David Schweizer

Surely no one uses a car battery to start their boat engine. The starter battery fitted on Helvetia was a heavy duty 643 battery, designed for use on a lorry. It lasted for more than ten years and never failed to start the engine, even in very cold weather, after having been left for several weeks.

Do I get a prize for guessing which last longer?

Not wishing you to suck eggs, I assume you are buying good quality batteies. These days I only use Procell (non rechargeable) batteries which are the commercial range made by Duracall, and seem to last longer than all the competitors. They have to be bought in bulk (minimum quantity-10), and usually only on line, but they are cheaper than normal domestic batteries. For items which use a lot of battery power, like fairy lights etc, I use Duracell 2500 mAh rechargeables, which I charge using a Uniross Ultimate multi charger. I have noticed no significant difference in the light output between non-rechargeable or rechargeable batteries, and lifespan appears to be fairly similar. Of course it is a good idea to have more rechargeables available than you use at any time enabling you to immediate replenish flat ones, as they do take several hours to re-charge.

That should work, assuming it is a very coarse grain type. Vibram soles are not inherently shiney, so it will only be the surface which has been polished by regular walking on smooth surfaces. You certainly do not want to damage your expensive Vibram soles with a Stanley knife.

A couple of miles on rocky terrain should remove the polish. But if resorting to removing the shine before any use, I wouldn't use a stanley knife, I would try some scouring with P40 Indasa RHYNALOX Production Paper. Not easy to find in shops but available on line, or ask a friendly car bodyworker for a sheet.

The film can be no earlier than 1969, which is when the songs on the sound track were written and recorded by David Blagrove for the BBC album "Narrow Boats" Furthermore, Renfrew replaced Ian in either late 1968 or early 1969.

That is also my recollection, certainly on the Grand Union. Ian (and later Renfrew) and Lucy passed our mooring in Uxbridge every weekend on their way to the Jam factory, with Laura Carter steering the motor and Rose Whitlock ably working the long line through running blocks on Lucy.

I fitted a pre-war Lucas King of the Road Fog Lamp onto Helvetia, bought in a boot sale for £5. I had to convert it from 6v to 12v in order that I could fit a tungsten 45watt bulb which proved more than adequate when pointed upwards to illuminate the tunnel roof. The shell was chromed brass but I chose to retain the distressed chrome look which reminded me of the lamps fitted to many working boats in the 1960's.

The building is actually quite old and dates from BW (or possibly Oxford Canal) days, when there were still working boats mooring at Sutton Stop to await orders. It was used by working boatmen and their families, I certainly remember boats moored up outside the Greyhound with washing lines hanging over the hold. Photo taken in 1968 below :-

Hillingdon Narrowboats Association is not a "commercial operation", it is a Registered Charity .

It is certainly more than possible, and will require a couple of days on the Thames between Reading and Oxford. When we kept our boat on the K&A near Bath, I used to move it, single handed, every year from Bath to the Midlands (and back). Apart from the sometimes unco-operative locks on the K&A, I had no significant difficulty.

We may well have also met, my association with Pisces was between 1965 and 1971. I am attaching a couple of photos of the William attempting to get under a lock sluice on the flooding River Nene, on its way from the 1971 IWA rally in Northampton. If I remember correctly, we had to help the crew remove the water tanks from the roof to gain sufficient clearance.