Athy

I too have seen a n/b wearing LNER passenger livery and with cast nameplates, but it was some years ago and I can't remember its name! Also one in crimson lake with "LMS" insignia; that may have been an ex-station boat. Still waiting to see one in Stroudley's Improved Engine Green.

Six minutes: that WAS a quick repair.

I didn't say that I thought it was right, but I'm sure that such activity has been mentioned elsewhere on the forum.

Yes, though that's what I'd expect from a company called "Riverhomes".

Thank you for your opinion, which has been noted. Blimey, how many you got then?

Surely self arm? Call it what you will, it still sounds barking mad.

Now, brokers. It's worth using one because they weed out the wallies and do the hard work for you. For doing so, they will typically take about 5% of the achieved sale price. Like boats, they vary as well. Is the boat in the Midlands? If so I'd recommend ABNB (from personal experience). They will do show-rounds of boats on their home moorings within a reasonable distance of their base. If it's elsewhere, I'm sure that other members will be able to suggest similarly honest firms.

This as been discussed earlier (and possibly in a different thread) I think. The point was advanced that, if you took the boat out on the 11th, by the time you'd stayed the night on it, it would be the 12 and thus within the rules. I'll let the lawyers argue that one, but I do understand the point.

I'd never thought of pumpkins as being avant-garde - indeed, being perishable, their use as hull material would be a retrograde step. I haven't noticed collective hands being help up in horror. I wouldn't want the blue boat but I don't mind looking at it. I particularly like its dining chairs, though there's nothing avant-garde about those. They just remind me of the ones in one of my favourite restaurants.

Pump-out or cassette? Now I see the tiller, almost lost amongst the bling.

Hull shape. Rear deck configuration. Window shape. Steering method (can't see a wheel or a tiller). Wrap-around rope fenders. Bling!

Yes, I just had a look and found four boats, ranging from one from an unknown builder at I think £32,000 to a John White (well-reputed builder) at £43,000 - though bear in mind these are asking, prices, and many boats are sold for a couple of thousand pounds less than their advertised price. My feeling is that if your first figure is a "3" you will be in the right area. If the boat is either exceptionally well maintained, or exceptionally knackered, then adjust accordingly.

Good. So we're dealing with a 2001 45-footer. Streethay Wharf is a well-established company but I'm not sure that they actually built or fitted many boats themselves. Do you know the web site "Apollo Duck narrowboats"? Hundreds of boats are advertised for sale on there; look for 45-footers and note the asking prices of boats of that length which are about the same age. Of course, as on the roads, there are "Fords" and "Rolls-Royces", but such a search should help you get a rough idea of how much to ask for.

Welcome to the forum. Valuation is not easy, it's not like cars where a 2001 example of any particular make and model can be valued within a fairly narrow price band. I'm not sure that it's in the interest of brokers to "take advantage"; they sell the boat for you at a fixed percentage, so it's in their interest to get the highest possible price for it. If it's on CART waters, its index number may be a good indication of its age. For example our last boat, registered in 2001 as it happens, had the number number 506430.

...with the former quickly wiping out the latter if you're not careful.

No Fox boats have passed here yet, so I don't think they can have let them out yesterday. But then Sunday isn't a change-over day for them as far as I'm aware.

I don't think so, no.

Yes, it would. Some aspects of this boat could be described as "fabulous", but the U.K. canals are perhaps not its ideal environment.

Yes, I too noticed that, and commented on it to Mrs. Athy. We thought that perhaps the BBC had asked CART to provide some background information to help the presenters. That part, at least, was misleading. I did like the London moorings warden's splendidly cross-cultural name: Jamal Thomas-Jones.

I assume it's what is known as "winding" on the canals. I remember that the term was used for the turn which the Newhaven ferry made in the harbour, so perhaps it's a lumpy-water term.

Edited for you.

But if you did so, wouldn't you be an off-fender?

Whoops a daisy. At least it sounds as if the crew got ashore safely. How kind of the local paper to explain to its readership what the technical terms "bow" and "stern" mean.