Derri

Perhaps we'd better leave 'em on the boat. They have a tendency to tease dogs. And cats. And swans.

This is their tipple of choice http://www.hall-woodhouse.co.uk/beers/badg...urstyferret.asp

We've only lived on a boat for a year and I'm going to sound like a right nodder now, but what exactly is a banter? If it's just a bit of a knees up, I reckon we can make it there. Can I bring my ferrets (they get bored left at home)?

Another live aboard vote for a composting loo here - we have a nature's head. It is one of the ones that seperates (without being too indelicate) solids and liquids. After it being fine for months as we fitted out, it began to collect to much liquid in the solid bit. After pondering several incredibly complex engineering solutions, I finally realised the weight distribution in the boat had shifted and it was leaning ever so slightly back! A bit of wood wedged under the back has fixed it a treat

I applied at the start of December. Late January, I had an answer phone message asking me to call back about my gold licence. I called back. They didn't know why it hadn't been done, or why they had called. I called again 2 weeks later. They still didn't know. I called again 2 weeks later, they STILL didn't know. After a few more weeks of this, my application came back in the post, saying my Gold licence would be about 60 quid more than their fees chart (or my renewal notice) says because my mooring is on the Thames. By the way, the returned application mentioned two different fees which were now applicable (with no explanation of how they were calculated) In disgust I politely requested they stick it and got a Thames EA licence instead for £100-odd less. It took five days to arrive

If your boat doesn't have a weed hatch, your ropes don't float and the prop is six feet under the boat in any direction, don't drop ropes in the water. In fact, only get a boat with a weed hatch.

We sent ours off early-ish December and we're still waiting. I had an answerphone message asking me to call BW, but when I did they didn't know why they had called me! They said they'd call again when they worked out what the original call was for. That was a week ago...

The quoted amount for my boat size for 2009 on Waterscape was 694 - the woman on the phone said it would be 714 because I'm on the Thames!! Apparently all the renewal notices were wrong and ours went astray anyway. But I'm just going to pop my form, paperwork and cheque for 694 in the post and wait for some official explanation of why I have to pay more for my licence, as well as the extortionate amount I pay for a Thames mooring (a stone's thow from several BW waterways). Should be interesting.

I had a gold licence at the standard cost on the Thames last year as well! That's why I'm so cross!!!

I've just tried to renew my gold licence, but BW are saying it'll be about 20 quid more because I'm moored on the Thames Shall I just tell them I'm a continuous cruiser (one with a mooring...)? Bah.

We fitted out a very old boat from scratch and put down wood veneer boards from Ikea throughout. Don't do this - there are too many places on an old boat like ours that you just can't stop a bit of water getting to! It looks rotten now and I expect we'll be replacing it with something more waterproof within the next year! (

Hello, I'm desperate to put a stove in my 39ft Broads cruiser that will heat the hot water in the calorifier (probably a Boatman). The problem is, I've not actually been able to have a look at a stove with a backboiler and I'm not sure how high off the ground all the pipe outlets will be! The calorifier is about 6 metres away from where I want the stove, under the bed and it is about a metre tall. Reading the other threads on this, I understand the pipes have to incline gently up and down to the calorifier and back to the boiler. The question is, will this be possible with the calorifier of the short, squat variety? My boyfriend reckons it's impossible; I don't really understand the plumbing ins and outs, but I'm sure it IS possible, we're just missing something! Any ideas?

Tenner an hour and they get to keep their rat.

Borrow my ferrets - no rats on my boat.

I have two boat ferrets - they can get to the places a cat/terrier just can't reach! No rodents on our boat.