Roger Crown

I have a feeling this is going to make a mess of a lot more peoples cruising plans. Having just spent three weeks on the HNC on the western section up as far as Dobcross, water levels were low ish, but compounded by the complete lack of dredging. The canal, as I'm sure most of you already know, was re-opened using all forms of funding, including £30 millions from the Millennium Commission, just 10 years ago. It would seem no further funding has been available to improve the canal, which has been in desperate need of extensive dredging since the re-opening . A boater with a business interest in the canal local to Uppermill told me the chances are that the eastern side will soon be closed to navigation. It's suggested the reason given will be lack of water, with reservoir levels currently healthy, it will actually be lack of dredging.

Hi Mac. We did not come over from the Huddersfield side. The 1st boat through was N.B.Riverdance He had similar problems with water levels etc though he did say BW had helped him a lot of the way. Cheers Roger

Intermittently ?

Hi Mac From an earlier post of yours on a different topic, I think you are behind us, due to come through Standedge? on the HNC. We are currently at Staleybridge, heading up the Lower Peak Forest Canal tomorrow. Give us a shout if we can be of any assistance. Cheers Roger & Yvonne

Hi Alan, I have mentioned some of this kit before and the usual replies try and shoot it down in flames. This method works for me and a number of my friends. I use the 3 network and use a dongle with an aerial connection Ebay I use a Boaters Phone Company 3G external antenna BPC I use Solwise 3G mobile router (with the latest firmware upgrade)Ebay Solwise This connects two laptops, WiFi to Ipod Touch and WiFi to smart phones. The only time this has not worked properly is in areas of poor reception, though usually by bypassing the Solwise unit I can get Internet connection to 1 machine. Hope this helps Regards Roger

Hi, We used a broker in the Cheshire area, to sell a couple of our spec boats about 4 years or more ago. Stephen Harral did a splendid job, he mediated perfectly between seller and purchaser to ensure a sale was made at the earliest opportunity. If we were looking to sell Fizzical Attraction we would be going to Stephen to sort it for us. We have no connection with Harralls, only satisfied customers. You can visit his siteHere

Hi, I have the 5000 series on my boat, 2 x 12v 357ah with the Hydro caps fitted. They have only been in use for 2 years so far so early days. I check them regularly and the huge volume of electrolyte they have in them requires very little topping up. It is generally expected that these batteries will last 15 years.

Very simply contact the boaters phone co again they will point you in the direction of a compatible phone. Regards Roger

Hi, just our view, we always recommended live aboard boats to have diesel fired central heating (webasto, mikuni, eberspacher {actually in reverse order of preference} even hurricane) in conjunction with a solid fuel stove leaving the usage of either system to their own preferences knowing they would be covered for most circumstances. One brilliant piece of kit we have come across, especially beneficial to the OP if he is living aboard a few days a week, install your preferred diesel heating system but switch it on from a simple no cost call from either a mobile or landline for a pre determined time and come home to a pre heated boat. We have used the system all last winter using the boat every weekend, 2 hours before arrival phone the boat, eberspacher on, arrive toasty. Change your plans, text the unit and turn it off. Many options are possible. Regards Roger

Martin, I have now updated the message on the website to try to dispell any confusion there may have been regarding our current state. http://www.crownnarrowboats.co.uk Roger Olver Crown Narrowboats Ltd