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On this day in 2015 floating drydock below Denham Deep Lock No 87 GUSouth Compare 15Sep1980 3Feb2009

I will go on then and touch on gates and the Gatelifter 111. The Fraenkel Report of 1975 marked the `Caledonian Canal as in dire need of extensive repairs. In particular the lock gates. The wooden gates were to be replaced by steel one fitted with buoyancy tanks to avoid the distorting effect of opening and closing the gates by pressure on the top which caused the gates to bend. All the gates had been replaced by 1989 save the bottom gates of Fort Augustus bottom lock which hung on until 1992. It is the bottom lock gate that you see in the photo and the problem is self-evident. The other photo shows a steel gate awaiting placement. Until 1990, at the latest, gates for replacement and new gates were moved about the canal by the Gatelifter 111. It was in August that year that I walked out along the shingle below the Inverness sea lock to where the Gatelifter 111 was lying high and dry. I assumed then that she was on her way to the breakers. It was a most impressive sight. Her purpose was clear from the lifting equipment - the wooden gates weighed around 20 tons each. But was she built for that purpose? I did not think so. Why that hull shape? Why all those portholes along her sides? My thoughts were that she had been a lightship. Whatever her origines, an interesting vessel, replaced by land based mobile cranes. So another of the Caledonians unique service vessels was lost. More perhaps later but enough for now.

I think this solenoid has an ignition supplied hold in winding and the pull in winding connected to the starter.

We are heading out for a couple of weeks this weekend. Just out of interest, I have looked on the ABC site to see how much it would cost to hire for that period out of Gayton (our closest hire base). £2400 + diesel for a 58Ft boat! I think hire companies ramped up their prices during the pandemic when overseas holidays were not an option - and not dropped back down again since.

If they do, do that, then they are very bad engineers. It just needs a suitable energise to run stop solenoid, like the majority of cars, vans and probably trucks. That is not to say Barrus have not done so, but the only complicated system I have actually come across is the Lister one that converts an earth return engine to insulated return when running. I still don't see how a faulty stop solenoid can make the starter with a GOOD battery can ever make the starter click. A solenoid on the Lister system probably could though, but then it is not a stop solenoid.

It’s 12v but use a DC-DC converter if running from the boats 12v system, avoid connecting it directly as it goes up to 14.4-14.8v. Some routers seem to be fine with the variation, some die within a week or two.

Ditto from me.

I don't think any of that apart from the last is beyond a conventional narrowboat. the reason the last is iffy, is that it is a long costal passage with little, if any, shelter along the way, so it would be very vulnerable to changes in the weather. it is also shallow in sea terms, so is likely to build up larger swells with wind. My own personal views, others will differ.# With the comparatively large weight of ballast, most narrowboats carry they tend, to roll less than the narrow beam suggests but are still likely to be uncomfortable. They tend to cut through waves rather than ride over them, so large waves may well swamp an open well deck. If one did roll onto its side the as long as the ballast did not move it would probably right itself like RNLI lifeboats do. So, a thick (possibly 25mm or thicker) to avoid the need for loose ballast and any further ballast needed being steel and welded to the baseplate. Properly calculated ribs, stringers and possibly a keelson to ensure the hull can stand the extra stresses it is likely to suffer in a bad sea. No windows. but use proper marine portholes, so they are unlikely to blow in if a wave hit them. Trad stern with stern doors that can be close while boating to avoid a following wave flooding the boat. No well deck or a well deck with a removable watertight cover. Large bilge pumps for all bilges and the well deck. Folding or removable mast(s) to mount navigation lights to meet the regulations, also the VHF aerial. Valves on all the hull piercings. High (roof) level air supply vent for the engine. Exhaust with a proper high level swan neck so following waves can't flood the engine internals. But most of all, experience and knowledge so you don't put yourself and boat into danger. The design would need experience, hence a couple of us mentioning the need for a naval architect for the design and calculations.

You can unscrew the stubby aerials and connect an external one, you may need new adapters though as they will be SMA-Female on the back of the router. You'll need to connect to the router with a laptop/tablet/phone to switch the setting to external aerial too for best results (connect to wifi, type 192.168.1.1 in a browser window). Don't think the Huawei app gives you that much control if memory serves. I have the same router paired with an external Poynting aerial.

This is generally correct. The CO2 breathed out by humans is not counted in carbon calculations So things you do physically with hand tools can be the closest thing to carbon neutral and could be carbon negative eg planting a a tree or growing vegetables. HVO , if made from vegetable bi products like the unwanted stalks of vegetable plants or from spent cooking oil, would be a great fuel. But I believe a lot of energy is required to make it so it can never be carbon neutral. The cutting down of rain forest to grow palms for HVO production is clearly not sustainable but this is my main worry against HVO as the fuel retailers cannot be certain of the source of the fuel on a world market. Rain forests cannot be reinstated. They are the lungs of the earth. If we remove them will will die. The suppliers must prove there is no rain forest destruction involved but I am not sure this is possible. But really HVO if it could be proven to be truly sustainably sourced is a perfect replacement for diesel and instantly reduces emissions and thought to be not prone to bug.

1 to 7 can be (or have been) done by a well founded narrowboat in the correct conditions. No8 - It has been asked before and there are threads on the forum about it. Having done the East coast regularly in a sea-going Cat A boat,(Based in Hull) and having about 40 years experience of NBs, no way would I take a NB down that stretch of water. Not much in the way of 'ports of refuge' for when the forecast changes for the worse, and you still have hours to go. A beautiful flat calm day, we were leaving Wells Next The Sea (Norfolk coast) as we left the channel and approached the No1 fairway buoy the wind, waves and tide picked up - we spend well over an hour climbing and sliding down waves 5-8 metres high making absolutey no foward movement at all, (you cannot turn around and go back or will be rolled over) the dogs were sick it was awful. We eventually got thru it (it was only a 2-300 yards wide) and we were back in flat calm waters and continued on our way down to Gt Yarmouth. The forecast was absolutely spot on - just local conditions combined to make a very rough sea.

We looked to hire a boat on the Broads this summer for a week but very quickly changed our mind when we got to the price page. (£2768 + £25 parking + £40 pet charge) https://www.broads.co.uk/boats/fair-chancellor/?unit_id=1556&arrival=2024-06-29&duration=604800&adults=2&children=0&arrival_time=16:00:00 We have booked the Isle of Wight ferry instead and will have a week over there with the van. Including food, drink and fuel it will come nowhere near the cost of the boat hire! The hire yards are very much at a point now where they are pricing themselves out of the market. Foreign travel is open for business again and it makes holidaying in the UK look damn expensive.

Thanks Francis & Lady G, I fitted it yesterday and to be honest it didn't sit or look right. I think I'll buy a new one and pass this one on!

That's why legal types get paid the big bucks, to sit and come up with guff like that. Admittedly i've only just finished my coffee, but it took two read throughs of that to understand what it was saying, or perhaps i'm just thick

I think I should clarify that 90% of the time I will be on narrow canals as that's where my mooring is on the T&M!!!!! I'm convinced the dream is too big to be able to "do both". And I'm actually pretty risk averse and not looking to do any rough seas. I said "Cat C" but the certification part isn't really important to me. My question is about what I can do at the design stage to make it safer to do some estuary crossings and maybe mild sea crossings to really open up the network in a way that it isnt with my 70' trad. Here are the crossings I would like to be able to do a few times per year as I make my way round the network: 1. Anderton to the Weaver then Manchester Ship Canal to Ellesmere Port 2. Out Eastham locks across the Mersey and into Liverpool docks via Brunswick lock Ribble link 3. Over the pennines, then rounding Trent Falls from Ouse to Trent on the Humber 4. Severn from Sharpness to Avonmouth 5. Boston across the wash to Ouse / Nene 6. Out onto the Dee at Chester, if that ever gets opened up again, up to Farndon 7. MAYBE Humber to Ancholme / Hull River 8. And just one to get you all to throw things at me, wash to Yarmouth to visit the Broads I was always taught it's obscene to talk about money but as for budget, at a push I could do about 400K but I was hoping to get away with closer to half that. Was just thinking some of you would like to dream with me... what features would you give your boat to give you confidence to do those passages? I'm thinking a 10knot top speed, no air holes below the roof line, lighter superstructure and extra weighted ballast (say a 20mm base plate), that kind of thing. Yes I know that some of the locks have shrunk over the years and 6'10" is the conventional wisdom. In most instances my 6'10" beam boat has PLENTY of wiggle room, so I was thinking I could perhaps push it to 7'. the only locks I can remember being a bit tight were the entrance to the Llangollen.

On this day 2013 A sunny day (remember what those are?) on the Fossdyke.

Thank you

That question shows that you seem not to have even looked at any of the online maps, guides or bought a guide book for the area. A guide book like Nicholsons will show where the marinas are located and TEMPORARY moorings are. They will also show that there are NO other canals/rivers available for power boating within 25km of Oxford apart from the Thames, its backwaters, and the Oxford canal. There is a short disused anal above Oxford, but it has not been navigable for years, and the last time I went pas the riier banks around its mouth were full of what looked like squatter boats. Your biggest problem is the 25km distance limit, if you ignore that you get the Kennet and Avon navigations so, as said, Reading and Newbury. I would mention that Thames and Kennet marina is on the non-towpath side of the river so you can't walk along the towpath into town. It is at the end of a long track at the outskirts of Caversham (south Reading) which is then a bus ride or cycle ride to the station. All day car parking at the station is expensive, so just adds to your costs. If you ignore the 25km limit the Burghfield Moorings operator was on here last year saying they had spaces for live-aboards, that is on the river Kennet so subject to flood flows. No such a long walk to a bus stop for a probably hourly service into Reading. Two marinas in Newbury, I think, and walkable to the station, but that means a change at Reading for Oxford if a car is not to be used. I fear that you have picked an area which is very popular with live-aboards, with all the problems that causes.

We're planning to visit in August. Ness (for that is my partner's name!) Has never been and its over 40 years since I last saw the canal. I was sad (but not entirely surprised) to find that Scot II is no longer operating trips from Inverness. I also recall a very impressive boat called "Gatelifter" that was designed for exactly that task - lifting lock gates.

We were in Brum over the same period, and did a quick run around the Black Country ring over a few days before we went back down to Droitwich. Brum was quiet at both ends of the period we were out. Quiet at every mooring we stopped at, space on the VMs at all the 'honey spot ' locations. As others have said, Easter was early this year, the weather was a bit pants. Busiest day was coming down Tardebigge when all the ABC boats from Worcester were on the way up, but I reckon that only amounted to about 10-12 boats over 2 days. Most of the Black Prince boats were still in at Stoke Prior. I chatted to the staff whilst we were hovering waiting for the lock and they said they had very few boats out or booked so far this year.

Haha. No, I don't believe it would!! I think you would need to grow a completely new forest the same size. I think, although could be wrong, they may claim these pellets are nearly carbon neutral (shows how silly the term can be) because the pellets themselves only release carbon the trees have themselves helped remove from the atmosphere. Perhaps if the forests were regrown, they may have an argument. Although it would take many many years to look like it did. Well that already shows these claims are probably false, as the initial claim was these trees were too diseased to be used as intended. Then during, was it the Panorama program looking into Drax, something else entirely was claimed. I think it was also found a lot of these forested areas were mature areas that had taken many years to come about. Fast growing, I wouldn't be so sure about. Anyways, the main point being, nothing is carbon neutral. Nothing is perfectly green. Not your electric boat or HVO. Some are better than others, with HVO having the possibility to be one of the better ones. Depending on how it is sourced.

Its sustainable if they plant new trees to replace the removed tress. The trees were planted in the first place for paper pulp but books and newspapers are much less used these days so there is reduced demand. Therefore the use of the same fast growing trees for fuel instead of paper pulp isn't such a bad idea. Transporting the wood pellets from Canada to the UK however does seem bonkers