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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.

Just take a turn around the rail post at deck level. The cross bar should keep the angle low enough.

Very unlikely that your boat was painted with cellulose. New cellulose will react with almost every other paint. Boat paints are oil based enamels or 2 pack curing paints. Who told you to buy cellulose, there is not a lot of it around these days, cars use other paints now?

That's a lovely hat you're wearing in your avatar Tim. You look like a properly nice bloke.

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.

If you have to explain the joke...

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.

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.

And there's me thinking I'm the only tight-arsed one!

Or Stixall from tool station, available in black, white and clear.

You will struggle to get photovoltaic cable in a larger size than 6.

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

Shouldn't that be 'broken' rather than 'broke' ?

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.

I always take the advice given by the fisherman in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o949IwjBsk

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 ..