grahame r

Well, it has almost everything. Loads of 72 hour moorings not filled with overstayers, there were 20 boats here last night and still some room. Water and pump out facilities. The K&A Trust Headquarters/Museum. Lovely Town with Thursday Market, Supermarkets and all manner of shops. WADWORTHS BREWERY!!! THE CAEN HILL FLIGHT-one of the wonders of the canal world. So why have BW decided to withdraw the refuse collection facilities? I asked the BW man doing his rounds to check overstaying etc (nothing wrong with that!) and he said "WE have some outside OUR offices at the top of the Flight" Not even a titter when I replied "YOU would!" Any other places more perfect?

Police harassment is also a serious problem, one girl told me she'd been fingered by the fuzz on several occasions. Coat.

I think my point is made.

We bought wide because the boat was to be our home and with a full time job, moored residentialy 90% of the time, the advantages of widebeam are just too great to ignore. Four years down the line, having managed to make a (very modest) living from the boat and no longer tied to a land based job and residential mooring, we still feel the advantages of widebeam outweigh the cruising restrictions (we are in the South so have the Stort, Lee, London, Grand Union (to South of Birmingham) the Thames, Wey and Kennet and Avon to explore (yes we are frightened of he Severn). Should this or any future government stop increasing the age for state pensions to be claimed and we are actually allowed to stop working and still eat then a norrow boat to eplore the rest of the system is very tempting. Should any government (or Waterways Charity!) have the foresight and wisdom to remove the pinch points that restrict access for widebeams between the North and South then we'd keep the widebeam until we ran out of wide canals to explore (I do know that low loaders are available) but this would only delay the inevitable purchase of a norrow boat which IMHO must surely be the supreme vessel for serious full time cruising.

Surely the best solution would be to include the cost of civilised sewage disposal in the licence fee, ie "free" pump out points. Sensible storage tank based systems would, over time, become the norm, the use of chemicals could be properly prescribed and policed and the unpleasant job of carrying containers of human faeces to pour down open receptacles would be confined, like the night soil man, to the past.

Having recently replaced my, completely shot, engine mountings (Yanmar Barrus Shire 50hp pushing 25tonnes of widebeam for 1700 hours over 5 years) I've been advised that the engine mountings can't really cope with the fore and aft motion as the prop pushes the boat along, as well as the side to side motion they were designed for. The usual solution is a thrust bearing between the engine and prop, but modern boats tend to have the engine fitted well back with a short prop shaft with insufficient room. Apparently my options are: 1) Solid mount the engine (properly aligned) and put up with a little more vibration and noise. 2) Fit a tie bar between the engine and the bulkhead (like they did on the old mini) to stop any fore/aft motion. 3) Put up with replacing the engine mountings regularly. As I will be doing about 800 hours cruising this year (and probably next), option 2 seems the best solution. Does anyone have any experience of this or can see any potential problems? Thanks Grahame

Looking at the BSS requirements I see what you mean. I would imagine that if you use a flaring tool on the cut ends of the rigid pipe this would constitute "a proper hose nozzle". No doubt there is an examiner out there somewhere who will confirm this.

Can't really see what's wrong with the clips supplied. There will be no positive pressure before the pump and Webasto obviously consider them adequate.

I use ordinary House Coal, at the garage it is £9.00 for 20KG (£450.00 per tonne) at a proper Coal Merchant (Bayfords at Bishop's Stortford) £7.00 for 25KG (£280.00 per tonne), that makes the garage 60% more expensive! It's got to be worth looking around.

If you go on Ebay and look for "12volt tv with dvd" there are quite a few new ones obviously from dealers so always available. We bought an AKURA 19" for £199.00 over 2 years ago, works very well, uses about 3amps, that's 36 watts. Good luck

She's clearly visible on the Mercia Marina Web Cam, and very smart she looks too.

The costs are for parts only exclusive of VAT and Delivery.

I have to replace my propeller and shaft in the next 2 weeks or so. The engineer suggested Norriss's who quoted £190.00 for the shaft and £252.00 for the prop. I also contacted Crowther Marine (as they were mentioned on this Forum) who quoted £450.00 for both, so, much of a muchness. Does anyone have a view as to if either is significantly better than the other? Now, I don't want to start another war, but I also contacted Axiom Propellers who quoted £685.00 for the propeller only! Has anyone first hand experience of the Axiom so that I can make an informed decision as to it being worth £430.00 (+VAT) more than a conventional prop? I've read the reams of previous posts and the magazine articles and Axiom's claims. What I'm particularly interested in is if Gibbo did actually fit an Axiom and if so was it a dissappointment or a revelation? Thanks in advance. Grahame

I'd second Pewsey visitor moorings. We were there earlier this year both passing and stopping a couple of times and were surprised to find the same (unihabited) boats moored in exactly the same prime spots nearest the permit holders moorings next to the Wharf. A little dredging certainly wouldn't go amiss, I had to rescue a child and her bike who managed to fall between the bank and a moored boat behind us. We found the town itself quite delightful however.

Passing Wind?

Newbury Library on the K&A is wonderful, moor by the park, pop over the bridge to the library, no need to join and no charg e then a nice cup of tea and piece of cake in the K&A Trust Cafe in the car park.