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If you need to adjust the trim you're just asking for rubble

On a full length boat you sometimes need to put the rudder right over to be able to reverse up to the cill far enough to open the bottom gate(s). If the rudder travel is limited the rudder must be more vulnerable to damage when a surge carries the boat rapidly backwards in a lock.

Fazeley is an obvious ending point much ignored by the organisers

Slide the stem up the plate on the gate. The water movement holds the boat in place, just make sure you are touching before opening paddles and most importantly there's nothing sticking out of the plate!

It doesn't appeal to me for a couple of reasons in my view. 1 - once in position you have no way of checking whether ant rusting is taking place and if for any reason the area where the concrete is gets wet you won't be able to check that it hasn't found its way underneath. Boats can and do flex, and although it may appear to be a perfect sea, over time ot may move slightly allowing water ingress. 2 - If ever you need to remove some or all of the ballast to change the trim of the boat or if you add weighty items which may lead to a need to redistribute ballast it will be a major job to remove. In my view it is a quick way of adding ballast but for the reasons above it may be a problem in later years after purchase. Howard

That is true if the boat is moving forward but a stationary boat with a big rudder can turn in its own length by putting the rudder at 90deg using fwd an reverse. The rudder blocks the flow of the water to from the prop as well as pushing water out sideways. If you see what I mean

I don't. There are times when being able to put the tiller hard over is advantageous. A rudder stop is the equivalent of stabilisers on a bike, might be handy if you have no idea but prevents you using the full capabilities of the vessel.

Well the best news for this trip is not one single volockie encountered. No-one at Fradley, or Bratch, or any of the other locks including Stourbridge 16 and Delph. By some miracle we seemed to cope! And it was very relaxing!

The water doesn't evaporate, it becomes chemically combined within the concrete. Concrete doesn't dry, it goes off.

Confirmed that this solved the issue! Thanks everyone, definitely learnt something from this.

Could a mitigation for tiller injuries be as simple is reducing the arc through which the tiller can swing? In almost all NB designs the rudder can swing until the lifting eye on the top rear of the rudder hits the side of the counter, and that's close to 90 degrees. It's actually a far wider swing than is useful for steering: the maximum sideways force is generated when the the rudder is about 45 degrees (or maybe a bit more) from straight ahead. Moving the rudder further than that is pointless or even self defeating. If stops could added to the rudder mechanism, maybe in the top bearing, to control the rudder movement over a controlled arc rather that the arc that just happens to be allowed by the geometry of the rudder/lifting-eye/counter then it could be engineered to be less likely to toss a steerer over the side whilst still allowing enough movement for efficient steering. MP.

I've mentioned this before, but worth repeating. I was following a boat whose steerer was swept off the counter. She was fiddling with an umbrella, the rudder hit an underwater obstruction, it swung round and in she went. I always steered from the step with the tiller in the small of my back.

With hindsight it should have been left there so nothing other than narrow beam craft could pass through!

The Kennet navigation was originally built for barges 110' x 17' and a few of the locks of this size remain today. The Kennet and Avon Canal Company's recommended dimensions for barges on their canal was 69' x 12'9'' I seem to remember from the K&ACT website. A couple of the Kennet Navigation locks were rebuilt to the K&A canal dimensions and during ''restoration'' a number of the locks were resited close to the originals and built from steel pilings and to smaller dimensions, Burghfield lock and Sulhamstead lock were given oversized cills which prevent historic narrow boat pairs from locking down together. From a personal viewpoint, 'Petra' being 66' x 12' has proven to be an ideal size for this waterway and preferable ( especially on the Kennet ) than any narrow boat. Keith I agree with all of that and would add that the canal wasn't intended for boats to moor wherever they like along the towpath, the were expected to travel from wharf to wharf. Keith Likewise narrow canals were built for narrow boats pulled by an 'oss.

Well we came up Stourbridge 16 and delph this very morning. They are deep locks and rather slow to fill, but not hard work with the 2 of us, although the locks were mostly in our favour. Much more interesting and pleasant than the W21 in my opinion, and the S&W below wolverhampton is lovely.

There's a world of difference between just dumping a load of wet concrete in the bilges of a boat that hasn't specifically been designed for it, and a properly engineered reinforced concrete structure. In buildings and bridges it is common to have a reinforced concrete slab supported on steel beams. The connection between the two is provided by a series of studs with enlarged heads welded onto the top surface of the steel. The size, number and spacing of the studs is designed to ensure that the shear load is continuous across the interface, so that the steel and concrete act compositely to resist bending forces. The heads on the studs also prevent the concrete and steel separating. The concrete is reinforced with steel bar or mesh reinforcement, which is designed both to carry the applied loading and also to distribute the inevitable shrinkage cracking in the concrete, so that you get a large number of small cracks, which over time are self-healing, rather than a few large cracks which can allow moisture and air to get down to the reinforcement and cause corrosion. With mass concrete just poured in a boat (and with no studs or equivalent) the inevitable flexing of the hull is likely to lead to an early breaking of the bond between steel and concrete, so moisture can get in and corrode the inner surface of the steel. Once corrosion occurs the expansive force generated will tend to separate the concrete and steel, breaking any bond in adjacent areas, and so the corrosion can spread. Incidentally years ago friends of mine hired a brand new boat. So new in fact that when they arrived at the boatyard, staff were still pouring concrete ballast into the triangular spaces in the stern either side of the propshaft between the swim plates and some wooden shuttering. My friends took the boat away with the concrete still wet. But I imagine the engine ensured the concrete was well vibrated!

It was MINE. Give it back!!

I think probably a bad idea for canal boats due to the nature of their use i.e. banging around in locks. One of my boats, which is a sea going craft, is ballasted with concrete. I have no way of knowing the condition of the steel internally but it doesn't leak and isn't sinking which is a good start.

I really need to finish off my iOS canal map app (and do an Android port)! A live tracking feature wouldn't be too hard to implement and would be a lot of fun for events like the Challenge. Remind me.

I've always done that, and when it starts to hurt (on 8+ hour days) I've used a butt-pad in reverse. Something like this but without the bolt. Simply clips onto your waist and the tiller goes into (a very very loose fit) and takes the pressure off the small of your back.

Personally, I think the best finish locations are those that have a space where all crews can socialise together. For me the best end locations have been Hawne Basin, Titford, Withymoor Island and Tipton. Although the pub at Tipton wasn't great as the singing was too loud to have a conversation.

2019 also finished in Birmingham, we long lined Scorpio and Leo up Aston and Farmers Bridge with Richard Parry on board.

The 2001 Challenge finished in the centre of Birmingham. This was the view back from Fulbourne down the Main Line home straight approaching the finish.

We were discussing this en-route. Need to talk to @Richard Fairhurst The past two years the finish has been pretty central - no more than a few hours to head off the BCN via whichever direction. I know this year we and Ferrous had to head off and last year there were at least three boats which did. I think it may be an important factor to have somewhere of that nature now that the aim is to get to the finish (if you go back far enough, it wasn't, but it is probably better this way). Pelsall for example is a nice location but I suspect you would lose a few competitors that way. Alec

This canal ceased to be used the best part of 200 years ago, but is still in water. Further along, this house has been built on the canal line where it crossed an ancient road. Opposite the house, these gates lead to the site of a wharf where the truncated canal ended for some time. But that truncated section subsequently became disused and is now mostly shallow water and reeds. 100 yards or so from where this length meets navigable water there is a bridge - no parapets but the arch is still in place and still used by livestock. Where am I?

On this day in 2012 West India Dock: locking down to River Thames London after the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant and later on the Thames

I think it is Oldbury locks. Cheers Graham

Well, ideally remove the cable from battery negative to hull, and install a cable between engine casing and hull. That way, the hull is properly connected to battery negative, not just relying on some possibly dodgy connections via exhaust etc.

That's a bit harsh. I usually find that one is in the right place...

This is a good point. A row of moored 13ft widebeams being passed by a 13ft widebeam which then meets another one the same coming the other way, requires the canal to be wide enough to fit three 13ft widebeams across it.

As one who was involved with the restoration of both the Kennet and Avon and Basingstoke Canal I can say that the profiles of these canals were really only designed for the slow passage of a horse drawn wide beam barge and are not suitable for 14ft square section boxes propelled by a large diesel engine. I would say that generally the profile hasn't changed that much. Just because a boat can fit the theoretical dimensions does not mean that it is a suitable vessel for the canal.

My main gripe with them is that they are primary houseboats yet they sign themselves up as continuous cruisers of which they are neither continuously moving or using the canals for a leisure experience. They are often left unattended for days and sometimes weeks in the most awkward positions often next to bridgeholes so blocking the line of sight. Since they displace nearly twice the volume of water than a narrow boat they cause much more erosion to the bank unless they travel at horse drawn speed and no one can pass. They are also built like boxes and tend to cut into the profile the canal bed. Nearly all the the working boats in the south were timber and round bilge so much more sympathetic to the waterway. All in all I would say they are a very bad thing down here in the south.

I don't think there is any canal south of Nottingham that is suitable for Wide (12 to14ft) boats except around London. We just managed to pass one on a canal down south today but their progress was to my mind very slow at 2MPH. The OP might have all the time is the world to hold up traffic but most of us don't. What people fail to remember is that on these wide beam canals and rivers such as the Wey, Basingstoke and Kennet and Avon there were very few wide commercial boats and they generally knew where they all were and could work together where the channel was narrow. OK the GU was widened in the 1930's but not the channel above Berko and wide boats were never a success. Personally I hate the things, they are generally very ugly, slow and defeat the whole idea of pleasure boating and make everyone else fed up with them. If people want to live in a tin box why can't they buy a mobile home and a small boat for cruising.