LEO

Good news, The Wendover Arm is well worth a visit, but I do find it a bit of a 'plod'. One of the good things about coming along to the 'SB' is that you stand the chance of becoming a CRAPPER - we were always sorry when BW piled and filled in the short Cowroast Arm. It was often mistaken by boaters for the winding hole about 150 yards further on. Excitement rose as boats ran aground on the gently sloping arm........ We Crappers have many exciting events throughout the year to raise funds, membership is not for the faint hearted. Chris - let me know if you need a tow....................... Leo. PS Weather here excellent to-day - bring sun tan lotion.

'Er'no, but waiting until the towpath impovements between Cowroast Bridge and the centre of Berko, (proposed by BW) are completed, (within the next 12 weeks) and then it will be surfaced with red tarmac instead of the usual gold colour. To be fair to BW they are only picking up a modest 1/3 of the bill for the construction of this 2 mile linear 'velodrome', the rest will be met by 2 local authorities. I know they are going to do it, as they sent me a letter advising me of the fact and that it may be necessary to move my boat - I am 1/3 of a mile from the proposed works and on the oppposite side of the canal. Look forward to seeing you on the 28th. Try and make it during the afternoon so as to take advantage of the excellent weather requested. Leo

Hi, As far as I am aware, amd following discusions with KK a couple of days ago - 'Yes' Please advise if you are coming. Leo.

Hi, Putting up bunting, laying welcome mats for those coming to 'THE' banter at the Grand Junction Arms at Bulbourne on Sat 28th Feb. That's assuming I get back from the Planet ZOG following a visit by BW employees to discuss various local matters. Have a good time, and may your God go with you. Leo.

Hi, It lost a lot of appeal when BW handed it over to 'money grabbers' who forced a lot of the small traders out. I've stopped going. A trip to the Chandlery at UBC is better. Leo.

Hi, Pleased that you have found the problem, I would definately try and incorporate a filter with a detachable bowl, but having said that there does not seem to be one on my system............................ Leo

Hi, Have done it both ways several times, it's definately easier on the boat, engine and gearbox going down stream on the Thames, especially if the gearbox is old. We did it in two weeks, I can give a breakdown of hours etc if you want. Mooring was generally OK, and only had to pay once in 30 years. Thames and floods - it's generally very well managed, but take local advice I found the EA phone line on flood conditions totally useless when we went upstream in 2007. Lots of locks electrified but others can be hand operated out of hours. Some electric ones tend to not work due to an electrical fault at times, which can negate early starts. Section from Teddington to Brentford good, but you have to catch the tide. Turn into Brentford easy. We went onto Limehouse once (in 1996) - exciting in a 30ft boat. Leo.

Hi, I have since changed engines, I seem to remember the re-assembly process was much easier with the special spanner, which were originally supplied as special tools by BMC. I was contacted by a boat owner in Spain who had a BMC ( and read CWDF) who bought my spanner for Eu30. So it's happily tightening 'nuts' in Spain. Gardners, (which now demand my attention) need a similar special spanner for tightening several head nuts under the rocker shaft. There was another thread on this subject that suggested several ways to tighten the head down without a special spanner but indicated there was good chance of distorting the rocker shaft if the proposed method was carried out by anyone without 'above average' fitting skills. Hope that helps.. Leo.

Hi, I seem to recall that this boat was not only affected by the topside loading but also that it was put into a tight turn whilst under full power. Leo

Hi Alan, I agree with your comments - basically it's the height above sea level and a few miles can make all the difference. Yesterday I travelled from Chesham to Cowroast - lots of snow and ice all the way. Later went from Chesham to High Wycombe - snow all the way until you drop down into High Wycombe. The 'Tring' Gap also tends to funnel cold wind causing problems, and travelling up the escarpment of the Chilterns causes air to become colder as one reaches the ridge. This effect is also noticeable as spring approaches I found London and the suburbs flowered about 3 weeks before Chesham and I live on a ridge above the Town Centre I find that shrubs etc come into bloom about a week later than those closer to the Town Centre. The height above sea level can be gauged as to from where in the Chilterns you can see Canary Wharf Tower - have seen it from a house in Dunsmore and from Hastoe, September is the best time to view it. Both these villages are a short way from Cowroast, which is about the same height above sea level as the top of the dome of St. Pauls Cathedral. All good fun - I always describe the Chilterns as the 'Thinking Man's Cotwolds'. Leo

Wise words, My Kabola has been running happily on the red stuff for 2 weeks non stop, heat, plus hot water, no problems. I am amazed at the problems read on some posts - keep things simple, makes life happy. Leo. Snow bound on the Tring Summit, hope weather improves for the Southern Banter......

Hi, Peter braved the locks and was at the Cowroast on Tuesday ( I missed him too), he will be back in a couple of weeks, If you PM me i will let you have his mobile number and then he sends an automated message a couple of days before he arrives so that you canh catch him. Leo

KK is very wise in the ways of Refleks stoves. I have a Kabola - a similar system and I find it helps to turn the nozzle cleaning screw once a day. As he says the inline filter (if fitted) can and does become blocked - I change the filter on my stove once a year and it seems to stop a lot of 'black' sediment and once more it's reliability is restored. I normally clean and 'hoover' my fire out after about 2 weeks of continuous running. After sweeping the chimney it's quite difficult removing all the carbon from the botom of the flue, especially if you have a boiler fitted, I have modified a 15mm copper pipe which fits into the Hoover and facilitates removal of the debris. You can also get some Tablets from Lockgates which when burnt help to clean the stove. Hope this helps. Leo.

Check the fire out carefully and sweep the chimney thoroughly, remove the baffle plate within the firebox and clean that well before replacing it. Are you using well seasoned wood, if not you will have problems. As suggested get a Carbon Monoxide alarm. Sure the fire is getting a good supply of air? no blocked up ventilators? no cracks or weakspots in the cast iron.? Leo

The very best of Luck, hope the learning curve is not too steep. What is the expiry date of the BS certificate?. Leo.

Farmers used to do a lot better- but now have hands tied by regulations from the EU. For example a friend who has been breeding pigs for years has been forced out of business by Tesco (wanting the cheapest deal and taking the longest time to pay). He keeps a few pigs for a hobby. One died last week and regulations stipulate the body must be collected by a licenced deadstock collector and taken to a nominated crematorium. Pig died in North Bucks, Collected by someone in South Bucks, taken to Canterbury for incineration cost to the farmer £200, value of pig if sold for slaughter and butchering - £60. Leo.

That famous film maker - the one that banged the big gong! Leo.

Now you have hit the nail on the head!! very few people do that - most people look upon it as the ' Bank of 22 Accacia Avenue' or where ever they chose to live, and we know what happens to banks when they lend money willy nilly. Not sure if I remember the Banks being bailed out in the last recession - that's why this one could last longer. Happy days, suggest we all taken an apprenticeship* as a Locksmith - they generally make lots of 'boodle' in a recession. Leo * Apprentice - a term not often used these days - when you learned your trade from people who had some business ethics. I did my 5 years but nowadays days we all become experts from day 1 and training not really needed - because as a nation we don't make anything on an exportable scale.

Hi, Interesting replies, Talking to a former colleague who carries out residential property valuations yesterday it became apparent tthat the number of completed sales at the moment is very low, so comp. data is very sketchy. Values are probably back to mid to early 2004 levels and falling. Many repossessions are being taken straight to auction and not much effort by lenders to get 'the best possible price'. The usual 'skullduggery' with repo sales is becoming apparent, ie the defaulting borrower leaves the house in good nick and within a few days it becomes a smashed up wreck.............. With cash, one purchaser got £150k off a £450K new house last month (Bedford). 1 Bed modern flats in Dunstable being sold for around £70000, - amazing. Residential rents falling to almost uneconomic levels. Small estate agents closing down (2 in the small town I am in) and many have stopped Sunday opening (perhaps they are going to church praying for an improvement). Does not bode too well but property was heavily overvalued and lending upwards of 6 times income was crazy. Recovery?, in '89/90 it took 10 years - this time it could be longer. Best to look at property as a long term investment. Mortgages difficult to get unless the prospective borrower has a large deposit. I found East Anglia generally was the last area where residential property values fell, following a period of rapid rises in values. Glad I'm out it. Leo

And for non Guardian readers there's a picture on NBW. The comments about the rat-run are very true. Shame these small bridges are being ruined by the volumes of traffic they now have to carry. But it speaks volumes for the design and construction standards of the original builders. Leo

Hi, As far as I am aware I was not rude and apologies if you felt otherwise. I agree it is an open forum and perhaps this that is why at times care should be excercised over what is written, be accurate. I don't agree about the market for boats not being affected by the recession, whilst the market may be dominated by older people who may have cash available, they may have only got that cash by being prudent and splashing out on a boat, may, after careful thought become less attractive. They also, (because of the pathetic performance of some pension providers) need money to live on. Many will have seen investment income drop substantially, I see one account I use has dropped to less than 1% gross), so they will have to consider spending capital to live. So where one might have picked up say £6000pan suddenly it's reduced to less than £1000pan, a modest shareholding of ay £12000 suddenly drops to being worth less than £1000................. So spending a large amount of capital on a boat with the high and ever increasing overheads loses it's appeal. Yes, a boat will have to be valued for a marine mortgage, but this opinion is given by a suitably qualified person (hopefully) after a full 'out of water' survey and I would imagine that providers of such mortgages are being very 'picky' at the moment. Comments by owners of similar boats are always useful. If I had a mortgage on a house at the moment I would be ploughing all spare cash into that as we ain't seen nothing of the recession yet. Leo

Find another surveyor who will, but be careful - make sure you issue your instructions in writing and discuss the 'caveats' they are imposing on their reports. I was talking to one of those 'well qualified 40 years in the business surveyor types' this morning and he had stopped carring out valuations due to the economic climate, or else they were only carried out by a small carefully controlled department within his firm. Really the problem is that there are so few sales (boats, houses, cars or what ever) going through at the moment (others will leap in and say this is rubbish) that it is difficult to form an honest opinion of value - it is an established fact that value has to based on comparison of like for like if possible, adjusted to take into account changes in the market for the commodity being valued. The situation is only going to get worse over the next few years so perhaps try to see what a wise comment the Surveyor is making when he said 'no'. If he gives a valuation without qualifying the figure and putting a very short timespan on the validity of the figure be careful. Hope this helps. Leo

Agreed, but apart from the OP the 'viewing public' seems to be 'Tiller Girl', the rest are commenting upon information 'gleaned' from adverts, which when I was negotiating with properties was really worthless and people resorting to using it were 'clutching at straws'. Leo.

I can't comment upon you Mother's parenting skills, but the problem is that you are asking for opinions from others who may not be qualified to give an opinion, due to lack of experience, professional qualification or absolutely no knowledge of the subject. If I were the owner of this boat I would be looking very carefully at some of the answers given following your enquiry. The best way to gather information to enable you to make a judgement as to whether to buy the boat or not is to arrange for a survey from a suitably qualified and indemnified Surveyor not inviting comments from all and sundry on a website. It might be worth the moderators looking into this situation or perhaps perhaps people who pass judgement with the qualifying comments ' I don't know what I am talking about' would find it wise to consider preceeding their post with the heading 'without predudice'. Remember - the old adage drummed into me 40 years ago when I started work - 'No knowledge - no comment - no litigation = happiness'. Leo.