. - Reason for modifying my post - typo

I thought you normally wintered at Whixall?

It's sad when it gets to that point I can honestly say that I've had absolutely no trouble at all this year with teenage or any sort of yobs/vandals. The only trouble I've had is with private boat owners who are arragant and aggresive and think they own the water aswell as their boat. For example, Cholmondeston Lock, outside Venetian (Shroppie). A Guy comes out of the lock northbound and moors up on the lock moorings, and then goes shopping after me asking if he would kindly pull over to the other side of the cut on the shop moorings, I got asked if I'd ever been on a boat before, and whether or not I knew what I was talking about. He went on to tell me to piss off etc, until I said something which I'm sure he didn't want to hear, and then he finally moved on. There were boats trying to moor up to wait for the lock way past the bridge but couldn't get in because it was too shallow, and we have this arse hole who doesn't care and goes shopping.

Personally, I'm against it... But we all have our own opinions.. which is fair enough.

Wonder what happened to the one the the pic then.. Dan, got any more info?

This is a good way to remember to isolate your batteries before you leave the boat!

Can't understand why so many people go on about the boat.. It was a failure in it's day, hence why it didn't last too long.