reddi8

surely the pump out facilities for a restaurant boat would be one of the first thing on my list. What happened to the Easter launch?

AYE

Looking at the chandlers for a new cooker but they were expensive so decided to try the Calor Store. We purchased a free standing cooker for £210.00 and exactly the same at the chandlers was £375.00. We have since learnt we could have gone to Comet etc and purchased a cooker & paid £10 to have it converted to LPG.

Gaggle there should be more people like you who care what happens to people.. Some people would have gone passed and not done anything about it. I drive over that bridge every week but not noticed the boat there.

hope you like your new marina I pass it all the time and it really looks good, those who have left our marina at Crooke for the hook ups at Rufford have really settled there. Our marina owners are giving us a party tonight for Roys 50th.

Going on our experience I would hire a boat first. I wasn`t keen at first about getting a boat but my partner was. Now that we have a boat it is the other way round I would be on it all the time but we hardly go on it now as John has lost interest in it. If we had hired a boat first we could have discovered the pro`s and cons of owning one.

Is the Ribble Link as difficult as people say. I stood at Tarleton lock one day when some boats came through and a couple of boat people said never again.

last weekend a gang of lads were swimming in the lock. When the boat was in the lock and filling up with water one stupid lad decided to jump in right behind the propeller. Only our screams stopped him.

yesterday we were just driving a stake in the ground to moor the boat and the hammer head dropped off and bounced into the canal just as a boat was going passed. A couple of hours later the same boat returning threw us a new hammer and said here`s a present. We didn`t know the couple and thought it was a very kind gesture. Another example of boaters kindness, on the marina a boat has just arrived which the owner got off ebay. The boat needs a lot of work and has found so much help from all the other boaters he has put his house up for sale and now plans to live aboard as he loves the place & the people there.

we are in the process of getting estimates for a stern cover as we have the problem of rain water getting in the engine area. I was interested in what John Orentas advised "self draining deck conversion kit" and want to know about it. Due to my John`s ill health I have to go to the boat on my own to drain the water out and would like to know more about the kit.

We went to Netto to get some tools arriving just as the store opened within 30 minutes they had sold up. They were very cheap & good quality but unless you are there when the store opens you have no chance of buying them.

I have found out on the 1881 census Elias Grimshaw age 23 street address Vessel Thomas(100)at Crooke but this must have been a relation as my partners grandad was alive in the late 1950`s as he remembers him taking coal to Manchester. Still not found out about Ambush.

There is an old barge carrying coal & diesel on the Leeds Liverpool canal called Ambush which we think was my partners grandads boat he had another called Margaret. Is there anyway of finding out its history so we can see if it belonged to his grandad Elias Grimshaw who was well known for his clog fighting.

this weekend we took our retired greyhound with us on board. At the lock I let him on his lead stretch his legs. As I was standing alongside the boat a family approached with a Jack russell pup running around. I asked her would she put it on a lead to stop it annoying the greyhound. She said dogs don`t need to be on a lead on the canal bank. I just wondered if she is right. Luckily our old dog didn`t seem bothered.

we fitted out our boat at home and we are really happy with it but it did take all our spare time & we called in a lot of favours from friends. We saved money by buying a accident damaged caravan for £350 and used the sink/cooker fridge and upholstery and lots of bits off it. we sold the shell for £100. Our nephew is halfway through fitting out a 58ft sailaway and being in the building trade has done the work on his own. He is so pleased he is thinking of buying another to do alongside the other. Doing it yourself means you can plan it to suit you.

the second marina at Rufford has nothing to do with the one with the cafe. Some who have left our marina & moved there give it glowing reports.

Try the old brass stair rods for curtain poles the shine up lovely

Betterwear make a cream cleaner which is very good. For really tarnished metal I have used flux which John uses for cleaning joints on his plumbing

Anyone going to the boat jumble at Middlewich Cheshire tomorrow 19th March starting at 10am near Junction 18 on the M6

Your health is just as important as your age. I`m 62 and fit & well going swimming & the gym (need to lose weight) but John is 54 and in poor health & smokes 60 cigarettes a day. Although I`m older than him I can do more physical work than him.

Is the Crook Tunnel on the marina where the stream enters the canal? my partner & his family where born there & lived for many years there but aren`t sure with the Tunnel is.

Fred Talbot went on the lovely wide beam built for the French canals and is moored on Crooke marina just near to us. My phone never stopping ringing when the programme was on telling me to watch it. Many people who don`t have a boat really love the canals and are interested in the boats.

is there any form of heating you could leave in the boat safely to keep the frost away. we have drained the water off but is it safe to leave it like that.

In our local paper tonight shows pictures of the burnt out boat Labeke the owners had only got the boat 3 weeks earlier at a cost of £48000. They have owned boats for 3 years & were members of Crooke Cruising club. The vandals had to go through a locked gate & passed 4 liveaboards to cut the mooring rope without disturbing anyone. Luckily Margaret & Glenn Gibson weren`t on board when it happened. It seems someone has been cutting the ropes recently & setting the boats adrift.

Today we finally went to the Small Claims Court about the tanks. What a waste of time as the amount was small we couldn`t get a solicitor. Polyfab turned up with expert witness who said it was impossible for the tanks to split. But we saw it with our own eyes as we filled the second tank the sides bulged out & then bang & water sprayed out of the seams, the first tank was just like a shoe with its sole hanging off. They insisted we must have filled the tanks under pressure but we used a old 60ft hose with holes in. As they repaired one of the tanks & it now holds water we did not get any money for it. The second still leaks but they insist we used pressure on it. The judge believed what we said but said the company had done their best to put things right. They only arranged for it to be re welded & didn`t want to know about the other tank. We have come away with £200 for our inconvenience but nothing for the wooden floor or carpet or the cost of the electricity used for a month by the dehumidifier. We had no faith in using the repaired tank & had stainless steel ones made. There manufacturer put baffles in but Polyfab didn`t because we hadn`t requested them. All we wanted was two tanks to hold water.