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The stolen boats we've had reports or discussion about on here have, almost invariably, been something other than straightforward theft of the average boater's boat. Ownership disputes and relationship breakdown seem to be the most common themes. I'd say your boat is safer if you spend the money you'd spend on that ineffective isolator switch and buy the missus some flowers instead!

.... Says some muppet whose sole experience of narrowboats seems to be a two week holiday and buying a project boat that needs years worth of work VS numerous forums members who have owned boats for decades. 😂

Bolting the bollard itself down to concrete is fine, so long as the bolts are big enough. The question is what is *under* the surface of the concrete, it needs to be big/deep enough not to be pulled out of the ground or have the bolts pull out, which probably means threaded anchors embedded into a steel reinforcement structure and then embedded in concrete -- like an iceberg, there will probably be more underground than visible. It's all standard engineering design on how to anchor into a hole in the ground, it's not rocket science. It would be an interesting design problem to pose to structural engineering students... (we had to design and build a wall-mounted metal truss to support a load offset from the baseplate, with scoring for weight, material and construction costs and load at failure...) I expect the blueprints are being developed as we speak... 😉

Re: the lack of length to anchor it in the ground, remember it's a proof of concept not the finished article. They are going to be humping it around to various places to get peoples feedback. Only showing the bit you'll see makes more sense for easy transport than the full length hefty item that will need a van, pallet truck and burly blokes to move. This way it can just be chucked in the boot of someone's car and easily set up by one fit chap/chap-ess.

Yep, because that massive chip you have on your shoulder makes you drag any topic around to suit your agendum.

I have forgotten two things: Firstly to thank the Western Times Company for allowing me to use their photos of the Nonsuch, the Charlotte Rhodes and the Royalist. Theirs were infinitely better than mine. Secondly I forgot to add two photos which I thought might be of interest in relation to the Belgian minesweepers. The top photo shows the River Exe frozen, with what must be the T.S. Eagle. The winter must be between 1947 and 1957. The building in the background became the Maritime Museum. The tanks in the background were National Benzoles' or Regents'. The lower photo is fifty years later. This is the ex Finnish Navy fast attack craft 'Nuoli 11'. 22m x 6.6m x 1.5m. 3 x Zvezda M50F water-cooled V 12 diesels. Top speed 45 kts. 20 crew. Armed with 40mm Bofors . + another 20mm gun. 'As a service vessel these boats gave one a true feeling of being a sailor. Constructed of wood they leaked a bit, and so the atmosphere was rather moist. Living quarters were limited, even for the commanding officer. No privacy at all.' The boat was purchased by Servo Engineering. She passed down the Swedish and Danish coasts, through the Kiel Canal, stayed in Hamburg for a while, then headed overnight to Harwich. Down the Channel to Exmouth and up the Canal to the Water Treatment Works wharf, where the 'Countess Wear' had berthed. She sank at the berth and was raised. Left on the wharfside awaiting repairs to serious damage to her port side, what has happened to her I do not know. She was built as one of a series of 13 by Oy Laivateollisuus Ab (LaTe), a Finnish shipbuilding company set up to serve the Finnish war reparation industry, focusing on wooden ships for the Russians. Masses of them. Schooners, trawlers, dozens of them. I remember seeing several in the Baltic in the early 1960s. The company pioneered gluelam and these assault craft were the last vessels built by LaTe out of wood. An interesting couple of photos, don't you think?

For balance, in my opinion the above is a pointless and unhelpful assertion. A survey 24 hours old is worth almost the same as one completed today. Surveys degrade in usefulness as time passes, as the the boat continues to corrode and to be used and to be further worn out. So a survey a year old is of less usefulness than a survey 24 hours old, and more use than a survey five years old. There is a lot hysteria posted around surveys in my opinion. So what if a survey done today is perfect? Great, buy the boat but bear in mind next week or next year the corrosion may have taken a grip, the stern gear developed serious problems and the windows all started leaking. Therefore it is still best not to buy this boat. This is the logical conclusion of using surveys as a tool to detemine whether to buy a boat. The reality is, boats degrade with time and with use. A survey gives a useful snapshot of condition at a given point in time, and if having 4.1mm of steel in a few places present to keep the water out scares someone, I'd suggest boating perhaps isn't for them. Next year, than measurement could be 4.1mm, 0.1mm, or possibly even 4.3mm if a different ultrasound thickness reader is used! (Or even than same one with new batteries and/or recalibrated). Point is, boats need continuous running repairs and maintenance. Yoiu can't stop it by getting surveys.

The registered disability thing is interesting. Not all disabilities are visible and although I am physically able and capable of tying up a Boat to anything which is handy I do have a registered disability under the equality act. I am also eligible for a blue badge but as I have given up driving cars there is no need for it. I would not dream of using a mooring provided for disabled people but some might. This all seems to be heading down the conflict road. Even micro-conflicts between users can have significant effects on wellbeing. The CRT is currently focused on wellbeing. This is a very hard nut to crack and one could question whether a body whose primary function is to be a navigation authority (or is it? ) should be engaging in this. Yes some people have major physical issues which limit their behaviour. It is not ideal but that is life. If the function of the CRT moves too far away from management and maintenance of the canals and rivers under their jurisdiction I can see Bad Things happening.

You mean, implying CART haven't thought that such a bollard would be more difficult to anchor when this is specifically pointed out in the article? Or that it'll be pulled out when strapping a boat to a stop at a lock/bridge when the article specifically said they were intended for use at accessible moorings? Similarly I somehow doubt they'd have put the cross-pieces there without a good reason, I'd have thought this would be to keep the rope at the top and stop it slipping down out of reach if it can't be tied firmly round the bollard -- which is presumably possible if a boater has either mobility or hand problems to tie/pull tight knots, for example arthritis. But then I didn't design it, so that's just *my* assumption... 😉 There seems to be an assumption by some CWDF posters that anyone proposing anything new or different from "the good old way of doing things" -- especially CART -- is an idiot who hasn't thought for a moment about the potential disadvantages of what they're proposing, and they then gleefully point out the blindingly obvious -- in this case, so obvious that it was even in the article, had they bothered to read it. If that's not CART-bashing, it looks remarkably like it... 😉

It's all a bit pointless, isn't it? If funds are available to improve the towpath that's great. The fact that it'll be used by people other than boaters is OK. The days when the towpath had to be clear for the horse to trundle along pulling the boat are mostly gone, apart from which a good towpath would be great for the horse!

At present the pump being used is the same one that is used for engine cooling, If that failed the engine would overheat before any damage was done to the reduction box. The exhaust note would alert the OP to the failure, then, if he was worried about it, a temperature switch on the exhaust header would warn him, and finally the engine temperature gauge/buzzer. In my view, and it is a personal view, your idea adds more complication and potential failure points.

If you read the article (CRT's, not N BW), the bollard is just a part of it. The mooring area will be improved too, presumably with a nonslip surface as well other ideas to make it easier for a boater to get on and off. Dunno what. I doubt it's an escalator. There's a bit of thought going into the whole gubbins, it's not just sticking a new stick into the ground. Someone's found a nice little earner, you can't beat being a consultant these days.

No

Was that because he is a joiner

I knew he was trouble when he joined! 🤣

We operated a number of your type of gearbox coupled to BMC 2.2 diesels on the hire fleet in the very late 60s and early 70s, so please don't quote my reply with this sort of comment. It would probably be a valid comment if you had quoted Gumpy. I know exactly what is inside that gearbox and the reduction box.

I did sort out the origins of the three remaining A&CN flyboats, of which Pauline is one. The two files below give details of most of the A&CN boats, one showing the fly and general cargo boats, the other showing the tugs and compartments. I probably have more details as I have copies of the Castleford gauging books, but have not done any significant work on them. ACNFleet.pdf ACN boats.pdf

That was a while ago, I think there was a Rally down there, early 60's?. It's all change now, the power station in the background has gone. I have attached a picture of a dockside crane at the Aylesbury basin, which appears in a series of pictures recently released. Hope you are well... M

Maybe the answer is to look at fb less often . Their algorithms cause negative content to be exaggerated so a problem like stolen Boats may be presented as more serious than it is in reality.

There's been plenty of feedback as well as the rants. Just because it's critical doesn't mean it isn't constructive in the proper sense of the word. Sometimes, pointing out that something is a terrible idea, unnecessary, or simply unworkable, is the most constructive thing you can do. I still haven't had any suggestions as to how, in real life, this shared space can be, well, shared.

If there's a wind blowing across the lock, some of that will be caught by the downwind wall and will circulate within the chamber. In these locks, when full in normal river conditions, the lockside is higher than the cabin top, so the boat isn't exposed to the side force from the wind, which would push it towards the downwind side, but may be carried in the opposite direction by the circulating airflow, in the same way as when filling a lock from one side only the current takes the boat towards the side with the open paddles.

Thanks for that. That was Capt Rowsell's. This is mine. This is the Countess Wear coming alongside the Treatment Works wharf for the very last time. And here is another. It was a beautiful morning. Here the ship is approaching the first of the road bridges... And another. This is Double Locks..... Something has gone wrong again. The first photo is at Double Locks. The next, in Exeter basin waiting for the Civic party after their lunch. The next, on the way back towards Double Locks. Capt Rowsell's photo is next . Then approaching Limekilns, where the canal is wide enough to swing, which is what the Countess Wear did after every trip. Then my first photo. There we are, a trip up and down the canal on a beautiful sunny morning twenty five years ago. You cannot do that now.

This is a post taken from a Facebook group

The main problem is Mike, the water companies are taking out billions of pounds in shareholder and directors bonuses and are not only investing nothing in improvements, but they are expecting the taxpayers to pay for those in increased bills whilst still increasing dividends, and debts taken against the assets. Ofwat, the regulator, is in the pockets of the water companies, (79% of water company directors were part of OFWAT before being directors). The self regulated outflow monitoring is a joke, most are hiding the figures, changing red to blue or green on the maps to hide the danger....the rest are shocking. I know Simon(Scholar Gipsy) has the best intentions, but this has gone beyond nice communications and agreeing things. For a start, why has the storm drain output got the same output capability as the final outlet when the sewage farm is not on the main Cambridge storm drain system any more. A question that MUST be asked.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the new STW, allowing such removal of navigation rights is the thin end of a very awkward wedge. In this instance the full width of the river is useful and the ban reduces the utility of the river. Once it is accepted that this can be done for something an STW, obstruction of a navigation becomes a matter of degree rather than fact - and where to draw the line will get more and more hazy. This year a sewage treatment works, next year, piers for a road bridge, ten years time because boats on my side of the river are noisy and spoil the view

We didn't tie up there for a peaceful night.......It was the most convenient mooring to take a stroll down to Bathams brewery tap, the Bull and Bladder...