Onewheeler

Dunno about the heat but ours definitely don't like the cold and go into alarm at near-freezing.

We fitted our (new) toilet tank with two 25 mm vents from opposite ends of the tank, spaced about 1.5 m apart on the hull, and never used blue. Never had a whiff of a smell.

Yup. Before we got rid of the pumpout our boat had a small tank (actually a 5 l polyethylene bottle from something) in-line with the washbasin drain. Worked fine. I fitted a Sanimarin electric bog to our boat on the mainland, lovely to use but might be a bit generous on its water consumption for use with a holding tank.

Late to this but FWIW it depends a lot on the wheel mechanism. I've got a NB with tiller, so about 1 second from full starboard to full port, and a share in a smallish barge with very heavy wheel steering - seven turns from one lock to opposite, perhaps 10 seconds minimum. It's difficult, and (despite what Tony says above) the barge gets taken much more readily by wind than the NB - the wheelhouse acts like a sail. If the wheel is hydraulically assisted I'd not worry so much. I would not be at all happy single-handing our barge (not helped by lack of a bow-thruster).

Well, it's feasible to get from Brentford to Lechlade in under a week but it would take out a lot of the pleasure. My favourite spots would be Cookham (visit the Stanley Spencer gallery), Wallingford, Abingdon and Oxford, all with free moorings (not necessarily "official" ones). It's very pretty above Oxford but not many moorings near nice pubs once you're past Wolvercote - mostly Greene King tourist "destinations" until you get to Lechlade. I prefer the lower river. Kelmscott is worth the visit if you can stop on a day when the William Morris house is open (and it has a nice pub about ten minutes from the river).

I imagine he's not got a delivery address...

Don't forget to book the harbour gates at Lydney! Check that someone is there before setting off. You'd feel a right plonker if you arrived and found them shut. Only alternative then would be to go down to Portishead. VHF marine is useful to maintain contact with Sharpness (or other places in an emergency). And, basically, don't even think about going up the river to Gloucester. It might be an idea to call SARA and see if they fancy launching one of their boats to accompany you as a training exercise. At least you could hand them your camera for a photo!

I've done the crossing to Lydney. Go out from Sharpness about 30 minutes before high water, the tide will take you upstream a bit but the Lydney side reverses early and you'll have a gentle ride down to the harbour entrance. Coming back leave a bit before high water and go straight across. Don't do it on a very high tide or in a high wind.

I only realised recently, and it's not been noticed in six BSS examinations, that the nice louvre vents on the front bulkhead are screwed onto solid sheet steel!

Also worth remembering that self-amalgamating tape breaks up after longs exposure to UV. It's good practice to overwrap it with a good quality insulating tape.

Even better if then covered with Denso tape, but you'll never want to remove it!

You may have an automotive Webasto which needs more volts to start than the marine version. Ours is reluctant to start after a couple of days moored off shore power (but plenty of charge left), and needs a bit of a boost from the engine to get it going. (And before anyone chirps up, the connections are fine!)

Nope, that's very different to mine. Must have been an odd one.

It's the part that makes contact for the high current to the starter motor. Very crude when it was dismantled. Yes, a relay.

I can't remember the ins and outs, but undoing the two or three screws on the end cap enabled access to the big bit of springy copper or brass which could have the contact points filed clean. I think the big bit of springy metal came out with the end cap, but it was twenty years ago...