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Showing content with the highest reputation on 31/05/19 in all areas

  1. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
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  3. To be fair the ribbing that other contestants give the NBT is in jest. I’d be delighted to see them back in the Challenge. As I recall - being one of the boats right behind at the time - the main problem was that Nuneaton couldn’t clear the cill on lock number 7 due to a very badly leaking bottom gate. In such circumstances the etiquette of the Challenge is to assist and not to require to pass. I’ve certainly learnt a lot from entering the Challenge with experienced boaters and I don’t see why crewing ex-working boats should be confined to those with expertise in working the boats. A team works best with a mix of skills and abilities and if we want to attract new interest to the history of the canals and it’s boats groups like the NBT have a role to play. JP
    4 points
  4. Surely it must be fake news? We all know that each and every UK business is failing as we speak!!
    3 points
  5. I don’t quite understand your point. None of the boat that passed you have moved you significantly. Which suggests that actually, whilst they may not be at tickover, they aren’t going fast. Some people like to cruise slowly and thus, depending on the nature of the canal, there may be no need to slow down further. Tickover in any case varies a lot. Tickover on our boat is still quite fast and so is the norm for passing moored boats. Tickover on some other boats makes them barely move and have no steering. There is no rule that says one must pass at tickover. Those outraged and entitled people who have those red “pass at tickover” signs would have made better use of their time learning to tie their boats up properly rather than going to a shop and sticking an ugly an arsehole-indicating sign on the side of their boat. I would say you are correct. Although to be fair I don’t have any experience of mooring a widebeam. So surely your point should be about the idiot who is incapable of tying up his widebeam properly rather than the people passing at a speed that is perfectly acceptable for a properly tied up boat? Personally I don’t see why people should have to slow down excessively to compensate for other people’s inability to do something as basic as tying their boat up without 2’ of slack in the lines.
    3 points
  6. Paddle gear that will drop rapidly by lifting the pawl when the lock is level will NOT do the same thing when there's a significant level difference. The water pressure difference across the paddle massively increases the force required to move it, and gravity isn't enough: the paddle needs to be wound down. For less strong people, it needs two arms to generate enough force, which is one reason why I hate the type of pawls that need to be held up and can't be flipped out of the way. Too few hands in an emergency. Next time you open a paddle, try and close it again straight away. It's an instructive experiment. MP.
    2 points
  7. The objectives of the challenge are to get boats using the lesser used parts of the BCN, there are many ways to achieve this but many choose to try and cover as much of it as they can in the permitted time. We like to set ourselves other challenges as well like leg Dudley tunnel, attempt 100 locks, use a pair of working boats etc.
    2 points
  8. It takes careful planning to be that unsuccesful so consistently.
    2 points
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  13. Thank you to all the organisation and to @Postcode and @cheshire~rose for letting us play on their boat. I'm sure we should have scored at least 207 points for our route plus the extras for the photos and questions, even if 13 locks didn't qualify. @tree monkey, I thought we'd agreed to blame @dyad for any problems ? Although, I do now admit doing Netherton tunnel was a complete waste of time, we should have done Spon Lane locks and gone along the old main line into Brum instead. Either way, I think we had a great time, the crew worked well together. I just wish I had enough stamina to stay awake for the social bit on Sunday. Rob
    2 points
  14. Whilton, I think would like it best if you are sufficiently in a hurry to sell that they make you a very low offer and buy it from you themselves as a "stock" boat. You could then expect to see it offered for sale at a vastly inflated price, with no improvements having been made to it. I get the impression that maybe half the boats they offer are not being brokered, but are actually now owned by Whilton outright. (That's just a guess - could be more or less). The problem is that each gives you a difference level of security and comeback as a purchaser, but Whilton are likely to be economical with the truth about whether a boat is being brokered, or whether they are the seller. We have been told that they will even go through the motions if putting a potential buyers offer to a non-existent seller, and saying it has been rejected. If they are actually the owner themselves, this strikes me as worse than dishonest. I'd have to really, really want a particular boat before I would touch Whilton with a barge pole. I would try very hard t avoid them either as buyer or seller, but I imagine it is a good lace to look around boats unaccompanied if you need extra windlasses, handcuff keys, ropes, etc! (Only half joking - it must surely happen!).
    2 points
  15. I was getting all flustered for a moment and then realised you meant the noodle thing not the challenge its self, phew I am starting to think Bob doesn't really exsist. Big fanfare announcing a late entry into the challenge and suspiciously he buggers off and avoids the finish. Plus no rational human/Muppet would treat the duck in the way he has recently, letting the innocent thing off to wander on its own. Forget the flat earth and NASA, the CWDF Bob conspiracy is bigger
    2 points
  16. Unless you lift your boat onto the towpath, it will move because the water it is in moves. Moored correctly the movement will be limited, but surely this movement is what we all enjoy, otherwise this would be a caravan forum. I believe it is polite and considerate to slow down passing moored boats, but in truth I mostly do it because I love gawping in other peoples boats. Rog
    2 points
  17. PM Outbox? Is that where Theresa is?
    2 points
  18. Mike, they have four feet not three.
    2 points
  19. I very much doubt that. The insulation on the other hand, tends to expand with age and bulges spontaneously occur to accommodate the increased size. I bet this is what is happening to yours. Take a small blunt screwdriver and push it through the insulation bulge until you feel the copper beneath. Mark the depth of penetration with your thumbnail then push it again through the insulation where there is no bulge. I expect you will be able to demonstrate to yourself the bulge only exists in the insulation. If so, you have a 'non-problem'. Just get on with enjoying having hot water and spend the £600 on more beer.
    2 points
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  25. That fact that the Ford driver will be using his indicators probably helps his case, though!
    2 points
  26. Following on from this thread about raising money for the Chesterfield Canal Trust: The prize noodles were won by @Dr Bob and I have been tasked with getting them to him by boat. Taking them in a taxi this afternoon is just too easy. He has also publicly stated that he is willing to donate £1.00 per boat that the noodles travel on to catch up with him, so I have set them free on their travels. Anyone taking part in the travails travels of the noodles please note that we are not obliged to get these noodles to @Dr Bob on NB Kharis until February 2020 (the Best Before date of the noodles!) and remember that quid per boat thing.
    1 point
  27. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  28. It's called Challenge for a reason. The explorer cruises are offered for those who don't want to be challenged. Last year I reckon 4 of us had 2 bottles of malt and 2 and a half hours sleep in our 6 hour overnight break. Made day 2 interesting, especially with the thunder and lightning early Sunday morning. Down and back up including repairing Walsall locks before breakfast is not for the faint hearted. Others take the challenge in a different way, LaurieB will be along shortly to share his methods.
    1 point
  29. Hell's bells, it's even worse than Rolt made out, brutalist but derivative? I wonder what he would make of today's kids all sitting around in a 'spoons each engrossed in their social media world.
    1 point
  30. Definitely not the Navigation by that description!
    1 point
  31. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  32. or you have not noticed it is only the negatives that are totally paralleled with the positives having a missing interlink between battery and the start battery. Canb be very hard to see in some installations.
    1 point
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  34. You don't really mean that do you?
    1 point
  35. 1 point
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  37. Cleaning the windows on the toll house?
    1 point
  38. Wait a minute... We had to work really hard to make sure Dr Bob DIDN'T win anything on the BCN Challenge You've gone and upset the natural order, the fabric of the universe is at risk Richard
    1 point
  39. Boat 1: Good Times (That's my boat, but there was a stewards enquiry into if the organisers' boat counts last time, so no photo) passed on to Boat 2: Paws 4 Thought in the tender care of a slightly baffled Tony, who is going to have to explain to Admiral Pat why he has acquired a pot noodle! By amazing coincidence, Tony is going to be helping this weeks BCN Explorer Cruise through various flights of locks, and there are 20 boats taking part in that ...
    1 point
  40. Rose tinted glasses - and usually rose tinted hearing aids too!
    1 point
  41. L&L short boat Severn was moored a 1/4 mile upstream ... just before Yarwood's Basin where all the old boats are. Tim's former steamer Kennet was moored outside the basin and they were trying to work a pair back into there after the steam rally when I nearly crashed into them coming downstream ... I don't know which two boats I nearly hit, because they were reversing into the basin entrance and the cabins were in the narrow bit, but I'm fairly sure the steerer needed new underwear!
    1 point
  42. I would have agreed with you until we did the BCN Challenge last week. If you have never witnessed all the boats heading for the finish on the BCN mainline with 10 minutes to go, you have never seen boats "making motorway" (It's like "making road", but much faster!)
    1 point
  43. Yup, me. Missed it this year, although I wouldn't have liked to commit and then pull out, which would have happened unfortunately. Well done Richard and Sue, and team, and all the contestants,.and treemonkey(just for being there) We might be on our boat, so Mrs Kathy has to come too, or we might jump aboard someone elses boat, if the best man takes the pee too much next week we might force him to get Ashdown up and down.
    1 point
  44. Good on them, though IMHO you should never pay cleaners by the hour...
    1 point
  45. 1 point
  46. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
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  48. Checked engine earth? Is it hand start? Remove the wire off the D+, little spade connection. Take a bit of wire from the D+ to a bulb, 5 or 6 watts or bigger, and from the other side of the bulb direct onto the battery + terminal ( assuming the battery is - earthed ) Start engine. Now does it work?
    1 point
  49. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  50. 1 point
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