Phoenix_V

and finally https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/a-hundred-people-bringing-their-own-booze-and-other-things-the-met-police-havent-noticed-20220111216145

Lee Valley marina Stansted Abbotts? probaly a waiting list but they have under cover facilities.

bugger I just wasted 5 minutes of my life looking at the advert for them, to save others this is the pitch "It may seem like magic, but Stayfresh’s genius is all thanks to the porous, food safe, natural Japanese stone powder suspended in the polythene film; the powder absorbs ageing ethylene gases that most fruit and veg release, and the bags let the contents breathe, creating an environment that helps produce stay fresher for far longer. The surface of the bags is also treated to prevent any build-up of moisture or bacteria."

free.fr current offer 10.99 euros/month 70gb can also use in UK

I agree unless there is a survey the broker is just guessing perhaps doesn't want potential aggravation. We had a boat built in 1967, which we bought in 1997 and spent some £1000 or so on minor overplating, painted it every few years and sold in 2011 at which time the survey showed the boat hull to be in the same condition as after the replating - no further metal work required. Steel was better quality in those days.

I was thinking more in terms of the amount of hard physical work rather than the skill. The person concerned would be starting as a deckhand so presumably plenty of time to learn the technical!

true but they are

Apparently you can get a German work permit if you can show that you have a job offer and no EU citizen is available to do the job (slightly easier process for some countries such as Australia) but then I suspect a German's chances of getting a UK visa to work on a UK fuel boat would be zilch There must however be plenty of Irish passport holders on cwdf who might be interested???

The visa will be the major issue for UK citizens I have no idea how much of an issue. For anyone who has worked a UK narrowboat such as one of the fuel boats I imagine this would be very much a holiday. There was some mention that the owners were looking towards retirement and possibility of purchase and taking over boat in future.

Interesting small ad spotted on DBA website - wish I was a bit younger! "Deck hand (FMD) wanted This is a long term position with the possibility to take over the ship eventually. Pay is according to experience, minimum €1000 food, accomodation is free. MS Einigkeit is 62 m x 6 .4 and carries 500 tons. Aft accomodation: Bedroom, guest room, living room, kitchen and bath Forward accomodation: Bedroom, kitchen, toilet and sink Engine aft. Mercedes OM404, heating system, Batteries etc. Bowthruster Daf 180 HP, Genset Deutz 25KVA We operate between Fürstenwalde (east of Berlin) and north west Germany (Bremen, Oldenburg and a few smaller places in that area). 95% of our cargo consists of animal feed (grain, soya pellets etc.) Because of our small size, we can operate in the small canals and rivers. There is little competion from larger vessels, so there is always more cargo available then we can cope with. We essentially work 12 month per year, sometimes the winter stops us with too much ice so we can go skiing. In the summer, we try to have a holiday for a few weeks, usually Italy or Spain. Sometimes we sneek in the odd day off like last Saturday in Berlin. We usually start at 0700 and tie up at 1900. 12 Hours days and 7 days per week sounds punishing, but it´s a relaxed "working" day. modern barges drive themself, so it´s more of a supervisory role. There is nothing to stop me or my wife to catch a few hours sleep while the ship is chugging along. I would not call my engine room automated, but during the day, nobody needs to go down there. We just check oil and water in the morning and there is nothing to do down there during the day. Loading and unloading is done by the port workers, we just move the hatch covers."