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Of the house, not the boat. This is in Arts and Crafts not because it's Art, but because the dog is crafty - she got her modelling fee.

What we do is to pull a loop of rope through the eye-splice, then put the loop we've just made over the bollard on the stern, and then give it a sharp tug before throwing the rope onto the lock-landing for someone to loop over the bollard there. works for us.

Berrichon Sirdar again, in the lower chamber at Le Guetin. Also the tractor, on which I have no further information, except that the group of Dutch and Belgian mariniers around were gnashing their teeth at the way the staircase was adminstered (uphill travellers would not not allowed to progress the following morning, even when there were no downhill boats left, because that was not their specified time of day) Peter Zivy, who started Saint Line, had previously based his fleet of six on the Marne, but moved to Baye on the Nivernais having discovered the canal and been appalled that it was up for closure. He spent a good deal of money in doing so and subsquently moved to Englnad, but by then others were getting established. Prominent amongst them was Michael Street, who became the first hire boat operator on the Midi (encountering concerted hostility from the French tax authorities, to whom anything new must be suspect. Michael did win through in the end, but the process exhausted him;he subsequently sold out to Guinness, who weredeciding on "leisure" at the time).

More on the berrichons. In 1968 I travelled with a group of friends on a hire cruiser from Saint Line on the Nivernais. Even then, this was the only hire company in France, and by being based at Baye, on the summit, and lobbying hard, it thereby saved the Nivernais from closure. On an ambitious circuit we passed, at Marseilles-les-Aubigny, the blocked-off entrance to the Canal de Berry, with several of its tradional craft moored out in the main canal. Then, at Le Guetin, there had been a stoppage of some kind, and in thequeue, was the berrichon Sirdar, the family on board certainly eating under an awning at the stern, though possibly sleeping somewhere underneath. The mule/horse combination that towed the vessel was stabled centrally on board, that being the regulation (the animals were not allowed to graze on shore either, though some surely did). I shall post a couple of further photos on a following entry, asap.

Its the bit on the end of its leg. Or if you want to be clever :

As a professional boat signwriter and decorator, I recycle and re-use white spirit constantly. Left overnight in small tins, the pigment sinks to the bottom and the amber coloured spirit is ready to go again once decanted off, perfectly adequate for washing brushes and wiping palettes etc.

The simplest things that anglers can do to be helpful to boaters are to be visible (to boats, even if not to fish!), and to acknowledge your approach in some way. Then both parties know that the rod will be lifted out of the way at the last minute, and perhaps a few friendly words exchanged. It avoids the uncertainty that can lead to horns / emergency slowing down / lines being caught etc.

I thought he was going through his Dame Edna phase and was expecting the next avatar change to be to a muppet carrying a bunch of gladioli...

A chap I used to moor next to got one, after about the 3rd time he rang me to bring a hammer and chisel to help open his door, worked well until he used the spare emergency key and didn't replace it

'Cause some bright spark (who cant be mentioned but their name starts with Jen i* *** ) couldnt see the black mask so didnt get the joke with my strap line. Thought I better change it so it was a bit more visible.

The Peniche in Athy’s photo looks like it should be a automotor so it suggest that it is being towed into a tunnel. So not the St Quentin or Marne Rhin as these have electric tugs. The summit tunnel on the Marne Saone canal has a towpath which I believe was used by tractors but I have in my mind that the entrance canal was narrow for some distance.

I saw you all coming through Fragnes when you were on the way to St Jean. The operation of the bow rudder was impressive. When Charles saw me I was persuaded to buy a T shirt, I took some photos but can’t find them. Last saw Aster in the basin at St Jean under a sort of poly tunnel in 2018 quite a lot of new timber had been fitted.

Yes, I fitted a simple gauge 20 years ago (after telling SWMBO that yes I was sure there was enough water for her to have a shower, but no there wasn't enough to let her rinse the soap off) and it works impeccably. A length of 3 core flex, with one of its wires cut a few inches short, pokes into the tank via a small (resealed) hole in the filler pipe so that it goes 3/4 of the way down. Then a simple circuit consisting of just one CMOS logic chip senses which bits of wire are covered by the water and drives a bi-colour LED. Green means more than half full, Yellow means a quarter to a half, Red means less than a quarter. Total cost, less than 50p

You are aware that they take "misery pills" to get them in the right frame of mind for fishing aren't you? ? Generally I find, as others have, that slowing down, followed by a polite "hello" results in a short conversation. In 47 years boating I have only had incident with a fisherman. That was on the Leigh Branch about 25 years ago, when a teenage fisherboy fired a catapult full of maggots at the stern of my boat after I had passed him. My mate quickly grabbed a mooring pin and leapt onto the bank, brandishing it at the boy. The teenager ran off leaving his fishing gear behind. When my mate got back on the boat, he said he was tempted to throw his fishing gear into the cut, but resisted it.

Canaline 43 ample and an easy fit for a BMC 1.5D, just need spacers under the engine mounts, almost everything else is in the same place. TD'

Never realised that was an avatar, thought it was a self portrait. Whens the new cruiser hit the cut?

I know! Tell me about it! If Jen hadnt posted, I would have been none the wiser. I always view it on a laptop where the black mask was perfectly clear....if you knew to look at it. Prolly best to go back to fish jokes.

Ahhh as I can't see strap lines it still makes no sense

I just use stixall now. Clean the area and the fittings with a bit of white spirit to degrease first and clean off any excess with the same cloth afterwards. I'd use some of those thin latex gloves too because you've only got to look at these sealants and it's all over your hands.

I would agree, beta over canaline. 43 would more than enough, diesels like to be worked hard, and it is a struggle to manage that even with 43, never mind 50.

One of the very few remaining berrichons, 2013 - somewhere in France.

Crikey, that can't have been an easy door to paint with all that foliage hanging in your way!

On this day 2018 Another angle on an isolated canal and its boat. Southern Oxford Summit Compare #294

I have always larks footed the eyesplice around the bollard. Pull it tight horizontally first, and it never slips off under a vertical pull. I do the same with the bow rope around the T stud stem. No need to pull the entire length of rope through the eye - you can just turn the eye inside out to create the loop (easier to demonstrate than to describe) which you then drop over the bollard and pull tight. It's easy to slacken off the larks foot when you want to remove the rope from the bollard, which is more than can be said for an eye which is a tight fit over the top of the bollard, especially if your fingers are cold and wet. And the larks foot can be done with any size of eye splice - which is helpful as I can never get an eyesplice to come out the exact length intended. I never know how people manage to get tight eye splices around thimbles - mine have always been loose.

Like Dav and Pen I have seen some (a very few) about on the French system. In fact IIRC there was one that used to moor at Auxonne when we were there with our barge for a few years. Like Dav and Pen I would expect them to be quite pricey. I never met an owner to be able to chat and find out about the boats though. Roger

I've left it to settle, so the pigment ends up at the bottom, then skimmed off the clear spirit at the top. Good enough for the first pass at brush cleaning. Final clean in fresh. Running it through filter paper would be the quick way to remove pigment particles. The various oils and solvents in the paint will still be dissolved in the white spirit. There is always fractional distillation, but running a still might attract the attention of HMRC! Jen

What you're saying is "...If it won't move, leave it, if it breaks it needed replacing anyway" Good detective work on the rope scarring by the way - never spotted this. B ut then that's why these forums are so brilliant!

Sikaflex 291 is the one you'll see punted for marine stuff. You'll only need a tube but someone who needs a lot could consider Puraflex 40, about half the price and made by Sika.

no i did not see that post .it stand to reason tho .recreational craft direct ,and all other legal stuff will be in place .i may be a lot of things wotever . ignorant is not one of them lol .also this project will have P.I if you struggle to read what i say simple dont bother reading it ,and dont bother commenting

I am not normally one to make recommendations, been bit too many times, however, I can not recommend Justin Green enough, he did a fantastic job for me and picked up issues that other people over the years had clearly missed. True professional and very accommodating.

Now this is going to open up a can of worms

Search for Magpads and Aluminium U channel on eBay.

My Dad was born inside black jacks lock 86 years ago today whilst grandparents where waiting for the gate to be re hung so it seemed only fitting some of his ashes went in there. Nan would not allow a bank person to step on her boat to help deliver so the lockies wife who was from old boating family ( Mercer ) was sent for & by the time gate was fixed & lock re filled Dad was born & grandad who was in the pub all the time was sent for ..