GRPCruiserman

Hope you got sorted, I've used Lathom Slipway and it is VERY steep, but good to hear it's being used, we loose too many slipways as it is. I've both followed my boat and let it get ahead then caught it up, but I always used a guy who I had total confidence in. Much more nerve racking when you tow your own boat as you've only yourself to blame if something happens!! Hope you're happily settled, you couldn't have moved your boat by water as Wigan is effectively closed at the moment due to lack of water so you've no doubt made the right decision. Happy cruising.

It is used on The Ribble and Wyre up here, along with The River Lune (Glasson Dock) but not compulsory of course, but you get to know what's going on and can tell tem if you need to where you are. Also you get regular weather reports from Liverpool Coastguard. (It's heavily used on the Mersey) On the Lune, Wyre, and Mersey there is still a lot of commercial ships so it should be kept on, but the Ribble is leisure only these days do it's not so important. I have also used it on The Trent and The Aire and Calder Navigation where it was brilliant for avoiding contact with the 400 ton coal barges that go up and down. I also got stuck behind a very large barge on The Trent, and he moved over to let me pass when I called him up. I don't think it's essential, but is very useful, and I wouldn't want to be without it on the Rivers. You may as well be fully licenced as the course is very eeasy, only one day, and the licence is then free year on year both for the boat and you. The fines are very severe these days if you are caught without and Ofcom have VERY sophisticated tracing equipment.

Went to Wigan this morning on an errand so parked near the Pier as it's easy and free parking, then walked up the canal. Iwas shocked to find that 'The way we were' appears to have been closed down, it was ace in there, and then on my walk up it would seem that the entire pound is drained from the pier to Poolstock Lock!! The next pound had water with several boats in it outside the posh new BW offices, but they would appear to be marooned as the next pound up (the one that connects this stretch, the whole of the Wigan flight, and above, was also empty of water?? Are they doing much works or is it yobs who have drained the pounds? That could really ruin someones plans. Shame about the museum, oh and the kiddies' park has gone just above the dry dock too. Seems the place is turning it's back on the canal, lots of new flats, much development in the tiown centre, just the canal. The old boatyard appears to be being built on and Trencherfield Mill has many broken windows and a big sign advertising office space and flats for sale. Is the steam engine still there?? I was most disappointed. Anyone know what's happening??

That's actually a dredger A YEAR!! so we could all have nice, deep, canals, or perhaps a refurbishment of a sanitary station each year. They could just read this forum to find out what they are doing wrong couldn't they? That wouldn't cost £32000 a year. If the average boat licence costs £500 a year, that's 64 boat licences going to pay someone to tell them how to spend the boat licences??!!??? They could probably spend the money on education of the yound towards canals, or perhaps subsidsing day licences. If the 'Explorer' licence costs £80 odd and they sell 300 of them a year, that's about £24000. What if they said to people your first year's explorer licence is free, and your second year's is half price; that would cost the same and encourage perhaps another 300 odd people (probably more) to start using the canals and continue to afterwards no doubt; you'd have dinghys etc coming out of the woodwork!! Now that would beat any marketing strategy I can think of. Waterways for all; not just the rich, that's what I say.

There are plenty of options up here other than the canals, we have various rivers, The Lake District, loads of cruising grounds for boats to move off to, and then there's The Bridgewater Canal, always been cheaper than BW and lots of beautiful bits on it, but owned by the people who own The Manchester Ship Canal. BW have lots of competition here in The North West and now perhaps they will see the mass exodous that I've been predicting for some time. I moved off BW about three or four years ago and have no intention of returning until prices come well down.

This is the thin end of the wedge. We should stand up for our rights to moor on the towapth for up to 14 days wherever we like apart from 'Honeypot' sites which are restricted by BW to 1 day, 2 days, or whatever to give everyone a go. If we give in to these NIMBYs, then it may end up accepted that you dont moor opposite houses, and eventually could become a rule. It should be written in to any canal side development that they are not allowed to put up signs not directly related to mooring on their own ptoperty; and BW should advise developers that they will not tolerate this selfish behaviour from non-canal lovers who buy houses by canals. I don't like sewage farms, so I wouldn't buy a house next to one then put up a sign to say they weren't allowed to allow smells to eminate !!

We should encourage the use of the signs on the towpath really, it would save using mooring pins to tie to!!

I take it wasn't a Norman 20 then?? That's a lovely story and something that he'll know about all his life; I bet he likes boats when he's older though, even though he may not remember it. One of my sons loves dance/trance music (as does myself and is Mum) and I firmly beleive it's because that is what we listened too when he was in the womb and also very young.

I can see your point with the 'optional' bit, and as you say I care about making boating on the canals affordable at an entry level. Perhaps small trailables could pay say £10 per year for a licence which allwed them to use the canal but only gave them limited shareholder access, say a lower percentage of shares than a full, 12 month licence holder. £10 a year is more than enough to cover costs as you can register (like a licence) to use Windermere for £5 a year regardless of size, power, or usage (even permenantly moored). I appreciate that Windermere is a lake and so has minimal maintainance costs, but the point here is to get people on to the canal in the first place that will not at present be able to afford the £10 a day that is charged, or attract them from other waterway assetts. The guy sat in his room would just bank the money and send the disc in the usual way. I also beleive this system would absolve the need for ANY enforcement officers as anyone unlicenced would actually be 'ripping off' other licence holders as shareholders in the system and so the other boaters would police the system. The unlicenced call centre may need more staff then, however.

Why not have a system whereby a BW licenceholder automatically becomes a shareholder in the organisation. That way there would be no need for the huge beaurocratic monster that BW has become, just one guy in a small office somewhere banking the money and sending out discs. There could be regular area, region, and national meetings like other organisations where policies are voted upon by the boaters (or you could have 'fishing licences' for fishermen, and 'walkers licences' for walkers (not compulsory but sould give them a share; same with cyclists). Users could then opt to buy a licence and have their say, or not, and not (it could be compulsory for permenantly moored boats on the canal, but optional for trailboats and other users (not that I'm biased you understand)). Any thoughts anyone??

Just as a point of accuracy, you can access the Ribble anytime there is an appropriate tide, the Lock at Tarleton is useable by anyone at any time when the tide is in. The booking is to use The Ribble Link which is the section of canal recently built using Savick Brook from The Ribble up on to The Lancaster. If you want to visit Preston Dock or just go for a trip on the Douglas then turn round and come back on the same tide or stop over at Hesketh Bank then you dont need to book to use the lock at Tarleton, although advice from Harry should always be heeded because he is the expert. BW attend Tarleton Lock because they like to run the Ribble Link from there on the 'Up' journey to make sure that boats using the 'Link' actually get there, and at the right time. The lock is, however, owned by BW, but the boatyard there is not, and a strange legal quirk means that up to the first narrows on the canal no BW licence is required, even to use the lock, but they won't let you up the link without a licence. It's the only BW lock I know of which, even when operated by BW for you (there is usually someone there opening the gates etc although I have done it myself a couple of times), where you dont need a licence. ncidentally that large house on The Lanky is not too far from where I used to moor, and it changed hands a few times and even has an 'observation' bay window over-hanging the canal but despite many VERY expensive cars in the drive, I never saw anyone sitting watching the canal go by. I'd be sat there as a matter of course!! Just seems very wierd to me that someone with no interest in canals would buy a house next to a canal, and surely if you have an interst in canals then you WANT people mooring opposite, I know I would. One guy at Preston on Shelley Road once encountered an unfortunate boater wjho had reversed 'over' their own outboard prop as it were straight in to the bank making it unusable and he even let them leave their boat at the bottom of his garden for a week whilst they sourced a new propellor. The houses on Shelley Road are in the main terraces in the £100000 or less price bracket so these aren't rich people (bit like me!!) but it just shows how nice they can be and how their canal can be appreciated. Mainy of the gardens there are too overgrown to accomodate boat moorings, but it's a cheap way of getting a canalside property, even though the stretch isn't used as much as most due to the 'dead end' nature of that extreme end of the Lanky.

I once moored for a few months in a marina with electric whilst I was re-fitting the transom wood on the Dawncraft and although we had Sky on the boat, loads of drilling and cutting and general battery charging etc, we only used 40p's worth in three months!! We were on a 'read' type meter so it must have been accurate, but switched off when we weren't there (had main switch on the boat) and were only there at week ends. It was a half mile treck for water there but the owners were very nice, and handy for home. Our main mooring (15 years odd) didn't have electric but we never missed it, just had two batteries and took one home to charge and swapped them each time we came. Never an issue in normal use. One guy in a narrow boat lived on it on the same moorings and never had electric, just ran his engine now and then.

I love that stretch too, good stuff.

I put it to my fellow amateurs on our local 'net' and response was positive from all. We have two very active clubs in this area (Preston and Chorley) both of which operate Foundation courses and exams to enable people to obtain their Foundation amateur licence easily. I am not involved with these personally, but if anyone fancies it, or even just a look, PM me and I'll put you in touch with the guys that organise it etc. It's cheap because none of it is done for financial gain. Amateur Radio will give the range and reliable communication ideal for use on the canal, either on 2m or 70cms. (2m is more widely used). Talking of handsets; these can be bought for amateur radio for around £100 all in and will perform much better than the 446Mhz 'walkie talkies', but the 446Mhz units are very good (I have some myself) but the range is very small so you are talking very local. I will get mine charged up and start to monitor channel 8, 0 ctcss when I am around the canals. If everyone does this it would be a start.

I'm an 'Advanced' amateur radio licence holder and it is a great hobby to get in to, good fun, and you are allowed to experiment, in fact that is the purpose of the licence! VHF does travel extraodinarilly long distances and requires only small aerials. The Foundation licence allows 10 Watts which is plenty to get you a long way down the canal, and so far as I am concerned, the more amateurs we have licenced the better. 12 hours tuition at a local amateur radio club hould get you throught the Foundation Exam; my seven year old is studying now. A 2 meter Radio is around £120 brand new or £30-50 on an auction website, and a magnetic mount aerial (ideal for narrowboats) wil cost you a further £20. The licence is then free as long as you go on the internet and click to tell them you still want it every 5 years. www.rsgb.org is a good place to start looking. Hope to hear you all on the bands soon.

Yep, you're right have done now, doesn't bode well really does it!!!

My 'engine' or main propultion method actually has about three times the surface area of the boat, has to stick up vertically about one and a half times the length of the boat (about 20 feet!), and requires constant adjustment to provide the propulsion. It is also totally weather dependant and will only allow the boat to travel in about 225 degrees of all the directions possible. It also has more adjustments than any of your engines and these take up most of the boat. On the plus side, it costs absiolutely zero in money to run all day, is pretty silent, and is the most relaxing and/or auxilirating ride possible and can propell the boat at some remarkabley high speeds across the surface of the water. It is also the prefered method of propultion of round the world yachtpersons and was used exclusively as commercial propultion until lthe late 19th century for thousands of years. It creates no emission issues, is greenhouse friendly, and is just overall great fun. I love my sailing dinghy. Incidentally, the job originally advertised, what does it entail? What is the salary like and is it still available? I may relocate if it ticks the boxes? PM if necessary please??

On the Lancaster it's used for many of these things, including 'boat coming the other way at bridge XX' which is always handy to know. It's how CB was originally intended on the roads but became too much of a 'culture' and too popular for itself, especially with the 'less desirable' types who presumably now haunt somewhere else, but due to it's now lack of use is ideal for the purpose described by the original poster. It's cheap and readily available (I know of at least two motorway service areas that have CB shops, and some major electronic chains still sell them, not to mention internet auction sites), and easy to fit, and now licence free; it just has a ertain 'stigma' and a bad reputation. Just get all your friends to get one and eventually every boat on the canal could have one.

On the Lancaster Canal most boats are fitted with CBs, and most used channel 12 if I remember rightly. CB radio is little used up here these days so if was relatively clear and language free other than the odd trucker passing on the motorway. Amateur Radio is very much alive in The North West with many active clubs and 2 metres especially being very well used. If the poster with the dual-band radio doesn't want it any more you could always post it to me!! lol. It would get loads of use then. There are Radio Amateurs with boats but not many. Marine VHF was used I recall right up the Trent and was most useful, but that was some years ago.

It does sound like it would get a bit dodgy moving a boat for someone insurance wise, both for the boat owner and the mover. I was very tempted by the offer to move it but don't want to get in to any legal or insurance issues should anything happen so I'll pass on this one and stick to my day job (electrical retail!!). I still think the original poster should move the boat by water if possible; even on a weekend basis, there are loads of places to (legitimately) leave a boat for the week along that stretch (boatyards etc) and quite safe ones at that. It's such an interesting bit of canal with everything to offer. Good luck whatever you choose to do anyway and hope you enjoy your boat.

I got a BSS on my Yeoman before I'd put any electrics or gas on, in fact it was 2 years before I put them on!! With it being an outboard as long as the steering was safe and the electric start battery has a cut off switch (sorry, that was the only electrics!!), then it was fine. Ventalation came in to it then (some years ago) and I had to make sure that was OK but it didn't need much as I didn't have a cooker. 4 years later when I got it done again, it still passed with full gas installation, electrics everything, as I was able to fit them all to the required standard. The original one I managed to negotiate a reduced price from the eaminer as he didn't have much to test (he was only there for 10 mins!!) Go for it and get aloat!!

I've been down that watery route many times, and the Bridgewater is a lovely canal full of contrasts from the wide open views of the Leigh Branch out of Wigan to the glorious countryside just before Lymm. There are some wonderful features like Barton swing aqueduct and the straight bit through Sale ad Altringham has many interesting bits. The Leeds Liverpool from Burscough to Wigan is one of the most beautiful stretches in the country (that I know of) and the Northern Trent and Mersey is also veru beautiful. I think four days (or two weekends) would be plenty of time to move your boat perhaps leaving it at one of the boatyards just before Lymm for safety for the week inbetween. Dover Lock the first night, then Lymm, then by one of the 'Lakes' on The Trent and Mersey (very pretty) would be the way I'd go. You're missing one of the most interesting and varied journeys I know of by getting her moved by road, plus it's costing you a whole lot more. You've very few locks and the odd swing bridge, but it's an easy trip. I've a few days off at the end of this week so your offer to move your boat is very tempting, I dont have a boat on the canal at the moment so I would enjoy it. Just wondering how your insurance would cover it etc? If you do decide to go the road route, I know a good transporter guy and can give you his phone number if you PM me. PS: I've fitted some new floors, and many other bits in the past so can probably give you some hints.

I would have said the reverse; in my experience most livaboards are in their late 20s or early 30s, the exception being those who have retired on to their boat. I would love to live on a boat, as it would probably be the only way I could afford a canal boat now, as a 'second' home it would be cost preventative, but being in my forties with young children, my wife (who is in her thirties) doesn't want to, but has no objections once the children have grown up and left home. I think most livaboards are either younger than 'children looking after' age, or older. There will, of course, always be exceptions.

You could 'nauticalise' this and call it 'Pelvic Sole'

My first named boat was (and is, I still own it, 34 years later) called after my mother, Lady Pat. My second boat was called 'Jammy Dodger' when I got it and it remained so as it was small (15ft) and red and white I presume, seemed to suite it (best fun boat ever that one!!). Next, I bought 'Winds light to Variable' presumabley named after a famous 'Goons' sketch apparently, but after a run of bad luck it had had with the previous owner I changed it to 'Lo-Max' which is an old family name of mine. (the luck improved too, it went everywhere with us with never a breakdown). Then I bought 'Pip' which was only 16ft and was named after the previous owner's grandson (he's now about 20 something) but kept it as it suited it perfectly. My wife then bought our next boat which was called 'Morning Mist' but we had loads of bad luck with it so we changed it to 'Somerwarrior' which is Gaelic for my surname, but the bad luck continued so we sold it. (don't think the bad luck had anything to do with the boat, it was just a bad time for us). I currently still have 'Lady Pat', and also another boat called 'The Lomax' as when I had 'Lo-Max' on the VHF it was always easier to use the name 'The Lomax' as people could never grasp 'Lo-Max' very well on the VHF, so my latest acquisition I have named 'The Lo-Max' for that reason. 'Lo-Max' always gave us good times so superstitiously hopefully this boat will too (we only bought her in September) I also have an inflatable called 'Lo-Max Too' for obvious reasons. Not clever, but each name has it's own reasons.