Geoffrey Hammond

Many thanks. What a charming and lively read. I shall certainly look closely at his website later.

I am delighted that my boat is now finished, afloat and a joy . It is my intent have fun, and to look after it as well as I can, as economically as I can. One part of that intent is to care for its engine – to learn about and to be able to service it myself. The engine is a 1952 Lister JP3M. I know little enough presently, so am minded to use the services of RCR to arrange an individual servicing session this Autumn. It would appear that an RCR engineer will spend four hours with you, talk you through your engine and guide you through its service so that you will be able to do the same job on your own in future. The cost is £150. Has any forum member had experience of such an RCR individual serving session – did it work for them? It may be that other forum members will recommend instead other engineers, in the Midlands, whom they believe, from their experience, could help even more – especially as it is a vintage engine. For me, what is key, is that I have actually to do the service myself rather than just watching – and that I am helped to understand what I am doing and why. I think I have the greatest chance, then, of understanding and remembering and learning! All advice happily received!

I have just returned from a week exploring the Moselle by bicycle, boat and train - a most excellent holiday. Has anyone ever kept or used a narrowboat on this river? There seemed to be many reasons why it might work out: 14 or so locks - so that the stream is controlled Separate small boat locks - 18m x 3m on average Plenty of off-stream moorings Huge amounts of beauty 200 km or so to explore Yes, there are some mighty barges and pleasure boats using it, but seemed plenty of room to avoid the worst of their wake.

Yes, I understand your point and it is fair. However, it could well help some people if the marinas were grouped geographically for comparison. I think there would be people who might feel helped by a comparison of, shall we say, all the marinas within 20 miles of Rugby - and I think there are many!

A brief enquiry. Does there exist a marina comparison site - one to which one might turn in order to find out certain basic details: The charge to moor - shall we say - a 50ft boat for a year The charge for electricity per unit The width of the entrance/exit channel The number of moorings in the marina Etc I know that it might be time-consuming and little lauded to compile - what is an important detail to one person, is of no consequence to another, but I just wondered if anyone had had a go at putting together such information - even if for just a small cruising area. Many thanks.

Just to let you know, the photo fetched £700.

Last week, I had the luck to help a friend take a boat from Bingley to Saltaire - what a day's pleasure. One moment of great delight was stopping for a cup of tea at Hirst Lock, near Saltaire. A charming elderly man had a homemade cart, on which he brewed and served both coffee and tea: the service was friendly, the tea tasty, the price an utterly fair 40p. He could have charged more - the cafe barge at Saltaire certainly did - but he didn't; his costs were low; his prices were low. A good man. I hope he succeeeds.

I am not particularly keen on either the excessive height or quality of the engine stack on my boat. Therefore, I am having a new one made by Chris Smith. I have asked him to make me one 18" tall - including its top baffle. Other than the fact that when the wind is unfavourable I will get smoke in my eyes, is there any other disadvantage to having a stack markedly shorter than most?

Owing to the efficiency of Nick Wolfe, Mitchell Narrowboats is now underway, moving to its new home.

Tony, thank you for your reply. I shall try to get some images of the operation added. If any one is at Braunston Marina on Tuesday, or passes Nick Wolfe's Aldgate on the move, I'm sure that good wishes would be well received.

Some of you will already know that Mitchell Narrowboats is moving from Braunston to its new base at Fenny Compton Marina. The move should prove interesting as it is being undertaken by narrowboat. This Tuesday, machinery, materials and tools are being loaded onto canal carrier Nick Wolfe’s Aldgate for the journey along the Oxford Canal. Departure is late Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. How good to see the apposite form of transport in action.

On Tuesday 22nd May there is an auction of photograhs at the Bloomsbury Auction House. Lot 96 is an utterly atmospheric canal shot from 1954 by the great English photojournalist Thurston Hopkins, now aged 98 - or 99. Here is a link to the auction catalogue image: http://www.bloomsburyauctions.com/detail/35919/96.0 Does anyone recognise the boat?

Many thanks. 1977 would certainly have been a year I went through, so it sounds like the right man. I'll try to find the copy of WW; I'm delighted there exists an article about him.