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!