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It's a floating flat, where the buyers/owners have no real interest in the canals, rivers or boating. Many of the design "features" are flaws unless you just wanted a static floating house.

Based on house prices over the past 30 years, (and longer), you will definitely be burning your bridges if you sell the house you already own half of, and spend all/a chunk of the money on a boat. With just over twice as much experience of life as you have, and given the opportunity you now have, I would do whatever you can to retain your place on the housing ladder.... WHATEVER IT TAKES!!! Where is the house? How much is it worth? Buy your sisters half with some kind of mortgage, (buy to let mortgage on the basis that you are going to rent it out). Remortgage it once you own it, (you may have to wait 6 months before a lender will consider the next loan), to release as much as you can to buy your boat. The rent will cover the mortgage, (the lender wont lend the money if it wont), you get to buy a boat and live on it, and you are invested in double the amount of property that you are right now, as against not invested in property at all. When property values have doubled again in 10 years time, (or 5 years, or 15 years, or whatever), you will own outright more than half of the property, and you have a variety of options. (In the past 30 years, property has generally increased in value roughly ten times) If the above doesn't release enough money to buy the kind of boat that you would really like, buy the kind of boat you can afford. £25,000 should buy a 45ft trad stern boat, with enough room down below, (just), for a couple to live aboard. I could go on, but you will get the gist..... IMHO, of course

Psssst.... he doesn't know it but the batteries in it are flat

I still reckon the main point of the law is the protection of property for the benefit of the property owners, and always has been. Anything else (equality, better working conditions, health & safety etc) has to be fought for by those generally regarded as the underclass, and will be got rid of whenever possible by those who regard themselves as superior and therefore quite rightly in charge. Rules don't seem to apply to those who can afford the lawyers to avoid them!

Sunflower? I think it should be called Swan. Not because it's elegant and graceful 'cos it looks like a bluddy match box. A boat needs to look like a boat in order to have a soul, if it costs a fiver then it's a £5 boat. If it looks like a breeze block and costs a quarter of a million then it's a £125,000 breeze block. How much anti greenness is caused by the manufacturing process of those panels and batteries? Or if being green isn't their motivation and they're really passionate about free energy then it's a good job all those batteries etc. are free eh?

CRT are already trying to make their money go further. That is why they have reduced their directly employed staff and contracted out more. Whether they police their contractors properly is another matter. CRT simply do not get enough income to even hold the system in its current state, let alone address the backlog of maintenance. They can ask the government for more, but won't get any unless wide public opinion wants it. They can seek other income from property, friends, fishing rights and permission to bury cables under the towpath. Oh but they are already doing that. They can increase licences from boaters. I think CRT are between a rock and a hard place at the moment. If they get this "consultation" wrong income from boaters will decrease and the boaters left will suffer. I hope they can attract lots of "free" uses, walkers, cyclists etc, who when the government funding comes to an end, can kick up enough fuss to persuade the politicians to keep or even increase government funding. I believe increased public funding is the only long viable term solution for the canals. What is sure is that doing nothing will only result in the condition of the canals deteriorating even more quickly.

My shorts never exploded. Chilly time of year for wearing them though. Spontaneous combustion, setting people alight has been known, caused by passing wind whilst wearing nylon underware.

It seems only natural that boater A who buys a boat bigger than boater B's boat, say 50% bigger, should pay 50% more in licence fees. If boater A chooses a boat so large it won't fit through some of the locks, that is his own silly fault in my opinion and he may not expect a discount due to his silliness. This argument taken to the limit says a widebeam dropped into say the southern Oxford between two narrow locks should pay no licence fee as he can't go anywhere. Clearly ridiculous.

We had Grebe, a 26ft Sea Otter for 17 years. Although she was custom fitted for us at the old factory, some elelents were their own (Ray's) set up. There were no ITs or GIs on offer at that time (1998/9) I suspect they came later. I suspect the pitting problems are to do with the boats being left for long periods on mains hook-ups and stray currents from other boats affecting them. For many years Grebe was never left with a cable attached and the hull was fine, however when left with a land-line attched I did notice something like a 'crust' forming in some areas of the hull. Windage, yes they blow wbout in the wind. Not when boating along the little dagger at the bottom of th stem-post keeps her in line,but when coming alongside you have to get ready. Slab sides with 5 ft 6 ins above the water and 18ins below the waterline should tell it all. We avoided winds above force 5 whwn ever possible. Condensation, was generally minimal, but we did keep her well ventilated. What we got was on the windows and it can be more than the small Channel Glaze 'scuppers' can drain away leading to staining in the corners and runs on the cabin lining. We didn't have a roof-hatch, they can be very wet. Heating, we had Wallas warm air. It was toasty at all times. Good luck in yor search, whatever you get.

I wouldn’t bother. Scrap it along with its mate - it’s not long for this world so why bother trying to eke our another few weeks? It’s probably got sod all capacity left anyway.

Only right to insure that the final statement is made on this subject by the customer I am sworn to secrecy

My crystal ball (or the I borrowed from MtB ) says all will be ok with the new skin tank.

Update on the performance of the skin tank with the extra non standard and recommend baffles as per the recommendation given by Beta to follow by the customer to follow after several days cruising.

Maybe the then local ops manager was a Wasps fan?

I think you need to get out and meet more boaters There is a growing assumption of late that people live on the canal to get cheaper housing, but there are a huge number of people living on the cut because they choose that lifestyle, I fear some are even boat/canal fanatics. And no matter what the sartorial intention was, a few years on the cut and scruffy appears to take hold. ...........Dave

I think it's very healthy that someone plays the devil's advocate but sorry Dave it's a mess, there's almost nothing to redeem this miserable project. It reminds me of some of those dreadful creations you see on Grand Designs, they should rename that programme Grotesque Debacles. These people with their heads in the clouds, with huge wads of cash to spend on a vanity project, especially those who claim to be eco friendly or "sustainable", it's just so depressing.

Of course, but a mains connection isn't at the top of my list of priorities. I'm sold on the idea of a roof covered in solar panels like that Sunflower boat then I can get rid of my engine and i won't need a mains connection, ever.

If it took him three weeks to get to Kintbury he could stick to his plan and arrive back at Blakes lock just in time for it to reopen.

I think CRT have already decided. Those with widebeams will have to pay a little more, those without home moorings will have to pay significantly more. They know that most folk don't have widebeams, and have a home mooring. They also know that people tend to express views on questionnaires that suit themselves, primarily. So, when the changes are made they can say "look, this is what boaters themselves wanted". And then we'll have hundreds or thousands of people no longer able to afford their chosen lifestyle, exacerbating the existing housing crisis. We'll also have miles of canals without interesting boats and people for others to enjoy. Welcome to the gentrification of the canals.

Are the fisher folk non-boaters? They pay for their privilege! What about all the people who walk the tow paths? Even what about the cyclists? What about the non-boat owning volunteers who help maintain and restore canals? Don't be so introverted.

If I was on a boat where hydrogen was accumulating, I think I'd want it detected. Remember the Hindenberg? Light the gas hob in the morning, could go Kaboom!?

You'll get there Dave, just got to keep practicing the beer tasting skills and wait for your pension. Alternatively win enough on the lottery to see you right for the rest of your days.

My boat is 6' 10" long and 60' wide. I like to drive it sideways.

If you can't beat em, join em.

Not sure i agree with that, the rainfall for 2016 was 1.1m, thats what, two tanks full, over a year?

Batteries do not generate CO when charging, but they do release H2 when gassing. See my post above.

I don't think that is actually true but it is well known that other gasses produced when charging, especially at high voltages or faulty cells are detected as CO by CO meters - as others have said. I can't see where the carbon atom would come from during charging to form CO

Yes. #thismaytakeawhile

Surely the corner belongs to multiple pedants, so should be pedants' corner.

Insidious transatlantic influence. I catch trains at a railway station, and I bet you do too!

Received and filled out the survey last night. I found issues with the way some of the questions were worded. For instance Q24 - one of the options was - Introduce – at a higher fee – a new licence that would permits boats without a home mooring to remain within a limited area (provided they satisfy the Trust concerning their bona fide navigation) In my mind this is just encouraging CM'ers which is one of the issues that C&RT are currently trying to discourage. Personally I currently pay C&RT for my licence and for my mooring. If they were to go down this route there is a high likelihood I would give up my mooring and move my boat around this 'limited area' as the chances are that even if they lift the license fee for this option it will still work out far cheaper than my licence and mooring combined. I can see C&RT actually losing money on their mooring sales if this is the case.

We're due an easterly wind soon which would blow you home. A simple square rig sail could be erected on a makeshift mast propped up on the fore deck against the cabin front. Just a simple old table cloth on a yard with a couple of sheets to control it. A little pulley at the masthead for a halyard fixed to the yard to hoist sail and to drop the sail in a second in order to stop..

Freaky Friday has started on Thursday??? It knocked £120 off my cooker. Result. All goes towards the fitter fitting it.

How thoughtful of it not to leave it till next week to go faulty

If you want to know why you are receiving so much rubbish see https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Filled in and returned. CRT just asking what we think aren't they? Costs are bound to increase but I reckon it's good value for money and happy for reasonable increases in the future.

But boat people had their own names for locks, bridges, pounds etc that didn't often appear in official guides.

As one of my sons who works for a hitech company in San Francisco once said to me, good, even fantastic, ideas are ten a penny. What is scarce is people who can translate one into a hit product. His company is always on the lookout for these people rather than for the great ideas.

And far more than one (your boat) work perfectly well with two or more baffles, in some case vertical so that should be good enough for you also, but it appears it isn't? According to your original posts an extra baffler would cause overheating on the grounds the engine water pump would not be powerful enough to overcome the extra resistance to flow. As Engines Plus have in the past and may still supplied the majority of new hireboat engines any that followed the mariniser's advice would be overheating according to you. They are patently not, even the ones that were allowed to do the London and Thames rings. This indicates that either the builders ignored Engines Plus's advice or your conclusions about baffles and resistance are wrong. I leave it to other readers to decide which is likely to be closer to the truth. It is my view that you have a tendency to read something, do it, and if it works take what you read as 100% correct. That's fine for you but when you then try to use that limited experience to advise others then, again in my view, you are in the wrong. No one has a problem with the Beta design because it will work but it may be sub optimal. I could reply in the same way and say if you have a problem with the Engines Plus design take it up with them but my experience tells me its a pointless remark to make. I do have a major problem when you mislead other people (in my view), criticise very experienced and well regarded people and then try to justify your conduct by quoting a single internet source. That is not good enough for me.

Apart from your blood pressure, is this causing you any issues, does it negatively effect your life in some way?

You wouldn't get it in the terminals