RichardN

If you are going down the fixed radio route then think it makes sense to buy a DSC set - they seem to be better radios with more modern technology and I think mine was a few pounds cheaper then the non-dsc version. .... but are there any DSC enabled radios which can transmit your position without a connection to an external gps? Mine definitely needs an external gps, though you can manually put in some coordinates and that's when I start looking guilty. I think mine is set for halfway up the tidal Severn from 30 months ago so that is something I must remember to change :-). There is no doubt that going on a course will mean that you are legal and help you use your radio "correctly", but how bad is it if you have not been on the course? I think the choice of channel 14 or channel 16 for a distress call is not that important on the Thames - I have been told several times it makes no difference as the guys sit next to each other and in some ways it makes sense to use 14. I think you are dead right about how quickly things can go wrong on the tideway, the PLA harbour master was interesting as he said have your anchor ready and be ready to use it as soon as you get into trouble. I suspect that the tug 100m away won't care if you get on the radio and just shout help at him but anyone sensible will have read the tideway guides and if I remember right they remind you what to say in a distress call so you should be able to get close to getting it right. If you have been on the course then you will get your message across more professionally but if you have not been on the course and you are in a panic and your brain has turned off then just use plain english, I am sure it will work. Oh if you wave your arms, remember the convention is to wave both arms, they will just think you are a mad friendly narrowboater if you wave one. Actually I think most of the commercial traffic think we are mad to be out on the tidal Thames in a narrowboat :-) I think the other distress signals are a continuous horn blast and firing a cannon off at 1 minute intervals but I am sure someone more knowledgeable will come along soon and explain those.

The PLA's harbourmaster was quite clear in the talk he gave last year at the IWA festival. Treat the tideway with respect or will it bite you. Please have a radio if only to listen to their broadcasts, please read their notices to mariners, please have your anchor actually ready to deploy, any worries use your anchor. He does not care if you have a licence or not, as far as he was concerned you can listen to the radio. I can't remember his exact choice of words but basically I got the impression that if you are in trouble no one is going to ask have you got a licence or worry that your radio etiquette is not perfect. Our first few cruises on the tideway were without a radio, now that we have one I have appreciated hearing what is happening particularly if you come across one of the big boys. Obviously I wish you a pleasant journey which is so uneventful that the radio is not much help but I would still have something anyway. A cheap hand held radio won't set you back £450 - look for the other posts here on which radio to get. I am sure you will have done this but if you have not do look on the waterscape sites and the saint pancras cruising club sites for their tideway guides. They are really good and very helpful http://www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/boating/useful-downloads click on the pull down, select london. Also there are the lock availability guides which give you tide times. http://www.stpancrascc.co.uk/thames-cruising-guide.html

Captain Ahab on Wand'ring Bark is also up for it - he has made a blog comment to that effect, not sure if he ever posts here but judging from some of the writings on his blog he may be a bit good at the tricky tie-breaky questions. For those not in the know, the BCN challenge is a wonderful event. You get to cruise bits of Birmingham you would not dream of doing and to be honest it is great. Find out about the challenge and come along. Who knows you may win the challenge but even if you don't simply taking part is so good. (2 edits on account of some funny black stuff that I was forced to drink on my way home)

We have been up the K&A 3 times, down once (took a wrong turn in Gloucester). Fantastic waterway, really good. Yes some of the locks are fun, Woolhampton is a delight especially when you get your back end nicely stopped just by that first cleat, Caen Hill is just fantastic, a lot of my favourite pubs are on the K&A, Bristol may be expensive but I just love it. Sadly we are not in that much of a hurry to go back, your post nicely summarises why. I have yet to read to the bottom of this thread, I may loose the will before I get there! What is wrong with having a shiny boat? I aspire to it if only to preserve my paint work and stop it becoming a peeling rust bucket or whatever the term was. As one of the leisure boating underclass I always have a tricky choice at weekends, namely do we cruise or do we do something like wash and polish the boat. Some of the pubs on the K&A make that choice even harder. I suppose rather than using a tin of polish, I could get a tent or tarpaulin but that could interfere with moving the boat, the wife would not be able to see over it, I suppose I could get her a stool to stand on but then low bridges could be a bit of a problem. But getting back to the original question, please do not do away with continuous cruisers. The real ones do what the canal was intended for, namely move along it. In winter their journeying may be a bit curtailed, stoppages like Caen Hill can't help but they still move all year round. That is just great.

Hmm this thread sounds just like the old arguments on usenet eg see http://groups.google.com/group/uk.rec.waterways/browse_thread/thread/c01ec5c6fd1d1edd/a6c2576fc7b9100c?hl=en&q=nabo+group%3Auk.rec.waterways&lnk=ol Has anything changed?

If you have not already done so do get hold of BW's tideway guides from: http://www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/boating/useful-downloads select the London pull down and you get the handbooks for all directions. Lots of good hints in there and also in the guide from the St Pancras Cruising Club available here: http://www.stpancrascc.co.uk/thames-cruising-guide.html'>http://www.stpancrascc.co.uk/thames-cruising-guide.html They give good guidance on anchors, making sure you have enough fuel etc. Try and build in some flexibility into your timings to allow for weather. I think the advice about going upstream on a first trip is right but should you you want to do the Brentford - Limehouse trip then do read the advice in BW's guide on how to make the turn into Limehouse. Their recommendations work well, yes it can get interesting and you need to put on a few revs but you can go to the Grapes afterwards! If your trip is in May then see what the St Pancras Cruising Club are doing - http://www.stpancrascc.co.uk/ Anyone else reading this who is wondering about doing the tideway but has enough brain cells to be worried about it then do go on one or both of the SPCC's May cruises. They allow outsiders, you will be in company so there is fall back if something goes wrong and they are very well organised. You get to go out to the Thames Barrier on 7th May and then Limehouse - Brentford / Teddington on 8th May. You will find having a vhf radio really useful if only to listen to (you don't need an operators licence to listen to a vhf radio) but as you are in a convoy you do not need to have a radio. The trips are highly recommended, we did them last year. Our write up of the barrier cruise is here and the trip to Brentford here. You need to treat the tideway with respect but it is a fantastic trip. It will be the highlight of your summer cruise. Hand-held or fixed? Has been debated on the forum a few times. I went for fixed but it was a close run decision. Which brand? I would try and stretch to getting an Icom fixed or hand held but if you are going for a hand held I have to say that Jelunga's recommendation is amazingly good value for money.

Our cruising has now settled into a pattern of of moving every weekend for 6 months so it means that often we have to leave the boat in a marina whilst we go off to acquire cash to pay for our boating habbit. I have been very surprised at the differences in marinas. For example when we turned up in Limehouse we had talked to 6 people within the first half hour and obviously there is the Grapes round the corner, in another bwml marina we only managed to talk to that many people in 6 months. Thames & Kennet is a fantastically friendly marina, given half a chance we will always stop there. Hawne Basin is another great place, a real gem.

Between Christmas and New Year some guys, high viz jackets and all, in white vans put up nice barriers round telephone manholes on the street outside our office and proceeded to steal the telephone cables. To me a telephone cable is mostly insulation so I'm so surprised that they would steal them. Now a tiller handle is a decent weight .... Thanks the hint Onionbargee. Just been reminded that we met a boat last year who reported that they had their tiller handle stolen whilst filling their water tank at Cowley Lock (which I would think was a perfectly safe place).

Sandra finished off the electrics on our boat when our builder went to the wall. We are very happy with the work she did. absolutely no hesitation in recommending her. I am cursing as I can't find her telephone number but she used to work through Olympus so they should be able to give you her telephone number. They are on 01606 43048

We have an overdose of filters fitted (at our request) on our Webasto fuel line by the excellent Neil Coventry. He worked out that we would have difficulties bleeding the system so he fitted a filter with a lift pump - this sort of thing - click.

Nothing wrong with CC-ers. After all they move round the system all year, possibly in small hops but that is fine - canals should be used by moving boats and not serve as linear static caravan parks so CC-ers are a good thing. From what I have read in this thread nothing in this new policy will affect the genuine CC-er. Whenever we have been down to the west end of the K&A we get the impression from the CM-ers there that they don't want to see boats moving. That is not good.

Don't forget to factor into your calculations that there is a pound above the lock. Lady Muck has posted several times what happens to her pound when people leave one set of gates open. Tim's post about paddles not being fully closed is also a very good point. Maintaining gates better: I am with you on that one. Some more figures from yesterdays trip to Caen Hill: Changing a set of lock gates costs £50,000, annual spend on the K&A is £4 million, I asked how much would they like to spend not to get a pristine waterway but a 200 year waterway in reasonable nick. That was a figure of £6 million for at least 2 years, hard to tell thereafter but possibly dropping to £5 million. When I add in the £400,000 pumping charge and think through the implications I get quite worried.

I was told today that the cost of back pumping on the K&A is £400,000 a year. Sounds like a good reason to shut gates.

We have only done the challenge once (in 2009) but we had such a great time that we are going for it again this year. Anyone reading this who has not done the BCN Challenge before, then do really try to fit this event into your cruising plans. We thoroughly recommend it, we have worked next summer's cruise round being in Birmingham for the challenge. You may not win a prize but you will get to see all sorts of bits of the BCN that you would not otherwise, the BCN, especially the more obscure bits, is well worth a visit. We look like having a full boat with heaven knows how many greyhounds on board. Sorry Proper Job / Tawny Owl but in the methane production contest assuming that the pub sells sausages then I suspect we will emerge clear winners. Richard nb Indigo Dream

Some years ago Petplan would not pay out for a small claim on our old Lurcher, I thought they were quite ignorant. I took offence at that and cancelled the policy. She later got kidney failure, our vet costs were huge and uninsured. Our current herd of greyhounds are covered by M&S and Admiral. M&S have been very good on paying out. We had a monster bad year in 2010 with one greyhound dying with a brain tumour and a nasty growth in his spinal cord, another being suspected of spine cancer so MRI scans and all. Costs ran into the thousands, all paid out with minimal fuss. The oldest dog's policy now costs over £1000 a year. After last year I gladly renewed. OT: We get an appointment to see our Vet same day if it is urgent. A specialist referral can take place within 1 day, MRI scan within a few days, major operation if required within a day or so. Now if I ring up to get an appointment with my GP I get offered something next week if I am lucky and the receptionist thinks I am worthy. The last lot of GP reforms made things far worse (wait times, cost of the service). And guess what they are going to meddle with it again. I wonder if my Vet is willing to treat humans.

Two thoughts came to mind: *They have mistaken you for someone else? *The local git (who makes a lot of noise often inaccurately)has taken against you for an obscure not worth thinking about reason? It is a shame that you have (continuously) cruised away from there - the lockies normally know what is happening and would tell you what the story is. Richard

You are probably right that "the BW keeper is always there" but it does not hurt to make a phone call and then you know you are not on the tideway with no way out. Richard

I have no very helpful answers. I could not find the £45 on Maplin's web site, that sounded too cheap but no there was one here. I have no idea where to buy one in London. There must be specialist shops, the only thing I could think of was to take a wonder up Tottenham Court Road or talk to somewhere like Limehouse Marina and see if they are willing to let you have a radio delivered to them there - thinking about it having a chat with Robyn could be worthwhile as she does have a small chandlery now, I have no idea what she can do but I did wonder if she could order something for you?

I think the £200 quote was for the course plus a cheap radio - If memory serves I have seen hand helds for around £80, even a pmr radio which also had vhf for around that. It won't be an Icom, I suspect they are £200 and very nice bits of kit. I am sure that the requirement is that you maintain a listening watch on vhf which you can do that with a cheap hand-held and without a licence, just be careful where you have the radio so you can hear it. It is a very good idea to go on the course so that you communicate 2 ways but VTS are happy for you to ring them using your mobile phone eg last time we came down we signed out that way whilst waiting in Limehouse Lock for some plastic boats to get themselves sorted, our radio does not work well down inside a lock though we can hear very well. Yes you can buddy up with someone but you are still responsible for your own boat. Having a radio means that you know what is going on, you get to hear all the broadcasts. The tidal Thames is always a bit of an adventure, to my way of thinking is important to have a radio, (and an anchor ready for deployment, life jackets for all, breakables stored, fuel filters cleaned ... oh and make sure you get BW's excellent guides to the Tidal Thames either as a download or from the Limehouse lock keepers ) In an emergency if you have to use the radio no one is going to ask you were you licence is though being on the course should it make it easier for you to get your message across. Richard

Enjoy your trip! Richard nb indigo dream

Perhaps I should learn to type! Yes I did mean above Kingston - this one in fact http://www.thamesmarina.co.uk/ Tel: 020 8398 6159 which as you say is Thames Ditton Shepperton Marina http://www.sheppertonlink.com/fuel.htm Tel No. 01932 243722 (select option 3) looks expensive - their web site advertises fuel at 75p domestic, £1.04 on a 60/40 split so I think we mis-read the sign. Richard

10 days ago the marina below Kingston was charging 72p/l incl VAT for non propulsion, any split you want. Shepperton had a sign out which suggested that they may be very cheap but we were late seeing the sign - may be worth giving them a ring. I can't remember but Shepperton & Bray may be owned by the same people?

I don't think your speeds are unusual but it is surprising how much difference there is between boats. Cruising speed for us is 1100-1200 rpm, at 1800 rpm it feels like you could water ski behind us!