Leaderboard

I agree with both Ditchcrawler and Chewbacka, and wouldn't choose to go in a 7 knt stream for fun. However I have done it. Boards were shunting between red and yellow on the Thames and we needed to move the boat. Prior to casting off I ensured: my Beta 43 had enough guts to stop astern when going downstream, it had enough oomph to push it upstream, the engine was reliable and had sufficient fuel, the anchor was available, and I knew how the boat would handle if I tried anything clever. Then ensured I didn't try anything clever! This was when we were moving the boat from Pyrford to the K&A having just bought her and needed to be done in a few days, so wasn't going to take any chances with a new pride and joy that I hadn't got to know properly. The trip upstream was 'eventful' and a great learning experience but we ensured we never placed ourselves or more importantly, could place ourselves, in a situation we couldn't handle. BTW she stopped (i.e. no forward motion) under the Albert Bridge at Windsor running at 70% power and needed 90% to clear the bridge. That was somewhat nerveracking. Sounds to me you took all the chances in the world, would you have died or lost the boat had you decided not to do that journey, on a boat you didn't know. I couldn't stop in a 7kt flow or turned round and gone back. If the boards are going on why not just stop and wait, even if its for a month.

Where can you get diesel at under £1 per litre ? (most NB's seem to use between 1 and 1.5 litres per hour, near the bottom end if just 'ticking over'. And rise even further when we can only source White diesel and the waterways suppliers have to put in loads of new security and infrastructure - I can see £2 a litre on the canals.

Took a bit of persuading.

To be fair they are round windows, not proper solid brass portholes by the look of them. My portholes were about 10 or 11 inches at a guess and "traditional" (stupid phrase) Portholes. All my doubled glazed units lift out in seconds. Views change over the years and your next few boats may well be different? ?

I refer the honorable gentleman to the very first sentence of this thread.

Alexis, have you really looked into the ins and outs of composting toilets and the maturing then disposal of both the solid and liquid waste - especially in London, not many hedge rows you can distribute the MATURE waste along. They are probably excellent if you have your own ground where you can compost and mature the waste and distribute the liquid but otherwise you my have probelms.

Just answer one friendly question OP please. Do you think it is a cheap lifestyle living on a boat?

Diesel; think in terms of £1 an hour. More if cruising, a bit less if just battery charging. Expect cost to rise to nearer £1.50 an hour before too long (new tax situation).

They need charging much longer than when at 12.5v Charge until the current drops to less than an amp, terminal voltage after standing should be in excess of 12.8v.

Looks like you have it covered then. Always worth thinking about exits.

People tend to wire their single alternator to the engine battery, and then via split charge to domestic, thus maximising the current through the relay. If only people would connect the alternator to the domestic and use the relay to replace the very small amount of charge taken out of the starter battery Anyway, a relay will only overheat if it is under-specified for the current, or has loose connections

As they are connected to batteries, yes should be 25mm2. In reality less would be enough, to carry charging current but it has to be considered that they may have to carry current from the starter battery to flat bow batteries, volts drop will limit the maximum current in that case. I think I would be happy with just 16mm2.

That looks like really nice place. Lovely setting.

The Chinese unit "Moo" , spelled "Mou", is included in the list of foreign units in the 1911 E.B. article. Interesting that it was still in use nearly a century later. Defined as: " Commonly 806.65 sq. yds. Varies locally. Shanghai = 6600 sq. ft. (Municipal Council). By Customs Treaty, = 920.417 sq. yds., based on ch'ih of 14.1 inches. " The rather lengthy entry for the ch'ih iteslf says it can be anywhere between 11" and 15.8". 6 different definitions were used in Pekin alone, two different ones for public works, others for statistics, architects, "common", and mathematics. Yes, metric does have its place!

Partially compensated for by the US fluid ounce being slightly bigger than the Imperial fluid ounce (1 US Fl. oz = 1.04 UK Fl. oz), I believe as a consequence of the respective fluid ounces being determined in terms of the same respective masses of water measured at different temperatures.

Yes that is where I was thinking of. I reckon the ideal would be to put the bows into the Marina entrance and hope the locky opens the paddles so that the current grabs the stern and swings the boat around by pivoting on the point of the spit. I suggested other options to Pingu but she seems keen to go to the supermarket just West of there, and insists that she doesn't want to have to carry the shopping a long way. Actually if you don't count the fenders and rudder we are only 67 ft (I've often been told I'm a yard short of a full length ? ) so it sounds like there should be room. Oh wouldn't it cause a lovely obstruction if I got stuck!

I don't think they could pull a plough very well

And don't forget to block the old hole in the hull! A wooden plug hammered in from the outside, cut off flush, and blacking over the area, will do until such time as the boat is out of the water and the hole can be welded up (say next time the hull is blacked).

In case anyone is still interested in the Leonard Leigh boat 'Swallow', here's a photo of her taken in the early 1960's, when her then owner, the daughter of said Mr Leigh, used to let us boys crew her. She was kept then at Braunston.

Have you tried using a bathroom, when access was from a boatman's cabin, through the engine room and through a bedroom to get to it. Unless you're very friendly with the person in the bedroom, you walk around the outside of the boat and back in through the front; I have. Difficult week.

Today 2008 we went through the tunnel on the Burgundy canal for the first time. When I went to get the radio and paperwork from the lock keeper he asked if we would take a Swiss family and their bikes through with us. Ok but it made me even more nervous. The lock house part way down the flight after the tunnel has all these tools on the side of the house and given the size of his woodpile looked well set up for some cold winters. 10 years later there is even more stuff there.

Timing is everything

Trying to run bow thrusters from the engine start battery at the opposite end of the boat is never going to work unless the cables are massive, the volt drop is simply too great. But with sensible size cables the bow batteries will receive a sufficient charge to fully charge the batteries. Volt drop is directly proportional to current, so a lower, charging only, current incurs a lot less volt drop than there would be with the large running current of the bow thruster. This is why there has to be batteries in the bow in the first place. The bow batteries frequently suffer due to being neglected and too deeply discharged by over use of the bow thruster without them receiving a full recharge. The steerer maneuvers the boat into a mooring with the bow thruster, and stops the engine. This leaves the bow batteries partially discharged, possibly for a long time, a sure fire way of sulfating lead acid batteries.

I see from the Yorkshire Post article https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/people/barge-operator-wins-long-running-battle-canal-river-trust-over-taking-freight-leeds-wharf-2929913 that problems outlined by David are close to being sorted and the traffic could start shortly. Tam

Ah, a Keg Buster reference! Shipstones used to be a wonderfully bitter beer, a lost favourite. (Even though it is an anagram of honest piss!)

I had a 50ft dutch boat with ship's windows. Bloody heavy things (I bought two more to fit to another boat). Lovely bronze frames, glass about 30mm thick. Secure as you like, plus they opened to let the breeze through (or to let you lean out and feed the ducks/swans). Loved that boat.

New squirrels have a half bowl shaped cup screwed under the flue, it is recommended to remove this for use in a boat

For all practical purposes its the area occupied by a block of full length narrowboats, three boats long by 30 boats wide.

I have had good experiences with Crewe Engines.

As a strong point attachment I have passed the rope through one of the well deck scuppers to tie a loop around the hull side. Should be plenty strong enough. The risk might be that the sharpish edge of the 6mm steel side would cut the rope. Never actually tried deploying the anchor. I used it because it was already there. There are limited places to put in a nice big ring bolt on my and many other boats. The well deck has a stainless water tank immediately underneath. Other steelwork forms part of the gas locker and putting a ring bolt through that below the level of the gas cylinder valves could lead to arguments during a BSS inspection. I really should fit one at some point. Probably the top of the gas locker would be the best spot. Jen

About 12 ft long on the roof

May I suggest that you actually go on a course and learn how to helm a boat - otherwise you will become reliant on the 'sissy-button' and the very time you REALLY need it, the battery will be flat and you will have no idea how to actually steer. They are a useful accessory for newcomers to assist in mooring with a strong wind, but you become addicted and you can hear them coming from miles away as they are used to try and stay in a straight line on a straight piece of waterway, YES, you can handle a widebeam without a bow thruster, it just takes practice. I currently have one boat with a 14 foot beam and another boat with a 23 foot beam - neither have (or need) a bowthruster. Good luck.

Yet again another futile attempt to spin the situation. It doesn't matter what she does at work or her qualifications with regard to whether her youngest kid (which is what you referred to) is scared. With the little amount I am seeing on TV either she isn't explaining to the kid the situation or she is watching far too many news items with the kid. the media don't seem to be commenting much as I said no reports of how many new cases or deaths. Her multiple qualifications have little or nothing to do with the parenting of the child in question, they are merely you trying to (as always) put down any opinion which differs from yours. Failed again.

In 2013 we passed a boat, called Snowgoose. It had a French quotation under the name - "A l'eau c'est l'heure". The story goes that before the battle of Trafalgar, as was customary, the French admiral was boated over to speak to Nelson aboard The Victory, gentleman to gentleman, before the battle. As he left, he said this phrase, as was often used in the French navy, in effect meaning "The hour has come - to the water!".

Romanes eunt domus ?

I had to wait a long time for my boat, Godot.

I'm surprised no one has thought of "Narrow Escape"... ?

Havig used various rust killer remedies over the years im not entirely convinced of their effectiveness. Despite the claims they wont convert rust more than a few microns thick. You still have to get down to bare metal as best you can. If you do use vactan or a similar - Holts rust remedy is basically the same - I would clean it off before painting in 2 pack, the idea being the vactan coat removed from the high spots will leave perfectly clean metal leaving the vactan in the low spot pits. 2 pack won't stick very well to vactan unless it is abraded before hand. Warm up the panels a bit before applying the paint. Drive the moisture out of the remaining rust, seal it from moisture and oxygen ingress with a good coat of paint and you stop the rust for good.