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Showing content with the highest reputation on 03/02/23 in Posts

  1. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  2. If it helps one person embarking on a sailaway project to avoid one bad decision then it will have been worth my while doing this "rant". I agree its not light reading, I'm no writer. If reading it was compulsory I would not write it but its not. And its not as bad as the personal invective in the Political section. I'm a little disappointed that it is Blackrose of all people choosing to cast solid round objects.
    9 points
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  5. Rod here. Me and Penny want to do the Lancaster canal in late September but are confused about the Ribble link and in particular Savick brook. Penny assures me it'll be fine, with plenty of water. She tells me the first cut is the deepest, though she does have misgivings about the half tide barrier and stormy waters. Mrs Rod wants to park at Penny Street basin, whilst I am attracted to the Lune aqueduct. All we need is a friend to lend a guiding hand. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Anyway, I don't want to talk about it. Thanks for all the help. You're in my heart. X
    6 points
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  8. 1) My Wife 2) All sense of dignity
    4 points
  9. Is it really you, Rod? I need a reason to believe it is, and not just another forumite in disguise. If it is a disguise, you wear it well
    4 points
  10. I think that many see replies from experience boaters as negative, but I think many are trying to ensure that new potential boaters go into with their eyes wide open and do not spend tight resources on near worthless boats. Only today, we had a potential new boater who did not seem to know about CaRT's conditions you have to comply with if you register as having no home mooring. We recently had a chap who bought a boat with a less common engine that early in his journey to his new moorings refused to start. If he had consulted earlier, he might have bought a boat with a more common engine. So it goes on. Find out all you can about the CaRT requirements. Learn all you can about batteries and charging because that is all too often a MAJOR problem area for new boaters, and try to get a grasp about how all the boat systems work. Also, don't hesitate to get the forum's opinion of any boats you are interested in. Then you will have a much better chance of having a good outcome, do not take comments that do not accord with your views as negative until you have given them some thought.
    4 points
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  14. Me. Through the ice, on Xmas day in 1986, after a lunchtime pub session at Cosgrove. Didn't spill a drop, all they could see was an arm holding a tankard sticking up through the hole in the ice. Legendary... 😉
    3 points
  15. A good outcome, I wish all developments were as fruitful for the canal. Well done, dad would be proud.
    3 points
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  18. Its simple. Moor up. Light your phone. if it comes up 3g light your fire if it comes up 5 g you light your fire in the dark. You will be in lunnun anyway surrounded by boats charging batteries with old engines and burning ‘ substances’ not always on the stove. if it comes up 4g you are in a sensible area. And are a tightfist who hasnt updated their phone. Light your fire if you have 3 g ist principles or not if you are a bit 5 g ish. Those only using wifi are exempt from all regulation, unless it is in the 3 days before or after nov 5 th when the entire uks particulate output is tripled to celebrate an attempt to interfere in the tax affairs of parliamentarians. Its quite plain.
    3 points
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  24. Decision 021. Sliding Hatch. ? This was hardly a decision, accepting a fairly standard Colecraft hatch. It worked, it was ok, but I disliked it. Its major shortcoming was that it did not have security designed into it. I'll cover boat security in more depth later. Decision 022. Starting Fitting Out In The Colecraft Yard. GOOD. So I had a hull with lots of holes where the windows would be with the snow gently blowing in, sitting in Colecraft's yard. They were happy that I should start fittingout in their yard subject to some conditions viz 1. Work had to happen. They were only allowing the use of the space to achieve readiness to go on the water. They would not be happy to have the boat just sitting there. 2. The residence was expected to be short-term, it was not intended to host a full fit-out. 3. There was a nominal rent, not enough to matter to them, but enough to discourage absent tenants. They use their space (and they have a lot) efficiently and they did not have any available for me to store materials eg boards. Deliveries were allowed but were not popular and they were not in business to act as a receiving agent. They did allow me to look at boats that they had in various stages of completion and I got some useful ideas from these. The Colecraft guys working on the site were friendly and prepared to offer advice but had work to do of their own. I may not be remembering the exact chronology of the next tasks but I will list them as I remember them. I asked for enough 8 x 4 plywood boards for flooring as use by Colecraft and they were happy to supply them. They were 25mm thick and were of superb quality. I asked for 2 x 4 timbers from a woodpile they had in a corner and they said sure, take whatever you want for free. This I think was a misunderstanding between us. I think that it was their reject pile and they thought I knew this. I screwed them all down before I realised and I could not bear to take them all up again. They worked ok. I asked for loads of the timber strips they used for battening out approx 20 x 50 mm I think and they were happy to supply at a fair price. Whilst in the yard I battened the walls and ceiling, insulated the boat (see next decisions), fitted the windows and ? Decision 023. Doing The Battening Myself. NOT GOOD. I could have chosen a sailaway option with more of the work already done but that seemed to defeat the purpose of the project. I elected to do the battening but it was a lot of work and the area that I did first was of a lower quality than the remainder. I would have it done for me another time. Decision 024. Sprayfoam Insulation. EXCELLENT I chose to go for professional sprayfoam and it is excellent with some caveats. 1. Once installed, it needs to be protected from the sun. This adds an extra, unwelcome, pressure on the fitout timetable, (the other pressure being the need to get the exterior painted quickly.) 2. I was so overawed by the result, being able to walk on it about 15 minutes after they finished spraying, that I did not examine the work carefully. When I did, later after they were long gone, I found that there were numerous holidays where they had failed to get the spray in, mainly inside angles. It took me 16 large cans of sprayfoam to fill the gaps and the canned stuff was nowhere near as good as the professional stuff. Where they had got the foam in it was all done to a good depth, unlike some other reports I've seen. I'm sure that they would have quickly and easily filled the holes if I had challenged the work. 3. I'm not sure that the fumes from the foam dissipate quickly, and they are most unhealthy, but I speak here from total ignorance. The company that did it also did another Colecraft boat at the same time. I would hesitate but might use the same company again. Decision 025. Sprayfoam The baseplate. Excellent. I had them sprayfoam the baseplate. This avoided a condensation trap under the floor and I believe helped to keep the boat warm. I did not ever have a major flood to contend with. Other opinions are available. Decision 026. Flooring Pattern. GOOD. I laid the floor bearers and screwed them down into the stretchers(?) with the screws that have a snap-off drilling tip and that worked. The floor width was just over 6ft so I laid the boards as one 8 x 4 beside one 8 x 2 for the most part, with one cutdown across the boat to take up the residue of the length. Except for the centre of the boat where the stove was going to be where I went for three 8 x 2 so that I could lift either side without moving the stove. The boards were secured by countersunk screws every ? " along each edge. Some of these boards would be lifted many times in the future. I should have laid more and stronger bearers under the bathroom. Decison 027. Moving Out. GOOD. After 3 months or so I had a watertight boat, windows fitted, primitive locks on the doors, a floor so I could walk down the boat without tripping over the stretchers and a fierce desire to be out of the yard and onto the water. It might have been more sensible to stay in the yard for a few more months but it was a bit like being stir-crazy. I arranged the move through Colecraft and Tuckey's moved my boat and another Colecraft boat on to the canal a few miles away at Kate's(?) . Watching the very professional Tuckey's lowering it in was fantastic!
    2 points
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  33. And that root cause could be easily addressed with a direct wealth tax. Of course, any politician advocating such a thing would be thoroughly vilified in the press and many, many people would obediently genuflect to that vilification, all the while telling themselves that they've made up their own minds.
    2 points
  34. I think lots are interest only, not repayment. So in reality the owner is renting off the lender and reletting to the tenant
    2 points
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  36. Rod seems to be going though some changes recently. The lifelong Tory is now calling for a a Labour govt. I guess that old heart of his realises he can't stay forever young. But he wears it well even though he doesn't want to talk about it.
    2 points
  37. You will be fine in September but it might rain so take an old raincoat that won't let you down. It is easy to miss the entrance to Savick Brook, so I'll PM you a photo, every picture tells a story. If you get it wrong there will never be a dull moment.
    2 points
  38. Why not join the Refleks Diesel Stove FB group. There's a wealth of information on there. Looking after and servicing a Refleks is very simple.
    2 points
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  40. Thankyou for a honest, useful and informative post. Please keep writing despite any naysayers.
    2 points
  41. the gypsy lady was built by John Hawkins of D & D engineering the challenges we faced were the sheets we used were 3mtr long and 1.5tr and our challenge was how do we do this without it looking like a patchwork quilt Along with that how will a diesel engine work within a plastic boat? cooling, prop shaft exit, weight, the strength of the hull of the boat, and ballast also there are a lot of long flat sides how would the roof react to expansion and contraction (heat of the sun and freezing temperatures|) 50mm or 2" over 12mtrs from freezing to around 20 C we needed curved edges on the boat mainly the back corners of the boat how can we achieve this on the bow of the boat we need this to make the boat aesthetically pleasing another challenge was how we fit windows to a plastic boat do we use safety glass as with most boats or can we use polycarbonate another issue was plastic is very slippy how can we overcome this for decking ( we used a product called safetech) lot of people think HDPE cannot be painted however we have a primer with a chemical additive that bonds to HDPE making the floor was a challenge as the plastic has to be welded on both sides so no turning over we made jigs and formers for the oven for various parts of the boat the roof was partially designed to allow it to expand ( every 5c increase is equal to 1mm expansion per meter over 12mtr=from freezing to 20c 50mm) we had to look at a simple steel structure to support the base we used an h section of steel beams and is a flat-bottomed boat we now thought we would have an issue with ballast as HDPE is very buoyant and floats we increased the underfloor area to allow for this as said previously we are looking at the best solution for ballast the advance I believe we have achieved so far has proved it is possible to build a boat of this size (of course there are still things to learn) with more investigation this should lend itself to electric propulsion also, a third of the weight of a steel boat needs less than half the power to push it forward never needing blacking every 2 years we have proved something of this size for a plastic boat can be made to look excatly like a traditional boat but this is environmentally friendly moving forward hopefully we could make any size that anyone wished ( it could even just be a hull etc ) if anyone has calculations etc by all means il say this again you more than welcome to come to take a look at this for yourself as we are based in Leeds or even if we had a zoom chat to show you where we are at with it im open to everyone's help on this and appreciate all comments
    2 points
  42. It might help if you could get some sort of assessment of the boat and it's potential as a liveaboard. Living on board in winter without a good stove, good insulation, and maybe a Webasto type diesel heater as back up could be pretty desperate. The cost of living on board and the extra hassle factor in winter can indeed be a deal breaker. It's easy enough in summer when daylight is not a limiting factor and temperatures are moderate. When people buy a boat they usually get a hull survey which means it has to be hauled out in order to measure the integrity of the hull, this might be a starting point before you buy anything for this vessel. The surveyor could be tasked with reporting on the fit out and it's potential. When I mention potential, I am including the potential for draining your savings! There are lots of Youtube vlogs, which will give you some ideas. There are some fit out vlogs: if you have to do any major work, the general thinking is that it will cost twice as much as you might think and take three times as long. No matter how much money you spend on an old boat, it will never morph in to a new boat.
    2 points
  43. I think you need to give serious and early consideration to whether to look for a mooring in a marina, or be out on the cut. Even if you take a CRT mooring out on the cut, it will not have an electricity supply like a marina generally will. This difference is crucial because out on the cut you will have to generate ALL your own electricity and this can turn out to be a total deal breaker if you underestimate the task. Learning how to generate (and store) enough leccy in a socially responsible way is a long, steep and expensive learning curve that defeats many eventually, and these boaters either give up or take marina mooring with a shore supply. Marinas generally have all manner of facilities that make living aboard easy (showers, washing machines, pump-out and Elsan, water supply to every boat, car park) but about from the cost this ties you to living in a marina which might not be the 'life of freedom' you envisage. So think about it at this stage, and consider in detail how you will generate and store your leccy if you decide to reject the marina way of life.
    2 points
  44. Decision 013. A Sizeable Well deck. GOOD. I chose to go for a largeish well deck, big enough to get four folding chairs in, easily, with sociability in mind. A feature which I didn't give much thought to was the floor. It was not flat but gently curved so that any water drained nicely into the scuppers at the rear corners. The curves were not so big as to bother any furniture. I elected to have no brackets of any sort in this area as this would have committed me to particular usage eg where benches were, and I wanted complete flexibility. At the bow was a conventional locker specially designed in most boats to make getting gas bottles in and out difficult. Since I had provision for the bottles at the stern, I aimed to use this for general storage and I specified that it was to have no drain holes to the exterior as these would be unnecessary as gas drainage was not required. This surprised Colecraft but they did it. One problem with the locker that I discovered much later was that the fold-down lid, though very elegant, was in no way watertight. It took great effort later to devise a way of keeping water out when usng leaky locks of which there are one or two on the canal system. Colecraft also asked if I wanted to have a cratch cover, I'm not sure why. I replied, no, there are ugly things. They smiled and said "You will!". I was adamant at the time but they were right. The bow itself was a standard Colecraft bow, and I like its functional shape and the solidity of its design. I do not like the style of bow that looks as if somebody has pinched it with a pair of pliers. One other thing I specified was that the transom?? the edge bit of the bow locker was to be horizontal not bowed, which was a bit non-standard for Colecraft but they did it. Decision 014. Accept The Standard Colecraft Hull. GOOD This is just an excuse to comment on the generous and excellent fully welded rubbing strakes, the epoxy blacking, the 2 coats of epoxy paint on the upper works etc. Colecraft did not black the baseplate and did not think it was worth doing. If I'd wanted it I'm sure they would done it at a price. Every apsect of the hull looked strongly-built. Decision 010B. Tiller. GOOD An afterthought. I specified that I wanted the tiller bar to be exactly horizontal, not poking upwards like some you see, and I was delighted with the result. Decision 015. Hull Holes. BAD. As a newby to canal boats, my early decisions were tempered by a belief that cutting holes in the steel of the boat was difficult and only to be done by professionals. Now of course I know that its easy-peasy. So I thought I had to get Colecraft to put holes in for draining the sinks, shower etc in, and deciding where they were to go was difficult because I didn't have the experience to know where the interior fitting would end up. Colecraft put them in where I asked and most of them ended up unused because they were in the wrong place. Decision 016. Windows. BAD. VERY, VERY, BAD. This is a biggy. I wanted lots of windows because I wanted to see out as I cruised. Because I thought metal cutting difficult I got Colecraft to cut the holes for them. I chose 9 windows, all 24" deep which is deeper than many, being 2 x 4ft sliders, 4 x 4ft hoppers, and 2 x 3ft hoppers and 1 x 18" with no opening for the bathroom. But the big decision was whose windows to go with. The cost was immense so changing later would be very expensive again. And Colecraft needed to know in order to know what shape holes to cut. I plumped for Channelglaze screw-in because the boat next to me in the Colecraft yard was using them. Going for screw-in was a huge mistake. This called for hundreds of holes to be drilled and tapped in freezing February weather which was so exhausting. I only broke two taps! Another time I would buy Wesley Marine (?) clip-in windows and have all of them in in one weekend. And the number of windows was a big mistake. Extra windows can easily be cut later. Next time I'll have no windows cut initially. The window holes were made by hand, not by a CNC type operation. This meant that they were not exact, and it was necessary to line up the windows when fitting them to find where to drill the holes. Finding a horizontal in this situation when fitting heavy windows single-handed from a stepladder was very hard. But they didn't look wrong when I had finished. In the long run the position of the windows was satisfactory. But more on that later.
    2 points
  45. I gave a YouTube/Instagram boater a hand moving their boat and became good friends with them, they had 1000 plus followers with all positive comments. They were filming the journey with me out of frame, they spent hours getting the shots and longer editing the Vlog. Between filming I pointed out things and gave tips on boating/locks, chatted about canal history and the local area. The journey lasted a few days, by the last day they weren’t filming so much but were enjoying it more, they were more relaxed and actually taking in the surroundings and the canal. Now they don’t do YouTube anymore and very little on Instagram and admit they aren’t bothered with it, as they are just enjoying the canals and having a boat. The problem with YouTube newbies as you say, is that they are more bothered about Social Media then actually enjoying the canals and the experience, which just seams to be the norm these days with every age group.
    2 points
  46. The obvious solution would be to give up power boats and buy a sailing boat instead.
    2 points
  47. I accept that a CC non moving boat life could be very cheap if you like to sit there with no TV, eating value beans on Tesco value bread with no butter, drinking lukewarm stove kettle tea with no milk, placing a maximum of 2 nuggets of coal a day on your stove. Moving rarely and praying for sunshine so your solar panel gives you another evening with your single LED bulb going. ...and yes, people like this exist, but that's pretty much all they do.
    2 points
  48. Yes, I think that's what irritates me slightly about all these boaty bloggers - they're all relative newbies. Good luck to them I guess, but most of them seem to know much more about making YouTube videos than they do about boats.
    2 points
  49. They can't see it through the smoke
    2 points
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