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Hello everyone, my name is Patrick Dowse, I am starting a Documentary photo story on the canal boat culture in London over the next two months. I am looking to meet people and get to know them and find out why they choose to live on the boats. I find this lifestyle fascinating. I am based in London and can meet up with people at anytime. My website can be found at : patricklewisdowse.tumblr.com My contact email address is as follows : patricklewisdowse@live.co.uk Thank you Kindly, Patrick Lewis Dowse

Hello, Anyone have information on Sterling Boats, liverpool area, who have ceased trading. Anyone recommend them? Thank you, Beached

I admit myself confused. I get that an open weed hatch, faulty stern packing, or non functioning bilge pump will flood the engine bay - but why oh why does that sink the boat? The ballast at the bow counteracts the weight of several people standing on the stern so should be enough to counteract the weight of water in the engine bay. Am I missing something? Is the water getting from the engine bay into the main hull somehow and over weighing the whole boat? I thought the engine bay, below deck level, was a separate compartment from the main hull and ballast area. Surely there is more we can do to reduce risk of sinking?! Please can you guys clarify.

If your business involves the shipment of goods locally or abroad, whether inland or across the ocean, you need to realize that the moment those goods leave the door, they change hands many, many times, and there's no knowing what may happen. To protect your goods and your business, you need to have marine insurance. But how do you choose the right one? Here are a few dos and don'ts: DON'Ts 1. Don't confuse marine insurance with boat insurance. Boat insurance protects water vessels and its passengers. It's like car insurance, except the car floats on water. Marine insurance is an altogether different banana. Despite its name, it is not limited to protecting waterbornecargo. It protects cargo transported on dry land as well, on top of protecting the vessel that carries the cargo. This is why there is such a thing as "dry" marine, for land-transported cargo, as well as "wet" marine, for cargo shipped via actual ships. 2. Don't lie on your application form. Don't conceal relevant information either. There is a fine line between the two: lying on your form means you deliberately put in wrong information. Concealing information means that it was not mandatory for you to divulge the information but you know that divulging it would have affected your policy in an adverse way. Either way, should it be discovered that you lied or concealed relevant information, it would most likely void your policy, defeating the purpose for which you got the insurance in the first place. 3. Don't break your warranty. In insurance law, a warranty is fundamental to the performance of the contract. If it is breached, the non-breaching party may terminate the contract in addition to claiming damages. One common implied warranty in marine insurance is the seaworthiness (or road worthiness) of the vessel. Be aware if a warranty is breached, it will not help the insured to remedy the warranty; the policy will be rendered null and void regardless. So before you take out a policy, make sure you are aware of all the warranties included, and ensure that you breach none of them. Which brings us to our first do... DOs 1. Do read the fine print. While the fine print can be tedious to read, we all know - some through painful experience -ignoring it is like parking under a construction site: It's just a matter of time before something hard and heavy hits you on the head, and you may not live to regret it. The fact is, unless you're a first grader just learning to read, it won't take you five minutes to read the details of the contract you're entering into. (Nevermind if it feels like an hour - it's really not.) The fine print will tell you the details of what you're paying for, what rights you may have that you may not have been told about, and what conditions are not covered by your policy, and what actions will render your policy null and void. For instance, inadequately packed cargo is usually not covered. Neither are dangerous items such as combustibles, firearms, and chemicals. Others may not cover food, timber, and animals. There may also be navigational limits that, if exceeded, will void your policy. 2. Do compare policy offers. And don't rely on price alone. Perhaps the reason why that policy is so cheap is because it only covers actual value, which is the value of your insured item at the time it was lost - and this includes depreciation, so you'll probably end up getting much less than what you expected. On the other hand, that other policy may cost more, but it insures your item for the amount you had agreed on (agreed value), on paper, so when the item is lost, you get compensated for the exact amount you're expecting, which will allow you to immediately replace the lost item with a brand new one. What about the causes of loss covered by the policy? Non-filed policies only cover for specific types of loss and may not cover acts of god. Then again, maybe they do. Read the fine print to know exactly what you're paying for. Just because it's the cheapest marine insurance policy doesn't mean it's the best. And if you're in business, you should know you should only invest in the best, or suffer loss later. Marine insurance will protect your water vehicle.

Hi, I have a problem with my chimney and wondered if anyone else had the same problem. It's a wide-beam (well, 11ft) and we have a squirrel stove. We burn mixed fuel - wood and coal - but I have noticed that particularly in the last few months there has been excessive smoke coming from the chimney output on the roof. This is causing some problems in terms of neighbours etc, and it sometimes wafts through our vents/windows - but also is just a little worrying. Could there be something vital in our chimney that has disintegrated? We notice this most when we have just lit the fire - as could be expected - but to be honest it doesn't really settle down. Just think white smoke. Does anyone have any idea what this could be? Thanks so much as always

Hi we have a small 16ft cruiser and want to up date the navigation lights to comply with the regulations for when using our boat at night or in low visibility. This is what we are currently looking at purchasing http://www.mailspeedmarine.com/navigation-search-lights/mailspeed-marine/combo-navigation-light-mast.bhtml ? would this be suitable ? Thanks in Advance

Hi i am fairly new to boating me and my wife have a small 16ft microplues cabin cruiser with a Yamaha 9.9hp 4 stroke outboard engine which we have been using on the Trent up to as far as Gainsbourgh but we are hoping to travil to brough on the humber about 7 miles from trent falls and was wondering if any one as done this before ? i understand that correct tide calculations and having the tide pushing us is very important and we are of course equipped with lifejackets, VHF radio, and up to date charts of the Humber and upper trent. would this be doable ? we get a steady 6.5 knots at crusing speed when not against currents/tides and maybe a little more at full throttle also the boat is design as a sea going boat with planing hull and this model of boat is used a lot for of coast fishing altho usually with a bigger engine. any advice from anyone who has had experience with this would be much appreciated. thanks jack

Hi. I've recently started a new blog on wordpress.com and have had great success with it. I've had around 200 views in the first few days of the blog, but am now struggling for material to write about. The blog is called Canal Works and Nature, the URL is - http://www.canalworksnature.wordpress.com . I would be ever so greatful if anyone could give me a few ideas on what to write about, or any opinions on the stuff I have already began. Cheers

Following the success of last years rally this event is to be repeated. Although there is limited space and additional boats cannot be accommodated within the basin itself there is significant mooring in the area and at Hawkesbury junction and members of the public are encouraged to take and active part in the event. Further more if you own a steam boat or know someone who does, I can only urge you to get in touch with myself or the organisers directly if you are able or interested in taking part with your boat or otherwise, The event is open to steam launches, dingies and canoes, as well as steam narrowboats. Previous years thread located here: http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=47817 Daniel

Hi all, My partner is looking to purchase a boat from Holland and bring it to the UK.. He is very new to boating (and i unfortunately haven't a clue). We were wondering what the legalities are around bringing a boat to England and rough pricing. A boat like this one for example, https://www.inautia.com/used-boat-58270420191953515010299539748451.html or https://www.boatshop24.com/en/campi-400-houseboat/Motorboat/1335920 . Roughly 12-13m length and 4m beam. Please let me know if any one can help me out ? Thanks in advance :) Madi

Watercolour on a piece of A5 watercolour paper. And painted on my boat with a Koi pocket set and waterbrush. Source photo is from The Tillergraph magazine.

It's been a while but I am back and begging once again (sorry!) and apologies for the long post, i'll put a short version at the end for those that TLDR Our Shenny-Lee 23ft Cabin Cruiser was recently taken on its maiden voyage from the Denver Sluice down to The Ship pub a few miles down river, she performed impeccably, pumping out water and with no sign of burning fuel, we stopped for lunch before hopping back onboard and heading back up river to our home mooring. Sadly we barely managed to get past the first bend as I noticed we were no longer pumping water and the engine was overheating with smoke coming out the engine bay. We managed to moor up at a private mooring and topped up our oil which was still within limits so the engine had not seized, it restarts but will overheat due to not pumping water. After speaking with the mooring owner he mentioned it was highly likely to be a weed trap blocking the water flow, although we cannot find such an item on our boat nor could another boater who took a look, he was happy for us to moor up there temporarily whilst we try to get our mechanic to take a look, a call to our mechanic found that he is off work seriously sick (sods law), a taxi back to our car and a long trip back home. Fast forward to another fortnight when we can get back to the boat and we made the decision to buy a small direct drive outboard (Crescent 5hp) to hang from the outboard bracket and slowly get us home. After some fettling we had the outboard fitted and running with a few teething issues trying to steer (the outboard bracket is offset meaning it pushes the boat from one side) we finally had her straight and moving for about 500 yards until the revs dropped and the outboard died, I figured this was due to weeds wrapping around the prop and so cleared it off the best i could, but the outboard will not fire again. We spent the next 10 minutes drifting down river desperately trying to get the outboard restarted, at this time two boats approached from behind, we attempted to flag them down to request a tow but the first didn't acknowledge us at all and the second simply shook his head, apparently a boat drifting unpowered in the river is not worth stopping for. As we drifted closer to the row of boats at the nearby boat club, fortunately a member had seen us and came to grab a rope to moor us up at a spare unkempt mooring for which we were very grateful, he looked over both engines, could not find the weed trap either and after checking the outboards spark plug determined it was not getting fuel, which is surprising as it was running fine. This is now where we are moored and are desperately seeking methods to get us back up river to our home mooring so we can begin to troubleshoot both of our engine issues. In short: Main engine is overheating and cannot be run for longer than a few minutes, it does not pump water. Auxiliary outboard (Crescent 5hp) purchased is now not getting fuel. Our home mooring is next to Jenyns Arms. We need a tow back up river to Denver Sluice and a boat mechanic to help diagnose the fault. We asked around denver sluice but fellow boaters either did not have a mechanic or were using the same one as us who was sick. Anyone able to help? Thank you!

A quick ink and watercolour sketch of the boat next door. As seen from my front window.

Have you ever wondered how to climb over the Anderton Boat lift without getting into bother? Well, now you can, with a great and informative tour at the top of one of the great canal icons. See https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/museums-and-attractions/anderton-boat-lift/top-of-the-world-tour for more info. However, if you don't like heights, or can't wait, here is a video showing the fun to be had: Enjoy, Mike

tumblr_o7fmvvhIB51r1k6d5o1_540.jpg This is what I always worry about.

Hello Everyone, I have had to resort to a post about this as tonight I feel defeated !! after 2 months of battling with a leak in my engine room, I really thought I had it sussed ! - I have had various things to the calorifier done, including expansion tank fitted and all the joints re done, (plumer was doing some other work did this) - I have reseated the calorifier skin fitting with CT1 as I noticed this wasnt very good, - I then found a small hole near another pipe exit, where a spot of weld was missing and filled this with CT1 , really thought this was it. And yet still I find water, and a fair amount !! Alot of people say check the prop but I really dont think its this and I regularly twist the knob, but I am going to attempt to completely repack this at the weekend. For now I have put a bowl under it., I have taken some photos and even a video to try and show the issue and am desperate for some advice, I had the boat surveyed recently and he said everything was in very good conditon so am dubious to think its the hull itself leaking but starting to feel that way. I did run the eberspecher this morning for hot water and it rained lots today. I have a cratch cover and cannot figure it out ! I wondered if it was coming in through the vents but they dont seem wet ? Any help greatly apreciate, it may stop me going totaly mad. Thanks Martin http://www.martin-price.org/downloads/Engine%20Leaks/20160712_202756.jpg http://www.martin-price.org/downloads/Engine%20Leaks/20160712_202802.jpg http://www.martin-price.org/downloads/Engine%20Leaks/20160712_203654.jpg http://www.martin-price.org/downloads/Engine%20Leaks/20160712_203703.jpg http://www.martin-price.org/downloads/Engine%20Leaks/IMG_4504.JPG http://www.martin-price.org/downloads/Engine%20Leaks/IMG_4505.JPG http://www.martin-price.org/downloads/Engine%20Leaks/IMG_4506.JPG http://www.martin-price.org/downloads/Engine%20Leaks/IMG_4508.JPG http://www.martin-price.org/downloads/Engine%20Leaks/IMG_4509.JPG http://www.martin-price.org/downloads/Engine%20Leaks/IMG_4510.JPG Ps. sorry some of the photos are terrible, just home from work and tried to take the best I could on my phone with a torch, The video is a little better I hope

the Mrs and I bought a boat! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR So damn excited! So relieved! So nervous! The vertigo.... spinning... What do you wish you knew when you bought your first boat?

Hello! Can anyone recommend any boat surveyors in the Bath/Trowbridge area? Personal recommendations are the best! Thanks alot Amber