Heffalump

We're doing great old chap, hope you are too! Great lie-ins on the boat, no 5am alarms here, and the sun has been great, we've both got Ranulph Fiennes crimson faces now. Was hoping to stop in shardlow tonight but where there's room for 4-5 boats two have moored just perfectly so nobody else can fit. Wasn't anticipating practicing my reversing today but there we go!

Howdy all We're out on the cut again and enjoying the sunshine we were gifted today. Checked my posts and saw that 5 years ago we shared some photos from our canal mini-moon, so we will have to recreate it tomorrow as our anniversary is next week! Leaving Mercia in the morning for Shardlow, then back again tomorrow. Did the opposite on Wednesday heading down to Branston pools, but the river was shut so we turned around to head back this way. If you spot Penelope given us a shout and a wave! Its so nice to see so many familiar names on the forum, we hope you're all doing really well. ❤️

Oh dear! Blimey.. 12-13 years now, 12-13 years of planning to live on a boat lol!

Indeed! I am still kicking about, albeit stuck in Banbury for the foreseeable

Yes! It gets a little bittersweet to keep too much up-to-date when I can't be afloat lol. Great to see so many names again. Absolutely, far from the rural getaways we're used to, there's always someone to have a natter with here! I also quite enjoy seeing the back end of our industrial past as we go through built up areas. It's so nice to see all these names again, Mrs Heffalump says she has far too much crafting paraphernalia to fit on a boat full time, but we have this discussion every time we go away, and I'm sure I'm wearing her down

Hi Friends, I hope you're all well. It felt right to check in here, after it's been a few years since we've managed a boat trip. We've commandeered my parent's nb, Penelope, and spent the last couple of days going from Brentford to Little Venice, where we are moored on the VMs at Rembrandt Garden for another night. The canals here in London are a lot different to our normal patch - so much rubbish! So many tarps around the prop! lol. But it's been a great trip so far. We're going to plod around here for the day before heading back to Brentford. Just saying hello really, but if you happen to see us, give us a hello! Nice to be back on the canals Heffa

Thanks Phil. Yes, batteries, new paint, blown up inverter, colander calorifier etc I was planning to do as and when from the BOAT saving fund!

Hi Folks, Can you help me sanity check a monthly costing please? License: £93 (Based on 70', prompt payment) Insurance: £17 (Based on £200 annually, quoted on a 1990 boat worth 30k with 5k contents cover fully comp) Diesel: £100 (Based on liveaboard battery charging, travelling a few miles once a week or fortnight) Coal: £40 (Based on a couple of bags a week during the winter, supplemented with free wood) Gas: £13 (Figure pulled out of thin air, expecting to use gas purely for cooking) Blacking: £30 (Based on 70' every 3 years, although I plan on doing this ourselves, I've costed for having someone else do it as you never know) BSS: £4 (Based on £150 every 4 years) Servicing: £5 (Based on oil and filters a couple of times a year) Have I missed anything? Am I wildly out on anything? Two of us, both mechanically minded. I will be putting about £700 into savings each month which will be the BOAT fund so as long as these numbers aren't horrendously wrong I think I'm OK? Heffs

Rather than start a new one, anyone at crick today?

I'll set a reminder to PM you not to watch it when it's out misery guts ?

They'd better get a hydraulic drive on that thing sharpish for sneaking through the undead!

All my drivers swear by peek for their trucks

You're paying for it do what you want!

Arkle, and promarine spring to mind. Very high deposit percentage required, and chokingly high interest rates. They are the reason I don't have a boat. They "have to" take into account my current rent of 865 a month, despite the fact that having a live aboard I wouldn't be paying it anymore...

Who are you using, if you don't mind me asking?

Ooh I like that! I think boating is a perfect way to celebrate a relationship, closeness, relaxation, and slowing down!

This one looked just like normal from the back, tiller with the bar still attached swinging on its own, very eerie! I imagine they had quickly disappeared below when the hail started.

We timed a lunch stop rather well the other week, and after tying up the heavens opened with fat rain and hail coming down. A narrowboat passed us while we were eating, but there was no umbrella to be seen on the counter, neither was there a person! The back doors were all closed up, so presumably, there was some method of controlling this boat from inside. This must have been from the very front as there was no raised wheelhouse to provide visibility, it looked like a standard NB. Has this been seen before? How was it achieved?

Thought I'd very slightly necro this to reiterate my thanks, we had a fantastic week and didn't get very wet at all. Unfortunately it has rekindled our interests in liveaboarding and we're now considering looking for a project boat to live and work on. (Idiots I know) LoneWolf it was lovely to see you, thanks for the tea!

Yes, actually everything was oiled and greased and I noted to my new wife that they were the easiest paddles I'd ever wound!

We went up and then down the Watford staircase yesterday, two lovely blokes on duty in the morning at 8, then 4 on duty when we came back down, grass being mown, weeds being weeded, smiles everywhere and the flight looks really nice, you can tell they are proud of "their" locks. Really helpful and genuinely nice people.

We will keep an eye out! Planning to stop around Braunston tonight.

Thanks everyone! We've just stopped in Braunston for a sarnie, fighting my way up the hill now. We are re-remembering how much we miss boating again now!

Hi everyone, new and old :) Just wanted to pop in and say hello, Emma and I got married this weekend and were having a boating mini-moon. We've hired hector and we are going from falls Bridge to crick and back. We are currently moored South of Hillmorton locks for the night and will be going through Braunston tomorrow. So if any of you see a couple on a small boat with a tug deck and a just married sign on the rear fender please stop us and say hello! Happy Easter everyone x

Hi all I'm sure I read moons ago someone using a computer fan and some ducting to move hot air from the stove further down the boat, and having good results. I can't find it from a search, does anyone know who posted it? Ta :)