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Can anyone tell me how much Thames visitor fees are or where I can find out? Can we still get them from lock keepers We have a 57 foot narrow boat and want to travel from K&A (Reading) & go on to the Oxford via the Thames.Thank you.

Can my friends out there help me? Our BW licence runs out at the end of July. This will be our first year of having to renew it. Obviously we have a postal address, which is my daughters in south of England,unfortunately we will be up north when the renewal will be due. My question is - how do we get a licence from my daughters home to us, somewhere around the Macclesfield Canal area?

Does anyone know please if we need to use any particular anti-freeze in the diesel central heating system. Is it bog standard car anti-freeze or do i need to get a special one for central heating and if so what is it called and where can we get it from ?? somewhere like B&Q or specialist shop?

Hello everyone. We are now nearing our destination! Need your help though, again. Can anyone tell us where any water points are on the River Thames between Goring and centre of Reading? Thankyou.

Finally! After years of wishing, hoping, dreaming, we collected our new narrow boat yesturday! Please look out for us and give us a shout or a wave. We have picked her up from Nottingham and will be heading back to Reading via Trent/G Union/Coventry/Oxford/Thames and Kennet and Avon canals in the next few days.Narrow boats name is Knott Inn. Thanks folks.

Hi to everyone, its me AGAIN! Please does anyone know of a decent cratch cover maker in or around the Reading area? We are going to be moored up around Burghfield (just outside Reading) from beginning of August until end September and desperately need a front cratch cover made and fitted.The board is already done. Any ideas or contact names/numbers? Once again thank you. What would we do without your help.

Thank you to all who contributed. Sounds like i need to shop around abit, but we want one that lasts, so we will pay that bit extra. Thanks again.

Does anyone know (approximately) how much a new cratch cover will cost? Board already there. I know there are different materials, sizes,types etc but just a ball-park figure to go on would as always be much appreciated.Thanks.

Hello all,just about to take possesion of our first liveaboard and i admit i am totally confused about BW licences. OK here goes, we will be collecting our n/b from nottingham area and then taking her down to the Thames. Where,when,how,which type of licence do we need? In other words where can we buy a licence? do we need to apply before we collect boat? how do we apply? - online/postal/any other method? and if we are using different canals and rivers but don't know how long we will be staying in a particular area,how does this work? Sorry for being a bit dim.

Can someone please tell me approx how much a casette costs? we are purchasing a n/b with a thetford casette toilet but it only has one casette and we would rather buy another to keep as a spare.thanks, again.

Ok here i go again! lol How many other people who are liveaboards have and use an ironing board. I'm trying to decide whether they are needed or not.I can buy a small one as the one we have at the moment is very large and a bit too big, but do i really need one or is it possible to use something else or even better, just not iron anything? I'm not sure a could do the latter, but would appreciate any liveaboards opinions. Thanks again.

Does anyone know where we can get a reasonably priced stove top kettle to put on the multifuel stove. I will have to be one of the tall skinny types as not too much room on the top of the stove?

Thank you so much Graham. Had a look on the link and it is really useful. We will definately be using this. Thanks again.

I know this is like asking how long is a piece of string? but approx how long will it take hubby and I to travel from Audlem to Reading? Say we spend 5 hours aday travelling. I know we need to take into account the locks, tunnels etc but if anyone has done this journey (or near enough)we would appreciate any approx travelling time and/or advise. Thank you.

Thank you all for your help in this matter. Yes I agree that the pension company must have come across this before and, yes it is after all my husbands money and his future monthly payments will be put directly into our bank account!!!. I think we will go with the postal service option as many have said it really works. I admit I was a bit wary of this service but have heard no negative feed-back about it. Also will wait to see what their suggestions for alternative will be.

We have now put a deposit on our first (soon to be liveaboard) boat. Very excited, but red tape about our impending move is causing us real problems. My husband is taking early retirement and will officially get his private pension on 4/6/11, by which time we hope to be on our boat, the house has been sold. Trouble is the pension company will not accept another address to send the lump sum cheque to unless we provide them with a utility bill from address to prove we live there. We have explained that our daughters (same surname) will be the address that we use to forward mail to and that our retirement will be spent on a narrowboat,but they say this is not acceptable and will not put straight into our bank account either. Any suggestions? They are apparently thinking of a way round this but surely this is not the first time this matter has cropped up.

Thankyou for your excellant reply.

Can someone please explain what a Jabsco pump out macerator toilet with electric flush to remote tank with spare chemical toilet is - and is this a good option for a liveaboard boat?

ah ha, now i know what they look like. Thank you so much.

Many thanks. I think i'm beginning to understand.

So is it/they a sort of conductor? How many and where should they be on a 58 - 60 foot n/b. and what do they look like? Sorry i am a woman after all!

Thankyou, this is very helpful. These are all the things hopefully we will ask and more! Are there any advantages to buying from a broker as opposed to a private seller or visa versa?

We are about to start (in ernest) our search for a live aboard boat. Can forum members suggest the most important questions that we should be asking when looking at narrowboats. We will be buying a used boat, hopefully from a brocker?

Can someone please explain what anodes are and what they do? I keep seeing topics and adverts that mention them and how many there are, but don't understand exacctly what they or their function is. Does a n/b have to have a certain amount of them? Sorry for my ignorance.

Hubby and i are now looking for a boat builder to build our "dream" boat! We will be using it as a liveaboard. Please can anyone help, if they have had any dealings with either Brayzel boats or Stillwater as a boat build company? what are they like?