Keeping Up

I think the waviness is crucial. Plastic pipes can expand and make a snaky zig-zag whereas copper pipes stay straight and have to move the radiators.

Our first boat's heating circuit was all copper. I was amazed when I saw how much the radiator at the far end would move as the copper expanded (the previous owner hadn't allowed for this and wondered why he kept getting leaks or broken radiator brackets)

Thames locks require you to use two ropes, ideally bow and stern but you can usually have bow and centre or stern and centre if that is easier. Do you have some chain on the anchor or is it just rope?

I know just what you mean. After more than 50 years with canal boating as my primary passion, I think I will be selling my boat later this year.

True but it doesn't address the particular question asked by the OP.

Difficult, he said they're sealed.

Do you have an inverter? When powering only a small load it is not unknown for them to take their power from the 12v supply as a stream of short sharp pulses of current. This can manifest in the way you describe.

The slow prop rotation is perfectly normal.

I have seen an early BW guide, addressed to their hire-boaters, which states that you must not moor anywhere other than at recognised wharves, boatyards, or visitor moorings.

If the rope is essentially running vertically down from handrail to the pontoon then the boat is guaranteed to move about, so anything you can do to change that situation will help. Definitely if possible tie to the cleat on the opposite side of the pontoon. Is there any way you can get the centre-line down to gunwale level, for example by using a fender attachment point?

We followed the two boats racing at Ely once. We came third!

I can't remember the details but there is a reason for this, something to do with the marina having to pay Council tax on a mooring if they allocate it exclusively to one boat

Yes it's a lot of wear - but a lot of mileage too. 20,000 miles, that's about 10,000 hours of use; in that time a car would probably have travelled 300,000 miles and would probably have worn out a few bearings too.

We have the traditional stern gear, just a brass fitting with greaser (none of your modern water-lubricated stuff) and a plummer block but no thrust-bearing. After about 20 years and 20,000 miles of travelling it was getting difficult to stop the drips so it was inspected carefully; the prop-shaft had worn down to about half its original diameter so the shaft and bearing were replaced. Once again it doesn't leak more than a few drops per hour and I don't expect to be around when it needs replacing again.

Agreed, and after 5 times it still hasn't got any easier, but just think of it as doing for them the one great kindness that they can't do for themselves. There will be a great group waiting for me at the Rainbow Bridge!

Definitely a pilot is necessary from Sharpness to Potishead, but as said above there really is no need for one from Portishead to Bristol. If your insurer doesn't agree, get another one, or else find one to give you one day's insurance. I'm with Towergate and had no problems with them but that was a few years ago.

While our boat was being fitted out we visited every fortnight to see the progress. Once when the kitchen was half-finished, as we walked through it the chippy looked at my wife and said "Oh you aren't very tall, are you". When we returned 2 weeks later he had lowered the worktops by 1".

Wasn't there once a loading dock for the cement works up there?

Our worktop doesn't go under the gunwales, it stops at the bottom of the wall, so the cooker fits it perfectly. This still leaves plenty of space for the rest of the kitchen. There is a lift-up glass lid, which helps protect the sloping wall, and I simply made a rotary catch from a couple of tiny scraps of wood and a screw.

Friends of ours had a collie-alsation cross, which they always referred to as a "collation"

We have always had one on board, I think it's called a Wonderwash. It has a screw-on cap and uses the frothing of the powder to create pressure which drives the dirt out (says the manual). We actually find it really good for smalls and t-shirts but nothing bigger or heavier than that, and you have to be careful not to overload it.

No.