Keith Lodge

OOPS! Show how long ago it was since I posted on here. Thanks for letting me know Graham. By the way it was great bumping into you at Cropredy and having a great chat

Well we finally set sail in January following the extensive rebuild of Hadar's engine. It is great to be on the move at last. We are at Thrupp for Easter, meeting up with one of my sisters for Sunday lunch at the Jolly Boatman. Then we intend head back north and onto the Grand Union towards Londone, where my other 2 sisters live. Then onto Bishop Stortford so that friends from where we lived in Felixstowe can come and visit and see the boat. Then it is up the Thames and onto the Kennet & Avon so we can meet Jo's friends, then back onto the Thames to Lechlade, returning to Oxford and onto the Oxford canal. After that we are then heading for the BCNS cruise prior to the IWA National Festival at Autherley, so quite a busy summer. But once all the family and friends are dealt with then we can do as we please You can follow our adventures on our blog at www.hadar.org.uk as well as a full record of the whole build of Hadar from start to finish.

We moved onto Hadar on Thursday 12 July, although she isn't yet completed. Misty Lady went to her new owner on Tuesday 17th. We have been helping out with the last few jobs, to get her finished, which she should be this coming week, so hopefully we can set off for her shakedown cruise for the 1st 2 weeks in August to the Caldon Canal, and then possibly the Maccy and Peak Forest to Bugsworth, time and rain permitting. Keith Lodge www.hadar.org.uk

Give or take a microsecond or so, hahahahahaha. Cheers.

Many thanks for the reply, it is what I thought anyway, but just needed confirmation of it. Your comment about the low charge required is why the Invertor/Charger has the 2nd starter battery output which is rated at only 4amps.

Does anyone have any experience with using a single starter battery for both an engine and a generator? I am wondering if it is possible as there will be 2 alternators in parallel across the single battery, albeit both alternators will never run at the same time. From what I understand a non-active alternator sitting across a battery has nil effect, i.e. whilst the engine is not running the alternator has no electrical drain on the system, otherwise the battery would flatten if left unused, and whilst in this state a 2nd active alternator is only like an addtional battery supplying power. The Invertor/Charger we are going to use has a 2nd 12v output to trickle charge a starter battery which, if we had seperate starter batteries, would only charge one of them, if we didn't want the added expense of splitter diodes. The domestic batteries are charged from a 2nd alternator on the engine, so the engine starter circuit is completely seperate. The generator will charge the domestic batteries via the Invertor/Charger.

My wife and I were shot at on our way to Coventry on the Coventry Canal in 2005. We took photos, and rang the police. before we reached the terminus we had a call back from the police to ask if they could meet us, as they had the suspects in the police cells, and needed statements from us. Any firearm incident is treated highly by the police.

The winding hole just before the lock states that you can wind a 50' boat there...... You can't. I tried. Our boat is 50' and it got stuck!!

As our new boat will be too long to be able to do the L&L we did it last year during July/August with our present boat, and enjoyed the whole trip and was glad we did it whilst we could. I did have my doubts before we set off, but have no regrets having done it. Mind you we did do many early morning starts, but not just to avoid the kids, but to avoid the height of the sun which we had to endure!!! It's a hard life.

Thumblining can only be carried out on Southern Grand Union locks, due to the shape of the handrail, It relies on the first bite of the rope against the upright of the handrail, and the curve at the corner of the rail and upright to stop the rope from sliding off the top. When the boat's move forward the rope does not bite against the upright, and only has to unravel from the handrail itself, which offers no resistance and falls back onto the boat. The technique was developed so that a single handed crew member could return to the descending boat/s in a deep lock once the paddles were opened and thus be able to open the gates whilst onboard, however this also resulted in the gates and paddles being left open as all the crew were now onboard, this was an accepted practice with working boats to save time, relying on the next boat negotiating the lock to shut the gates and paddles, as everyone did it the workload was shared out evenly, but is however not accepted by British Waterways as they require all gates and paddles to be closed when leaving a lock. Thumblining is and always was a risky and dangerous technique, you had to know the precise amount of line to allow for the depth of fall of each lock on the journey. The technique has been negated by the installation of ladders in locks for crew to get to the boat once the lock is emptied and gates opened. I was taught and carried out the practice 39 years ago by an ex-working boatman born on a working boat, and I would not recommend its use, as although you may practice it and perfect it, if someone else less competant copied you the results could be disasterous.

According to British Waterways General Licence Conditions, para 4.1 and I quote :- "You must display the Boat’s name, and the Licence and Boat index number on both sides of the Boat so that they are always easily visible by our people on the towpath." You can find this on page 5 online at http://www.waterscape.com/images/bw_2007_l..._fees_final.pdf Hope this answers your question. It makes me wonder how many boat owners actually read the terms & conditions of their licence seeing the amount of boats one sees without a boat name in sight.

I have been told by another boater that not fitting a silencer to a boat engine reduces coking up, anyone had any experience of this? The engine in concern is a National DA2, 2 cylinder, 30hp built 1945, and has a tickover speed of 300rpm, which I believe is the reason for such an engine to coke up quickly. This other boater does own the National DA3, 3 cylinder version of the engine.