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Showing content with the highest reputation on 15/09/19 in all areas

  1. In November, the Birmingham Canal Navigations Society will celebrate 250 years of the original line of the BCN. The route that opened in November 1769 brought coal from coal mines near Goldshill, West Bromwich to a wharf near the home of John Baskerville, publisher and japanner. Whilst parts of the original route is open for navigation, other parts are not open and most of these lengths have been filled in. The original length through West Bromwich into Wednesbury was at one time known as the Wednesbury Canal, but later was known as the Balls Hill Branch as the extension of that canal had been made towards the coal mines of William James there. The canal through Goldshill to Wednesbury was abandoned by British Waterways, but the canal from Ryders Green to meet the Ridgacre Branch remained open to serve the Swan Village Gasworks that had been modernised by the West Midlands Gas Board to include vertical retorts. The canal remained long after the gasworks ceased the carbonisation of coal, but was laid low by the making of a new road that bisected the Ridgacre Canal from the main system, but maintained the water supply. British Waterways chose to let the work go ahead in that form. At the time a case was argued to keep the canal open for boaters, and included such facts that the Ridgacre was constructed under the direction of Thomas Telford, which was his first task as engineer for the BCN. These pleas fell on deaf ears and the road was built. At the same time the Ridgacre Public House was opened. Moorings beside that public house would have provided a new opportunity for boaters using the BCN. By not raising the Black Country Route to pass over the Balls Hill Branch near the junction with the Ridgacre denied boaters the use of what could have been an important stop over, which included access to the new Metro Station (once it was built). was lost and only the construction of a drop lock and tunnel, restore this canal to navigation. A cost that is probably prohibitive. Since then another small part of the isolated canal has been built over for the hotel constructed beside the public house.. This last development has isolated the junction of the Balls Hill Branch from the Ridgacre and it is now hidden behind the hotel in a wooded area.. The roving bridge that carried the towpath from the Balls Hill Branch to the Ridgacre is still in use as a footpath. The towpath bridge today: Interestingly, this section and the associated footpaths have the barriers that prevent motorcycles from using this way. Looking at Google maps and comparing this location with the Ordnance survey, it would appear that the bridge might have been moved to this spot from its previous location, with the junction actually lost in the road works and hotel development. But then looking at my images for the time when the canal closed the bridge seems to be in the same place then! A view from the bridge that looks towards Goldshill shows a section still in water. The 1990's view; This junction bridge was thus it seems the basin bridge for Swan Village Railway Interchange Basin. The route in the last image leading off to the right being that for the coal boats that came down from Goldshill in 1769.
    4 points
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  3. If you find another ‘character ‘ in a ditch called boris please leave him there.
    3 points
  4. For that to happen the ;liquid will need to be compressible otherwise the liquid remove from one side of the pump will push exactly the same volume back to the other side so the question is just how compressible is an antifreeze-water mixture. I was taught it was virtually incompressible which is why boiler pressure tests are done hydraulically. If there is air in the system then I accept you might get the effect referred to but removing the air will remove the problem. At one time the vast majority of house systems had pumps and a separate fill and vent pipe, in fact mine still does. I am also interested in how aback boiler has any more resistance to flow than a length of 22mm pipe. I would agree if it were a gas or diesel boiler using a heat exchanger with many small galleries but not a back boiler that is not much more than a metal box.
    2 points
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  7. This is the kind of thing that I sometimes help people with as a hobby, not professionally. I do it on the basis that the owner is aboard, I just get food and lodging for the trip, and while I know how to steer a boat and operate locks, and do my best to assist in resolving any problems encountered, I don't have much technical knowledge and make no promises that I can fix anything. A professional boat mover will normally be able to do most simple repairs. The bad news is that I'm too busy at the moment even to offer to do this short trip, mostly because I'm going away boating for two weeks soon. I have a small wine harvest to do soon too. But I can offer some comments which I hope are helpful: From King's Cross to P&S Marine two days should be plenty; four locks in the first couple of miles, then the long pound of the Paddington Arm, turn right at Bulls Bridge junction, stop overnight maybe somewhere around West Drayton, and I think it's 11 locks up to Watford on day two. Plenty of room in all the locks for your boat, and my guess is the engine will have adequate power, you're not going via the river. If you're new to canal boating it's a good idea to have someone to turn up and teach you the basics on the first day, I hope maybe someone else off the forum could offer ? If they just accompany you for the first three hours or so to Little Venice that covers the four locks and the (short) Maida Hill tunnel. But if not, I suggest you download and read the boater's guide on the CRT website, try to make sure your engine is in working order and you have basic equipment such as windlass (and spare!), lines, mooring items etc., then just go for it. If you meet other boaters at locks you'll find they're usually happy to answer questions, show you what to do, etc.
    2 points
  8. Been watching a few electrical type Youtube videos of late, here's my favourite channels.. ElectroBOOM - https://www.youtube.com/user/msadaghd Quite amusing educational videos - if physics teachers were more like this more kids would pay attention in class! Good for basic electrics. BigCliveDotCom - https://www.youtube.com/user/bigclivedotcom More into taking apart cheap Chinese junk to see how they are put together and how. Good if you want to get into electronics or you just like taking apart stuff. John Ward - https://www.youtube.com/user/jjward/ Covers same areas as BigCliveDotCom, just different. Anyone got anything else to recommend.
    1 point
  9. No he is fully occupied doing and supplying webasto.
    1 point
  10. It was a very nice chap from CRT who inspects your boat to make sure you arnt fiddling the license! It made sense to me anyway, self declaration is bound to go wrong isnt it?
    1 point
  11. OK. Was it Asda? It was a supermarket off some sort, anyway!
    1 point
  12. It helps the rest of us identify what sort of boater they are at a distance ...
    1 point
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  16. The good old test amp works well. So long as its not LED
    1 point
  17. So then everyone will put their genny on the towpath and call it an electric charging point!
    1 point
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  23. So why didn’t they put a strong closing spring on it? With a crt key operated Yale-type lock then it would solve the issue.
    1 point
  24. Having as a boat that had never had a headlight fitted (no, I don’t know why either), it might be best to go down the route of a removable LED lamp. Low power demand, coupled with a rechargeable battery and problem solved without any wiring.
    1 point
  25. Sound advice Back at the dawn of my career I once had to mix up some concentrated sulphuric acid to replace acid lost when a telephone exchange flooded. Not an experience I enjoyed, the fumes coming off the acid when adding it to deionised water were visible, so you had to hold your breath. ? That was about 1972, so predated modern H&S rules. I also recall using concentrated hydrochloric acid and calcium carbinate to "regenerate" the Permutit water deioniser, which produced the battery topping up water. That was a nasty job too. Still it concentrated my mind on getting promoted so someone else could do it, so not an entirely bad thing. ?
    1 point
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  28. The RYA have always been very active in supporting boaters - they were on the panel reviewing Red Diesel some years ago and battled all the way. They have even managed to get the Belgium Government to back-peddle on taking UK boaters (in Belgium waters) with red diesel in their tanks to the EU courts. I've said it before but the inland boating industry and inland boaters themselves could do a lot worse that affiliate with the RYA instead of having a number of 'specific interest' groups all looking at their local issues instead of a co-ordinated approach. IWA RBOA NABO NBTA etc
    1 point
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  30. How many peeps got killed or badly injured per year in canal engineering before the advent of mandatory hard hats, Vs how many after?
    1 point
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  33. Boaters and Steam Railways are an easy fix/political win. We produce a lot of visible smoke but are not a big part of the economy (or even a big producer of pollution). Tackling air travel is more economically and politically difficult so best avoided. ...............Dave
    1 point
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  35. A thermostat that fails open or opens at a lower temperature than it should can cause no expensive damage to the engine, but it may end up overcooled and running at a lower temperature than optimal. One that fails closed or opens at a higher temperature than it should may cause the engine to overheat, but this will be full evident long before you do expensive damage. I can't see one failing and wrecking anything in an expensive way , unless you choose to ignore clouds of steam or hot burning smells.
    1 point
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  37. Remember that if you do not keep your batteries fully charged for most of the time sulphation will kill expensive ones as fast as cheap ones. If you can't guarantee a high state of charge then you might be better off with cheaper batteries and accept batteries are consumable items.
    1 point
  38. What like changing the oil and filters you mean?
    1 point
  39. I would get anything that is maintenance free. Topping up poxy batteries is up there with polishing painwork and brass, life is way way too short.
    1 point
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  41. Agree with Roland. Anywhere between the Boat in and willow wren is safe. Lots of boats always moored there. If you are heading west, then you can wind in the willow wren spur. 2 mins from the marina. Crap 4G signal though!
    1 point
  42. We have lived on and off in that area since 1987. We moor about a mile away. It is as safe as anywhere you can find. Long length of piling on calcutt side of boat inn bridge. Many people live/ leave boats. never had trouble apart from one other boat a long time ago, and he is long gone.
    1 point
  43. Exactly, the ropes are only as secure as the knots you tie. If you are worried about security of the ropes, then put a cable tie around the knot to secure the loose end, but only on canals. On rivers a friendly neighbour might loosen your ropes when the river rises unexpectedly, thus preventing the boat from sinking. Obviously this easy if you have cable tied the ropes.
    1 point
  44. One side of that rail bridge is slightly higher than the other.
    1 point
  45. Hi We picked up our lined boat in the middle of March last year in the middle of the beast from the east. Slept in what can only be classed as a fridge for the next 10 days bringing her over the Rochdale Canal from Lymm to our mooring in Wakefield. With a full carpet out of the weed hatch, me going in the cut at Todmorden and an armor cabling round the prop dredging everything possible off the bottom of the canal. Still wouldn't swap her for a house. What you got to lose, go for it.
    1 point
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  50. We had two grandkids stay this weekend, 45ft boat, I got to sleep on the sofa. Not good.
    0 points
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