Andy Woods

Could be worth doing as suggested in previous post on this thread and check for air locks ?

I can usually tell when the tank is full as the dog won't come home! Andy.

Hi Guy's, I have a Squirrel with backboiler, piped in 15mm copper and pumped by a bog standard central heating circulator to the other end of my 70ft boat. This feeds a 1500mm twin rad in the bedroom. If I run the squirrel on Exel or Taybrite I have a rad too hot to touch in a very cosy bedroom, and the fire stays in all night if the bottom vent is just left open a crack. First thing in the morning I just open the bottom door to let the fire heat up before topping up and riddling. Also have an ecofan, find it very useful as a visual temperature gauge! Don't give up Tom and Sophie, the squirrel can provide enough heat and with experience it will stay in all night (took me all last winter of messing about with the vents !) Andy.

A swift 'Zorro' impression with a sturdy bog brush, swift splash of bleach and problem solved. One of the less obvious 'joys' of boating. As yet not featured on waterword.....

Wickes do a wet and dry vac for about 30 quid, I have one and it works a treat!

If you go to Anchor Surplus (the ex army suppliers) they have some fabulous green rope that comes complete with a strong clip on one end all for the princely some of about twenty quid. I have two of these on my 70ft boat and they cope nicely with every situation I have encountered. Loved the 'ancient traditions' John! Regards Andy.

Went to the show today, not a great deal on display for the narrowboaters and I became trapped in motorhome hell for about an hour trying to find my way to the boat section! Wonderful display on the way in...'try your hand at towing a caravan'..rather chop my own arms off than be seen doing that! Did however buy a new water pump for £170, one of the new processor controlled jobbies that don't need an accumulator. Will fit it later this week, be interesting to see if it's any good, and more importantly quieter than my sureflow. Regards Andy.

Stuart, My boat is plumbed exactly as you describe and everything works fine. Regards Andy.

Just watched it too.....I think I must be breaking some kind of byelaw, as I do not have every conceivable level surface inside my boat covered in nasty little nick-nacks! There......feel better now! Andy.

Two peice aerial kit from Wickes (about a tenner), old landing net pole and clamped to the boat with an old pair of mole grips! Simple, yet effective. Andy.

I have the two blade fan on Wanderer and it works a treat. One other advantage is when i am in the office I can glance down the boat to the morso and the fan speed tells me how warm the stove is! A kind of optical thermometer! Andy.

The Trent can be fun sometimes :-) ! I've been on it twice when the warning marker was just below red and wouldn't recommend it. Can be a bit hairy trying to turn into the Trent & Mersey at warp factor 5 ! Paul, 6k in Chertsey sounds a lot of money, but remember...it's grim up north. Hope old Grundy who owns the marina doesn't use this site or i might find my moorings going up! Regards Andy.

Hi Chris, Wish the dog could talk. Then maybe he could tell me what foulness he rolled in on Friday as I still can't get rid of the stink! (smells like and old Fox!) Didn't mean to berate Barton Turns unnecessarily, It was just my observation from cruising past this summer. Regards Andy.

Down here in Sunny Shardlow marina I have to pay £533 per quarter for my 70ft boat. This is on a residential mooring with water and electric hookup on the pontoon. I usually nip over to Sawley for a pumpout as the 'facilities' are better. Cost is £8 a go, but if you are crafty you can leave it on for the next man and split the cost! Saw a sign for pumpout on the Trent & Mersey near Stone this summer and they wanted £15! at that price I would try and syphon the bugger out!!!! Regards Andy.

Always thought Barton Turns looked a bit 'windswept' and desolate. Regards Andy.

I have a 'Le Creuset' casserole pot and often cook on the squirrel with it. As my stove is near the hob i often use it as an extra way of keeping food simmering. Another trick is to keep a kettle of water on top at all times, handy for washing up etc and heated for free! My Squirrel has a back boiler that feeds a double rad at the bedroom end of the boat using a domestic circulator. last weekend it was minus 1 outside, and I had to put a fan on in the bedroom to cool it down! Regards Andy.

Glenn, Only just stopped crying with laughter at your 'split up with the girlfriend' comment! We moved on last December and by February she had legged it! I have now found a new woman who it a boat nut, makes life so much easier. Regards Andy.

As both a boatowner and a fisherman, I can see both sides of the story. However I think I made one fishermans day when I bought my 70ft boat to a reasonably speedy halt on the Erewash canal to allow him to land a beautiful 5lb Chub. Best fish I have seen taken from there recently. If anyone is thinking of a trip that way in the spring, watch out for the local brats in Cotmanhay, they like throwing stones at the boaters!

Thought I would take the plunge and buy one of these inverters. It runs my LCD TV, freeview box, dvd with surround sound with no problem at all ! Just had a look in this months canal mags and most inverters of this nature are about £100, so bit of a bargain.

3G update! I'm in dry dock at Mills Dockyard on the Erewash canal at Trent Lock and the signal is superb! Think Mr Mill's may be a little upset when I tell him I'm not coming out !!! Boat looks good with the bottom freshly blacked too! regards Andy.

Whoops......think I meant to say 3G !

Hi Guy's, Think I have to bite the bullet and organise getting my boats bottom overplated. Any recommendations in the East Midlands area? Regards Andy.

I recently changed from o2 gprs service that cost £2.00 per meg and was costing a fortune to Voda's G3 service. Annoyingly the G3 signal is poor and often drops back to gprs but is far cheaper at £50 per month for 300 meg's! It also means I can switch my mobile to a lower tarriff for voice calls. G3 connection speed, when it works, is almost broadband speed. However it just makes you realise how slow gprs service is when it drops out of G3! Regards Andy.