Leaderboard

I have fixed this again. It is actually supposed to be there by design but agree it's unnecessary clutter. Some updates will unfortunately cause it to re-appear until I strip out the culprit line of code. "<span data-role='streamBlurb'>{$stream->blurb()}</span>" If it still appears for anyone, please reset your browser cache. Thanks for flagging it though. For future ref - feel free to tag me in a post and I will become aware of issues like this sooner. Cheers

This is to confirm that the planned maintenance is now complete. We have updated the database storage engine to a newer, faster & more reliable version as recommended by the developer's of the forum software. This update does not contain any feature or design changes but you may notice slightly faster page load times. Any issues, please let us know. Thanks

Kelpie is out and about again ! Drove down in lovely sunshine on Thursday and stopped in middlewich overnight. Forecast for Friday was lots of rain and it was right . Not a pleasant day to be boating but it was lovely to stop in Barbridge and get out of the wet clothes. Today was a lovely sunny day and we stopped in Audlem for water and to dump the rubbish but decided it was too early to stop so carried on and we are moored wild between Audlem and Adderley. Almost all locks were against us but they are such lovely quick locks that we just engaged our normal locking practice. Mind you the old legs and muscles aren't used to this much activity in a day but I enjoyed it.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mVfvaDCz71I/UWc1rstZ8ZI/AAAAAAAARuo/ld6EkOdMOSE/s1600/IMG_2498.JPG

True, but I thank Rich for all his attention and patience in keeping this site in good order.

I'm also surprised no-one has mentioned the most popular knot of all amongst boaters, known as the "Bird's Nest" knot or the 'Macrame" knot. Very easy to tie, you just wind your line around a bollard as randomly as you like, reversing direction regularly until the all of the rope is used up. This knot shares a property with your Grannie knot in that it is generally very easy to undo, in fact it sometimes undoes itself just when you least wanted it to e.g. when you're in the shower.

It's a bit like wearing a crash helmet when cycling - you don't need one until you fall off!

One of the more entertaining Narrowboat Vids on YouTube.

Having spent many years at Alvechurch I would suggest stopping at Hopwood on the first night unless you get away early enough to make at least the Drawbridge.

I don't hate maths but expect the probability of people reading beyond that remark is very low. Will you not bother with a lifejacket on the same basis?

The hire boat will not have an Avon licence, the hirer will need to buy one. Make certain that you ask the hire company to put an anchor on the boat, if there is not one already on it. For me going clockwise it preferable as the Avon locks are much easier going down.

Like many novice boaters, I can absolutely confirm Tracy's advice, from sad experience. I knew nothing of how to maintain batteries, and I had no idea how important it was that I should know about them. The result was that my first set of batteries were pretty much knackered within 2 weeks of me getting the boat. (I'm assuming its your first boat, so if that's wrong, please forgive me for stating the obvious etc.) If you do buy expensive ones, I would make a real effort to learn as much as possible about looking after them, before you start using them.

Many people here can frequently be seen going down a rabbit hole 😂

East Ordsall Lane Lock No. 3, Salford, Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal.

My first canal holiday was on Benbow in 1968, starting at Tardebigge. We were a crew of six (led by Dave Struckett) and we completed the Stourbridge Ring in a week, starting with the Tardebigge flight. Benbow had a deep draught (compared to modern hire boats) and we often went aground. It was an amazing week which kindled my love of the canals.

When I got my boat I also had three domestic batteries that the surveyor had pronounced dead... or moribund, at least. One thing to remember about surveyors is that they have to come up with something to justify their fee and batteries are low hanging fruit. As others have said... you only really know their condition when tested properly or over time. Mine were fine for another six months but only really because I was charging across country and running the engine half the day... they were not retaining charge but it didn't affect me because I was otherwise occupied. As for battery types... others will disagree but I really don't think the various species of mid range LA are worth the money. You are better off spending that premium on larger bog standard LA and solar to maintain it. At the end of the day if it ain't lithium you are still dealing with the same limitations of lead acid to some degree. As was mentioned the physical space available for batteries is a major factor. I had three 110ah batteries in suspiciously large steel trays that an engineer mentioned were 'truck battery sized'... I eventually replaced these with three 180ah LA that fitted them perfectly and that they were clearly intended for. A decent solar array takes away most of the anxiety of maintaining LA. As for lithium... if you simply don't need it, no reason to get it, but if your decision was cost related it is no longer necessary to pay someone to do a murderously expensive lithium boat install. If you're not an electrician it is more sensible nowadays to get a Portable Power Station such as those offered by Bluetti, Jackery et al... they are relatively cheap due to the size of the offgrid market, portable (you can take it with you, including if you change boats) and you can plug a variety of panels into them depending on the spec. The warranty on mine is now four years and if it hasn't broke by then it's rated to have 80% capacity 10 years from now. I run both battery types. But you pays your money and makes your choice.

2 in the right place would prevent all bangs.

Just a thought, and please disregard if I'm talking complete rubbish, but as the camshaft rotates at half crank speed the dimple on the camshaft gear will be 180 degrees away from the crank gear dimple every second rev of the crank. Is this what is causing the confusion? A photo of the gears would probably clear up the relationship of the two shafts.

She went past me, heading south on the Coventry in July. Haven't seen her since.

It had pride of place at the front of the Reflections Flotilla last Saturday. There's a photo here https://oleanna.co.uk/2022/09/28/thames-barrier-closed/ , I missed it in my blog https://scholargypsy.org.uk/2022/09/27/reflections-flotilla-post-1-of-3/

I knew that this would be posted, you beat me to it. Sadly now sold on, no idea where it is now or if the piano is still aboard. This was taken on its Middlewich mooring, a lovely old boat.

I have collected some links together here. The Livetts one is I think the best - we saw quite a few drones flying over us, this must be the result. https://scholargypsy.org.uk/2022/09/27/reflections-3-of-3/

To be honest, as one who has gone from Selby up to Naburn (and other tidal rivers besides) I'm not sure that deploying an anchor on that stretch is that advisable. Bearing in mind you are either going up on the flooding tide or coming down on the ebbing tide, if you throw the anchor over the side the first thing that the boat then has to do is spin around the anchor to face into the current. Get the stern caught on the bank and you are in all sorts of trouble. Deploying the anchor from the stern would involve rapidly changing the point at which the anchor is secured to the boat and now you have the stern secured (assuming the anchor bit) with the current now running at the back of the boat, which on my boat is a whole lot lower than the front. I see anchors as a possible assistance under the right conditions, but not as a life saver. When we have anchored whilst offshore sailing it has never been under emergency conditions, (which are exactly the conditions when everything is likely to go wrong). We choose our anchorage carefully and pay out the line, equally carefully; lobbing it over the side and hoping for the best has never been a 'procedure'.

I'm sure they will all be very relieved to hear it.

In the region of 60+ years. It was a great encouragement not to fall. 😁 Named after Don another of the climbing greats.

But a bugger to untie if it's put under any serious load Now that's a fair few years ago, I can't imagine taking a fall on a rope tied around my waist, I was waxing lyrical to the other half about the early days of climbing recently when we passed Joe Brown's place, which the led onto my first tree harness called a Willans

It is interesting to see that C&RT has not learned their lesson re the cost of raisng donations. Despite the donations income falling from £7.7m (2021) to £6.5 (2022) they spent an additional £3.6m more than in 2021 to raise less funds Number of (employess) accidents increasing. Number of visitor accidents increasing Friends actively donating falling Visitor satisfaction falling Employee engagement falling

The EA went out over the summer and have now got back to me with a set of bridge levels for the Great Ouse above the Top Lock which will be published in the next EA Bridge update. Location Headway Headway (metres) (feet) Kempston Mill Vehicular Track / Footbridge 1.88 6’2” Queens Park Footbridge 3.67 12’1” Mainline Railway Bridge I 1.95 6’4” Mainline Railway Bridge II 1.94 6’3” Footbridge between railways bridges 2.96 9’7” Branch Line Railway Bridge 1.94 6’4” Prebend Street Road Bridge 2.90 9’5” Charter Walk / St Mary’s Embankment Footbridge 3.55 11’6” St Mary’s Street Road Bridge (Upstream Navigation Arch) 2.66 8’7” (Downstream Navigation Arch) 3.18 10’4” Suspension Bridge Footbridge 4.48 14’6” Butterfly or Renaissance Footbridge 2.49 8’2” In addition we also need to amend the data showing for ‘Bedford Lock Footbridge’ which would form the next line down in the table to; Location Headway Headway (metres) (feet) Bedford Lock Footbridge 2.29 7’5” This work has thrown up some interesting outcomes, particularly in regard to the railway bridges. I am certain it will be invaluable for new comers to the Great Ouse at Bedford. It should also provide reassurance for craft intending to go to the water point above the town bridge. Not to mention settling a few Pub arguments.

I'd say it depends where you are buying. If in London, base price to get a decent 50ft boat is £60k In midlands, say Daventry, £50k In the Frozen North, £40k

I seem to recall that pennies also weigh an 1/8th of an ounce. I suppose these days street deals are done in grams. The joys of being old

Neither copper nor brass are really ideal. They are softer than the steel stock and skeg, so that the grit in the water will become embedded in the softer metal and will then wear the stock and/or skeg. The best easy thing to do is to put a hardened ball bearing in a counter sunk hole in the stock or skeg. The grit in the water then embeds itself in the soft steel, and will wear away the easily replaceable ball bearing. I know it is counter intuitive that the soft metal wears away the harder, but (if assisted by gritty muddy water,) it does and there are plenty of engineering text books which address it. Think of a crankshaft, where the wear occurs on the crank pins, not on the soft white metal bearings. N