Odana

That is not brandy. That is Harvey Sloe Rum. Guaranteed to get anyone through a long cold night at the tiller.

Will these do? We found them under the sofa and they have definitely been here since your last visit. As an experienced structural engineer you may find a use for the sticks. To hold the marbles in place, maybe? I can send the Second Captain (always an awkward jobshare, captaining) for a quick jog out to deliver em ...

A Hockley Port Team is being assembled .... We may go for two,just for some internal competition

Yikes!! That was a long month! Glad you finally made it out.

Shall I just push it into a shallow bit of the canal Biz? That'd work, surely. And it would cool the hot tar. (Not doing anything with flames- just warmed normal bitumen rolled over. That roof is definitely not safe to stand on!!)

It does indeed. But that's hidden. I have the giant fish and octopus mural on show, and the witch of course!! Thanks all. The seams are suspect but there is a great patch of old tape on what ought to be a flat bit too. I'll go the warm bitumen and roofing felt route - looking like £50 and a lot of mess next weekend should sort things out.

Interesting! I'll look at that - a quick google seems like you can cut it to shape too (but I don't care if it has to go over the skylights). How do you stick the stuff down? 6.5m x 2.5m is taking me up to what I paid for the van (ouch), but if that's my best bet... Though the caravan was touring each weekend till this summer with my neighbours, I think the prolonged hot dry weather caused cracks that broke some of the many bodged repairs it has had in its life. I'm not expecting it to live forever so I'm treating this as a learning experience. In case CRT boot it off the site, and because I only need one for a few years till the latest round of study is done, I am loathe to spend huge amounts. (am I allowed to say on a boating forum though, that a caravan makes an ace office/guest room? I really miss my little patchwork springer-effect Pip but the space in here is awesome!)

Hi folks. The replacement for my wee office boat sold last year is an elderly caravan which has developed some nasty leaks - looking at the roof it has been taped up many times and the roof is in bad shape. I am loathe to spend several hundred squid on rubberised liquid roof sealant for a caravan worth less than that and which will never move. Has anyone experience of using things like Flashband, bitumen, or Evercryl on this kind of plastic (I really don't know what it's made of, but dates from late 80s). Or even fiberglass? I'm after a cheap fix to keep me going a few years - I very much doubt the roof will support my weight so anything will have to be applied from stepladders alongside. And scrubbing and sanding the roof will be pretty hard too. It doesn't have to look pretty, just keep me dry. At present I've got a couple of tarps on. Any suggestions for bodging, much appreciated, as this week's storms have drowned my newly-built desk!

If anyone knows NB Tapestry, currently on the tidal Thames, I have photos of them going past the Houses of Parliament and then again further towards Limehouse. Let em know to PM me for pics. I'm doing it in 2 weeks time and I know I'm desperate to get just this pic. ( I happened to be waiting for the ferry which then overtook them)

Aha. We met you when we were Canoeing the other week! We then spent a week broken down on the Wey and are now heading for Godalming and back to Weybridge for the weekend. Offer also returned if you fancy a zoom up the Wey later this week.

It's definitely underused! Ever so slow and clogged. But pretty. We can hire canoes at Odiham for the day from Galleon Marine to explore some of the far end. They also do hire boats but the price of a long weekend was more than I wanted to add to my Basingstoke budget!! Worth noting for others in future though if you don't want to go up then down Deepcut.

Splendid to see there was a walker this year after all that effort we went to getting footwork included ? After 2 years off it'll be good to rejoin the Challenge next year

Bother!! We are going to reach the Basingstoke in about a fortnight and were determined to go all the way. Hoping we can wind before the stoppage. Must have been one hell of a bash.

Thanks Scholargypsy! The plan in the early stages is to come in at Brentford from Teddington, spend time in central London and maybe up the Lea (depending on how long getting to London has taken us - may have to sacrifice that). Explore as much as possible of the Bow Back Rivers then go out from Bow Creek to barrier, then overnight either in Docklands or South Dock or Limehouse (Limehouse default but other options look nice too). Then on another day do Limehouse (or the other starting points) to Brentford. How does that sound? We're not needing to do everything in one go - I want to savour London by boat!. Tides around 18-21 July look promising. Another boat (Grassman) keen on a fortnight earlier.

I was working with Patrick at the time and had a small hand in getting some of the works started, which is why I sooo want to cruise the results!

We are planning our summer cruise and want to explore all the East London waterways plus Thames Barrier and then up through central London. My new Nicholson's shows that it's possible to get onto or off the Thames from Bow Creek but I can't find much other detail. Is there a more detailed guide to all this or has anyone recently done the backwaters who wants to share their experiences? On a more general note, how essential is booking all mooring in London nowadays? Last time I took a boat to London was 2001 when things were less crowded, and I never went past Little Venice and Camden then.

We will be coming East, then through the canal bits of London via Brentford, but upstream on the return to Brentford as that is the easiest way to do the Thames through central London I hear. Our timings may be flexible as we want to spend a few weeks down the Wey and Basingstoke and up the Lea. Only constraint is we need to be back up in Brum via Grand Union by about 7 Aug - hence thinking about doing Thames upstream about mid-July Will set to planning soon and if we can align dates it would be great.

We may be doing the trip about the same time as you, though early planning was for a bit later. While the boat has done the Thames Barrier and the main stretch before, we've not and we were looking for company too. If only for the opportunity to swap 'in action' photos! We will have done Sharpness to Bristol earlier in the summer so we will either be super-confident or petrified by July!

I've never had a trap before - hence wanting to get rid of the space-using, height-using set up we have now. Mind you, that very slim one there looks pretty good, and solves some of the height problem too.

I was thinking of having a second skin fitting for that reason, but was advised against it - fewer holes in hull and all that. But those joints don't look that secure either. Feel free to engage in debate and I will listen carefully .... The REALLY tricky bit will be that I'll have to get someone to weld up old hole and have new one(s) done before the new sink is fitted, as our kitchenfitter who is not used to floating kitchens doesn't want to do that bit (to be fair, welding is not a normal kitchenfitting task). And we all know that however perfectly you measure and calculate, you will always be just a teensy bit out!

Brilliant! Thanks all. Will get planning.

The skin fitting for our kitchen sink is far too close to the waterline for comfort (ie it is practically at the waterline, which terrifies me should something rupture/decay). It is a 1.5 bowl sink fitted with all the standard domestic waste connectors used in a domestic installation. We are about to update our kitchen and this is an opportunity to rework things and hopefully move the skin fitting hole up. Fitting kitchens on previous boats I have simply used flexible plastic pipe from a single sink, leading to the skin fitting, so the skin fitting could be pretty much on a level with the bottom of sink. Which doesn't give me the recommended 10" or whatever, but will give me 4-5" clearance from waterline I think which isn't unusual. How can I join the two wastes from the small and big bowls before they exit through the skin fitting? I really don't want to lose any height as I have little enough wriggle room. And I'm not keen on adding a waste pump or using two skin fitting holes as some people have done. All advice (and any pictures) gratefully received!

A metre? This is very encouraging. I think I have my plans for the Christmas break sorted.... I don't think we have any non-return valves - are there specific things I should be looking for? The tank is brewing sweetly with the little grains to balance it's flora and fauna. Not a hint of bleach or blue. But at the end of the day it's still sewage.... Thanks folks!

The smell is as if they are porous but IIRC they came from one of the toilet manufacturers and I bought them specifically due to the odour-free description (because when we bought boat it whiffed and it was my first demand) . Much worse in summer (I've a sensitive nose and it is gagging when hot!) and worse on the flat section than the upright. Tank is plastic, no leaks. Himself has no sense of smell, so has no sympathy. He will though be the person delegated to handle sewagey pipes due to his condition!

We have a Tecma Silent macerator toilet and a holding tank under the bed about 3.5m away. The pump out is via the roof. We had the smelly pipes replaced 4 years ago soon after buying the boat - they were and are still smelly despite expensive anti-pong pipe. I want to replace pipework again this winter. I'm after some advice on pipework reconfiguring, non-return valves and the like. At present the pipe leaves the toilet and runs at floor level before rising up to enter top of tank. In my mind this creates 3.5m of tubular 'tank' along back of my wardrobes etc. Ewwwww! What I plan to do is get the pipe to rise up steeply and as high as reasonable as soon as possible from toilet, then slope v gently down to the tank. This will involve contortions to cut new pipe holes through backs of 3 cupboards so Q1- Will a steep rise like this be ok with the macerator? and Q2 - will this make a difference to the smell, having it drain better to holding tank? I don't want backflow to toilet! Next issue - if the tank is full and can't be pumped out immediately, within a day the tank 'burps' sewage back into the toilet bowl (I've not seen this - reported by boatsitter twice while waiting for pumpout) Double ewwwww! This implies summat wrong with non- return valves or maybe fermentation in the long pipe as I'd think it would have gone up the vent pipe. Where should non-return valves be? Final bit of advice needed - the roof pipes have a pumpout pipe, a rinse pipe, and an air vent pipe. These pipes whiff too, passing up through airing cupboard behind my bed. And when standing on the back if someone flushes - pong! How to set up to minimise smell in these? Filters? Valves? Someone suggested rigid pipe but I don't think I can get enough access for that - the toilet-to-tank pipe definitely has to be flexible. The vertical ones could have rigid sections. I could lag pipes but that might only mask things temporarily. Any advice on set-up and smell - avoidance much appreciated. If there is a Midlands expert I'm by happy to pay em to deal with all this. (I need to stress I dislike pump out toilets in principle. Especially when they make my bedroom and clothes whiff of plasticky sewage!!!!) Thanks all.