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We are looking to live afloat in 2019, boat build slot has been booked as we can not find what suits us on the used market. Its not so much about a cheap life for us as we live cheap on land in that our house is pritty much paid for and we have spare income and can put a little aside. For us it is more about spending time living...... me and my wife are still young 33 and we work 12-14hr days 5 days a week. Been dealt some rubbish hands lately with health and we thought sod it. Now their is nothing wrong with that and some people love their work but we love to spend time together even doing nothing so if this move allows for that then that is how we will be richer. Living rather than existing to work. Now we will still need to work but part time hopefully and the rest of our week will be spent afloat cruising the cut or on a pontoon looking out to the world. Living means more than life with money the simple things of waking up together and having a coffee together.....i start work at 05.30 so cant do that at present or taking the dogs for a walk in the mornings together another simple thing i miss out on altho we go out in the evening, so yes thats why i think people are drawn to life afloat....it can be hard work as you all point out but its work for you not for corporations....

Clearly C&RT are fed up clearing the excess rubbish caused by illegal CMs dumping bags that are bigger than the litter bins they provide. There is a difference between litter and a week's household rubbish. As for a Travellers' Association that has no interest in travelling, well, PLEASE?!

Yoda you speak like.

Finished refinishing the pigeon roof! Before and after: Now we just have to do the same for the whole wheelhouse... several times as much work.

This could have been a lot of fun back in the bad old days of the mod banhammer...

The Thames is a very different animal to the canals, not least because it's a big river which means much of it has to have large locks with automatic gates. Then there's the need for flood control; modern technology can tell someone in a control room what's happening, and give them some degree of remote control, but it still makes sense to have people on the spot for various reasons, as indeed CRT do in some locations. EA seem to me to do a pretty good job on the Thames, but I can think of a couple of things that irritate me a bit. At many locks, when there isn't a lock keeper on duty the electrics are set to limit how far the paddles open, because quite rightly EA take the view that many of the occasional leisure boaters they get would otherwise have accidents. But you have to allow plenty of time if you're going to use Culham lock out of hours, because that has a special painfully slow setting; it takes about 20 minutes to fill the lock. The pricing of licences is rather weird, for example if you want to do the transit between the K&A and Oxford canals you either buy a week and take your time, or you get out onto the river early morning, buy a one day licence at the first manned lock, actually giving you the day you buy it plus the next day, and get a move on so as to be off the river at Reading/Oxford in time to find a mooring for the night. This is very do-able in spring or summer when there's enough daylight, but it does mean two long days of boating, so wouldn't be to everyone's taste.

Oops, missed that - perhaps a Trotman barge (see YBW forum) first and a marina second.... The rive is very shallow and gets narrow above Lechlade, so the thought of a broadbeam boat up the might restrict the flow and EA will have words to say about that. To them the Thames is all about water management.

If CRT took over responsibility for the Thames, I would have thought it would just be the navigation element, the flood control would still come under EA, just as it does on CRT rivers today.

It sounds crazy, but I believe that studies have shown it to be accurate. When it comes to litter, we can split the world into 3 types of people; Will keep hold of their litter unless there is a bin that isn't full to overflowing where they can deposit it properly Will keep hold of rubbish until they find a bin. If the bin is full, they consider that depositing rubbish next to the bin is fair enough What's a bin? Now the thing is that the last group will litter if you put bins every 10 feet along the towpath. The first group won't litter come what may. The middle group don't consider themselves to be a problem. They aren't dropping litter. They are putting it in the proper place for litter, a place where it will be collected. They don't understand that a great deal of the rubbish that is not IN the bin is going to end up dispersed just as if they had dropped it all over the place. So, unless you can absolutely guarantee that a bin you place is; Large enough to accommodate all the rubbish that you indended it for, and all the rubbish that you didn't intend it to be used for going to be emptied sufficiently frequently it will increase the litter problem.

...and yet people still boat because they love it so it can't be all bad. Why is "travelling the system" such a noble pursuit anyway? Admittedly I did it for the first couple of decades decades but I felt no less of a boater when I took a mooring and settled in one place for the last 7 years I lived aboard. The vast majority of boaters are not "travelling the system" nor do they have any desire to but that doesn't mean they are less worthy.

"When I need an alternative to the £1000 Honda gennie that would cost more than I have in my wallet I instinctively turn towards...." "PARKSIDE!!"

Turkey Sub!

Breakers are not superior in every way. They offer far less discrimination than a fuse. Whilst this doesn't matter for most things, there are circuits, particularly in critical environments where the better discrimination of a fuse is needed. Fuses manufactured to BS88 will blow at twice the rated current. Depending on the type of breaker, it will trip between 3 and 5 times rated current.

Looking good. Won't be long before she is afloat

Depends where you moor the boat. If Walsall top lock then about 24 hours.

Yes, you have but whether there's any telling you or not is another matter. There have been a number of people come to this forum, on Facebook and people I meet on the canal in recent times and said "it looks like a beautiful boat / it's had recent work done / it's not very old / my heart says yes". To them the best advice is if you're not experienced with boats get a survey. A fair few of them have been back reporting serious problems. Against that there are the people who say "I never get a survey" or "surveyors can be crap too". They are generally people who know a bit about boats. The number that end up in dock with £10k quotes is astonishing. If you think you can tell the condition of 10 year metal that's been sat around in a stagnant ditch without seeing it, measuring it or hitting it with a hammer then you're clever than most. I have been boating for donkey's years. I wouldn't buy any boat that I didn't personally know without seeing it out of the water, not ever. The boat's going to cost you £35,000, a hull survey will cost you £500. It's a no-brainer. so, I'll say it once. Get a survey.

It's a gamble, no more, no less. Forget how much you might win: the only question is how much you are prepared to lose.

And the one often a route to the other.

Electric or mechanical gauge? If electric ALWAYS suspect the sender first - especially if its one of the 3" or so diameter things about half an inch thick.

Maybe as the original thread on this subject was 'blocked / removed' during a period of 'problems' you are not actually aware what the issue is. The current case is (getting down to the nitty-gritty) , the fact that the 'law' states that a licence is not required, and that C&RT have decided that they believe a licence is necessary. It is nothing to do with moorings. Moorings are a 'problem' but not in this case - your proposals would be better placed in a new thread.