Denis R

Vesta was the boat that travelled up together with Sickle.

Perhaps if it's to be an open auction, they'll put the vacancies on ebay.

Well all I can say is that every site I've Googled informs me that my six quid charger is fine to charge a starting battery enough to start the engine, that sulphating is reality not fiction, deep discharging and not fully re-charging is a bad idea and that if I want to give my abused domestic batteries a fighting chance, something that works like my pseudo modern Victron charger is going in the right direction. I guess it's a trade off - battery life versus charger cost. In my case as the batteries are undergoing the abuse on a daily basis I have to class them as consumables, but the charger still wins.

I've had similar experiences with their Irish accented technical guy. My boat ate two of their alternator to battery chargers and the help I got was so mind-blowing I gave up completely. I would need a lot of convincing before submitting myself to their unique brand of customer service again.

'Nno access' usually means that there are no doors between the engine room and the living area forward, you have to go round the outside to get from the back to the front, if you see what I mean. Edited to say: Baldock was quicker on the keys. Repetition, you have 45 seconds on 'no access'

Can't imagine why, with Barking Charlie as a neighbour, you'd want to desert a mooring on the GU and move down onto the treacherous Nene Especially if you're thinking of Billing!

I agree, but what we need here are the visionary individuals, not just collecting a pay cheque at BW, driven by a higher purpose, leading opinion not reflecting it; boat owners who know the canals and rivers. Tough specification. I agree - time to get off my arse then! I am trying a bit! My kids can hear a Bolinder coming way before I hear it; can tell the difference between a Seffle and Bolinder; think the Idle Women were 'Sisters doing it for themselves', but like you say, hopefully will be able to make a contribution before we ***k it up completely.

Hi Mark, An interesting and erudite post! Seconded. IMO BW are not worthy custodians of the 'heritage asset' they control and have been poisoned by the mediocrity and lack of vision of the masters they serve, sucked into a short-term, lack of joined up thinking, degenerate culture. (Phew, that was a mouthful!) I've been a member of the IWA for years and in many respects I must plead guilty to the charge of being an armchair member and making no meaningful contribution to the organisation, save my annual subscription. I suppose in some way I feel that my modest support funds in a small way some positive campaigning effort, but the IWA isn't exactly radical now, is it? I've just shown this to my 12 year old daughter and her simple answer is "as many kids as you can". End of. Show, explain, enthuse, involve.

I imagine that although the mooring is described as 'long term', at that crazy bid figure the winning madman, sorry bidder, probably intends living aboard full-time residential and therefore equates the £500 a month to an equivalent flat rental. They must be wealthy and/or b****y desperate to get afloat!

In this instance, aren't the highwaymen the bidders? If BW's guide price for the residential mooring was £1700 and some bright spark decided it was worth £3500 to them, the winning bidder inflated the value of the mooring, not BW? Not that BW are going to mind, it may inspire them to release more locations for residential mooring if it attracts this kind of premium....

Classic case of supply and demand? A comparable flat rental will probably be in the order of £350/month and I think the attraction of an 'official' residential mooring puts it in the same league, irrespective of the cost of the boat.

Wow, that was a long time ago.... I ended up having a boat built, which has a Beta 35. Interesting information though - I'd been given the impression that Kingfishers were Indian rather than Chinese and have come across one or two on my travels, none of which appeared to have given their owners any undue grief.

The float in side the cassette that activates the switch can be thrown 'over centre' by the action of vigorous shaking when there is a *ahem* reluctant deposit to dislodge during emptying. The trick is, once the cassette is clean, open the slider and grope around inside to manipulate it gently back..... There seems to be a stop of some sort, as the float seems to click over something on its journey back to the correct position.

On the theme of 'stereotypes' I am Extremely Wary of old ladies handling narrow boats. The ones I came across on the Braunston flight a couple of years back had boat handling skills that make my fumbling efforts look laughable and their smiling 'we've been boating for years' a disarming way of saying that they used to crew working boats so should be capable of handling a boat through a lock.... But thank you anyway young man.