crispy

That's a good offer folks. It has been a difficult start to the season for many companies with the awful weather just before Easter really putting people off. There are some fantastic offers available if you look around Noticed up to £300 off bookings for this month and reductions of 10%-30% all year with some really great deals with firms that do not normally discount so far ahead. Quite a few offering 2nd & 3rd weeks weeks at half price after August. At present it appears to be a buyers market so if you have time to look about you can get a very good deal.

It may be advised to book a time on BH weekend, its quite cheap but does guarentee that you will not be waiting ages in a Q. Contact BW Remember that the locks are manned so you are limited to working hours for lock passage. Also beware the Winsford Flashes. They may look ok but it is possible to get stuck, very stuck! In his youth (about 30yrs ago!) my husband went onto the flashes with a trad wooden boat --he was stuck for 3 days!!!!!! Only got off by runing the engine in gear untill it has moved enough silt for him to back red faced out. Agree that there are few pubs but the park at the bottom of the lift is great for a walk and a BBQ.

Yup we do repaint each of our boats totally every year!

As a hire company operaters for the last 35yrs may I offer a few points for consideration. Firstly there is a new operators licence due soon which will make it considerably more difficult for private individuals to hire out their boats. Things to bear in mind when hiring.: Customers now expect boats they hire to have a decent coat of paint and look good-unless you are prepared to repaint annually (as we do) and you get enough custom to cover your costs your boat will soon look a mess. Also ours are hull blacked at least every 2nd or 3rd hire. Unless you are capable to do all the engine maintainance and internal repairs or whatever at a moments notice in case of breakdowns you will need to employ either RCR for engines and someone for the internal jobs. Boats do not go wrong unless being used and hirers do not appriciate waiting hours for an engineer. We carry enough spare batteries to replace complete sets, whole new heating systems plus spares if required and other items specialised to our fleet. Water pumps, shower pumps etc. If you do not have these you can bet that it will be a bank holiday booking when these go wrong and you will not be able to get parts for several days and your engineer will be booked out on other, jobs RCR do not give priority to private hire boats so you could be waiting a while if they have another job on.- very unhappy customers! My husband has gone out to boats at 10.30p.m at night and early morning, we are available at all times of day for our customers- are you! It is not as easy as it may first appear!!!

Most hire companies will be more expensive than'private hire' as they are trying to make a living from it and not just earn pin money to cover costs. Hire companies will repaint their boats every year (or should) they should hold plenty of spares for the boats working systems and have a engineer available at all times, (not one who has never seen the boat before being called out by RCR or Call Assist-) should he be required. They of course will only do engine problems so you have to trust the private owner can fix your heating etc should it stop. I do feel sorry for the people whos boat was stolen but on another level how much can you really care about your boat if you advertise it on e-bay? I just hope they find it soon and it is a warning to all who think of making money on the cheap.

Actually Chas Hardern has almost half the fleet under 4 years old with one new 65ft boat out this year, must be thinking of someone else!

How different is all was then!!! I've just looked up the details for one of the first boats from our fleet in 1975(Chas Hardern Boats), which we ran after several years running camping boats using two trad boats Dorset which we still own and Chiltern which is rotting away at Ellesmere Port Boat museum now. Kehaar 35ft 4 berth - lots of room back then. It had the following luxeries, a stainless steel sink with cold running water,from a foot pump, if you wanted hot you boiled a kettle on the efficient gas ring with a grill. Must be eating in the pub as it had no oven.! There was full standing room in the main cabin but sitting only elsewhere. No shower, no heating and if I remember the toilet (bucket and chuck it of course) could only be used by easing yourself in backwards and had a curtain for a door. All for the grand sum of £70 a week. People really enjoyed theselves then and I wonder sometimes what we have lost and where the sense of adventure has gone. As we are one of the very very few hire companies still trading with the original family it is interesting to note that our new boat for this year is 65ft, mains electic, flat screen t.v dvd cd, huge shower, 2 toilets and a heating system that cost more than the whole of Kehaar put together! And folks still say it is not big enough! Actually I do miss seeing the old camping boats, lots of kids under canvas- all gone now or at least a rare sight. Anyone out there ever hire Kehaar???

Chas Hardern Boats at Beeston in Cheshire www.chashardern.co.uk will do single handed hire. Already had one chap out for 3 weeks this winter and another out in next few weeks.

Llangollen is also closed at Hurleston until March 9th. Chas Hardern at Beeston hires out all winter and after 9th March you can get onto the Llangollen from them. They have a two berth with a coal fire. We site : www.chashardern.co.uk

We have always charged for fuel used at the end of your holiday as has always been the case if hiring a car, it is returned full. It is much fairer for the customer as you pay for what you have personally used. Each boat returning from hire should have a check list so its known that the tank has been refilled. Holiday prices are generally set about 12mnths ahead and in this climate any company including fuel will hedge their bets and set the proportion for fuel at a level so they do not lose out as badly as was possible this last year. Yes we do put our prices on the pump down to reflect the market, no-one would buy from us if we did not. During winter hire we charge diesel at a split that reflects the fact that more time will be spend moored up that durng the summer.

We purchase 2300lts a time. We phone around suppliers to get the best rate. Most unforunately we cannot compete with the volume that garages purchase and that is why they are cheaper!!!!!! Also bear in mind at garages you serve yourself, at a boatyard someone usually has to stop the job they are doing to dispense diesel. Our fuel to the customer has gone down by 10p litre in the last few weeks. The extra paper work and calculation required for this new tax has to be done by us for the revenue for free.

Hire companys will probably use the split recommended by BMF. It is impossible to be accurate. Anyhow as retailers to the private boater too it is our job to ask the punter how the fuel is to be used. If they say they are going nowwhere all winter and want it all at the 'heating ' rate that is how we have to sell it. They have to sign for what they have bought, with contact name and address and keep all their receipts to prove to whoever/ Mr Nobody that they have also bought the higher rated fuel elsewhere. We send the details on to the revenue. The retailer is not the 'policeman'. It is up to the customer to prove that they have used their fuel purchase honestly. No doubt the only people who will ever be checked are the hire companies, easy to find and lots of boats all at once. I reckon the local primary school on a bad day could have come up with a better system.

Hire companys will probably use the split recommended by BMF. It is impossible to be accurate. Anyhow as retailers to the private boater too it is our job to ask the punter how the fuel is to be used. If they say they are going nowwhere all winter and want it all at the 'heating ' rate that is how we have to sell it. They have to sign for what they have bought, with contact name and address and keep all their receipts to prove to whoever/ Mr Nobody that they have also bought the higher rated fuel elsewhere. We send the details on to the revenue. The retailer is not the 'policeman'. It is up to the customer to prove that they have used their fuel purchase honestly. No doubt the only people who will ever be checked are the hire companies, easy to find and lots of boats all at once. I reckon the local primary school on a bad day could have come up with a better system.

Chas Hardern at Beeston on the Shroppie has charged for fuel used separatley since setting up in 1973. There can be £20 plus difference per week from similar boats. Depends on how far you go, weather etc. I reckon that most firms do not do that simply because of the logistics of trying to get a large number of boats refueled at the same time.

Chas Hardern Boats at Beeston have a 40ft 2 berth boat Thorin which has a coal fire diesel central heating & mains electric. It is already booked for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year but is available on the 6th Jan. No problem with single handed boaters. chashardern.co.uk or chasboats@aol.com

Chas Hardern Boats at Beeston on the Shroppie do all year hire including Christmas and New Year. They can be flexible with start and finish dates and times. Web address in chashardern.co.uk or email chasboats@aol.com for details

Chas Hardern does supply pillows/cases and blankets. Sheets or sleeping bags and towels are available to hire at a reasonable rate and for non UK bookings all bedding is supplied free. They do not charge the rather crafty non returnable damage deposit. If things are broken they are paid for per item up to the cost of the damage deposit. If you don't break anything you don't pay! Have a good cruise, the Llangollen is a very pretty canal and well worth the trip With planning it is possible to avoid most queuing. Boat early morning & late evening. Sit and chill during the day.

Try Chas Hardern they will hire to single handed & give excellent instuction

We are in the fortunate position of owning our own 'heritage' boat a wooden knobstick with a petter hot bulb engine which we live on and have had 30plus years and also a small fleet of hire boats so we get both sides of the hirer- private boater attitude. As the petter can be heard from miles away people do tend to get out of our way ( which is a b....... good thing as the front end is in dire need of a rebuild and frailer than it looks) and also assume that the boss must know exactly what he is doing -which after living and working on the canals since the early 1970's he pretty much does. If however we are taking out one of our hire boats (what I hear you say, cast down to the depths of the universally despised hire boater instead of the glory of a ' working ' boat) things can be different . It is an excellent way to get the other side of the story. Mostly we find people fine and lovely, although it is hard to restain the boss from freely giving advise to those who leave windlasses on paddles, loop ropes endlessly around bollards so they unwind, ropes over tillers, kids running up & down the roof. (God help the steerer if a bridge suddenly appears or a boat comes too fast around a corner). It is hard when you see someone doing something that is obviously dangerous not to comment & show them a safer way but it can be done even if just by example & hope they are watching. My nightmare is people with bits of them over the side when going through lift bridges (Anyone remember the girl killed at Wrenbury when her head hit the lift bridge?) Several years ago our engineer was taking a hirer through their first lock when Mr Private Boater who was waiting to go down steamed up to him and commandered the lock, which was set against him, saying he did not have time to wait while they were 'messing about'. It was explained to the customers that some people have an 'attitude ' about hirers. a brilliant way to start a holiday on the canal!

Chas Hardern Boats www.chashardern.co.uk Family owned and run for 38years. Individual 2-6 berth boats for all year cruising including Christmas and New Year. . Each customer is treated as an individual and we only send our 2 boats at a time. Lots of excellent instruction available including being accompanied through your first locks. Beautiful cruising on the Shropshire Union, Llangolen and adjoining canals. One of our first boats in 1975 was a 25ft 4 berth!! No shower, cold water only, bucket and chuck it toilet! If anyone can prove they hired it you can have a 30% discount on a holiday now. Newest boat 60ft 6 berth, mains , brilliant heating, flat screen T.V/DVD /CD.

I would change it. It is in the interest of a company or individual who is proud of their reputation and boats to advertise the fact. Reputable hire companies who instruct their customers well (as we have been doing for the last 38 years with up to 2 hours for beginners) get fed up of the 'private hire' boats with hirers who have no idea what they are doing because the owners really do not have much idea on how to give clear and memorable instuction & very little experience of doing so. (Not saying you are one of these) For them it is 'pin money' to run the boat and not earning their living as ours are. Also why should hirers get such a bad name. At least with a hire boat (ours anyway) the customer should have received good comprehensive instruction It is not in our interest to have the boats smashed about every week. There are a huge number of private boaters about with appalling manners & no consideration for learners. The equivilant of the new 4x4 owner (well company owned 4x4) cutting up the learner driver in a Ford Fiesta.