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? ?

GRP actually stands for glass reinforced polyester. GRP is therefore not a plastic and is not too difficult to bond to as the material has lots of oxygen molecules in it which can bond strongly to other things. Similarly with epoxies which again has 'active' groups as long as it abraided. Plastic on the other hand is a difficult issue. If it's Polyethylene or Polypropylene then it is very difficult to bond to. The material is all carbon and hydrogen atoms which don't allow much to stick. They are very hydrophobic so hate oxygen - which is what most adhesives use. Most adhesives tend to be hydrophilic. If it's PVC then it's easier as the Cl atom helps increase its hydrophilic nature. I seriously doubt any primer will work with PE or PP (polyolefins) other than flame treatment but maybe there is a proprietary primer for PVC or nylon. A primer for use on GRP used on polyolefis will not be any use.

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.

Indeed. After 41 years of hiring and shareboating I bought a boat with a bowthruster. I found it very useful for reversing in tight spaces and when windy. After three years it packed up and I didn't fix it for a couple of years, but didn't really miss it unless it was windy and I needed to reverse in tight spaces.

Yes.

This looks interesting https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/16598-sealey-cp20voskit-cordless-orbital-/ They are probably the product of the Austrian company Walters. The one I have is fitted with a slightly smaller 1.5ah battery. You should find that it tires at about the same rate as you, so no mater how you feel on the day the machine won’t let you overdo things. Takes 125mm dia Velcro attached discs, and like all cutting tools works best when sharp/new. Change the disc regularly (as already mentioned by others) and let the machine do the work for you. edit: bit cheaper from these guys on Ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-CP20VOSKIT-20V-2x2-0Ah-125mm-Cordless-Orbital-Palm-Sander-Kit/233300756306?epid=4032744361&hash=item3651cf0752:g:xP4AAOSw1exfDAy8

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

“Pas d'elle yeux Rhone que nous”

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.

A good argument for lowering an anchor rather than dropping it! Other problem with just chucking everything over board is that the chain could end up on top of and around the anchor, and a fluke with a loop of chan round t is never going to bite. Use rated shackles. The rating is usually around half the actual breaking strain.

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.

Not only are gallons in the USA smaller but so are pints (16fl.oz. not 20), which is *much* more important...

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).

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

Indeed, or even consider at the outset fitting one of the , admittedly more expensive, hydraulic systems? Howard

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.

If you are thinking about fitting a bath, not only do you have to remove the water, (easy with a pump) it also has to be filled, which greatly depends on how big the on-board water storage is. (Main water tank and hot water tank) Bod.

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

pity you can't give the OP a meaningful answer. the question of whether a BT is necessary has been done to death many times on this forum. I, for one, couldn't have docked my widebeam in a crosswind (there was always a westerly) without one at my particular marina location ............................. and I am prepared to wager that you couldn't have either.

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!)

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.

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.