Cheshire cat

I would be suprised if it was the gearbox. Our shared boat had 10000 hours on the motor when the engine was swapped out. The gearbox gave no problems despite very few oil changes (every 1000 hours or so)

Better October than February

I remember coming downstream through Reading in a strong current. The light was on green at the bridge, I gave it lots of revs to try to retain control and just managed to miss the bridge by the skin of our teeth. It was very close but I still can't see how I could do anything differently other than tie up. By the time you get there it's too late.

I'll start worrying when Arthur swaps his Trombone for a Violin!

Or a man with a mag drill

We walked the whole length last year and it didn't feel like a jungle

The aquaduct pub does decent food and the beer is excellent too.

Putting aside batteries and ICE I think cars will die because of all the touch screen tech that's being introduced. That's far more likely to die before the drivetrain. I can't see it being cheap to replace. Going back to licences they've said inflation plus so I'm expecting 15% as a starting point. We shall see.

You are both referencing the same basin. You can moor on the topath side just before the basin. I've seen quite a few boats moor there over the last few years. I'm impressed that anyone would tackle the Rochdale 9 singlehanded. They are notoriously difficult. Heavy with water coming over the gates. Access is poor on some of them too.

Not true. There is a cycle path from Dunham to Manchester and another from Waters meeting to Minton. That's a significant proportion of their waters

Extraction from the Gout has been happening at significant cost

Peel holdings are also way ahead in that they don't allow cc'ing.

Mine said "John could do better if he tried" My name isn't John!

Some large increases being thrown around on here. I'll be suprised if it's more than 20% this year for CC. That doesn't preclude further jumps in subsequent years but a massive hit in a single jump will cause the market to implode.

I think there will be an increase in boats that have had their name and serial numbers removed. C&RT still haven't got a workable pla for the anonymous boats.

Lots of immigrant labour on minimal wages. Lots of deaths. Lots of canal companies that didn't make a bean for their investors. Some routes were very profitable, granted. Others were a liability. A bit like today really.

What's that then? Roughly 25% of boaters responding. A reasonable turnout

If you haven't got your button sorted out I'm sure these guys can supply you. They make them for everyone else including boat hire companies, A new button awaits They also make thousands of those rubber fenders that get wrapped around the prop

The engine has been behaving itself although it has only been out for two short runs. In my own mind if the fault reappears I would want to look at the spill rail and also try to borrow a diesel compression tester.

There's an ex workboat on the bottom at the visitor's moorings at Huddlesford Junction. The same boat was on the bottom last year for many months where the Coventry passes under the A38. Judging by the increasing number of pumps on the bankside it took several attempts to raise it so it must be galling that she's gone down again.

Spend a day with a wire brush is very optimistic in my experience. I have just reblacked our boat using Intertuf. Prior to applying it I tried wire brush and polymer abrasive discs in an anglegrinder to remove the rust around the waterline. The wire brushes are effective but polish the metal which isn't good if you want something to stick to it. The discs simply smear what blacking is left. They do get rid of it eventually but you would spend a lot of money to remove all the blacking on an average sized boat.

My insurance is due next month. Towergate have informed me I need to get a survey because the boat will become 25 years old during the next insurance period. Annoying because the email informing me arrived days before the boat was coming out of the water and too short a time period to arrange a Surveyor. I plan to switch insurers in the short term and plan for a survey in a more leisurely timeframe.

Presumably one of the total loss scenarios involves a sinking in which case there's a chance you get a hefty bill because it needs to be refloated and removed from the water.

I was wondering how Wayne was doing whilst out boating this weekend. Come back, do a bit of digging and lo and behold. You can't keep a good man down.

What is the correct space between prop and stern tube? On our boat the gap is negligible. I do know the previous owner changed a PRM mechanical box for a PRM150 at some point.