Lewis 53

Heartfelt condolances and sympathy to all his family. It is impossible to imagin the pain and distress for all involved. Lewis.

You should not bow out just because your view might appear to be in the minority. To paraphrase Voltaire....."I might disagree with you but I defend your right to say it".

Its very unlikely the boat would have been abandoned as even a small vessel not under command would have posed a hazzard to other shipping and the Humber is a busy place. I supose there will now be the usual calls for us all to have a license. Here we go!

Well your for it! Looks like an illegal image under some section of some act or other that no one is aware of untill the 5am knock on the door with a big sledge hammer thing. Call in CSI (Canal Scene Image) team.

Caution Major Grump Alert. We, the people, have allowed ourselves to be lead into a situation where the balance between the state and the individual has been erroded to the point where we, the people, are servants of the the state rather than the state being the servants of the people. Quiet aquiessence (?sp) by the majority on the grounds that "nanny knows what is best for us" has been the cause in history for the most appaling dictatorships. How can it be right that in a democracy (?) you are not allowed to peacfully demonstrate in front of your elected parliament or take photos of your narrowboat in "certain locations" with out undue interfearence of the state. Its the same logic as the man on top of the London bus throwing paper out of the window. When asked what he was doing he said "Im keeping the elephants away". The driver says "there arnt any elephants". The man says "effective isnt it" Im now awaiting the knock on the door. Grump over!

I live in Scotland. Just think of the complications if the SNP are successful in getting independence through. I could be paying council tax on an off shore property in a foreign country and therefore I would be tax exile like Sean Connery! Help. Im off for another asprin and a lie down

Ours needs doing too. After asking lots of yards no one seems to want the job. Most seem bothered about the new paint comming off and contaminating the water supply with resultant blocking of pumps etc. I cant see why this should be a problem if the prep is done properly. Looks like its up to me......oh joy!. Good luck.

I'm listening but nothing to say of any relevence other than Hello

Absolutely tragic for all three owners. Thankgoodness no one was hurt. Deepest comiserations (?sp) to all concerned.

And why not. There's nothing as theraputic as a good moan, especially for men of a certain age.

So if I complain I,m just going to be ignored if they dont like my complaint but I,ll not know till later as it will be a secret that only BW will know about. Please excuise me I,m just going to lie down with a lightly boiled asprin. Lewis.

This thread has probably finished however.........Based on what you say I would't touch it with yours or any one elses barge pole, and I would not buy a boat from any place that wanted a deposit before survey. Only exception would be a small refundable deposit on a sale subject to survey. Said before but dont your heart rule your head. Good Luck. Lewis.

Its easy. BW are short of money. Its easy to extract it from the most obvious target. Its hard to hide a boat. Most of us pay up because we are honest and we love being on the waterways, so they have the majority by the short and curlies. I just wish they wouldn't try to disguise fee increases by stealth. It really presses my grumpy button big time. Try being like the rest of us HONEST!!! Lewis.

We met a police diving instructor with is band of merry men when going up the Stourbridge 16. He said we were the only narrow boaters he had ever seen wearing life jackets. He also said the main issues with falling in water, no matter how deep, were hitting your head and becoming unconcious and the shock of suddenly being plunged into cold water which again could make you unconcious, bring on a heart attack etc etc. Another consideration is lifting some one who is incapacitated and in wet clothes out of the water is nearly impossible for one person even if the victim is small. If they have a jacket on at least it is possible to secure them to the boat or the bank and may be get some assistance to pull them out. We wear them all the time when underway. I've got used to being looked at like I'm a wally. Lewis.

If you use the boat a lot in winter you may find that condensation forms on the inside part of the hull. This will drain into the cabin bildge and can look to be a large amount of water. Some boats are ballasted slightly down in one corner and the water will collect there. More modern boats are insulated with materials that reduce this to a minimum but one very reputable manufactuter tells me it is almost impossible to eliminate it completely (puts on hard hat awaiting replys). Lewis.

Statistically 20% of accidents are caused by drunk drivers. Therefore 80% of accidents are caused by drivers that are stone cold sober. Therefore you are better off drunk because you have less chance of being in an accident. Simples! Oops just read this again its not ment to sound like a cheap shot.

Its the same reason that people buy houses next to airports, complain about the aircraft and then commute all over the world from the airport. When BW sell this land they should put in a clause that insists the developer provide moorings for boaters so that the house owners "visual amenity" can be enhanced. Lewis.

Absolutly correct. A small dash to release the flavour and aroma. Inhale and enjoy. Lewis.

For what its worth we have been through Brum on a number of occasions and never had any trouble, other than one noisy night at the top of the Wolverhampton 21. I agree with the other posters, if you treat people as you would like to be treated usually you get no bother. Perhaps we have been lucky? We do have an advantage though my Mrs is from Brum and thus speka the lingo. Oh and she can be pretty scary! (hope she dosnt read this).

In the present climate how can anyone raise the funds to build a marina, even if DERA and all the other funding bodies become involved. RCR couldn't raise £15000 to fund a small expansion of their business from "normal" sources. The only people able to get money at the moment are the banks. So irrespective of the pros and cons of the desireability of this development good luck with the funding. Lewis

We had problems with the performance of our boat and got advice from every one we could think of. Eventually we were directed to Crowthers Marine Manchester (really in Oldham)and they sorted it out after asking a lot of pertinant questions. Very helpful. (No personal connection with this company). OOPS just noticed Crothers mentioned before. Sorry

We managed to knit a whole builders sack on the Ashton. A very pretty yellow colour it was too.

I thought that too but it worked and saved a lot of expense and aggro. Lewis.

First post so hope this is useful! When we got our boat an auto changer over system was fitted but when the surveyor inspected it the pressure drop in the system was to large and he reccommended that we have it taken out to correct the problem. The alternative was to have the pipe work replaced with a larger bore material and this was going to be expensive. We took his advice and the problem was solved. Im not sure if this any help other than to say your pipe size may be important. With only one available at least you know when it has run out.