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I guess the common ingredients in this blossoming issue are ....... 1 Some people can't/won't/don't have empathy or any concern regarding the inconveniences they may cause to others 2 Some buying or ordering Fat Boats aren't serious canal enthusiasts nor do they understand how this issue could be contentious to others. 3 Some of them only see locks and bridge 'oles as being their only obstruction to moving around. 4 Waterways (I don't care what name they go by currently) certainly don't want to get involved in any issues around this. Especially as they want to make money, perhaps by licencing boats by square footage. Having charged them accordingly they don't then want to face appeals for a reduction in licence fees from those who now have an officially restricted network. Currently an appeal from one for being stuck somewhere like the N Oxford would elicit a Waterways response like "You took a boat that size there? Why?" At the moment it's nothing more than a small group of people not being educated by anyone (Waterways/Brokerage/Builders/Marinas) about the potential tears and tantrums before bed time. There's no objective point of view to research only individuals' personal points of view. It'll get worse before Waterway's are forced to spend money on pointless consultations etc. which will only result in table thumping and individuals flouncing off the canals furious about the nanny state again.

Saying "How far are you supposed to go" sort of instantly implies that you have no intention of actually continuously cruising, because if you you were, you wouldn't need an answer. What you actually mean is, "How can i avoid having a residential mooring by bending the rules and still avoid any hassle", and the real answer is you probably can, but you might not be able to, and no-one knows and no-one's going to tell you, because CRT are the only people who could and it isn't in their interest to do so, even if they legally could, which they can't because it isn't really defined. The only way you'll find out is if CRT refuse you a licence and then take you to court to take your boat off you because you haven't got one. If you can live with the possibility, fair enough. If you can't, the probable best bet if you need relatively cheap accommodation is a caravan site or, of course, a residential mooring (or a mooring where residence is allowed, which is not always the same thing).

My understanding, even back when I bought the boat thirty years ago (with a home mooring), was that you couldn't stay in one spot for more than 14 days and that seemed to be generally accepted, possibly because we didn't have the internet to blather about on. If you didn't have a home mooring, whenever that came in, it was because you were a continuous cruiser and therefore would be on a cruise rather than sat under a tree for ever, because those were the people the term was brought in for. The difference appeared to be the assumption that if you were on a cruise, you were going somewhere so wouldn't hang about the same area, while if you had a home mooring you would, but not in the same spot for more than a fortnight (apart from your mooring, obviously). Of course, back then there were a lot fewer boats (or so it seemed, anyway) and so nobody, including BW, cared much. As you got more boats zooming about, it got a bit more fraught at the best moorings and the powers that be decided something had to be done about it and we all got a bit more regulated. As we now have the joy of the internet, we now have the ability to argue amongst ourselves about what the legal words meant n years ago, although the courts don't actually care and nor do CRT, and, in fact, nor do I very much, as long as most of us pay some attention to the others out and about and behave with a certain amount of responsibility. Which most of us do, and you can generally ignore the others by untying your boat and buggering off somewhere quieter. You can say, of course, why should you have to? But that's life, some people are just a pain in the arse and as you have an engine, be grateful that you have the ability to avoid them which you don't with your neighbours ashore. What's actually laid down by law and what isn't is what makes lawyers rich and everybody else fed up to the back teeth with the endless meaningless discussions. Generally, what gets you hassled is inconsiderate behaviour, whether it's legal or not, and quite right too. CRT seem quite amenable to being put right when, for example, they issue overstaying notices when they shouldn't, and unless you want constant supervision it's bound to happen so isn't worth worrying about. Most of us have never had any trouble.

Handed?

I am sure that's the case but I wonder how many folk who would be inclined to turn their noses up at 10' - 12' of widebeam would be in raptures at the site of 14' of motor and butty moored in the same place. JP

The problem with asking a question like this is that it suggests that your intention is to do the very minimum of boating which keeps CRT off your back, which many people would regard as demonstrating your intention not to follow the spirit of "continuously cruising" (the letter of CCing being undefined and undefinable). Yes you can CC and hold down a regular job/have kids in a regular school etc. But to do so you really need to range over a wide area, and that will be hard work especially for a single adult responsible for a wide boat and a child. You will spend a lot more time than a bricks-and-mortar dweller (or indeed a marina dweller) moving the boat, coping with a lack of mains electricity, water and drainage, lugging bags of coal and gas bottles etc. You may well find yourself exhausted by all this after a few months. And at the end of the day it will be little if any cheaper than living on the land. If you don't have a burning desire to boat for boating's sake, this is unlikely to be the lifestyle for you.

Wouldn't that be Lloyds (the Black Horse) Bank

They are if you are into Chopin it up!

Would guess that if the Camera pulled back a Yard or two it would have shown a few Ecofan Sales personnel who were a Teensy bit Stoned?

Short answer - Yes I suggest you indelibly label the lead "For connection of EU20i to boat shoreline inlet ONLY" for safety's sake. If you feel confident in doing so, you could instead make the link at the back of the socket on the genny. It is actually essential that you do one or the other in order to enable the boat RCD to protect you as designed.

Then perhaps she can use it to keep milk, wine and other things thst need to be kept cold in it. Why with the ecofan on top it could possibly be turned into a freezer

Where did that come from? I made a genuine attempt to answer what appeared to be a genuine question. The link was easily missed.

Schmelly was a Novice Swimmer at the time, he wanted her to teach him the Breaststroke!

Who’s talking about connecting the mains to the inverter output? Presumably the rotary Switch selects off - mains - inverter - genny (but not necessarily in that order). Yes, the inverter should be switched off when on shore power but that’s purely to save the quiescent drain not for some non-existent explosion risk. I’ll lay money on it going to position 1 or 2 on that rotary Switch. That’s what the Switch is for.

This is the situation we've got, one plug, that either goes to inverter, or shoreline ,or generator. Suits me, it's so simple, I can understand it! Bod

hi love to hear about dogs getting some good luck in their short lives. im whats termed a dog lover. im a retired civil engineer. 2 years ago i heard about an animal rescue centre in spain. it was run by a well meaning but confused lady,english. supported solely by donations. the town hall suddenly declared all the kennels were built illegal and unless they were rebuilt to conform with regs. all the animals 139 + dogs 60 cats were going to the killing stations. well i went to help for a couplr of weeks. ended up staying 10 months. got volunteers from berlin uni and finland. rebuilt the entire place and secured sponsorship so they wont have to struggle like they had in the past. the downside of this was i made myself quite ill and lost my job,flat etc. but you know what. I still felt goos and proud. so to all you people who do take time to care for an animal whos luck hasnt been good . I say WELL DONE YOU. The Blind Novice

Many people come on the forum and ask questions. It is usual to like the reply that suits you the most and dislike the ones you don't like even if the ones you don't like may well be more realistic to your specific set of circumstances. Do you intend to move to that particular area to comply with that cruising pattern? I know the area you intend to cc in very very well and yes it could be done but lots of river work involved otherwise commuting into Nottingham from further afield and that is horrendous believe you me. Its nearly as bad as living in a house!!

Jabsco recommend changing cartridges every year, so they actually work out cheaper if you stick to the schedules. Jabsco ones have silver in them so might be killing some bugs too, as well as any werewolves who drink water while on your boat. Jen

But in reality this * is not the case. You can most likely stay for much longer than 14 days in many more remote places because CaRT just do not patrol them. In some places you could get away with months or even years, especially on a river. There's only loads of fuss because most over-stayers choose to stay in the high profile "honeyspots". CaRT really don't want the hassle and expense of lifting your boat out so you can play them along for a fair while, get lots of warnings and only move at the very last moment before things get really bad, though its best not to do this in your first year. Thing is, boating is supposed to be a relaxed and fun way of life and playing cat and mouse with CaRT might just spoil that. ............Dave

Historically you can consider Braunston to Napton as the Oxford, (potted possibly slight inaccurate history lesson follows!) but when the Grand Union was formed it was incorporated somewhat into the Grand Union to give them a route between London and Birmingham. I believe that the Oxford still got tolls on that section though, so it is often counted and being part of both the Oxford and the GU, CRT for example do count it as the Oxford for the purposed of stoppages etc, and you will see "Oxford Canal Walk" signs on this section too. I would say that it certainly widebeam though, as much as any part of the GU from Braunston to Camp Hill in Birmingham is. So I don't think anyone is going to take exception to widebeam on that section.

Betty, Braunston and Wigrams Turn are both on the Grand Union (Wigwams Turn is on the section shared by the GU and the Southern Oxford Canal), so both are on a wide canal. Ray is commenting on widebeam boats travelling from Braunston to Hillmorton, on the North Oxford canal, which is a narrowonderful canal. He was not criticising you. Cross posted other Betty's post directly above.

If you tie an Ecofan to his back, angled downwards, his body heat will cause the blades to spin enabling your hound to hover effortlessly from one level to another.

Sure you are. You think the Ecofan is effective

Braunston today.

Yes you are right! They do make a change from the regular "How little can I get away with CC'ing?" question that comes up all the time. To be fair to the OP, this isn't what she is asking. Just clarification on the very vague and unclear rules. Not her fault that there are no hard and fast answers. Jen

An awful lot friendlier than an uncivil sunset.

I don’t think a rigid schedule is the way to deal with maintenance. As you get to know your boat you’ll know, for example, that you might need to check drips from the stern gland daily; whereas if your engine never uses any oil it’s not necessary to check it each time you start the engine. Here’s a list of some of the things that need checking: State of battery. Basically are you consuming more than you put back in? There is a wealth of really detailed advice on this forum how to do this. You can do most maintenance, however, with just a voltmeter and ammeter. This is something I check every day. Make sure the battery is topped up (unless it’s a sealed type) – especially important in summer. Make sure the battery terminals are clean. Engine coolant. I usually check this most days when I’m out. Checking will depend on what type of system you have. If you have a central heating system, check the header tank every few days I’m always quite surprised how often mine needs topping up. Oil/filters. With moderate use I do an annual oil change and have the engine serviced at the same time. I always carry plenty of spares. Alternator and water pump belts. Periodic checking. Spares on board. Water pumps. There’s not much you can do to anticipate these failing. Just carry spares. Blacking. Every two or three years. If there’s evidence of galvanic activity, deal with this pronto. Leaks to plumbing. Difficult to anticipate. Periodic checks needed, especially if there’s water in the cabin bilge. When I think of it I depress the bubble tester and jiggle the PRV on the calorifier, just to make sure. Also it becomes second nature to check electrical contacts every so often to see that nothing is working loose. Basically you need to keep your ears alert for unusual sounds and your nose will often tell you if things are going wrong. Until you know your boat and how it behaves you need to check everything everyday (Do you have any external woodwork? That can be a real challenge to keep in good condition.)

The only 'rule' that is different for CCers is enshrined in the 1995 Waterways Act and states: (ii)the applicant for the relevant consent satisfies the Board that the vessel to which the application relates will be used bona fide for navigation throughout the period for which the consent is valid without remaining continuously in any one place for more than 14 days or such longer period as is reasonable in the circumstances. The question is what is meant by bona fide navigation and the likely-hood that your interpretation is different to C&RTs YOU must SATISFY C&RT that you will meet the requirements, as has been said, if C&RT consider that you are not complying all sorts of nasty things happen to you.

Unfortunately they were unable to replicate their results after being forced to abandon the experiment when one of the Ecofans broke loose and destroyed the lab.

No, Its electric so its licence exempt.

I knew there was woo-woo involved somewhere..

Half-a-crown a week, AND he doesn't pay any tax !! Clearing the Greek debt: It's a slow day in some little town........ The sun is hot....the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit. On this particular day a rich tourist from back west is driving thru town. He stops at the motel and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night. As soon as the man walks upstairs, the owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill at the feed store. The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her services on credit. She, in a flash rushes to the motel and pays off her room bill with the motel owner. The motel proprietor now places the $100 back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, picks up the $100 bill, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money & leaves. NOW,... no one produced anything...and no one earned anything...however the whole town is out of debt and is looking to the future with much optimism.

Why remove it? you could have Tethered it to to the Ecofan and Quadrupled the the Air flow!

Just because a low powered fan can move SOME air does not prove that it has any useful effect on the grand scale. The difference between technologists and lay people is that we require evidence, and not anecdote. I have a Stirling Vulcan and assert that it is useless for spreading heat around the boat. Actually, a proper mains-powered fan was not able to spread more heat than the convection from the unassisted stove. To the layman, it is 'obvious' that the ecofan must work because it moves 'some' air and therefore it 'must' be beneficial. But, as a rational engineer, I demand empirical, unbiased evidence and there is none. I have no doubt that the ecofan has some effect, but so does the beat of a butterfly's wings two-thousand miles away - you can't prove it doesn't!

It can be tricky putting the Victron Combi into "equalising charge" mode. It involves switching the unit from on to "charger only" and back to on again and back to "charger only"in a short period of time (0.5 to 2 seconds for each change of switch position). It is described in the manual, but I struggled with it until I found the YouTube video.

Anything made by Vetus will have genuine spares available at eyewateringly high prices. Fortunately equivalents are usually available at reasonable prices My preference would be for a Beta, as they are reliable, long lasting and spares are available at reasonable prices. I have a Beta 43 in my vote.

There are all manner of excellent and affordable 'Electric Piano's' out there, none of which are capable of even approximating the tonal qualities nor the keyboard action and pedal feel of any half-maintained, fashionably shabby looking iron-framed stand-up with actual hammers striking actual strings and actual dampers actually damping and so forth.....

Yes make a spreadsheet this is a great idea. Once you've made it, look at loads of boats regardless of whether they fit your model of your ideal boat, or not. Then throw the spreadsheet away and buy the boat you really really like. It won't tick ANY of your boxes, I predict

Don't see what all the fuss is about. That's pretty much par for the course if you want to pull in at a lock landing on the Huddersfield Narrow.