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I think there's much more useful result of working efficiently than speed - ease. If you've walked twice the distance working down a flight of locks than you needed to, no matter what your age is you'll be more tired. My grandparents kept boating well into their 80s - he was sat in the engine room halfway through changing the fuel filter when he died. Granted they were both physically fairly fit, but she was 5' nothing and looked like she'd blow away in a stiff breeze, he'd had upwards of 10 strokes and the boat, being a converted ex-working boat, is heavy. I talk to lots of people 10-15 years younger than that who are thinking of giving up because "it's too difficult now we're older", when I suspect if they knew how to let the boat and the structures do a lot of the work for them they'd get a lot more enjoyment from boating and carry on. Locks, swing and lift bridges - even mooring up - are clearly stressful experiences for quite a few private boaters.

Precisely, if their prices were not reasonably competitive they'd never sell anything. Anyway, she went to buy one there on Saturday but I suppose she could have gone Anniewhere for one.

You will find there are a list of times not to boat in a certain order with the absolutely never done to the best time to do it sliding scale with number one being the never ever ever take your boat out with number two next etc etc............list is as follows 1. Any Bank holiday 2. School hoildays 3. Friday afternoon to sunday evening they are the top three with others in diminishing numbers. The best boating is weekdays november to march.

Fwiw, I didn't think that

Like it to job going on there.

Yes, you wouldn't want to upset her.

I managed to get a little more done today. Besides trying to decide where to put the cabin heater I cut the seat lockers out to the best of my ability with a jigsaw. As there are four lids the same I made a template for them. image: https://s5.postimg.org/uiarz6rt3/tn_20170501_153407.jpg I like these Boring bits for this job, but to get a better center hold at first ( aswell as i cnat see where the point is properly ) a small pilot hole does the trick. image: https://s5.postimg.org/8lo8ytemf/tn_20170501_153510.jpg image: https://s5.postimg.org/66wdedydj/tn_20170501_153547.jpg As always when drilling with this type of drill bit go halfway through then the go through the other side. Saves busting out the other side and making a mess of a neat hole. image: https://s5.postimg.org/7n7vwj1af/tn_20170501_153727.jpg As the sides are curved I used a batten to help the jigsaw stay straight. I am not the best at free hand. image: https://s5.postimg.org/9t26r14qv/tn_20170501_154755.jpg And hey ho Oh yes here you can see I got a bit giddy again with the expanding foam. image: https://s5.postimg.org/3uodgsls7/tn_20170501_180034.jpg Here is the cupboard and where the water heater will be going and cabin heater which is in the pic. A Propex HS2000. image: https://s5.postimg.org/uifdcxh6v/tn_20170501_180054.jpg I was going to fit the Propex in the bottom right of the cupboard but as there will be a cool bow/fridge there it will be a faff to do any maintenance, not just that but the exhaust and combustion pipes need to be a minimum of .75m long ( supplied in 1.2m lengths ) It will be dead space at the back right corner now as the Propex will be housed as in pic. The water heater if I still get the Morco F-11 ( considering the Propex Malaga, this will need to down low though due to the water stored in the unit ) is going in the top right and the rest of the cupboard will be storage. I lie the Morco F-11 as it is room sealed and instant water and can have the flue horizontal so it can go to the side or forward through the sloping part of the cabin top. I didnt manage to glue all the timber in place so thats the next job for this week after work.

Looks like these folks might have them: http://brassfactory.co.uk/brass-dome-nuts.html And these: http://www.kwikfast.co.uk/nuts/

Typical example of inconsiderate and thoughtless mooring. Just to be as close to the bridge as they can.

I shall make a point of avoiding it then The one in Nuneaton ain't bad.

I'm going boating while you work yourself into a lather in your paranoia! CRT have their faults but bearing down on p!ss-takers isn't one of them.

The flip side of the coin is do we want the organisation managing our canals wasting large volumes of our money defending claims by the one in a thousand boaters who make claim the rules are 'unlawful', when those rules have the general support of the other 999?

Explain the mentality of clicking on a clearly described thread title , reading it, then posting multiple replies saying how you are not interested in it, or that its so boring to you personally it should not be discussed, eight pages later you are still reading it, and replying to it ? Anyone ?

Not all GPs are that helpful, unfortunately. There's an answer to that, of course.

After nearly 200 posts on this subject " again " can I ask you what personal vendetta CART have taken up against you? I have just relicensed my boat making this my twenty eight th licence and in those near twenty eight years of both Bw and now CART they have never picked on me and I have never found the very few very easy to follow rules hard to comply with and always been given a licence. I suggest you may be being victimised and should seek legal help.

the canals were inherited by modern man from an alien race and we still don't know their true purpose; many of them were restored at great effort by goodly people who were not in the least bit interested in making through journeys, and it seems to me they should be used for the benefit of those who can't afford a proper fixed residence. to hell with any 'contract' that suggests the licensee should move around the system or buy a mooring - who the hell do CRT think they are anyway? and while we're about it, why are all these 'narrow-boats' fitted with engines? I look forward to the day when CRT will be required by law to issue a licence to un-powered houseboats that may be towed to the owner's favourite spot and then moored up permanently, and the licence should allow exclusive use of the bank (i.e. something quaintly called 'the towpath') for overflow storage, chicken runs, veggie patches, bikes, rubbish bins, and the like, and the licence should come with the Trust's guarantee that anyone anti-social enough to move their boat along the canal will never cause any disturbance to the static floating residence such as engine noise, swell, surge, or other form of wave. ................. NOT

But until someone with either a vast excess or no assets challenges them in court to issue the licence, having refused to accept the contract, then we can carry on wittering on, on here, for years.

That it fits in the box and the terminal layout is the same as your existing one.

Sadly, there are some people who seem to enjoy shouting at almost anyone that passes by, regardless of actual speed or - more importantly - what the effect is on their boat. I've certainly had comments when barely coasting by, even just arriving at or leaving a lock landing! One has to learn to smile and move on . . .

Here here... I have lost countt of the times I have been bumped by a non hire boat... most of the time not even a sorry..so whY does everyone see hire boats as easy targets.. I challenge anyone of you to hire a boat and experience how your 'fellow' boaters treat you . Fortunately when we started by hiring boats we got nothing but help and friendly advice ..it's seems such a shame that it as now become a war of hirers v 'proper' boaters

I really do not understand why you people insist on feeding these trolls. You are never going to get the free riders to admit that what they are doing is wrong and against all the terms and conditions of The Canal and River Trusts licence. I honestly do not know how any of you have any time to cruise the system. It seems to me that most of you spend the vast majority of your time arguing the toss with people who will NEVER admit that what they are doing is wrong and sometimes, even illegal. I stopped posting here because of this. There is absolutely no point in arguing with these people or even trying to point out in a reasoned and sound way that all they want to do is take the p**s. I do still read this forum. Occasionally, and at the moment it is only very occasionally, there is some useful information but mostly it is just keyboard warriors banging on and banging on about things they will not, nor cannot, do anything about. Until C&RT decides to go all out to deny the free loaders their day, and we all know that isn't going to happen any time soon, there is no point in shouting about it on a forum.

don't really want to get into a Hirers Vs Owners debate - I think it should all depend on experiance (perhaps hours at the helm?) I consider myself of low to medium experiance - hired boats every year for a week for the last 15 years, and a few times before that, and I've also crewed (including steering) 44ft sailing yaughts across the English Channel. I would in no way call myself an expert though. I've just got back from a week doing the Warwickshire ring, and I met some delightful owners who were more than happy to talk about various techniques (one was impressed when he saw me springing off, and another actually told me to go faster while I was passing him whilst moored!) However, there was a small minority of owners (well, just two actually) that didn't have the same opinion to hirers... 1) Upon entering the staircase at Bascote - I was one of a pair going down (both hirers) and there was a single (owner) coming up. The bottom lock was set in the owners favour, and it was obvious that the owner boat should enter the lock, and that when we let water into the sytem the two hire boats enter the top lock, and descend, in order to save water. With a little bit of centre rope tugging (hire boat one enters bottom lock beside owner's boat, hire boat 2 shimmies sideways across top lock, owner's boat enters top lock, hire boat one shimmies sideways in bottom lock, hire boat two enters) it's perfectly acheiveable. the owner was absolultley adamant this this could not work, and that you could only have two boats in the system at a time, which meant us waiting and them using the lock set in their favour. Now, I didn't mind waiting (I'm patient, and If I wanted speed I wouldn't be narrow boating!) but the woman on the owner boat got really shirty with my wife, and said in a very huffy manner "You couldn't possibly know what you're doing - you're only hirers!". 2) Approaching lock 9 on the B&F at Dog and doublet - boat going down in front of us, boat waiting to come up. Moored boat just beyond pub, so I pulled in by the pub to allow crew off. It was a little windy, so I held it on the centre rope while the boats in front sorted themselves out. Once the lock was free, sprang off, just as an owner boat came out of lock 8 behind me, with one of their crew walking to tow path - she was about to get level with my boat on foot. As she saw me move off, she waved frantically at her husband to hurry up "or we'll miss the lock". I entered the lock and she approached me asked me what I was doing - I explained that I had been waiting for the lock, and she actually said "I know, but owners have priority over hirers". Thankfully she walked away at that point in a huff. I think, what I'm trying to say is, there are good boaters, mediocre boaters and bad boaters, and they can't be put into hirer / owner categories (I'm not implying that anyone on this thread did, btw) - but nothing replaces experiance, and 10 minutes instruction at the beginning of a hire is not really enough. Hire firms are never going to insist on more though - such as some kind of qualification - because it would cost them business.

I understand that it's a good idea to feed them on a regular basis...

Slightly different twist. Urban exploration. http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/ Only found this one the other day. Seems like an interesting site - with information about all sorts of buildings, mines, industrial sites, leisure sites etc.

http://www.subbrit.org.uk Try this one

Stanley Robertson Broadbridge (my Grandfathers great Grandson) died of Cancer in Camberwell London on 29 November 1978 and was survived by his wife Eva, sadly he never published a second volume. HISTORY He was born in Barnet on 16 April 1928 and died in Camberwell London on 29 November 1978 age 50 from cancer Served in WWII in Bomber Command and was awarded the DFC In 1950 at his wedding to Eva Pollington in Littleborough Whitworth Lancaster he was still in the RAF He was economics lecturer at Leigh Technical College Lancs 1957-1964 North Staffordshire Polytechnic from 1965-1977 General Secretary to the National Association of Teachers in further and higher education since 1977 until his death