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Neil, if you get stuck or need advice on how stuff works on your boat etc I am only about an hours drive away and dont mind popping up if thats any help? I am busy most of tomorrow but then am clear between sort of 10 and 3 each day after that. You can reply on here or pm if you prefer. Tim

House completion date set for February 28th so I’ll be paying balance on my boat same day just 24 days to go.....yeeeeees

Thanks to all for the offers of help, I’ve managed to have sight of the review now. The lads at CTS and myself reckoned that the finished boat was so vivid that a commemorative beer called Swandazzler should have been brewed to celebrate the completion. Truly, it was a marathon!

Of course you can’t see it. That’s the whole point of magic!

I think it needs to be fitted to the offside of the A45 bridge in Braunston, Bridge 90, to stop any more widebeams travelling the N Oxford.

congrats and all the best

Thanks John. It did go on a bit, unlike the Brum Boat jobs you recall...in and out in a few hours. This was about an intermittent 7 months. I’d do a bit, then others had to do their bit, and so on. Probably the most intricate job to date. Cheers! D

Well that takes me back! Last time I used a sun compass was in Antarctica when I was surveying the uncharted Balleny Islands in the Ross Sea. The South Magnetic Pole was only two hundred miles away so the steering compass spun in lazy circles. Mostly we used the GPS but the sun compass was our fall back navigational tool. I agree that mostly the Wash crossing is a visual pilotage exercise although there is a lack of useful landmarks when you are out in the middle. We left Wisbech at 0200 so it was dark until we cleared the Nene. In some ways that makes it easier as the buoys and beacons are much easier to identify by their flashing sequences.

Photos from Waterways World's Facebook page below. I see what you mean Dave -a labour of love for you. Well done !

No, the public Message is next to my Avatar The PM message is next to the 'follow member' button.

It actually says "Message" (just to avoid looking for the letters 'PM')

Hi Kevin .... Hull was my birth place! Good advice to ask others with solar in the marina ... thanks, and I was pondering between the bronze and the next one up for the Canal rescue but I think I will take your advice and stick with the bronze. Thanks for the input ... Neil – NB huami

A minor edit to satisfy my pedantry.

Those rubber tubes are next to useless. Replace them with 2 or 3 rope fenders, with ropes which are long enough to tie to the roof handrail. Rope fenders are fatter and will do a better job of keeping the boat away from an irregular bank. Deploy them only when mooring, and then only on the bank side (which is why 2-3 are enough). When under way you can leave them on the roof, but tidier to put them away in a locker until the end of the day.

All good stuff. I couldn't even get a consistently wrong compass bearing. If I moved the compass by a foot then I got a completely different number! In the end I didn't use any navigational aids, beyond the Mark I eyeball to fix a transit line from the next buoy to a landmark on the horizon. I only expected to use the GPS in the event of heavy fog - in which case something would have gone seriously wrong with the planning ... Here's the sun compass, pretty accurate. But you do need some sun ...

If anyone needs a side mounting fender eye, I left one in Hurleston bottom lock. Just needs finding and welding on.

A simple illusion.....

6 inches is better than 4 inches ?

Welcome @tvayle@gmail.com Perhaps you can help out in this thread:

Pop round and show me how to do that will ya?!

Henry?

It has been suggested a couple of times here that you look in at the DBA site www.barges.org where you will get a lot more useful information from those of us who've done what you are contemplating, such as dave&pen. Even better would be to join the DBA - a very moderate fee. There are several American/Australasian contributors who explain what they have done as non-EU visitors, both short term and long term, giving clues to how UK nationals will have to act once we become third world inhabitants. DBA is also very useful for practical matters of life afloat in its widest sense. DBA members are as diverse as here, but at least If you ask such a question you won't have it turn into a jibe-fest by crass bigots as on this thread. Tam

You would do well to give your position within 100 mt by compass bearings and its just as easy to miss hear 8 or 10 numbers