Chris Pink

Indeed. This couple were living on a GRP boat with a tent on top. They were lucky enough to get a house for the birth of their son but that's apparently come to an end. Plan B's are a luxury, Lady M. We are indeed fortunate if we have one. It's the ones who don't have Plan A i worry about. It's difficult to talk about these things on an open forum. I hope that anyone considering doing something like this talks to people in an environment where the reality can be truly discussed. I've not come across Shelter in a long time, do they have any mandate for the waterways? They were great for squatters in the 70s and 80s. Maybe I'll mosey around and have a look.

I don't think anybody should enter any kind of agreement like this without both beware completely aware of the full implications and knowing very well the person they are dealing with. Unfortunately the people most likely to get burnt in arrangements like this are those who are desperate, those who don't research properly and those who trust inappropriate people. All characteristics of the less advantaged in our society. Trouble is making layer after layer of law and regulation neither prevents this or helps anybody except the bureaucrats. I have recently seen an advert of someone (desperate by their own admission) looking for a boat to rent. They are walking into this minefield. But they have to live somewhere. They are more likely to be given somewhere to live by an unscrupulous 'Rackman" of the waterways than to leap the hurdles into private renting of land based property. I can only hope, because I know these people slightly that someone honest and decent helps them out. Otherwise what can they do? Couple, small child, dog, no capital - What does someone like this do in this society?

But maybe this country has become like Italy in the 1990s where it is impossible to get up in the morning without breaking some law or another so the 'real' laws become; 1. don't get caught 2. If you do get caught, make sure your cousin is in a place of influence. It's all very well tutting at the social and housing crises in this country but then closing off every small possibility the people with less advantages than you have of finding a place within it only exacerbates the issues. And perhaps if we are going to campaign and tut about people making private agreements - you'll note my use of the word 'private' - to live on a boat then we should also start campaign about those exploiting loopholes in planning law to live on leisure moorings?

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There's an english language based one on the midi called Minervois. But beware - Le Boat are in England too! http://www.minervoiscruisers.com/ if you get in touch ask them how I can politely tell them they need a new website ;-)

Interesting idea Mr B. - 99% of the police budget is spent dealing with criminals. Really? Shocking!!!

Well just that once, Grommit.

No, I think on this lone occasion you are right: Carlt will never give up irony.

I never ever let my passengers sit on the roof of my motorbike

An early lithograph of Dave Mayall

Not quite all questions; The Act for the Registration of British Vessels in 1845 and The Merchant Shipping Acts of 1854 : that the property in a ship shall be divided into 64 shares; that not more than 64 individuals shall be entitled to be registered at the same time as owners of any one ship; that a person shall not be entitled to be registered as Owner of a fractional part of a share in a ship but any number of persons not exceeding five may be registered as joint owners of a ship or of any share or shares therein. and previous to that; A minute of the General Shipowners Society of December 11, 1823, records the Committee also conceive that the division of the property on ships, into sixty four assumed shares, upon the binary principle of halving the ship, and proportions under each, down to a sixty-fourth part, will be found in practice to be a more convenient system. From http://www.lr.org/Images/25%2064%20Shares_tcm155-173538.pdf I always thought Mike the Boilerman was a bit dodgy. A corollary: Does anyone know why this doesn't apply to canal boats; "The British Registry Act of 1786, in the reign of George III, enlarged the scope of the boundary of registration and made it compulsory for every owner of a vessel of 15 tons or more to have the tonnage measurement ascertained and a certificate of registry to contain full particulars, dimensions etc."

Show him Master and Commander the night before then do your best Russel Crowe. It's not a great position to be in either, for the OP, to have to be an unpopular killjoy in their eyes. No, you're right. Given how frequently people die being thrown out of sports boats, I'd say being in that position with no life jacket is pretty silly really. Of course you never get anything floating just under the waterline on north east waterways, do you get the servants to go along with a dragline first?

When I had my first narrow boat. I had a children's party. Mostly indoors, 9 children I seem to remember and their attendant adults inside a 40' boat. I was on the back with a friend steering and we had to rush from side to side to try and counter balance the crowd inside as they went to the windows to look at ducks or somesuch. I was dead worried at the listing but managed to avoid communicating this to the blissfully aware passengers.

Thats hardly the point. It was the OP's call and if it made him uneasy about his ability to control the boat or the safety of his passengers that's his prerogative.

Lock fishing is usually good for a couple.

Still leaking oil and fuel after 'months'? What is it - A supertanker?

Are you David Hutchings reincarnated Alan?

Sounds like a warranty issue to me. How old is it? You shouldn't, with reasonable torque, be able to break a terminal post mounting.

^^ This. Bloody cheek.

Climate change has been blamed for a lot of things but the backlog of canal maintenance?

it is true mr T, you did give me a giggle and increase my knowledge of French (i am on the look out for an opportunity to show off so i better practice it good). But there was only one bonus point (this time ;-) and so overwhelmed by Doghouse's support it had to be him. A plus tard. An education in french slang, Monsieur.

Interesting. Seems like common sense anyway. Mainly ventilation and increased gas safety, no?

It's an interesting point. I think that without an agreement to sell back the 1% - it should really be 1/64 shares with boats - then the purchaser of that 1% still owns it. It doesn't give them much rights over what happens to the boat though as the majority shareholder has all the say. You could buy a 1/64 share in a cargo, or fishing, vessel but you wouldn't have any right to tell it where to go. You would with most contracts be entitled to a share of profits but i still think that would have to be agreed rather than assumed.