stort_mark

Just wondering if anyone has actually tested this unit to determine if it truly is "good". I use a number of GPS units at work and some are good...and some are - errrr - hopeless. For example, my Blackberry has a built-in GPS. It is totally useless. Also in response to the question "is GPS useful on the canals" the answer is yes. If you want to geo-reference photographs then the active tracklog on a GPS unit can be synchronised with the camera (software like RoboGEO makes this easy). Also if you create tracks and routes along the canal you can get better estimates of arrival times at any given point (destination or pub). In some places (especially with particularly good GPS units and an appropriate basemap) you can verify the correct channel (this is not always easy on some rivers even with good signs, and would seem to be particularly valuable in times of strong streams) and finally if you navigate some of the waterways in the Fens, having a GPS tells you where you are when you can't see beyond the bank. So those who say ..."Duh - why do you need a GPS on a canal?" there are plenty of good reasons.

So what about the rivers or waterways that were not part of BWB? For example, the Cambridgeshire Lodes.

I do hope so. fwiw, the Derwent battles appear to be over the **re**establishment of navigation rights once they had been extinguished (by an Order in 1935).

I do remember the case, and I'll look it up. Thanks.

No, a right of navigation is established by act of parliament. Without it there can be no navigation because the water is owned (to the median line) by riparian owners.

I have become interested in the issues surrounding early navigations and have been reading of how the River Cherwell was clearly navigated right up to Banbury in the 17th Century, long before the Oxford Canal was built. But given that - in England - it has always needed an Act of Pariliament to estalish the right of navigation...how was this possible. The Cherwell wasn't the only such river: there were many others. However, I also want to know what is needed to abandon or extinguish a right of navigation. To abandon a railway requires an Act of Parliament, I understand, so I assume it requires the same for abandoning any canal or river navigation. Yes? The more astute may see where I am going with this.........

Errrr...let's try the British Waterways Act 1995, Part III, Article 18 (1): No person shall moor or otherwise leave a vessel on an inland waterway so as to cause [sic] obstruction or hindrance to navigation... Then there are the BWB Bye-Laws which are made pursuant to the powers of the British Transport Commission Act 1954. In Art 32 it says that "no person using the towing path on any canal shall obstruct, interfere with or hinder the towing or navigation of any vessel on the canal and such person shall permit any person engaged in towing or navigating any vessel and any horse or vehicle used for such purpose to pass on the side of the towing path nearer to the canal." There is also Art 7, a requirement to have goods and equipment stowed so that it cannot be washed or swept into the canal. So take your pick. There's nothing wrong with putting whatever you like on the roof of your boat but if it obstructs another vessel passing by then it is illegal (and actually can incur a Level 3 fine).

He said it was a Broom...so yes. However, there are plenty of NB gin palaces so best not to make assumptions, eh? The boating shoes+slacks brigade can be found on any type of boat. Oooo...errrrr. Blinding snobbery in a few posts now about "plastic boats". The irony. No-one in this world is automatically a tosser merely because of what they wear, buy or use. The biggest issue is how people can simply invent generalisations with which to justify being unpleasant to others.

I know...I am hoping to get one of them. I saw a wonderful boat down the Oxford this week. It was called Tamburo or something like that...all polished wood and big windows. I must admit that after you've seen 50 of the 100-grand-plus monsters (with roses and castles, genuine vintage engine), I enjoyed seeing the quirky cheaper boats. Best of all was the little run around for the people who live in the cottage at Somerton Lock.....absolutely essential to get to and from home and the nearest road! Having said that, I did see something realy great......it had the name St Marylebone in the title, but can't remember the rest of the name. That was truly impressive, a real head-turner.

I have been looking around at cruisers the last few months and have been amazed at the variety of boats available. It's not all as straightforward as with narrowboats, where there is an assumption that they are just that. There is no standard for the beam of cruisers so it is much more interesting (and complex). Today, I saw an ad for a really attractive cruiser - a Senior 31. I had never heard of a Senior boat: it sounded a little like the dogfood our mutts get, but it seems there was a Senior Engineering Ltd in Southampton making estuarine and river boats. I discovered with a little searching that the beam is 10ft so ruling it out (perhaps...it's still tempting though). Would be fun tooling up the Stort in a boat with twin diesels. You can invade countries with twin diesels in your boat. Come to think of it, the air draught looks a bit too much for the Stort. (Anyone know what it is?) I had actually been attracted to the website by an ad for a much prettier smaller boat, a 25' day launch. However, 36 grand and no shower is a little bit too steep. You do get red leather seats though, which is neat. It all seems very "east of Ipswich". I still have to find a six berth boat and that's not easy. I asked a while back and got plenty if suggestions about 5 berth boats. But if I wanted a 5 berth boat, I would have said that I was looking for a 5 berth boat (confusing, I know). A few weeks back, in another discussion about GRP and wooden boats, someone suggested that these boats may well make a comeback: the more I have been looking around and thinking about it, the more I am inclined to agree. It is really cool to be able to trail your boat over to small unconnected waterways (although the air draught is a big problem with many GRP boats!) and then back at the end of the weekend. Still love the big steel beasts, but for pottering around at the weekend, a cruiser seems ideal.

Surprised me that there was no big weir on the pund below Aynho Weir lock to let surplus water back into the Cherwell before Somerton Deep Lock. The single gates south of Banbury are a pain but at least most of the lift bridges are left open...or just bulldozed out of the way as in the case of one near Aynho which seems to have been catapulted into the field alongside.

...except when the Cherwell is in flood and then you get a huge amount of extra water locked through and spectacular waterfalls over Somerton Deep Lock

Thanks for the responses so far....and for the links to the downloadable information. I had already got some other documents. It is useful to know the practical stuff as well as what is written in the guidelines and regulations. One concern I have is that outboard storage lockers are not feasible on some designs of cruisers (e.g. the aft cabin Vikings)..or maybe I am wrong. In these kinds of boats, I would not be keen to carry petrol (even in a jerry can) in the central cockpit.

Place near me has a sign proclaiming "Budgie's For Sale". After several months driving past and getting exasperated, I decided to pull over, go in and ask "What is the budgie selling?" The bloke told me to f*** off.

What are the legal requirements and practical issues for transporting and storing petrol for use in an outboard engine? I understand that the maximum capacity of non-metal containers is 10l per container (correct?), but are garages happy to allow you to waltz in and fill small (non-metal) containers? I must admit I am a little paranoid about the use and storage of petrol on a boat, but a diesel outboard is somewhat impractical realistically. How do cruiser owners manage their fuel? Fill up every day? How much fuel is consumed cruising for a day on the Cut? D people use multiple small containers? Does everyone fit a bilge blower? Sorry....really want to understand the issues here!

On the Oxford Canal last week it was amusing to see how many people have simply taken over the towpath and the hedge behind the towpath, filling it with assorted plastic tables, huge barbecue units, plastic garden storage units, benches, flowerpots and variuos moped and car parts. Parts of the canal are like a linear aquatic Alabama trailer-park. One grumpy old git complained because I had the temerity to walk my dogs (both on lead, both impeccably behaved) through his towpath garden. Residential-moorers-on-towpaths please note: your licence permits you a place to tie your boat to the bank, it is not deed title to great swathes of the land and hedgerow alongside.

Funny... but I see them as "inexperienced (fast) hire boats".....

Unless of course you weren't there and came back to your boat to find everything that was formerly on your roof now in the canal. Not everyone has the luxury of being on their boat all the year round to watch out for incoming horse-drawn boats.

Yes. Within reason, moreorless any sign that BW puts up on their land is "legal". Whether it is meaningful is an entirely different proposition and would depend on the outcome of legal action. Ideally, common-sense would prevail whereby the operator would take care not to sweep objects off the roof of others' boats while those mooring might look to remove rooftop objects where practical. Sadly, common sense is not so common these days.

hadn't thought about that. Are there other watergates in weirs? They wold certainly seem to fit the bill.