David Mack

A meaningful start can either be the actual commencement of the proposed work, that then proceeds in earnest. Or it can be a token activity undertaken with the sole purpose of keeping planning permission alive, without actually intending to do anything more in the near future.

Can you imagine the hoohah NBTA would make if they were 'banned' from having a stall at Cavalcade? Better to have them inside the tent p*ssing out, than outside p*ssing in.

Looks good. Do you have to cut pockets in the back of the trim to accommodate the nut and bolt?

Or possibly too long, got caught on a lock side or bridge arch, and got bent.

And new top 'plank' both sides welded just above the top guard, so no rivets left along the gunwale angle. Fitted out back cabin, but no pictures. And engineless, yet photographed on the River Nene without a motor or tow line in evidence?

Planning permission usually expires after 3 years if work on site hasn't begun. So has anything happened on site? Or is the permission now defunct?

At school I made a key for a small store room that a school group I was involved with used. And then I filed the sides down and converted it to a master key that would open any classroom door in that building!

The general description says that, but in the detail it says "For immersion service: steel; blast cleaned to ISO-Sa2½". In practice you may well get away with a lesser standard of preparation, but no manufacturer or supplier is going to say that as they don't want any responsibility if the paint system fails.

Yes you will need a licence, but one where you declare a home mooring, rather than one for 'continuous cruising'. And from this month a home mooring licence will be cheaper than a CC one. (The exception to the above would be that if you find a mooring in one of the few offline marinas or basins which is not subject to CRT's standard Network Access Agreement, then you may not need a licence in the marina itself, but will to venture out onto the canal. For planning purposes you can ignore this option.)

I don't know if this is relevant, but the lock keeper who lived in the cottage at the bottom of the Knowle flight in the 1970s was Bob Knight. I believe his son now lives on a boat in the area.

I would fit the outlet close to the bottom of the tank, so that the water flows under gravity, rather than having a dip pipe (hose) in the tank. An internally threaded socket could be welded to the outside of the tank, and you could paint the threads with the same epoxy as used for the tank. Then screw on a brass fitting from the outside to connect to the water supply pipework. That way there should be a minimum of exposed steel in the connection and less chance of it getting gunked up with rust.

Twirl batons you mean?

And if you do find a permanent mooring (whether officially residential or not) you won't need a 'continuous cruising licence'.

That's not a hopper. It is designed to carry road-based plant, hence the drop down ramps on the right hand end. Since it also has hydraulic spud legs it looks to have been designed to allow a conventional excavator to be used for dredging.

This is just the stern end of the butty Achilles, now going backwards. Achilles was cut by Roger Farrington in about 2015 amid much concern from historic boat enthusiasts that yet another of the few remaining full length butties had been lost. I see this displays the name of the original boat. At the time it was cut I thought it would be more appropriate for the front end, which is most of the original boat, to carry the name Achilles, and the back end should be named Achilles Heel.

With the Reliant car factory in the background, the same year as they ceased production.

John Gagg's 1970 book 'Canals in Camera' includes this photo of a converted tug on the Stort. The caption refers to it as a former hire boat on the Grand Union, and I always thought it was the with Wyvern fleet (although I don't know where that thought came from).

Made in Germany, exported to the USA and sold through their Doraville-based US subsidiary?

Specifically, what promises has Parry made and been unable to keep? How? Please give specific examples (rather than vague assertions), indicating how much money would be freed up for other activities. What are theses "non essentials" and how much money could be redirected as you suggest?

And if they did pay council tax, how much of that would CRT see?

But the purpose of the property portfolio is to provide income to CRT. Changes in the capital value of the property portfolio are inevitable given what happens in the rest of the property market, but are largely a paper accounting issue. What matters more is whether there is a steady stream of income from property tenants.

Unfortunately there is no sign that the government has the same view as you do on its moral obligation. So in the absence of an adequate level of government funding, where else is the money going to come from?

If you are using nuts and bolts, then presumably you have to remove the existing timber internal trim to be able to fix them. You say the existing trims have rotted, so are you putting them back or replacing with new? Either way the trims will have to incorporate pockets to accommodate the nuts. If you are providing new trims then you could have used woodscrews from the outside, and got another 19 years out of them.

Forum member @stagedamager has a dry dock at the top end of the Erewash and may be able to help.

Has anyone suggested that the prolonged failure to get Keadby sliding bridge sorted should mean that Network Rail is told to divert all the trains so the canal can be kept open for boats?