Neil2

Does anyone know if the policy of chaperones taking the helm is still in place? As I don't have a boat at the moment I can't go through the booking procedure to find out.

I've lived most of my life in the Lake District and when I moved there in the 70's it was just the same, as soon as the clocks went back so did all the tourists. But that's all changed now, it's virtually a 12 month season so it surprises me that Cornwall, and Devon, are still so quiet "out of season". I guess a lot of folk go for the weather of course but I reckon the Lakes have become busier simply because folk have more money these days, and there's a lot of money down south.

We used to have friends who had an apartment in St Ives. They used to let us have it gratis for a week in January every year when, of course, there was no-one around. We always got decent weather and I could never understand why the place was deserted.

That pun's so bad it hertz.

FWIW I contacted the local charity here that recycles computers and the problem is the Apple stuff flies out as soon as it's refurbished, I asked about a waiting list and they just said impossible as so many folk want them so it's luck of the draw. My ipad is 10 years old and there's nothing wrong with it but I can't access the newer software. I thought an iMac or macbook might be a better way of replacing/upgrading, esp in view of my aging eyesight.

Funny you should say that, I have a good friend who designed and built a heavy duty variable pitch prop for narrowboats, I have the prototype in my shed somewhere (it's probably in the box with the glass hammer and the wooden blowlamp).

In different contexts, of course. I'm not sure how you reach the conclusion that folk in the south east have to work harder to pay for their homes than people in the North, say. But I don't see the relevance anyway. Let's say in the last 20 years house values in the South have risen by a factor of six, and at the same time house values in the north have risen by a factor of three, that is not a product of "hard work", it is good fortune based on the factors of supply and demand. For example, my wife's mother was quite wealthy when she was admitted to a care home because of her dementia. By the time she died she was left with whatever was the means test ceiling at the time, around £20,000 I think. Her wealth was almost entirely due to the fact that the family had moved to the Cotswolds when property was still relatively cheap and the house had escalated in value over many years. The money from the sale of her property paid for the intensive care she needed in the last ten years of her life and to me, and my wife, that seemed entirely reasonable. This is not the popular view, it seems.

The context is the topical issue of wealth inheritance, and particularly infirmed folk having to sell their valuable houses to pay for personal care. There is an argument that owners of property should have the right to pass these valuable assets onto their children etc. But in many cases the value of the property - particularly in the south of England - is a product of the gross imbalance of supply and demand, not purely "hard work". No one would argue that a child should not benefit from the efforts of their parents, it's when wealth is a result of happy accident that it's contentious, especially when the alternative is that the cost of personal care is to be born by the state ie the taxpayer. As a mod you will probably want to stop this dialogue right now... It's academic anyway.

That's the sort of thing I had in mind. Wasn't one of these featured on that Floating Homes TV show? I've often thought one of these plus a little narrowboat or cruiser wouldn't be a bad way to live.

Of course the long term trend is upwards, but it fluctuates along the way. I don't doubt though that £300k houses in London are worth £2m today. That's why it enrages me when folk drone on about inheritance tax having "worked hard all our lives". Folk can become stinking rich in this country by doing nothing more than staying in the same house and getting lucky with property values.

I'm curious - is there anyone who is 100% happy with their propeller? Don't we all cruise around thinking, maybe a bit bigger, maybe a bit smaller... I remember meeting a guy who had just had his BMC 1.5 reconditioned, and he was moaning because it was smoking when it didn't before. Then it turns out he had also changed the prop from a 17 to a 19 because "I wanted it to sound like a trad". He just assumed the "new" engine would have more power.

It's ok if you have provenance, but how many of us would buy a narrowboat if we had no idea whatsoever who built it? I took a fancy to a Sagar Marine boat a few years ago, I've always liked the lines of their boats, but when I took a closer look, even though it was in the water I could tell it had been overplated. The broker didn't know who had done it, in fact he didn't realise it had been reshoed until he checked the sales details. I think they still wanted £40k for it and at that level it just simply isn't worth the risk.

I'm sorry to pile in on this one but sometimes you just have to tell it like it is. It seems to me that most shell builders these days have no scruples at all building boats completely out of scale with English canals. There used to be an ugly thing on the Leeds Liverpool up near Barnoldswick, it was 14 foot wide simply because the builder apparently told the owners that you could go that big and it would still fit in a lock. But, it would not pass through bridges without hitting them and most if anyone remembers that boat it always had at least one broken window. Seventy foot by twelve is an outrageous size for a canal boat but I'll bet someone will do it thinking it's ok as it will just spend its life in a marina. The thing is we should not be encouraging anyone to go down this road and most definitely not to sell their house to fund it. If you want to live in a marina there's better ways to do it.

Despite what anyone on here might say, the worry is that if you want to sell the boat in future, it's value is going to be well reduced, or it should be. It's fine in my book to have a boat overplated if it's "you" that's doing it. But from a prospective buyers point of view, a previously overplated boat is a dodgy proposition. But in any event mid £40k is too much even if it's nice inside. Don't make someone else's problem your problem. If it's a Whilton or Venetian boat say and they bought it in, then found out it needs welding up, they should take the hit not recoup their losses by selling it at the same price as a "straight" boat.

You need to be careful mucking about with prop sizes, the chances are unless your boat has been put together by an idiot, the prop size will be about right, or possibly slightly overpropped already. Increasing the pitch might just push you into real overpropping which you do not want. The Vetus/Mitsubishi is a naturally high revving engine, you can't turn it into a low revving slogger just by altering the prop size. If you want it quieter a bigger silencer or a hospital grade silencer will make a world of difference - if you have the space.

Thanks for the replies folks. Previously all my PC's/laptops have been from a local reconditioning charity, I have never bought a new computer but they deal mainly in windows stuff, iMacs etc. are quite rare. And it has to be an iMac or Macbook. @Boaty Jo thanks for that - they look kosher but only have one iMac at the mo. Thanks also @MartinC I also never buy from an ebay with less than 100% now, whenever I've done it in the past I have had occasion to regret it every time. Thanks for that link too. My problem is where I live in the Highlands it's rare for collection to be a practical option so the reason I was looking for a reputable trader is the transit risk.

For what it's worth I have a young friend who is 25 now. When he was 23 he asked my opinion as he was seriously thinking of buying a narrowboat to live on. He's a bright lad, has a top degree a very good job and career prospects now but at the time, like many of his generation he was struggling to see how he could ever afford to buy a house. Being single and unattached, the boating life seemed to be the answer. I started off telling him a few home truths about boating which he had never thought of. His only experience was a couple of family hire boat holidays in July, so he could not imagine, for example, what life would be like during the winter. Then I explained to him what the real cost of owning a boat is, and he soon grasped that it's not about saving money - unless you cut corners of course. As you say, you really have got to want the lifestyle. But even then, I asked my young friend what he would do if he met a girl and she didn't fancy the boating life..? What he ended up doing was getting a flat which he shares with a friend from his university days. He's saving like mad and waiting for the housing market to crash - as it inevitably will. He also now has a girlfriend which looks like the Real Thing and guess what she has no interest in boats or canals.

Amara - welcome to the forum, I don't have anything to add to the comments already made on the boat in question. FWIW though it's overpriced anyway. For some reason Dutch steel cruisers which were once very sought after, have declined in popularity recently. You can see it's been tarted up inside to try and catch an unsuspecting buyer. You are doing the right thing by joining this forum - there is a wealth of experience here on all manner of boating - and non boating - issues, but in particular many member either live, or have lived, on canal boats so don't be afraid to ask for help/advice. You do need to be very careful, especially if you are thinking of borrowing money to buy a boat as the market is very hot at the moment and many consider it to be artificially inflated. Canal cruising/living is extremely popular just now, it may be a fad, or it could be the thin end of a wedge, no-one really knows. But as an inexperienced buyer you run the risk of paying over the odds if you don't understand what things are of real value and what is just cosmetic, shall we say. Bear in mind that making alterations to a boat is vastly different to working on a house/flat ie it's usually more difficult and time consuming. Whatever you do don't be rushed into a purchase decision just because you're worried someone else might buy it - there is always another boat. When it comes to buying a boat to live on I always think you can do a lot worse than look at boats that someone already lives on. The priorities for a liveaboard are different to those of an occasional cruiser. Do let us know if you see another potential boat, if there's one thing CWDF members like it's passing comment on boats for sale!

Not really sure where to post this but does anyone know a good place to buy used/reconditioned iMacs, or Macbooks? There's loads of places come up on a search but if anyone has personal experience I'd be grateful for any advice.

Back in the days before marinas started to spring up everywhere a lot of BW moorings were quite sought after, even the towpath ones with no facilities. The way things are just now we might be heading back to those days.

Good luck too if you're heading West from Leeds... Only joking. I've never understood what the problem is with the section between Leeds and Rodley, there are certain sections of the Leeds Liverpool on the Lancashire side that I approach with much more trepidation. If you are travelling in convoy you'll make light work of the interminable swing bridges between Leeds and Skipton, they are the biggest disincentive in doing that bit of canal.

I once had a mooring for six months even though I didn't have a boat. I used to go and visit it from time to time. Long story.

Have you got a Waterbug by any chance?

Looking at that paint finish and your tale of woe my first thought would be is any guarantee offered by this cowboy actually worth anything? FWIW I'd say a professional paint job ought to last five years but you have to have regard to the age and condition of the boat and how much you are paying. Eg you could pay over £10k in which case you would not expect deterioration of the finish for a long time, but there are guys around who will do it for much less, still get a decent finish but you might expect a bit of rust to reappear after a couple of years. But honestly that paint job is so bad I would be inclined to not pay a penny more and take the boat away as it is, put it down to experience. And I wonder if you could warn the rest of us off this shower by giving us a clue who did it?

Sorry about the brain fart, blame Covid-19 (everyone else does). If you really do need every inch of the canal to get your boat out here's what I would do. I would write - and I do mean write, not email, to CRT and send it by recorded delivery. Explain to them that despite several complaints by you and others, these boats remain moored in clear contravention of their licence conditions. Explain that you cannot access the canal whilst these boats remain moored in this area as you need the entire width of the canal to navigate safely. Tell them that you need to move your boat for essential maintenance and that you intend to attempt to move it on xxxxx date and make that say 2 weeks away, but the longer the better. Explain that you cannot guarantee that when you move your boat that there will not be an impact with one or more of these offending boats. Say that it is the duty of CRT to enforce licence conditions which is why you are giving them enough notice to have these boats moved. By doing this you are doing everything reasonable to avoid the risk of damage. Should you then attempt to move your boat and collide with one or more of the offending boats no-one can claim that you have acted irresponsibly and IMHO you would not be liable in any way. Of course you could go further and seek legal advice but in the end the law tends to favour the person who acts in a reasonable manner so if you do everything to make it clear that you are being reasonable, you put yourself in a safe position.