Ally

At that stage, check the cooling tank is big enough for whichever engine you are having. The engine manufacturer will state a required area. Many aren't built big enough to be efficient. Check its right before they go further.

We did for a year but were mostly out cruising. It's not good as a winter mooring, floods get high there. The facilities are limited. Good if you want to put your boat on land to work on it though I guess! Plenty are in the "field of dreams".

Found a couple of photos from our Beacon builds. Generally the lockers for the BT were like this. We also did one where the BT locker was the same height as the side lockers, providing extra seat/side table space, as requested by the customer, always vented. At this sort of height as in the photos, you are much more aware of it, so it wasn't something you tripped on. Sorry not great photos.

An odd angle to see ours, but the only one I have to hand from very early days. Its a humongous locker, with double lid doors, BUT, we don't actually have a bow thruster, so actually it's just extraordinarily good storage! You could get a few children in it if you had a mind to....just to prove a point, obviously!

That was certainly correct when we moored there.

Definitely! We are solid on the bottom on the soar, even our tiny boat is, and she's not fully fitted yet! Water required please! (I wasn't saying that over winter!)

Shardlow main marina does have floating pontoons, so it's only the fixed section going to the land that goes under in flood.

Just round the corner then. I'm the last boat on the offside by the junction! Enjoy our river 😁

Did you stop at Birstall, or have you passed me already? (Junction of soar/wreake, syston side.) Oh, no, just realised you mentioned junction lock so you've passed us.

Or all the newbies are terrified of the rivers! 🤣

The southern end of the Soar has remained pretty quiet. 2 to 3 boats a day generally so far. Only seen one day hire boat.

It's what the RSPB says. I've never had a nest close enough to me to watch.

You are looking about 35 days from laying to chick's actually leaving the nest, 22 days incubation.