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Showing content with the highest reputation on 18/05/18 in all areas

  1. .... and this is what happens when no one gives way... boats get stuck! Boats were log jammed outside Tooley's in Banbury. We were moored up, when two boats passed, neither giving way! After half an hour of tugging, rocking and pulling, washing up liquid was applied..... result! Got to say, people all pitched in, all with good humour, and the guy from Tooley's was brilliant!
    2 points
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  12. As someone guilty of pretty much everything Pete accuses him of Id like to offer a counterpoint to his post regarding historic boat websites. I started my research 40 odd years ago as a kid, raised by ex working boat people my every spare moment was spent on boats, talking about boats and if I am honest dreaming about boats (steering our boat along a road like a car, turning into our drive and taking the boat through the entryway between the two houses like a tunnel and mooring it in the back garden... yes, I had that dream a lot). I had exercise books full of boat names, where I saw them, whether they were converted or not, along with little snippets of information uttered by my granddad or uncle about the boat if they knew it. I had the a5 ish size Robert Wilson/Alan Faulkner books as presents when other kids were having toys and games because I loved old boats and needed to know as much about them as I could. I could identify a boats builder from its name or the style of its bow/stern as easily as other kids my age could reel off footballers or pop stars, I still couldnt tell you who sang what song or when even now. As with most kids school exams and then starting work got in the way of my boating and the collection of information and in my own particular case numerous nervous breakdowns along with deaths in the family saw my information lost in house clearances and meltdowns of my own volition. But I still had that love, that deep seated connection to old boats and canals in general so I began to build it back up from a point of having lost everything, I had the intensely good fortune to meet and speak with others who shared that passion before I became as good as housebound and through those connections we shared and collated what we had and put the lists online as a means of spreading our passion. We knew we hadnt got everything right, we never claimed we had, in fact my website has disclaimers on its front page even now saying any mistakes are genuine and totally my fault and that if pointed out they will be rectified. About 2 and a half years ago I was in a very dark place, I was at the point of taking the site down and letting everything go but kind words on this forum and some amazing (to me) offers of help and support meant that the site not only survived but it is being rewritten, its a long job, not helped in the least by my own mental health being shite most of the time, but it is happening. People who have done the research hard yards are helping, I know I havent, mea culpa, not wishing to excuse it but I am extremely shy in person and the thought of actually meeting people and going somewhere new fills me with a terror I cant explain while at the same time making me feel wholly inadequate as a person, so its correct, I personally have not gone to the places where the information is held, not through want of desire or dedication but because I actually cant do it, for that I am sorry. The people who are helping rewrite the site have been brilliant, I wont name them unless they want to come forward themselves but they have not judged me disappearing for almost 2 years, or cut me out of the loop for being the flakey idiot I am and for that I am eternally grateful. So while the point Pete makes is accurate, as in my opinion he is about everything narrow boat related, it doesnt tell the whole story. Hopefully Ive shed a bit of light on what that story is, at least for me. For my own peace of mind I have to say that this is in no way critical of anyone nor is it written with any malice or ill intention, I just feel bad when I see it as me letting people down with my not wholly accurate information on the website, I am trying to be better. Sorry.
    2 points
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  14. I'll Waze you up when we're close.
    1 point
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  20. Actually, not 30 minutes after your post I had to pop into town and on my way back I got exactly the same warning. I couldn’t find the warned-of hole either. As you say though, I may have missed it while dodging around all the others I’m only 5’ 7” and according to my doctor I’m clinically obese.
    1 point
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  22. I can see you are unfamiliar with the superior depth of boating knowledge available to the android autocorrect function. What I thought I'd put was boat "builders", but clearly boat "ulcers" are more in vogue at the moment. Of course, I should also have realised that duck fittings are infinitely preferable to deck fittings as Dr Bob will surely attest.
    1 point
  23. We have a fly problem in France probably because it’s so Rural with lots of cattle and effluent about. Best thing so far is the old fashioned sticky strips and they sell some window stickers that catch to small stuff. For Mosies it a plug in at night.
    1 point
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  27. Keep doors and windows closed and switch on the air-conditioning.
    1 point
  28. Nope, I’m 11 not 6. Didn’t you know??
    1 point
  29. I bought an AtoZ with a 32 year old car thrown in, they're both still going and not got lost yet.
    1 point
  30. I’m wondering in what order. Also so wondering if we can claim extra points for flying the Black Country flag through such heathen places as Yorks, Notts and Derbs. ETA Staffs too.
    1 point
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  32. I seem to recall that your former "modern leisure narrow boat" had a 36HP engine, but I bet it would not have worked a pair of fully loaded working boats, or swung a 30" prop without complaining a lot. You cannot compare a "modern" oversquare engine with an old undersquare engine, which will produce far more torque at much lower speeds, which is what you need to get a heavy load moving (or stopping). They also produce less heat because of the longer crank case, which can absorb miore of the heat generated by friction, and is presumably why they can be air cooled, rather than have a water jacket.
    1 point
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  34. It's a gamble. In recent years, I have become firmly of the belief that primer and top coat should come from the same source; you have bought a "paint system". However, in most instances, people do get away with random combinations. As for Hammerite, 20 years ago they made really good paint, but as with many brands, they have re-formulated their paints to meet current Health and Safety regs and what sells as Hammerite now is not the same stuff and I don't use it any more. The one exception is that I do use their Special Metals Primer, which is intended for aluminium and various other non-ferrous materials; quite please with that, which seems to be a water-based paint.
    1 point
  35. The latest Cwaze lists downed trees on the Oxford.
    1 point
  36. I applaud your efforts Sir! You're right, you will learn a lot once you own a boat but the right preparation, the right attitude and hopefully the right boat(!) will make that learning a far more pleasant experience. There's always something to do and there's always plenty to think about - that's part of the attraction to many of us. It's when it all comes as a surprise to someone with few skills, little money and/or little real interest in boats that it gets a bit bloody. Good luck in your quest!
    1 point
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  39. African or European?
    1 point
  40. I would prefer something like this:
    1 point
  41. So the boat is called Puke. OP is a stripper. From her previous posts she has a Yamaha outboard. What a ‘hatch to the engine’ is on an outboard powered boat I have no idea, just like everyone else. A photo would help. And before OP gets all upset, a photo of the hatch, not of her.
    1 point
  42. A Shetland toilet? Doesn't sound like a comfortable place to sit and cogitate - wouldn't it get a bit windy around yer Orkneys?
    1 point
  43. A horse, a horse, my Thetford for a horse.
    1 point
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  45. Hi Tove, I could have taken bets on how long it would take before the knockers came out!! all I can say is you plan will work once on the compost heap at the allotment the worms will do their work!! also you can buy these systems for houses that have composting worms in them I saw the article in a hospital waiting room. So the blurb said you put all the kitchen waste in them as well and one day all houses will be built with them you wont have a flushing loo as they will be banned. The blurb showed a years waste afer the worms had done their stuff would hardly have filled a dustbin for a family of four after a year, and the waste is just put on the garden. Think of the reduction in water use and all those savings on your water bill? roads not getting dug up as often the country would save trillions. Anyway I like the look of my villa better than the airhead so thats my vote Peter
    1 point
  46. I think you have misread the info given in yuor link - I read it as "use your wee on your garden, it will prevent it being released into rivers and polluting them".
    1 point
  47. I wouldn't want a composting toilet myself but I don't see how you can argue with Julynian on this. If he likes his composting toilet and it suits him then that's that. You can say that you think cassettes are more practical (and I would agree), but I don't understand how you can tell him he doesn't like his composting toilet and he's just saying he does because he owns one? Anyone can say that about any peice of equipment. Perhaps we just like cassette toilets because we have them? If he's lived with it for a couple of years then he must know whether it suits him by now - nobody needs 10 years to find that out. I'm sure one day there will be a better solution than the cassette (don't say pump out anyone! ) - at the moment as far as I'm concerned composting hasn't got there yet, but I'm sure things will improve and yes the wheel will be reinvented! After all, there was a time before cassettes and I wonder when they were conceived whether there were some who said it was a useless reinvention of the bucket?
    1 point
  48. Well composting toilets don't sell as the majority of people dismiss them outright due to lack of knowledge. The toilet works fine for us being just 2, I did state that in my post. The shortest time I've had to empty was 4 Months and that was when we were live aboard for 2 months and at that time my brother was using it as well as he had no loo in his boat. We don't fully live aboard currently but average 3 days a week and my brother and dad use it regularily when on site. I've just checked the last time I emptied the loo And amazingly it was Feb 2010 so it's gone 17 months without emptying, it could do with an empty now though as the main drum has reached just over half full. I've also checked how long we've had the loo and it's actually 7 years it was fitted in late 2004. I can only recall having to empty excess urine on a few occasions 5 / 6 times maybe over the 7 years. I certainly wouldn't recommend our model for more than 2 persons, might cope with 2 adults and child. Of course we're wide beam too, so the size of the toilet is not an issue. When we're full time live aboard next year I'm 100% confident that it will cope based on how it's performed thus far. Even if emptying times have to be increased to 3 months it's still a damned site less frequent than pump out or cassette and no cost. Slag them off all you like, but I was honest as to their performance giving the genuine pro's and con's, Having to remove a tub of Sh1te from a boat by hand regularly is hardly low maintenance. If you're disposing of the waste properly you must need to moor near Elsan to make emptying in the slightest way efficient and still require walking the tow path with said Sh1te in hand. And I certainly wouldn't want to be snowed in with one in winter. If you want to make such sweeping statements about a product, then at least back them up with some facts rather than peurile waffle.
    1 point
  49. We've been live aboard LOL how many times have you emptied that Porto Potty this week then Smelly LOL
    1 point
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