Onewheeler

That's Osney Marina. I don't think Les has a trailer big enough for a narrowboat, I've only ever seen him pulling out yoghurt pots. There is also a slip and hardstanding a bit further down owned by Salters Steamers, don't know if they do work other than for their own boats. The yard at Eynsham is very good but expensive. . . .

Or canalplan.eu

The river at Teddington was still running fairly fast above the lock yesterday (we had a walk along there) but you won't have any difficulty. Plenty of mooring space.

On the grounds that the most stupid question is the one that nobody asked, did you separate the holding tank from the superstructure or try to tip it all out with the bog seat attached? :-0

My family delegate the job to me, but then I do most of the jobbies in it. Never had a problem other than occasional splashback when empying, especially if I forget to push down the breather valve. A couple of swills with a few litres of water leave it clean enough to eat your dinner out of. A tablespoon of blue is enough to keep the smells down.

No mooring?

The Jabsco 2.9 comes with fittings for both 3/4" BSP and 12 mm hose. It looks as if your Shurflo has 3/4 BSP fittings, and there's plenty of flex in the pipework, so it will be a five minute job to change it. The noise largely depends on how the pump is mounted and what sort of pipe is connected. The Jabsco comes with rubber feet which helps, can't remember how a Shurflo is mounted. However I'd be tempted to cut the pipes going to the pump back a bit, fit a 3/4 BSP F to each end, then use poly hose to go to the pump via Hoselock fittings. It would make changing it a very quick job in the future. More or less what I've just done for a toilet flush pump (raw water) on our mainland boat. It makes disconnecting everything for winterising very easy.

There's also a facebook coven called Women on Boats. The WOBs strike fear into the Blokes on Boats (BOBS). Both require approval or gender-testing or something.

I don't recommend this until you've done a few trips on the river, but it's great fun to go out of Glos Lock a couple of hours before the tide is due to overtop the weirs, stop at Ashleworth (about ninety minutes / 8 km from Glos) for a couple of pints, and then continue as the tide starts running up. You'll be at Upper Lode (14 km further on) in not much over an hour and go faster over the ground than almost any other opportunity in a narrowboat.

Most stainless is a bit magnetic. We've retrieved cutlery with a magnet.

That's one of these that you mean? Yes, they're horrible. When the screws failed and I couldn't find a tap to thread new holes (the remains of the old screws being corroded into their holes) it was replaced by a plastic pudding basin. That was three years ago. Still looking for a better replacement. Let me know if you go into production! Martin/

I bought a very cheap one from Screwfix a few years ago for a nasty one-off job (clearing the contents of a jerry can of red diesel from the boot of my car). Worked fine. They have a different model now for£35. Also the sort of thing that Aldi and Lidl have regularly if you can wait.

Last time I looked, most (but not all) only went a few days ahead for UK waters, thanks to the restrictive practices of whichever government department controls the data. Most didn't cover Sharpness either. There may be better ones available since we moved off the G&S in 2013.

Well worth buying a copy of Arrowsmiths Bristol Channel Tide Tables to plan when to go through Glos or Sharpness locks. Available from Arrowsmiths and Ebay but not Amazon. Take your first trip when there's no tide on the upper river and no recent rain. It's always slow going up the eastern channel but much easier above the parting.

Might be worth quoting some real figues. The Indesit under-counter fridge I installed last year, A+ rated, draws 65 W with compressor running and a mean consumption of about 15 W. That's in warm to hot French weather. It probably isn't much different from any other similar sized A+ fridge. It runs very happily from a Sunshine Power 1kW PSW inverter. Martin/

Ours is!

Wouldn't want to use that in the engine room. Sparks and fine swarf everywhere!

If (as it appears) the sides of the tank are the hull, I'd be very wary that there might be substantial corrosion from the inside out. I would cut the whole thing out so as to be able to inspect it, and if you want a tank there replace it with polyethylene. (I'm in the middle of cutting out the steel tank on our shared mainland boat: a reciprocating saw does a nice job, aided by a jigsaw depending on access.)

Yes, I've used mine abroad although it often seems to be only for a few minutes, presumably while the network decides that it's not a permitted activity.

The Three interpretation of that ("Our Advanced plans let you use Feel At Home Around the World in 71 destinations, at no extra cost. You can also use your phone as a Personal Hotspot, and call free from your mobile to Customer Services") is that it means you can roam, and use a personal hotspot in the UK. Mendaciously ambiguous? A discussion with the ASA might be in order.

Thanks! The Three website is appalling. I've found pages which say you can or you can't run a hotspot. I shall call into their shop tomorrow and see if I can change my contract. Wish me luck! Martin/

I can't find the quote that you quoted. The only mention on their web site says the opposite. Can you find a link please? Their customer service tells me that personal wifi hotspot is only available with a£5 per day addon.

Using the Three service as a mobile hotspot is hit-and-miss on the mainland: it sometimes works in France but often drops the link after a few minutes, giving enough time for the missus to download her emails and the Grauniad. It works quite often in Spain. Couldn't make it work at all in Belgium. It does give much wider inclusive coverage abroad than any other provider of which I am aware (the only exception nearby being Andorra, but they operate a last-century mobile phone network). I recall that some of the more expensive Three packages permit a limited download when tethering while roaming. Look at the small print (in the case of Three, often ambiguous and confusing).

Slot the outer one and secure it with a Julibee clip? Drill a hole in the outer and tap a thread for a clamping bolt? Or just use the screws on the u-bolt or mast clamp, and the elevation bolt on the back of the dish. Put wing nuts on to make it easier to slacken and tighten?

Mast clamp onto your handrail e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-NUT-SHELLEY-CLAMP-2-x-2-UNIVERSAL-AERIAL-POLE-MAST-CB-HAM-TV-BRACKET/162874753698?hash=item25ec1782a2:g:xm0AAOSwpzdWtQF6 Add a stub mast and a couple of u-bolts to the back of the dish. Slacken the bolts for azimuth and elevation adjustment.