Cruising Restrictions How Wide Is the North Oxford? the Top Twenty Bss Faults 2

The Magazine of the National Association of Boat Owners
Issue 3 May 2019

CRUISING RESTRICTIONS
HOW WIDE IS THE NORTH OXFORD?
THE TOP TWENTY BSS FAULTS

2

Regional Representatives

The NABO Council

Anglian Waterways

Chair

Vacant
Stella Ridgway

07904 091931, [email protected]

The magazine of the National Association of Boat Owners

East Midlands Waterways

Joan Jamieson

Issue 3 May 2019

Vice-Chair

Vacant

0115 981 2047 [email protected]

Contents

Next NABO News copy date

London Waterways
Treasurer

Articles, letters, cartoons and photos are most

4 Editorial 5 In the Chair 6 Fly on the wall

David Williams

07813 496208 [email protected]

Helen Hutt

welcome.

Images

in

JPEG

format please. Please email or post your contributions by June 29th 2019. Our email address is

[email protected]

Middle Level
Legal Aﬀairs and BSS Rep.

78

Membership news: Website and email Around the regions: London & South

Vacant
Mike Rodd

North East, Yorkshire and Humber, Shared Ownership Rep.

East, Wales & South West, North West

10 News: CRT Council report

11 Summer ‘roving rally’ cruise, The charming Macclesﬁeld canal
12 Cruising restrictions

13 CRT news: New boater surveys,

Dredging in 2019-20, National boat count.

14 Boating: Welfare guidance

16 Mutual beneﬁt 19 Cost of living aﬂoat and boaters’ data 20 Top-twenty BSS faults

22 Talking points: Modern boating

24 Nowhere to turn: CRT abdicates responsibility on the North Oxford canal

27 Techie’s Corner: Diesel bug

28 Rewind: Issue No 3, 2004 29 Letters, I name this boat

Cover photo

NABO News Editor

Howard Anguish
Peter Fellows

is month’s cover photo by the Editor shows April storm clouds over the Ashby canal near Hinckley.

01482 669876 [email protected], shareowners@

19 High Street, Bonsall, Derbyshire, DE4 2AS

nabo.org.uk

North Wales & Borders Waterways

David Fletcher

[email protected]

Webmaster, NAG (Operations) and BSS Rep.

David S. Fletcher

Win a year’s free membership by having your photo selected for the front cover of NABO News. Please email photos as JPEG attachments, ideally portrait format with a ﬁle size of 2MB or larger.

North West Waterways
Media Oﬃcer

Peter Vickers

07517157154 [email protected]

Alison Tuck

River Severn
Communications Oﬃcer, Moorings Rep.

Phil Goulding (details left)

River Thames

Mark Tizard

Graham Paterson

0118 986 3959 [email protected]

Continuous Cruising Rep.

Phil Goulding

Regional Reps. Coordinator, Promotion and Recruitment
River Trent

Vacant

South East Waterways

Geoﬀ Wood

07968 491118 [email protected]

Ken Hylins

Minutes Secretary
Southern Waterways , Welsh Waterways

Vacant
Mike Rodd

General Sec. (External Relations)

Mark Tizard

[email protected]

West Midlands Waterways

Alison Tuck

[email protected]

NABO News is published by the

National Association of Boat Owners

PO Box 7366, Wolverhampton, WV1 9GQ Editor: Peter Fellows Production: Chris Pink

Additional Contacts
NABO Online

Assistant for the Disabled
National Association of Boat Owners

Ken Hylins

Whilst every care is taken to ensure that the contents of this newsletter are factually correct, we accept no liability for any direct or consequential loss arising from any action taken by anyone as a result of reading anything contained in this publication. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Association. The products and services advertised in this publication are not necessarily endorsed by the Association.

Mark Tizard

Administration

Twitter @NABO_Oﬃcial

David Fletcher
Vacant

CRT Emergency No: 0800 4799947

EA Emergency No: 0800 807060

Contact CRT waterway managers at canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/our-regions

NABO News Issue 3 May 2019

4

5

The Editor’s Column

In the Chair

t’s not yet summer and there gas and diesel will eventually happen are already boating restrictions and I believe navigation authorities in place because of damaged should be planning now to provide or failed infrastructure and facilities for all-electric boats, so that t my meeting with Daniel and we will see if anything happens. Greenhalgh, the new NW We also discussed the increase in Regional Director who liveaboard boaters, including the kindly came to my boat so challenges, but also the opportuni-

I

A

low reservoirs, the latter following new craft can be built to this specithe lack of winter and spring rainfall ﬁcation.
I didn’t have to travel, we discussed ties, that these boaters bring, such NABO’s role with the Trust and how as increased footfall along towpaths

we can be a critical friend in assist- and safer areas.

after last year’s record-breaking dry

I’ve included a summary of CRT’s

summer. In the news section, I’ve Boater Report 2018 in which the listed a summary of restricted lock Trust explains how it beneﬁts boatopening hours, as of the beginning ers and needs our support. It has of May, but it can’t be long before also introduced a shortened another canals with limited reservoir nual survey of boaters, renamed the ‘Perceptions of the Trust’ sur-

ing it.

I also mentioned the repairs be-

We discussed lack of facilities; ing undertaken along this section there are no showers at all on the of the Peak Forest canal and in the Macclesﬁeld or Peak Forest canals. North West; they have a team that is may not seem important to is going round doing small repairs. I some, but the ability to shower for hope it’s the same in other regions as

longer than four minutes is a treat

vey, and a new monthly ‘Waterway

Experience’ survey that aims to ‘get

(do let me know if you can shower

Warming climate and relationships?
Community

a much clearer picture of what’s affecting boaters as it happens and react quickly’ so that CRT can ‘be more responsive and target our maintenance and repair work on the areas that really need it’. All this seems to indicate a shift in attitude towards boaters. It may be a coinin less time) and to have the use of a washing machine for bulky items would be wonderful, particularly as

involvement

launderettes become fewer. We also discussed the transhipment sheds

Editor Peter Fellows detects changes that could

Stella Ridgway meets the North West Regional

Director.

at both Whaley Bridge and Marple, and noticed that the Toll House was

aﬀect boaters both negatively and positively.

open in Marple last Saturday—unit seems to be working up here. As fortunately, only open when I was on always, if you report a fault to CRT, dialysis, but the photos I saw looked please do everything through the good. e planning application for website or by phone to the central the wharf development at Marple switchboard, so that it gets logged. capacity follow suit. I know that UK cidence, or maybe boaters’ negative weather is notoriously variable, but comments last year on CRT’s logo scientists say that climate warming is and change to the ‘waterways and now a reality. CRT’s Hydrology Unit wellbeing’ Trust, are having an efhas plans to mitigate its eﬀects on fect. Likewise, the NABO Council the waterways, but we should all be members who are meeting regularly doing more individually, whether by with CRT’s regional directors report supporting Extinction Rebellion and the meetings to be ‘open, friendly Greta unberg’s kids’ campaign, or and positive’ and ‘beginning to show reducing our personal impact on the the real beneﬁt of a close working environment. Phasing out the use of relationship between CRT and its boating community’. Long may this

Whaley Bridge transhipment shed, built

to transfer materials from the Peak Forest canal under the centre arch to or from the Cromford & High Peak Railway—the two

was refused and I haven’t heard what

is brings me to the ongoing

the next steps will be, but I wish ‘Share the Space’ campaign. I asked that the Trust would concentrate that the form on the CRT website be on looking for ways to engage not updated, so that you can report incionly the land-based community but dents, such as near misses, accidents the boating community as well. e etc. I would encourage the use of transhipment sheds oﬀer a unique this so that there are logged reports opportunity to bring the two com- and not merely anecdotal evidence munities together and I hope that of bad behaviour by some towpath

side arches.

Illuatration: www.whaleybridge.com

continue.

Also in this issue, Mark Tizard

this is noted.

users (be they cyclists, anglers, boat-

shares his thoughts on how the boat-

Too often, and the new Regional ers). Increased commuting use and

Advisory Boards are testament to speeding by a very small section of this, when I enquired at CRT’s AGM cyclists, who persist in not slowabout boaters being on the Regional ing down for anyone, is a cause for Advisory Group, we were told that it concern. I have also noticed that was on the wellbeing agenda for in- mobility scooters are a worry. Is inclusion of the wider community. is creased signage at access points the is where boaters’ perceptions arise answer? Let us know. ing community is changing, with a new category of ‘ﬁnancial boaters’ growing fast, Kevin McNiﬀ details problems of widebeam boats on the narrow North Oxford canal and Tony Brooks deals with the dreaded diesel bug in Techies’ Corner.

Finally, my thanks to members who

of not being included; the boating

Finally, I have a CRT Council

have taken the time to write letters;

community is side-lined as being ‘on Boaters’ Reps. meeting on 20th May,

the water’ and that boaters ‘animate which I will be attending. I will be the canals’, as if we are there just to raising the above points, but if there be gongoozled at and no more. He is anything you feel that I should talk did make a note of those two points about, please email me. please keep them coming and also let me know if there are speciﬁc technical topics that you would like Tony to address.

6

7

NABO Council, April 28th 2019

Membership News

The NABO website and email

David Fletcher describes improvements to NABO’s electronic communications

he wonders of A boater is apparently being sued by technology al- a cyclist who hit a mooring pin and lowed April’s Councillors wondered whether eve-

Council meet- ryone’s boat insurance covers legal

ABO has a website and email service

that is at the core of our day-to-day and long-term business. e website

T

ing to take place by claims.

teleconference, with half

It prompted a discussion about

N

is our online window and also the

of the members out on the whether CRT can pass a boater’s

main depository of our knowledge base. We get thousands of visits to the site, the most popular being the listing of Parliamentary Acts and our recruitment pages. Nearly all of our new members join online through the website, referred from social media and our members’ hard recruitment work.

cut.

details on to someone making a

News of CRT’s lat- claim (it can—as set out in the liest staﬀ reorganisation cence terms and conditions) and is reaching NABO from all regions whether CRT has a duty of care in of the country, with waterway staﬀ areas along its navigations (not at all having to apply for their jobs, re- clear). As the land-owner, CRT gives dundancies in May, and morale at a permission for walkers and cyclists low point. Several Council members (and boaters) to use its towpaths had met waterway directors since and it could spell out each group’s the March meeting and reported responsibilities. Obviously, boaters shouldn’t tie mooring ropes across
e services are provided by a commercial internet service provider, as part of a package that provides a web presence, data storage, email services and support. For members, this is all very opaque, as you cannot tell who is providing the services; it just comes down the wire or the phone signal, and there it is. All that members need to be sure of is that the system is secure. e services are very good value for money; only a couple of hundred pounds each year. But for the web team (me), support is a key element. If things go wrong, can I get help? towpaths, but should they have a responsibility to make mooring pins

Fly on the wall

highly visible (as many do already, with plastic bottles or bright balls on the pins)? Or should cyclists take responsibility for their safety by be-

Observes proceedings at the April Council

email services. e website and log-in are all the same so, as members, you will see no difference. e prize we are chasing is more reliable email delivery. Early indications with the new system are good, though I continue to monitor the situation, take advice and make changes to the set-up. e April bulletin went out on the new system with only one rejection, against 30 in March; already a step change for the better. As I have said many times, BT Internet email addresses and some personal domains are the biggest problem, as they continue to randomly reject emails. I cannot complain to BT as I am not a customer, and they will not talk to me. Internet searches on this issue reveal a long history of problems with BT rejecting mails and failing to address the point. One thing you can help with is to report back on the NABO bulletins. ey go out on the first of the month, so if you are not getting these, please drop me a line and we can try to sort it out. Of course, you have to log an email address with us, in order to get them. Finally, if you are an expert on email delivery, SPF and DKIM settings, please speak up. I welcome expert advice. good exchanges of views. ere have ing vigilant? e real problem is that also been some CRT ‘strategic study many cyclists see the routes as cydays’ in which invited attendees dis- cle-ways not towpaths. Councillors cuss the importance of a waterway thought it would be good for NABO to local communities. It was pointed to offer guidance to its members.
For many years, we have been having problems with delivery of emails. We have become aware that some mails are being blocked, because we get bounce-back messages, but there are also some that simply disappear. We know that they get to the recipient’s system, but are then blocked silently. is is highly frustrating when we are keen to use these tools for membership communication, being both time- and cost-efficient. Our progress on use of email has been halted for more than a year because of the lack of confidence in delivery of the mail. e mail industry is completely overwhelmed with the volume of junk mail, sent out by powerful systems. e problem is that no system is going to be perfect in getting this right; good mails vs. junk. We are also weary of the inbox full of junk; this has now reached the point where people don’t read mails and delete them en bloc. So, communication breaks down. For NABO it was time for a change. In April, we completed a move to another internet service provider with better

NABO calendar 2019

Council meetings are held at boat clubs in the Midlands area. Members are welcome to attend; please just let the Secretary or the Chair know in advance (contact details inside cover).

out that boaters are also a commu-

Water shortages have started

nity within other communities, and early this year, with lock restrictions they are able to exert influence and on the L&L and Grand Union canals support for land-based neighbours being introduced to save water. Most in fighting off unwanted develop- boaters are aware of the need to conments, as seen in the attempt to serve water and will happily share redevelop Marple Wharf. is is a broad locks and ensure paddles are precedent that can be used in future. down and gates are closed when
ere was also welcome news they leave, but there is a minority about CRT’s new ‘fast-response who just don’t give a damn and their teams’ of maintenance staff, who behaviour needs to be challenged.

The dates for Council meetings in 2019 are as follows: June 23rd, September 1st, October 13th, November 17th (includes AGM).

now have the authority to ﬁx any

Finally, back to rubbish again,

new problems they come across with some canalside waste facilities when carrying out maintenance and being closed due to local residents repair works. But there is less good ﬂy-tipping (I hate that term—it news about speeding cyclists not makes it sound like my fault!) their ‘sharing the space’ on towpaths—the household refuse, costing CRT tens latest were witnessed on the Grand of thousands annually to deal with.

Union in Warwick and Leamington.

Byeee ... ‘til the summer.

8

9

Around the Regions

understood. e behaviour of cyclists was also reviewed and the Sustrans representative highlighted a positive programme that they had started, aimed at addressing the excessive speeding problem, about which they were extremely concerned, along with most other canal users. Overall, an excellent meeting with many positive suggestions. was around. e area is now flooded and cannot be dewatered without some novel approach, and there is no forecast available yet on a remedy. e troubled work on Finsley Gate on the L&L is promised to be completed by 18th June, just before a nearby festival. e repair to Hurleston bottom lock was cancelled last winter because of artesian groundwater below the lock and a redesign of temporary works was required. e lock is usable with supervised passage for normal width narrowboats, and the plan is to start the repair in November to rebuild the towpath side wall. e Lune Aqueduct on the Lancaster canal and the Palmerston Street embankment in Macclesfield will be relined this winter. And a £1.5m dredging programme on the Peak Forest and Macclesfield canals. open meeting showed the real benefit of a close working relationship between CRT and its boating community.