Leaderboard

Torksey in the 1960s and, I believe, in 1939.

Castlefields etc in the 1960s. Gloomsville indeed.

The clue is in the name, morons. https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/bridge-quay-residents-blast-council-for-moving-barge-outside-their-homes/?fbclid=IwAR0lW6fz1AnsI86HYlbLZtGL7UKZevx1LW6AMLl6qmHd0fXJWzANz8WQyrw

I have a 1600 watt inverter and have, this summer for the first time since fitting the panels, run the immersion from the solar panels (same output as you have). On a good day the panels gave me 40 amps and the inverter was taking 110 amps to run the boat and immersion. I have 6 x 110Ah batteries on the domestic set up and so I believe that the required 70 amps from 6 batteries acceptable in the short term. I ran the immersion for 30 minutes at a time with at least 1 hour recharge time after that. If all was well I would repeat. For a 50 ltr calorifier I found that 90 minutes of immersion time gave a tank full at 60 degrees C from a start of ambient about 16 deg C

Forgive me butting in here - I'm new to the forum - but I'd be interested in your views. I have about £50k to spend on a used narrowboat. Not an inconsiderable amount of money I think most would agree. However, some of the brokerages I've been in touch with or seen on the internet seem to have an attitude towards customer service on a par with a poke in eye the sharp stick. Also, many of the boats I've seen don't even appear to be readied for sale with even just a quick tidy up and removal of 4 inches of water out of the engine bilge! Same with marinas I've contacted who seem to say 'yeah we've space, cost you a lot though and we're not really bothered if you take it or not. Oh and by the way that's just the basic cost. We also charge for extras like the air that you breathe and the jetty you walk on'! Am I missing something here? Are narrowboats some sort of massive inconvenience to marinas and brokerages? Is there really that much of seller's market they can afford to be offhand, incompetent or rude? Actually, when I do buy my boat (and I have my eye on a few) I do know where I'm going to moor it. A new marina, architect designed, in the south midlands, close to two junctions not far from a prison. They called me, emailed me and were extremely pleasant. That's where I'm going even if it does cost a little more than others. I'm not even bothered if there's a prison break - they'll probably be nicer and less crooked that some of the boat businesses I've come across! JRT

At the 'request' of Associated British Ports (ABP) Farndale H now has a combined plotter and AIS fitted so we can now keep track of her on the tidal river section of her voyage: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-1.4/centery:53.6/zoom:11. Her last position shows up on 23rd November just shy of Trent Falls on her way loaded to Leeds. As there are no AIS receivers along the canal section she will only show up in the river. She is due another run this week so should be away from Goole between 07.00 & 08.00 tomorrow with the tide, which means she can make Hull in under three hours. Ten loads have so far been delivered into Leeds and there is talk of CRT moving funds to cover dredging from next year's budget into this. The river section below Lemonroyd Lock is still a problem, even with several inches of fresh on the Aire and the canal section around the Thwaite Mills Museum (amongst others) is a nightmare, testing the skipper's skills to the utmost. Once the dredging is undertaken (and the surveys are now all complete) 500+ ton loads should become the norm rather the current light loads of 350 tons.

I occasionally suffer from phantosmia. I have a very poor sense of smell but sometimes I can smell burnt toast or roasted coffee beans when there's nothing there. .............................. the good side is that neither of my dogs smell at all

Lisa, When people post a question like yours, it is quite usual for some people to inflate minor issues into major issues, because they "might be", (and they "might" be right). If it "needs" overplating now, it actually "needed" overplating when it was built, and it's amazing that it is still floating a quarter of a century later. This looks like a boat that was built with a 6mm bottom and 5mm sides, and there is up to a millimetre less metal in some areas than when it was built. Having said that, he also says that the initial thicknesses were nominal, so it may actually have been thinner than 6mm and 5mm when built. The surveyors recommendations are that the boat be washed, rubbed down at the waterline to remove the rust, and blacked. There may be more recommendations on the next page but, the fact that you haven't posted it suggests not. Had the surveyor been concerned about the thicknesses and pitting, he would have recommended more. There might be some major rust behind the rubbing strakes, but there might not be. In the picture posted by matty, the rust is obvious below the strake. So.... overall, quite a good survey where a few things might warrant closer looking at, but nothing to put you off. My caveats would be: 1) The bit of the date we can see on the survey looks like it is not recent, and is not your own survey... it also seems quite sparse, so I would assume that there are several ore pages with more detail? You shouldn't buy the boat without having your own survey. When was the survey carried out? 2) There have been some people who have had difficulty getting insurance on boats with thinner hulls, so it is probable that people will be wary of thinner hulls. There is also a strong chance that buyers who ask questions in canal boat forums will be steered away from thinner hulls, even if they are likely to last 75 years or so before needing any real attention . Thus, you might want to be ultra careful and avoid boats that started with thinner hulls. Mine was 10mm base, 6mm sides, 4mm top. It would be interesting to hear from owners here with "thin hulled" Springers and the like, and their experiences of insurance?

Pick your professional with care. At this stage, I expect most professional boat electricians know less than the most knowledgable boaters who have fitted them. A bit like asking an 18th century universtiy trained medical doctor for advice on an illness. The best you could hope for is that they wouldn't make you any worse!

We attempted Salters Lode and failed badly at 3.5m. I contacted the ML to enquire as to the width and they said that they didn't actually know, but to try it and see (good old UK Navigation Authority!). We would have fitted into the chamber OK but they have nailed a load of huge lorry tyres to the downstream fender - probably to stop narrowboats crashing into it. These tyres made the angle too tight for us - so we were jammed into the mouth of the lock on a falling tide - excellent stuff. Managed to reverse out after a bit of stress, and then went around The Wash - which IMO is a lot less stressful (as long as the weathers right). I had a look at the corner at Upwell and thought it would be tight but wouldn't cause us a problem - however there are some very low bridges which might have done. Maybe explore the ML from Peterborough by all means - but be prepared for a bit of reversing, and don't attempt Salters Lode unless they've moved those tyres.

Nothing in that survey says it would be uninsurable fully comp, however, if the survey is several years old, things may have got worse since then. It also doesnt read as needing complete overplating. One of the worst areas for corrosion could be under the rubbing strakes, never dries out completely so the rust just eats away.

I can guarantee that they don’t smell of dog to you. If they don’t smell of dog to me then you must have the only non-dog smelling dog in the world.

School Board handles

I use to get slivers in my fingers as a kid, more widely known as splinters plus all the ones listed above And still in common use today in wooden sailing boat circles

This our fella he’s an Airedale the 3 rd one we have had. They are very alert and good watchdogs but all 3 have been reluctant to swim even though the breed was used to hunt otters they don’t like even walking through puddles.

Reminds of an article in the car club magazine when I was rallying back in the 70's. One member had a "Broadspeed Bullet", a 3 litre Ford Capri with a turbocharger and other mods to improve performance. To reduce the compression ratio, the head gaskets were replaced with thicker ones. He decided to replace these with the originals... The car really flew but as he increased the revs there was a load bang, smoke and the engine stopped. In the club magazine he described the reason for his retirement as "total electrical failure - a conrod escaped from the engine and cut through the battery cable"! ???

You are correct no one has said 1mm 'is a lot' 1mm is nothing on a 12mm base plate, its not a lot on an 8mm base plate, but on a 5mm plate it takes it below the level that many insurers will offer cover. If it can be recovered by filling in all the pits it can be insured, but, it it still a 'bottom of the range' boat with a 5mm base. For £33k + all the work needed she can buy a boat needing much less work. Will need to act quickly and go and view the day it is advertised, no use waiting 'until the weekend' as if it is any good it will be sold within 24 hours.

I would be concerned about rubbing strakes only being tack welded in place. There is no way of checking how much corrosion there is behind them. Its the hidden bits that always concern me.

The best is a GSD. You walk into them rather than fall over them. Ours were never allowed on furniture. They are large enough to repel borders and are able to get themselves out of the canal.

My preference is the Rottweiler (on my second at present),but a similar large dog that the "dog racists" perceive as "nasty",but are actually just like any other dog!,will do...As I have said on a previous post,"everything on the towpath slows down for a rotti!"?...Also,black dogs operate in "stealth mode" on a dark towpath!. ?

It has to earn its keep, it's kept lit more or less permanently this time of the year. The only heating in the cottage is that and an open style range in the front room, and if someone tells you old houses are warmer because of thick walls don't believe a word of it!

Both the cotton and woollen waste had machines called devils, which did the primary work of breaking up the waste. The first photo shows the delivery end of a cotton devil, which had eight cylinders in a line. The woollen devil was more like a carding engine, though much stronger, with steel teeth around the cylinder, rather than the card wire seen in the photo of a cotton condenser card. The sliver coming off the card was rubbed between two wide leather belts to make a number of rovings which could then be fitted to a condenser mule where it was converted to yarn. There were several other preparatory machines used for breaking up and reforming the cotton or wool to ensure that a uniform roving could be created and prevent slubs, thicker sections of yarn.

I left for a few years mainly initially because of the website changes, I couldn't find my way around so easily, but that seems to have improved, but also boredom and getting fed up with the bickering at the time. I then left boaty life almost, for over 4 years to care for my mother. She has now passed and I'm back on board in all senses, though not as involved as I used to be. There are still a good many names I remember, and a few i miss.