Denis R

But then again, if your charger is fairly recent and is CE marked, it shouldn't be giving off RF to any great extent anyway... And I would have thought that a steel bulkhead would have provided enough shielding for any 'low level' RF that might be acceptably emitted. Hmmm..., sorry, can't think of anything meaningful to offer here. However, a cap would be worth trying, to kill off any AC in the line which might be acting as an antenna. Here's a thought - have the radio and charger got a common ground?

Daniel, I wonder if your problem is RF from the charger, which is being picked up by your radio? Some designs of charger give off masses of RF (can't remember exactly what the system is, but it involves some form of triggered PWM to vary the charging input to the battery). If this is the case it's often difficult to cure, short of shielding the charger itself. A capacitor probably wouldn't make a big difference if this is the case, but it would smooth any induced AC on the power feed to the radio.

If you're forced to take the old one along to a factor, be a little wary that you don't just get given one that 'looks the same'. Some filters flow centre to outside, some outside to centre (the filtering element is contained differently to account for which side the pressure is, but it's pretty much impossible to tell by looking). Some filters have a blocked element by-pass valve, some don't, and the pressure-relief setting can be different.... Not sure how the Kubota one is configured, but if you know the Kubota engine that's it's based on, chances are that the filter for the industrial version will be the same.

There's a 15HP Bolinder going on ebay at the moment. Now that's a real 'grunt' engine for you, with an exhaust note to die for.... But perhaps the direct reversing would be just a little too much like Russian roulette for me!

It's still all quiet on the BW front. I'll ring them on Monday and see if I caqn gee things up.... Do BW have a Service Level Agreement with the public regarding speed of response, quality of response, level of service provision, etc? Or are they not quite that customer-centric yet!?

My 'two penny worth', coming from an automotive rather than boating background would be - be wary about marinised car engines when you need serious 'grunt' - like travelling upstream on a fast moving river (?). Car engines have the wrong power band and the torque is delivered too far up the rev range. A marinised industrial engine or marinised tractor engine would, HP for HP, be a better bet in my mind. Denis

See where you're coming from, John. However, I'm not looking to dig my own off-cut berth and connect in, or get something for nothing, but basically moor up and live aboard alongside someone's farm yard, from which I'll get access to the boat and facilities to use. I couldn't quite fathom out whether I first had to go through some procedure and get permission from BW to do this, or whether an agreement with the landowner which I then let BW know about would suffice? Cheers, Denis

Supposing BW do own the bank and the landowner the land behind it, do I have to get permission from them to moor first, or just from the adjacent landowner? If BW own both banks, do mooring restrictions (48 Hour, etc) apply to just the towpath side or the opposite bank too?

Assuming that the landowner does actually own the land up to the water, does this mean that I could make a private agreement with the landowner regarding a residential mooring (liveaboard 24/7 blah, blah) and pay 50% of whatever to BW, or would they have power of veto?

This is related to my thread 'Am I wasting my time?' in 'living afloat', in that it has some bearing on my quest for a residential mooring.... Looking through previous posts on similar matters and trying to summarise my understanding regarding the non-towpath side of the canal, are these following assertions correct? Unless BW can prove otherwise or the deeds of the land show otherwise, the landowner has the land up to the water's edge The landowner, or a person with the landowner's permission can moor a boat against this bank of the canal. The landowner may charge for the mooring, but BW can't. BW have a reasonable right of access for essential maintenance. As long as the boat is licensed, BW don't have powers of eviction or power to prevent the mooring. The provision of facilities such as water, electricity, etc. are at the landowner's discretion (notwithstanding any planning permissions required). Let me know if I'm way off track here!

Bottle's definition is close to what I aspire to, except that my vision includes it being a regular postal address for communication too. Sure I know it's a big ask, but I'm still in the 'honeymoon' phase and not experienced enough yet to immediately re-visit my expectations! That may of course change as time goes on and I appear to make no progress....

I filled in the form online about a week ago. I expected some acknowledgement of receipt by e-mail. not necessarily a response. I'm not far from these locations, so I might pop my head round the door and ask them how it looks....

Hmmm.... I might have made my first mistake then. I filled in the on-line enquiry form at BWML regarding a mooring at Apsley or Cowley and told them on the form that the boat hasn't been built yet....Perhaps it's no wonder they haven't replied. In this case I do hope that they're as disorganised as I fear so that I can have another bite without them putting 2 and 2 together....

Richard, Thanks for this - I thought 'Grade 1' was a formal definition (based on a sample of 1 - an enquiry placed on the BWML website regarding moorings, to which I haven't yet had a reply)! Cheers, Denis

Guys, I apologise for the misapplication of 'properly'.... Maffi's interpretation is correct. What I was trying to get across is that I'd want to do it in a formal manner with no ambiguity as to status, paying my council tax and any other dues, and yes with a power hook up point and telephone connection if possible. Perhaps I need to go away and research the definition of 'grade 1'! Denis

20 years ago I regularly cruised the canals with short term hire boats and at about the same time looked at having a boat of my own to live on. For various reasons it came to nothing. I'm now in a position to do something about it. As a newcomer to the forum I'd like to ask those that are doing it, have I literally missed the boat? Am I wasting my time even starting a feasibility study and looking for a residential mooring? My geographical area would be a sort of inverted 'y' from Oxford up to Braunston, across and down to Uxbridge, with the tail up to Crick - I guess pretty much an 'oversold' area already? If I can't do it properly with a 'grade 1' mooring, I'll not do it at all - I've no desire to bridge hop. Thoughts, advice, encouragement or a forthright 'wake up and smell the coffee' would be welcome....