Onewheeler

If you buy your wood from B&Q it's all bent. Just need to select one with the right bend.

No, St Jean de Losnes. Lots of care being taken, lots of staff turning the boats around. A nice marina too, we spent a lot of time drinking gin while watching Kevin the kingfisher and Colin & Chlamydia the coypu.

Désolé ! I couldn't remember and couldn't be bothered checking. Funny language though, that French. Most of the words for lady-bits are masculine, and most words for a chap's dangly parts are féminine. Bof !

The French le Boat outfit charges un bras et un jambe for their hires, but having spent a couple of weeks in a marina watching their operations from a hire base I was very impressed with the care they gave in cleaning and preparing their boats for turnround.

That's where I meant at the upstream marina entrance. One still needs to take care as the current whistles through when the lock paddles go up.

A jiggle syphon is the way to go. Never spilt more than a drip from the end of the tube.

An interesting question. I moor at Osney and have never needed to wind above the lock, but it always feels narrow there even for my 52 ft boat. The widest bit I think is by the upstream marina entrance halfway along East Street. Otherwise, given the direction you're travelling, tie up to the bank upstream of Sheepwash channel. There are plenty of gaps between the trees and it's nice and quiet. It's also barely any further into town than E Street, there's a path straight to the station.

It does seem to be filling with boats that never move but we've never failed to get in even near to Bunkfest time. A machete helps, as is oft the case on the Thames. For foliage, not mooring lines of course. We'll be ambling down there in the next few weeks.

You may find they're ok. Our shared boat has four Trojan-a-like batteries which are 10 years old. They were chronically undercharged for a lot of that time. Since fitting solar and keeping them topped up they seem to have recovered to an extent, usual daytime charge voltage about 28.6 v and they stay over 25.4 v overnight running the fridge, inverter and odds and ends. I regularly put in a L or more, of water (well, a couple of times a year).

I always tie up to the trees well upstream of the bridge and the expensive moorings. It might need some imaginative leaping onto a branch to get started.

Worth using vernier calipers to check that the two sides of the gland are being tightened evenly, and might save an expensive problem.

Screws of length to not quite go through the ply. Screwfix turbogold are good.

It sounds broadly similar to our boat: similar age, tidy but basic fit out, well maintained, practical, some cosmetic work needed. If I were selling I'd be hoping for around £28k.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it needs longer on the barbeque.

Have you checked that the selector lever is moving properly? Could be a n incorrectly set cable.