Leaderboard

We had one try it on a couple of years ago on the boat in front of us. "Working boats have priority at locks ..." The boater they were telling it to accepted it, so I stole the lock from the ex-working boat. Furiously marched up to me and said "I know you heard me tell the other chap that working boats have priority" I smiled sweetly and agreed I'd heard him say that. Then I pointed out politely that he had a pleasure boat licence and I have a roving traders licence. By definition only one of us is a working boat ...

Some years ago now we bought the hulk of Banstead off Roger Lorenz and needed to tow it back to Langley Mill. We took Meteor to house our teenage children and their friends so they would do the bow hauling of the two unpowered boats up the Cheshire locks. In the thick of the flight with Meteor and Banstead being bow hauled by the slave gang and my wife and I on Wyrd a lady who was lock wheeling for the first of the Easter Traditional Working boat gathering at Ellesmere Port came up to Wyrd and said as we were towing and they were a 'working boat' we should stop and let them past as we would be holding them up. Her boat was , she said, two or three locks down from the butties who were, on the double locks, one set behind us. Wishing to be as helpful as possible I explained that in no way was I prepared to let her through and split the tow but if they could catch us on the long ponds then they could of course come past. They didn't catch the slave gang and to the people further up the flight who asked if we had come from Ellesmere Port we replied that, 'No, we hadn't but that there were a number of ' working boats' behind us.' We were late for the tunnel but the keepers seeing that we would fill the towpath space available waved us through. We didn't see the lady again but perhaps they stopped to load in Stoke.

CBOA has been involved with project from inception - I don't think I'd be breaking any confidences if I share some further information. The initial project was to open a quarry on the Calder & Hebble and move all or most of the material to Ravensthorpe by barge. New 80 tonne craft have been costed, based on the design used until 1981, with a potential for electric propulsion. However the Trans-Pennine rail upgrade threatens the site at Ravensthorpe so that project is on hold for now. The second site is at Birkwood (Stanley Ferry). The plan is to barge material from there to a distribution hub. Various sites are being examined but no decision has been made yet. There has been no suggestion that any of the material will go Ravensthorpe by road to my knowledge although it was one of the options initially examined for the water option. In terms of dredging BW (and now the Trust) was/is legally obliged under 1968 Transport Act to maintain the Commercial waterways for commercial traffic (although, apparently, not for leisure traffic) to a certain standard but BW came to an agreement with DfT that if there was no freight traffic a lower standard would be adopted suitable for leisure use, with the proviso that if freight movements were required the waterway would have to be brought back to the 68 Act standard. Should the project to run to Ravensthorpe become a reality then the dredging group (of which I am a member) will request a survey and get the dredging organised. I am not sure that the amount of dredging needed for the relatively short distance is any greater than that done on other larger waterways (the Trust spends around £8 million a year on dredging) and some of the high spots on the C&H were done recently albeit to a slightly lesser depth. As far as the A&CN is concerned it is simply not true to say CRT 'had not bothered to dredge'. Plough dredging was carried out (mainly below Lemonroyd) to supplement the very large scale dredging that had been done a couple, of years previously when the traffic had been expected to start. The contractor, a very experienced barge operator, said 2.3 metres draft would be possible but as stated the first barge did get stuck, possibly because of further silting between ploughing and the traffic starting. This section will need checking and dredging (if needs be) after the planned dredging at Knottingley/Ferrybridge is completed and that is the plan.

The late, great Stirling Moss had the ultimate put down for bad drivers. He would approach them when they next stopped at traffic lights, open his wallet and offer them money to buy a driving lesson. 🤣😅

Ha, so did I. In the space of a minute or two whilst I was typing it had been forgotten! I see someone else has beaten me to it. Anyway, here's mine. They judged that space just right, it looked as though they wouldn't fit from where I was sitting.

You get what you pay for, and anything that thin probably won’t make much difference. The stuff I used was along the lines of the product below, and you can see a few variations on the ASAP site. It really wants to be at least an inch thick and quite heavy. https://www.asap-supplies.com/products/quietlife-32mm-soundproofing-with-lead-barrier-silver-foil-x4-801484

Some is better (eg many parts of the BCN), some is worse. But a big factor is that the number of boats is massively increased and quite often populated by idiots. So the infrastructure gets a much harder time and many people are clueless if things aren’t quite right (but could be worked around). IMO the biggest threat to my enjoyment of the canals is not the infrastructure or CRT, it is the entitled selfish, clueless, discourteous (delete as appropriate) idiots on many boats, both shiny and scruffy (and all shades in between)

Yes I was thinking this too. I think the state of the system is much the same as in the 80s only bigger. The main difference is people's expectations. They think by spending £1k a year on a license entitles them to expect everything to work like clockwork like on The Thames. The Thames however is significantly simpler to run as there are more or less only the locks and weirs to deal with. No embankments to collapse, no legal issues over bridges, no reservoirs or water supplies to maintain, no tunnels or ducts under the river to maintain, and probably a really substantial grant form the guvvermint. What IS the status of the EA? I guess it is a guvvermint-funded quango and the Thames is just a minor/trivial part of its responsibility. Might be really good news for us boaters if they took over the canals and CRT was wound up. Especially as the license fee would start being charged by deck area so fatties paid their fair share.

My first experience was on a holiday boat in 1974. Two of us went from Stoke to Nantwich and back. I think the infrastructure was much worse then. Since it has improved but is getting worse again. But, more importantly, boaters were more proactive in the 70s, they mucked in, got dirty and didn't always wait for outside help. I blame the invention of the mobil phone.

Yes I very much agree. The"you touched it last" syndrome. I too have learned never to touch or get involved in or even suggest something you weren't called out to deal with. Not only will there be reams of scope for it to go horribly wrong on you, even if it goes swimmingly all you've done is make the final bill higher, making the risk of a "'Ow much????!!!" quibble that much bigger. They are rarely grateful for a bill for a fix they didn't think needed doing.

We were in a situation a. when we knew it was time, and b. also had the opportunity, money wise, to do something about it. We rarely used ours as it was temperamental and used gas like it was going out of fashion. We are very pleased we took the plunge. May I add, our new boiler isn’t silent but a lot quieter than they used to be.

Have you a reading list? L Tom C Rolt's book? The first was "Narrow Boat" He really started leisure boating on the cut in England.

I agree but he seemed to be asking a forum member to come and do it with no mention of payment and no mention of asking for recommendations for an engineer in that area. It would not hurt to give some idea as to why he does not want to tackle it himself.

Find out what the 208 remover is. It will be a thinners of some sort, white spirit, cellulase thinners, acetone etc. The label on the can will tell you. Or find the Coshh regulations.

Simply - if you do not get the batteries recharged to 99.99% every few days the batteries start to sulphate - this is a sort of lead-mud and it builds up in the battery. I use this as an analogy. You have a 100Ah battery this is the amount of energy it can store. You have a 5 litre bucket, this is the amount of water it can hold. If you put a couple of inches of mud in the bottom of the bucket it remains 'a 5 litre bucket' but it is now only capable of holding 4.5 litre. If you add another couple of inches of mud in the bottom of the bucket it remains 'a 5 litre bucket' but it is now only capable of holding 4 litre. If you add another couple of inches of mud in the bottom of the bucket it remains 'a 5 litre bucket' but it is now only capable of holding 3.5 litre. Ad infinitum The same with your battery - unless it is fully recharged every time it is used (ideally daily but that is not really practical) the 'mud' continues to form and you end up with (say) a 20Ah battery. If the battery, when new, would power your electics for (say) 5 hours, it now can only manage 1 hour. Do not confuse volts and amps - it is amps that 'power' your appliances. You can have a 12 volt battery the size of a finger nail, or the size of a bus, or anywhere in between - all are 12 volts but the smaller it is the less Ah (amp hours) it will hold.

Thanks for the concern Tony. I can comfortably fit 340w of solar on the roof, which according to the solar calculator on bimble will give me enough power to run an efficient fridge and inverter. This assumes 4-5 hours of sun a day, and doesn't take account of the (limited) charging capacity of the outboard. Also I'm not living aboard and will have plenty of opportunities to mains charge the batteries.

Thanks for thoughts & suggestions everyone. Tracy D'arth: oily rag under wiring loom - I have inherited the engine this way and have not yet accustomed to seeing things which might be bad/dangerous - will take another look and consider moving/better understanding why it's there! Also, when you say the cobbles are not in the best place - where would they be better placed if they are a necessary ballast... Bengo: good to know about automatic bilge pumps being unreliable, cheers. And yes the boat is definitely listing at the moment. Will also keep pram hood up when away! Higgs: yes that section is isolated from any other - I'm hoping it is just listing and poor drainage.

It also doesnt help when the chimney is fitted without a "wedge" under the collar to keep it upright, so that the chimney leans towards the outside of the boat rather than being vertical.

I fitted Quietlife insulation in our biuld. Whether it makes that much difference I don't know as the deckboards reduce some of the noise. If you want a quiet(er) boat you need a freshwater cooled engine... But that's too revolutionary.

and check if the engine mounts are transferring the engine vibration into the boat structure. "sound deadening" of the covering boards only addresses a small part of the problem.

Your batteries sound like they are knackered. Although they may charge it sounds like they no longer have anything like the original capacity so quickly discharge. How long are you charging for and does the solar ever take them up to something more like 14.5v...?

Bugger, I wrote that a week ago but forgot to press "Send". Does that count after all? Bottom line is heirs may find their inheritance all gobbled up and they get nothing, but on the upside the law does not expect them to make good any shortfall arising from contracts entered into by the deceased.

I'd like to suggest the Holy Inadequate in Stoke on Trent. Never been there myself (yet) but heard it spoken on in hushed terms of reverence by several members here.

How did you know about the curry??!! I bet that was you earlier in the takeaway wasn't it...

My favourite the Anchor at High Offley.