prob

Thanks for all your replies - most helpful.

After 8 months back living on dry land we are about to move back onto our boat .... but now with the addition of an 8 month old baby! I have been looking around for a suitable travel cot but struggling to find something narrow enough to fit in the (narrow boat) space we have next to our bed, of 60cms. Anyone? If I cannot find any commercial travel cot I guess it is going to be a case of constructing something ourselves to fit the little one in.

Thanks for you responses. To be honest we are probably looking for something cheaper than that - even the end of a farmer's field would do us. Having said that we will be passing Lower Park in a few weeks so will call in to have a look around.

Can anyone recommend any moorings on the Leeds Liverpool? We would be prepared to look anywhere from Leeds to as far out as Accrington/Burnley/Blackburn. Our only stipulations are: 1. available in the next 2 or 3 months; 2. secure enough that we would be happy to leave the boat for an extended period of time without worry; 3. cheap; 4. close(ish) to a railway station. Stipulations 1-3 are essential, 4 need not be a deal breaker. Thanks.

Hello, I'm a liveaboard of a couple of years and having now got most of the big jobs done (it's was pretty much a complete renovation of an old boat) I'm moving onto some of the smaller (/less essential) tasks! The boat has a manual bilge. I switch it on when there's a bit of water down there and it clears all but half an inch. I had a complete mop out of the bilges about 6 months ago. Since then no more than an inch of water has gathered in the bilges - there is a cratch cover above the engine, but I assume the majority of the water has gathered due to a small leak on the cratch. The question is - should I replace it with an automatic bilge which goes on when there's too much water down there? How much of a risk am I running by not having an automatic bilge? Is the risk of an automatic bilge setting off and not stopping (due to a fault - hopefully not because of all the water down there) and therefore draining the battery a greater risk than the NB sinking because of water filling the bilges? Any help appreciated, Paul

Thanks for the info. The boat is currently moored in Evesham in Worcestershire. Can anyone recommend a good safety examiner there or thereabouts? Thanks, Paul

Hello everybody, hope you can help. I am purchasing a 27 ft steel shelled NB with an engine in. It's a private purchase of an old hull which will be ready to sailaway, but has (practically) nothing else in the boat interior - it requires a full fit-out. Before dropping on the water the three things I guess that are required are: 1. Insurance; 2. Safety certificate; 3. Craft registration with BW and licence. But I'm a bit unsure about which order to do these things in. Can the safety cert be acquired without the craft being registered with BW? How does one go about getting the craft registered with BW? And I assume that insurance can only follow the safety cert and the craft registration? Are there anything other formailties that I have forgotten? It is my intention to sail the boat away from where it is currently berthed and do the work to fit out the interior as I go along. I assume that this makes the acquistion of the safety cert straightforward? In particular I am thinking that as there is currently no gas supply within the craft there is very little that can be 'dangerous'. Or is there anything I am overlooking? Cheers, Paul

Thanks for the responses. I guess there's three elements of 'housing' cost for the boat: - mooring fees; - licence fee; and - either the cost of renting the boat from someone, or purchasing the boat and having interest repayments. Any ideas if housing benefit would cover all of these? Also, would a permanant mooring be necessary? I appreciate that if you move between areas that you would be dealing with different LAs, but if you were to continuously cruise within one authority? If you were getting housing benefit it would mean immediate entitlement to council tax benefit. Paul

Has anyone had experience of claimimg housing benefit (for either mooring fees, or for the rent of a boat) whilst living afloat - or does Housing benefit only apply to abodes on dry land?!

I've a few inches of oily water sitting in the bottom of my engine compartment, and have had since I bought the craft. I've tried several times to get shot of it, but the bilge pump I have fixed down there always leaves a couple of inches at the bottom, and getting down there with a brush, a scoop and some washing-up liquid is a thankless task. I've got some bilge and hull cleaner on the way from www.miracleleisureproducts.co.uk, but to go with this I wonder if anyone out there can recommend a good portable bilge pump which would serve as a hoover to get the oily grime of of there, minimising my miseraable afternoons with a bad back?

I'm sure I have read somewhere that BW offer grants and assitance for setting up new marinas. But I can't find any details on their website. Does anyone have any experience of this and the level of support (financial and otherwise) that BW offer?

Just wondering if there is a noticable difference in price of NB's by season and by area. Stereotypes might expect boats to be more expensive in the south compared to the north, and more expensive at the start of a boating season, and cheaper at the end. But is this really true?

I'd like to get away from using my engine to power my 12v systems and (via an inverter) the 240v system. Can anyone offer advise on solar and wind power - cost, practicalities and effectiveness. Would it be possible to run an average (TV, lighting, stereo, fridge etc) residential boat wholly by renewable energy. Thanks, Paul

I'm interested in getting Sky Sports on my boat. Does anyone know how feasible this is. Would I require a dish on the side of the boat, or could a digital reciever do the business? Are Sky equipped to bill premises which are not 'proper' households?

I'm about to renew my boat insurance. Any recommendations, or are they all much of a muchness? Anything that I should look out for in particular on the small print?