PaulJ

Thats my point. Im always a visitor. Its often hard but not impossible to find a mooring. If you spot a hole then grab it or be prepared to travel a while longer.. Ive never rafted up in London even on 70fters- but to be fair I rarely try to moor between Viccy Park and Whatdyacallit Cemetry/Paddington. On the move early one morning I was just passing one chap who shouted at me that he was just leaving soon if I wanted a nice spot. So not so visitor unfriendly as Id never met him before- its not so bad

It was (presumably) an opportunist towpath scrote who just walked on the boat while I was moored at Tottenham for the night. 70 x12 widebeam so I never felt/heard anything despite the scrote walking in right behind me as I was dozing on the sofa. Lost me phone and wallet but had a lovely undisturbed snooze😀 @IanD I purposely dont comment on other boaters. They often turn out to be my customers. Besides in my case its the buggars that move that cause me to que at locks 😀 I do however like to put my side forward when it comes to London Boating- challenging it can be sometimes but its not really as bad as some would have you believe- 😱

I collected a boat from Hartford in January heading upstream as there was a short window in the SSA then. Levels were OK and the Offord flow guage said the flow was well down(cant remember what now- maybe 12-17 ish) I kid you not the narrowboat nearly stopped a couple of times😀- Ive since heard that in fact the true reading never dropped below 30m3 in that period which was probably a bit more like it.

Lol Glad you explained that. 😀

SSA seems to be somewhat broken at the moment , at least on the G.Ouse. Locks have Yellows boards on them but noone seems to have had any emails, txts etc.Even my Teamup was showing Reds until today when it miracously back dated itself to the 10th!

Couldnt agree more. Ive often found London to be one of the friendliest places to boat and often had my new neighbours stop to say hello, offer help etc. Though to be fair it was also they only place Ive ever been robbed too 😀

Someone may find this useful if thinking of heading this way- I know quite often visiting boats either miss these or dont know were to find the info. @matty40s When I said I cant believe its not opening until the 20th... 😀

I does happen sometimes 😀- was quite a novelty finding the offside bottom gate paddle at Lot Mead Lock working a couple of weeks ago. Cant remember the last time I used that one.

Dont suppose this will affect many if any (other than me)- not very pleased this has now been extended three days after the finish date (extended to 12/04) Notice Alert Ure Navigation Location: Milby Lock (3) upstream of Milby Lock Footbridge, near Milby Starts At: Milby Lock (Lock 3) Ends At: Milby Lock (Lock 3) Up Stream Winding Hole: N/A Down Stream Winding Hole: N/A Monday 19 February 2024 08:00 until Friday 26 April 2024 16:00 Type: Navigation Closure Reason: Repair Update on 15/04/2024: Due to flooding on the River Ure, the Lock at Milby has been underwater for much of last week and is still under water again today (8th April). Predicted levels set to rise by a further 1.2m tomorrow and Wednesday 10th April. Although the works have been progressing well with both upstream and downstream gates now fitted, unfortunately, this most recent flooding has been a setback as we cannot access the lock bottom to fit both pairs of cills. The Lock at Milby is in a canalised section that by-passes Boroughbridge weir on the River Ure so it is particularly prone to flooding from both above and below. In order to allow the levels to reside enough for works to continue in the lock bottom and to repair the two upstream ground paddle frames and doors, unfortunately a decision has been made to extend the closure by a further 2 week. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you have the screen and top I would have thought any canopy maker could help. If not then I would ask this on Facebook- Dawncraft Owners - where I am sure someone will know 🙂 My Centre Cockpit Dawncraft (first boat 86-89) never had either so I made a wooden folding screen and roof with canopy sides. Things were a bit more basic then though 😀

My Dawncraft (outboard) never had a bilge as such to fit a pump into- it had a sealed and glassed in floor. Remember this as when the bilge keels (?) rotted and needed replacing you had to cut holes in the internal floor to get access to the bolts underneath. Horrible job. A friends Dawncraft does have a shallow access hole cut out near the rear between the outer and inner skin but sure this was done by a previous owner and this boat was very unusual for a Dawncraft being widebeam and fitted with a dirty great lorry engine and Sternpower outdrive.

Speaking as someone who likes to stick bits on properly with weld and I have always done it exactly how David Mack describes. Having read a few threads on this though I think I would now be tempted to weld on a stainless fitting (think Magnetman suggested this) and save anymore future maintenance of cleaning the threads, reblacking them along with the tank etc.

Or a standard shower waste with one of these https://www.screwfix.com/p/floplast-hose-connector-40mm/48625?tc=OT8&ds_rl=1241687&ds_rl=1245250&ds_rl=1249404&gad_source=1&ds_rl=1245250&ds_rl=1247848&ds_rl=1248151&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlN6wBhCcARIsAKZvD5hOA-eQoFsBXjZX54saBi3ACwjMcfwBMBF5fmKZl_1c_xFPOcMRt-IaAtTBEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Or even Worsley Dry Dock if you are willing to travel onto the Bridgewater. Although I have no idea on whether or not they do V hulls- good and helpful people anyhow

Its really not been an easy year so far..

Could be worse- you could be the wrong side of River Lock/Leeds at the end of May- hopefully anyone that is can wizz through in that week as one (hopefully) opens before that shuts. Notice Alert Leeds & Liverpool Canal Location: Leeds River Lock 1 Starts At: Lock 1, River Lock Ends At: Lock 1, River Lock Up Stream Winding Hole: Bridge 226 Down Stream Winding Hole: Victoria Bridge Monday 27 May 2024 08:00 until Friday 26 July 2024 17:00 Type: Navigation Closure Reason: Repair Original message: Works are required to River Lock as it is struggling to achieve a level and is consuming an unusually high amount of water that on occasion leaves Granary Wharf basin above short of water, preventing onward navigation. To mitigate this we have to date restricted operating hours whilst our engineers have worked to develop a solution. We have now taken the difficult decision to carry out repair works between May and July. We considered waiting for the next winter stoppage period, but had concerns that this was not the right decision for a number of reasons. Carrying out the works now, avoids working in a river in winter. The risk of flooding is higher in winter and our recent experiences of flooding across the country suggested that minimising this risk as much as possible was preferable to ensure as smooth as practical a programme. A further consideration was the unknown nature of the defect to the lock. The lock is losing a lot of water from, a not as yet fully diagnosed defect. With this uncertainty there is the potential it could get worse and fail unexpectedly. As this is a significant structure connecting the canal with the river and the pound above the lock is a popular site for visiting boats, we were concerned that the impact of a failure at this location would be higher than at other locations on the canal. Because of the defect, the lock currently needs to be manned by our team and this takes resource away from the maintenance of the canal. We are not able to man it all times due to resource limitations and so this already limits when boaters can currently go through the lock. We appreciate this decision is not ideal but hope you can understand our reasoning; our aim is to ensure the lock is fully operational as soon as possible. You can view this notice and its map online here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/27839/leeds-river-lock-1- You can find all notices at the url below: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices

Winkwell Swingbridge -scenic it isnt but as it is still closed to traffic and open for boats I reckon that counts as VERY nice 😀

Blimey- didnt look like that yesterday

Passed through there this morning and it was fine. Has rained loads since though so dont hold me to it..😀

Sonoff arent bad.

Not really. A corroded welded in fitting will only drip slightly to start increasing over time. You would hope the appearance or smell over time of damp would be noticed and give warning of the problem.

Ive just finished moving a narrowboat- the new owners run their own business and have a young daughter at school so time is somewhat short and they need their new home quickly. Monday I collect a widebeam for the newish owner that has had heart problems and is unable to do anything strenuos. After that Im over to Wigan to move a boat down the Flight for a single and relatively inexperienced single lady boater. Could give you several more quite understandable reasons why people do although I do still chuckle at the widebeam I once had to move off the mooring , turn it round and put it back on the opposite way. I dont find it sad at all- I really appreciate it 😀

I suppose you could fit another higher temperature switch with alarm if you was worried about it.

I use these (although not ths specific one but this example has a good range of temperatures) to control pumps/heating blowers - I do use a relay though as not sure how sturdy the contacts in them actually are. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401616239309

No squirrell on my wall but it was taken today 😀