Michael Tyler

Yup.

That’s it for me. I’ve done my stint and from this Friday, (7th March), I’m back on the cut. Away from the protected environs of the marina and back out into the wilds.

Horray.!

Is it better to over-winter in a marina?

Here’s some of my positive and negative aspects of choosing one, or the other.

Advantages of the Marina over the Cut

1. Electric. Easy and probably the only single reason I’d pick a marina over the cut is the electric.
   It’s in abundant supply, you can use as much as you want of it, and it doesn’t cost very much.
   Contrast this to starting of engines of one sort or another, it’s a greener and more pleasant way to spend those dark nights watching telly or using the computer.
2. Post. All post is delivered to the marina office. Around Christmas, this is a massive thing allowing you to shop with alacrity.
3. Parking. No more parking on the road, it’s all secure. Need your keys to get in and out and a short walk to the boat.
4. Shelter. The boat is slightly more sheltered on the pontoons than areas you might be located on the cut.
5. No mud. Serious business when you’re coming home from work or doing the shopping and got the towpath full of mud. Not so bad here on the GU, but down on the Kennet, there were definitely areas where the towpath was impassible.
6. Personal care facilities. If you so wish, you can wash and ablute using the marina’s facilities.
7. Shop/chandlers. To drop by and pick up things you may need in the future for the boat.
8. Water-point/Elsan. Is right there! No fussing and planning trips to the waterpoint/elsan. Waterpoints are at the end of the pontoons, and the elsan is about 25yards away.
9. No passing boats. I’m not one of those people that complains a lot about passing boats, but in certain circumstances, they can be detrimental in terms of noise or wake or collisions or all the above. This simply doesn’t happen in the marina.
   There are no speeding boats. Although the boats do speed around the marina, it has little or no impact on your boat.
10. Deep charge batteries. For 4 months 24/7, your batteries will be receiving full charge courtesy of the marina hook-up.
    By the time you leave, they will have reached the maximum amount of charge that they can receive.
    From there on in, electrons in your battery electrolyte line up, so they’re all uniform, and ready for action!
    This can significantly improve the performance/life of your battery bank.

Advantages of the Cut over the Marina

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Continuous cruising rules

1. Each 14 days as a continuous cruiser; you have to move location.
2. Not only that, each 14 days that move has to represent a move to a new neighbourhood.
3. Not only that, each move must be linear, you can move from X to Y and then to Z, but not from X to Y and back to X again.
4. To clarify that the CRT puts it on it’s site ‘consistent with the lifestyle of one who means to ‘navigate canals and waterways’.

It’s no longer possible to live on the canals and waterways of the UK under Canal and River Trust rules, you simply have the right to navigate.

There may be ways AROUND this. But strict enforcement essentially means; if you’ve got no ‘homebase’, you’ve got to be going from A to C, (with all the little b’s inbetween).

Milkhouse Water

This week, my little ‘b’ is Milkhouse Water. This is essentially the next parish along from Pewsey, maybe 2 miles down the road. …

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