MtB

That's very sad. My sincere condolences, despite not knowing you or them.

Once they hit the age of majority, why on earth not?

^^^This^^^ is spot on. I really don't understand why licences for CCers are not twice the price of those for HMers. Or even more equitably, five times the price.

Congratulations!! Rustons are lovely things to have.... Hard as I try, I still have more vintage diesels than boats to put them in!

They are probably paranoid about the flood risk! (Canal is behind the hedge, for those who didn't click the link.)

Mate of mine has twin Caterpillar turbo diesels in his splitter. He reckons 80 litres an hour when planing. Each.

Christ on a bike, that will be even more of a disaster. Two students in a 45ft NB paid for by parent, I can't see them even attempting to comply with the CC rules in summer (too much studying to move the boat compliantly mum!) Plus the partying aboard is gonna really hack off any neighbouring boats if you decide to shell out £5k a year on a resi mooring near a decent uni. And never mind them having the interest needed to manage the batteries!!

What a load of tosh. Nobody is forcing boaters to moor on the River Lea in the parts re-classified as non-mooring areas. Nor are their boat-homes at risk of demolition unless they deliberately and persistently flout the new mooring rules.

That's what she told you, is it?

I would never advise a novice-boater to attempt to live on ANY 45ft narrowboat with two children.

I think you're just guessing...

More concerning is the 3W constant power consumption. I know a lot of boaters don't consider 1/4A a lot, but its 24/7/365 just to turn the fridge on and off

This strikes me as possibly the most complex question I've ever seen asked on here. (Although I grant you, the most complex question ever asked in the history of mankind is "How can I make a woman happy?")

At this trivial price, I'd suggest just buying the boat and getting on with some boating. Don't spend anything on 'doing it up', wait for something critical to go wrong then sell it for a pittance and buy something else. Ah right. This now sounds suspicious as hell, unless you can be persuaded about why the seller does not fit this supposedly reconditioned engine and flog the boat for say, £15k-£20k as doer-upper with a good engine. (There is a ready market for 45ft Springers needing 'just a bit of overplating'.)

Here's a flavour of what the protest is about. From the OP article: "In October 2021, ‘no mooring’ signs started appearing on the River Lea and boaters moored in these areas were told they would have enforcement action taken against them under the new ‘Improper Mooring Process’. CRT claims that these sites come under its existing rules on where boats are permitted to moor, but these are the exact same stretches that they’d planned to designate as no mooring as part of their ‘Water Safety Zones’, making these new rules for areas where boaters have lawfully moored without any penalty for many years." Having read that, I don't know what its about either.