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Even at my age I still have a photographic memory. Unfortunately it no longer offers a same day service... 😥

More on Smith's Canal I decided I wanted to know more about this remote canal, so travelled to Swansea last week to see what more could be found. The reality is that even where there should be remnants - because the canal hasn't been built over - it is remarkably difficult to get to the original line of the canal. From Llansamlet church eastwards to the starting point, the canal should be accessible and as it's the absolute middle of winter, there is minimum vegetation. But still it's almost impossible to quickly or easily access the line of the canal. This is the Plough and Harrow pub, and looking east. The canal ran towards me along the tarmac (which is now the entrance to the Llansamlet Community Centre). The pub car park is to the left. There is a b&w photo of this scene and is the only photo I have seen of the canal fully in water, although without any boats. This is now looking west from the south side of the community centre. The canal ran alongside the rough grass and the lower brick wall at the end is where the canal continued. Most of the next mile is covered by the Swansea Enterprise Park. On the other side of Church Road in Llansamlet, looking east. I had hoped to walk this stretch towards the start of the canal. But it just wasn't possible. The fly-tipped rubbish is obvious. The land beyond doesn't seem to be used but access is tricky as there are few public footpaths. It's not even clear who owns the land. I'm not overly bothered about trespassing as long as I'm not damaging crops, fences, assets, etc. But physically it wasn't possible. The water can be seen here. This is the route of a public bridleway (not just a footpath!) from the end of Tawe Road (off Peniel Green Road) and it goes north towards the new B4625. Completely impassable and no sign of a path. The wall on the right is the wall of the former Swansea Vale Railway. Long gone. Getting to the canal from the north - the B4625 - is a lot easier although the path is obviously little used. The fly-tipping at the southern end might have something to do with it. The canal line is straight ahead along the line of the young trees, with marsh to the right, and this is heading NE. Ive learnt that on many disused canals, the trees tend to grow out of the former canal bed rather than the bank or the former towpath. The canal crosses the B4625 here but no trace on either side beyond some small ridges. The canal was crossed by the Swansea Vale Railway. However, as the canal was closed in 1852, I'm not even sure if there was a bridge over the canal. This is a field between the old railway embankment and the M4 embankment off to the right. In early 6" OS maps, there is clearly a line of marsh and even 'canal width' open water across this field, with the latter more or less where these ponies are standing. The start of the canal was the Gwernllwynchwyth estate and the pits around it. The most likely end point (ignoring what Coflein record as they are clearly wrong) was Scott's Pit, seen here. The old engine house remains and can be seen on a rise in the middle right of the photo. The canal almost definitely ended in this copse in the field. It is possible that the canal continued just beyond the barbed wire at the lower edge of the photo. However, this seems to be on a slight rise whereas the copse is flat. This is the road and parking opposite the Scott's Pit site (to the right). However, this odd road shape shape has been here since the earliest OS maps and must surely have something to do with the canal and/or local waggonways. The engine house at Scott's Pit. There has been little excavations done to date. The field to the immediate south of Scott's Pit with the copse beyond the frost on the far side of the field. The photo of the copse above was taken from the gap in the trees on the upper left. An additional twist to this story is the Gwernllwynchwyth (try saying that to a taxi driver after a few pints) which is now completely ruined and overgrown with absolutely no attempt to even make it safe let alone any form of interpretation. The estate was the focal point of the coal estate, with pits scattered around. Smith's Canal (Smith bought the estate early on) was replaced and it is likely that the upper 0.75km was closed early on and a waggonway ran from the pits around Gwernllwynchwyth for about 500m to a 'new' terminal basin. As a final treat (I will do an update on the Hafod-Morfa end of the canal in due course) this is part of an artificial water supply system known as Chauncey's Great Leat that supplied water from streams in the Gwernllwynchwyth estate to coal mines and early industry in Pentrechwyth several miles to the southwest, close to the Tawe. This arrangement doesn't make total sense because one immediately asks the question why not get water from the Nant y Fendrod or even the Tawe itself. Bricks and stone linings can be seen in the watercourse, but - as everywhere with this long-lost canal - it's so difficult to access. There is no connection possible between Smith's Canal and the Swansea Canal. The former is on the eastern side of the Tawe, the latter alongside-ish on the western side.

I can't quite recall why I didn't, though when I arrived at the boatyard the first thing they offered me was to black her using epoxy over my bitumen (after a scrape and pressure wash), saying that's what they did as standard now. There are 2 things being talked about here. 1: The correct application of epoxy to a bare metal surface, giving maximum adhesion and longevity, up to 10 years. Following the instructions to the letter. There is no shortcut to this, and no snake oil solution. Dr Bob is right. 2: Scraping and washing loose bitumen off then applying epoxy. Repeat every 2 years. What comes off, comes off, and you're gradually getting better adhesion. But it's totally not scenario 1.

It was more complicated than that. The original increase in the number of cones came after the EU introduced Set-Aside, where farmers were paid to take land out of use. This was aimed at reducing the wine lakes, butter mountains and so on. The British government saw an opportunity and reclassified the countries motorway and trunk road network as agricultural land. They then took miles of dual carriageway and motorway lanes out of use with rows of cones, allowing them to lie fallow and pocketing the EU cash. A welcome boost to the vital road cone industry, so almost every one was a winner. Excepting people driving of course.

The last thing I want when I'm looking over a boat to consider buying it is the owner or a broker at my elbow the whole time prattling away at me.

They're all the worn out ones! The ones that look complete are 9" ones worn down, actual useable ones are kept dry. I'm not intending to, the surface rust is a good thing in my book as it's removing the mill scale from the steel. It's a lot easier to remove light surface rust than it is to remove mill scale by grinder/scabbler It is a Harborough, wooden top, been overplated, now thin again underneath. Previous owners purchased it for £25k, it then sank, they sold it for £10k and it needs re-bottoming and re-cabin-ing, so possibly more of a project than this? I'm pretty sure mine isn't a Harborough, I think it's a Fernie, despite it being registered as an H&L. Or at least what's left of it is...

Yarrkshirre if CRT has it's way...

You've just got to be careful that the wire brush isn't polishing rather than keying. Clive has a massive angle grinder with a huge sanding disc that he might lend you if you ask nicely. If you're gentle you could give the steel a key without removing good steel. Or just do the same with a mini angle grinder as you'll probably have more control. A coarse flap wheel disc will do it but you'll have to be gentle. You don't want to remove good steel.

Excellent news, thanks for the update! I think we can safely blame the sausages.

I solved the problem, folks. My incompetence knows no bounds: I forgot I set the fridge's temperature dial (it was hidden behind some sausages) to 0. I just turned it now and the fridge came back to life. Gonna go cook those sausages now...

Wasn't he the cabin boy?

Been down to the boat today for the first time this year, pleased to report that all is well. Did a bit more welding and measured up a few bits for the next steps. Thought I'd get some photos of her as she sits now, quite striking proportions! There's a few bits of life that are happening in the background that are a bit drastic but should really benefit the progression of this as a project, it's probably going to be moved to a more convenient yard fairly shortly

Matt at Northwich uses Dacrylate Epidac 2 pack, or he did last summer on our boat. Jet washed using a 4000psi machine, then 3 coats of epoxy 2 pack rollered on including the baseplate(optional). First class service by Matt & Rebekah.

I guess the need to shower in the morning after no more than 30 minutes means that the OP has the wrong boat. As someone earlier said, a decent instant gas water heater (with change over valving) would tick all the boxes performance wise, but may be a bit cool in the depths of winter. Otherwise, I think that a large vertical calorifier may well do the job because the top will get hot from a Webasto in half an hour, but how far down the cylinder the usable hot water will reach is pen to question, so it may have to be a short or tepid shower.

Honda 5 is an ok outboard. 4 stroke. I've got a Yamaha Malta 3hp 2 stroke as well as a Mariner 4hp 2 stroke. Nice units but a bit annoying being two stroke. These came with boats I bought. Also have various electric outboards of course. About 6 of them. Possibly too many outboards ? There are people who say, possibly correctly, that the Yamaha Malta was one of if not the best small outboard ever made. I also have one of the old partly water cooled Honda 2 outboards (1995) which is really good but a bit small for a 13 footer. You could do worse than a Yamaha Malta. 3hp is an interesting size for an outboard. On balance I would look for a Honda 5 but do research about their problems. There is something going on with the exhaust manifold on these. Searches on Google including the word forum yield interesting results. I would steer clear of the motors which look like a strimmer as I am convinced they are for landfill. Some people advocate the older 2 cylinder evinrude and Johnson outboards. There is a member on here called @Murflynn who had a little evinrude 4hp twin as a backup for his boat on the Thames. I've not run one of these but being a twin they are interesting as slightly quieter and probably a bit more torque.

I would like to know how he knows how well developed your calluses are?

I think the secret is that the pressure washer used was VERY high powered.

How didyou turn it off? Sure the thermostat is turned up?

My recollection is that 27MHz CBs were not legal for use in the UK because that band was reserved for other services such as radio controlled model aircraft and boats. Demonstrating the truth of Dickens' character's observation that "the law is an ass", while it was illegal to use them, it was not illegal to sell them, so they were freely available.

We sold ours privately. We decided that we would walk away with more money from the sale this way. It was a relatively straight forward procedure. Advertised it on a few internet forums. We had three interested parties although only one came to view the boat. The hardest part was deliberating between the three offers and deciding who was best served to proceed. We agreed, as the chap who bought it didn't view the boat that we would offer to come and fix any problems that he found within the first few months. He didn't find any. Price the boat sensibly and it will sell quickly and easily. Personally I wouldn't bother getting it repainted. Just polish what you already have. The chances of the colour scheme you choosing being exactly what the new owners want is slim to none.

I did get my (new) LTO for less than the price of equivalent LFP so it was worth it in a way. Once everyone goes electric the rapid charge option will become interesting. This is where LTO will win the day IF it becomes more widely available. Usually just used for buses at the moment. LTO main battery with fast charge and a lighter higher density removeable battery for range extending.

The failed batteries in the London buses were Valence LiFePO4 batteries. The article I linked to is written by someone who uses the generic term for Lithium batteries. That is all I was saying although as usual I did present it in rather more words than were needed !

Thanks Loddon that's all good to know. I remember Parglena at Bourne End, last time I saw her she was by Staines Rly bridge. Nice barge