Liam

I've personally never been a fan of Supertherm although I do sell a reasonable amount of it. Newheat is a relatively new brand from Oxbow (who also manufacture Excel and the unapproved non-smokeless Glow and Red). In the short time it's been around it certainly seems to be gaining popularity.

Just sounds like an old bag that's been allowed to get damp.

Supertherm is easily identified by a line running through it, as in this picture. This was introduced to stop inferior smokeless and none smokeless fuel being passed off as Supertherm. If your fuel is missing the identifying line I'd be asking your supplier questions.

Also very much illegal !

Theres also Andy Hoyle on Dove. Splendid work.

An unpowered boat under 5m gets a huge reduction in a license, the cost for a 12 month license with prompt payment discount is something like £51 if I remember rightly. If you have a 30ft motor and 40ft butty it would be cheaper than a 70ft license so I guess that's why they have the 50ft limit.

Only in London !

I've had experience of these stoves, and they are just not at all suited for use on boats. It is a very poorly constructed stove. There are lots of gaps in it which means whatever you will burn the thing will end up like a furnace. The one I used didnt leak any fumes in really it just pulled air in and took off. You could hear the thing roar with all the air getting in. I used to have to throw a bucket full of ash over the actual fire / coal inside to try and calm it down, but then the thing would end up going out. Try and get brave and give it a poke? It would roar away again. Far too much heat in a cabin, it would consume fuel at a great rate and then go out after a couple of hours so in the middle of a freeze I had to set my alarm to keep adding fuel through the night so we didnt freeze to death. It has no fire bricks so radiates heat out like a bugger. And once the fire actually goes out, cools down rapidly so pretty much useless. I would not use it and go for something boat worthy. The Boatman Stove by Northern Fabrications is a much safer bet. You will be asking for problems if you use that Pot Belly stove. I think they are more suited to heat workshops where you can keep the thing going with chucking off cuts of timber in during your working day.

Fuel boat Ariel will be delivering along the Bridgewater canal over the next few days / weekend. I will be leaving Leigh tomorrow (Thursday) morning and delivering through to Runcorn and returning back to Leigh. Call or text on 07748 958303 if you need any supplies Liam

Leeds and Liverpool Canal between bridges 39 & 40 closed due to a fallen tree blocking the navigation. CRT have been to check but dont know when it will be cleared.

I live a relatively simple life when on board Ariel and so my electricity requirements are very simple too. Along with my little LED light and 12v USB charging point I'd like to add a small (both in physical size and supply) inverter. Somewhere around 350w. This is purely to run my Laptop mainly but to also charge up a couple of other small devices. I know I could go down the route of adapters for the devices but a small inverter is the route I want to go. Due to absolute lack of space I'd like it to be as physically as small as possible, and would like also to have a unit that uses the least amount of power whilst in standby and in use without breaking the bank. Any recommendations please? Liam

Moved to Boat Building & Maintenance

I was going to make the same suggestion until I scrolled down and found you'd beaten me to it. So, seconded

Passing through Watford recently, I was following another boat down. As I waited in the lock above to draw the paddles after they'd left, I noticed that the top lock water level had dropped by a good few inches in only a matter of a couple of minutes. I mentioned this to the volunteer and he replied "oh yes a sieve would probably hold more water!". Further down the flight where the locks seperate below the staircase, I offered to go and pull a paddle after the boat ahead had excited meaning my lock full of water would be put to use to fill the next rather than going over the wier... The volunteers reply was "oh well, you probably should but it'll be ok" and emptied the lock out anyway. It is quite frustrating that 2 lock flights such as Watford and Braunston which are very close and should both be easily doable within a day, could possibly have to be broken up into 2 days due to the behaviour of the staff or volunteers. Speaking to another boater at Watford, I found that he'd given up his slot to a hirer who had demands on time to return the boat. I was lucky... 6th boat in the queue at 10 o'clock means I made Braunston in time. However the volunteer was wandering about carrying a chain and padlock at only 2.15pm.

Can't really follow this as wherever you have the engine it will take up room? This is a question that appears a lot. You're pros and cons lies might be the reserve from somebody else's opinion. Just go along the road that's right for you

Must have reopened then, oops sorry! It is a bit hard to knock pins in there due to the size of the coping stones but it's managable to get pins in between...

The Red Lion at Moore shut a few months ago... Your next eatery will be in Stockton Heath. No recommendations off the top of my head but there is a very good chippy - Google "Panny's"

Thanks both for the info

Browsing the CRT archives and I came across these pictures. Can anyone help identify the pair, especially the motor? Captioned as (obviously) an empty and clothed up British Waterways pair passing through the Anderton Boat Lift onto the T&M. It's an interesting picture as they're both empty, yet clothed up and upon leaving the lift, the motor takes the Butty on a line rather than cross straps as I'd have expected? I think there's some text on the motors cloths... but should have gone to specsavers The link to the archive page is... http://collections.canalrivertrust.org.uk/bw200.1.99.39 To me the Butty has the look of one of the cabined Yarwoods LMS station boats about it... but can't make out any other distinguishing features...

"Roach" didn't sell to Chamberlain Carrying Co, he sold out to Charlton Whitehouse Fuels. Chamberlain are continuing to supply some customers on the Llangollen & Shropshire Union. Up until retirement, John & Jenny Jackson supplied many boat and land based establishments with their products for resale. You would find coal bags with "John Jackson Roach" on them all over the system. John and Jenny supplies many coal boats too such as Richard and Ruth (Chamberlain), all of the Jules Fuels fleet and of course myself and others. After all those years building the business to what it is today, must of been a bloody hard decision to make, especially parting with your boat after 30 years of ownership. Best of luck to them both. Time to kick back and take it easy and enjoy retirement now. They certainly deserve it.

The sale went through yesterday. Re-branding taking place today at Crick.

@RLWPWill message you...

Any luck Richard?