OldGoat

Yup - for visitor's licence - says so in the pdf boaters gude. Quite a good document, I was impressed (which I am not generally about the NT)! 10% I think

The water flow around Oxenford has always left me bemused; there are so many streams and most of them are very shallow. Must be an absolute pig for the lockie to work. Even the Castle is a bit of a hike if he's the only one on duty, and I'm not sure whether (m)any of the others have any gates to work. We tried to get a dinghy up most of the obvious ones but grounded after a hundred yards or so. The "Osney cut" is the obvious one for water flow as all the others wander around with the risk of erosion. Must ask the staff when we're next up there (at this rate - next year...)

Never mind, very kind of you to apologise; best intentions. As pennance go and visit - it's very pretty down there and folks have worked very hard over the years, quite impressive what they've done. With this year's weather they shouldn't too much problem with water supply!

Hmmm -should have said gently or slightly or on tickover. Not a lot of options at that place as the cut is only about 3 boats wide. If I lock down and turn som "person" is bound to have arrived and taken the space. It's more of a mill race than a lock cut!

You're probably right, but it was the only place I could think of that had sticky-up-bits. I thought there was a post for a water point and/or a 'leccy point for a disabled boat. Certainly not Brindley Place as far as the knowledgeable are concerned. But then I'm a soft southerner.. In pedant mode Brindley Place is the shopping / restaurant / office area in which SeaWorld is situated. 'Suppose the length 'twixt that and the Broad Street bridge could be construed as BP? - However that area is full of "you'll be exterminated signs" reserved for cage / trip / disabled boats. I did a quick Google steet view, but the camera didn't reach that far down!!

Isn't it at the top of the Farmers' Bridge flight. A relatively long length without any bollards? If more than one boat waiting then there's nothing to tie to - not making an excuse but impatient / lazy folks will inevitably take advantage and tie to anything vertical??

OK now?? Want accurate information - ask me (not) Grumpy today as it's tissing down. BTW ring the lockie as he's there 9 to 6 (less lunch) and the Guildford office isn't always staffed - it's a charity, you know. He also has the prices AND sells you a licence on the spot. AFAIR he'll need to see a BSS and TP insurance - don't think there's a self declaration system as there is for the Thames. That should now be all you could possibly need (haha)

Surprisingly enough it's called "Thames Lock" If you want a contact for starters, then try the Guildford office. If you download the boaters guide from the link, you'll see that Thames Lock phone is 01932 843106" As to Bottle - no, that's the landlocked bit and nothing yet to do with the National Trust [grumpy on] Not hard to find [/grumpy off]

Looking at another thread herein I suspect the word is "Capacitor" (or Condenser if you're that old). Folks say it's got to be "a proper generator capacitor" as opposed to other types. I wish I knew actually what a proper one was? I suspect it's a motor start AC type. Anyone really know??

When I was Articled one of our clients had an hydraulic lift - operated by a cord (presumably operating a lever tap in the basement. Incredibly fast and silent save for the sound of might flushing water in the never regions (make what you like of that last comment. My engineering college had it's organ "blown" by water - an interesting conjunction of two of the ancient elements. Just to mention in passing - why not add to the thread drift - that both the Barton road bridge and canal aqueduct are operated by hydraulic (and I believe water not oil) power.

Forgot that one! Not so much the flow if you're working down; put the boat in reverse. Be VERY careful when trying to pick up the lay by. The lock House weir has an amazing pull even in normal conditions, although EA plan to do some work on this. Trying to pick up a mooring between two boats on that stretch cn be most unpleasant. Get your stern line on first!

Don't quite understand your last line; the two don't seem connected? There's no web info, as there is for the River. However, EA does have a network of monitoring stations which in theory should help, BUT the one at Shipton reports as being out of action (perhaps flooded....) The next nearest one is - look here and you can then hack your way to other stations. I find it a very interesting site. Have fun Shurely Shipton is not the one to worry about - but then I'm a river boater, so used to flows. It's Aynho that's the pain because of the low bridge later. Shipton needs a bit of welly when coming outr of the lock and turning off the Cherwell later. Or did I miss something?

Many LT moorings have a an official or unofficial residential warden. Certainly it was my experience on the Wey and when we visited Lower Heyford and Cropredy. They'll usually point you to a vacant berth if you want an overnighter or go shopping. Usually pleasant and helpful, BUT you must seek them out. The Canals have always been a friendly place - folks grouped together for a common purpose, but peeps do need to be engaged - so start a conversation; you'd be surprised. It ain't no dishonour to say good morning.....

Others of note are:- Bray Mapledurham Goring Days Upstream of Hambledon the wind ALWAYS blows you off the layby.. Best if everybody stays away

I'm guessing here - but the system was designed for the "usual" conditions of the River, when there is an occasional period of heavy rain which overcomes the capability of the system to cope. The computer system was set up to give daily reports and if any (major) change report on a daily basis. This was street ahead of the actual display of warning boards displayed at each lock (What's the point of cruising up to a lock and then discovering that the River is not safe...). The telephone system was only marginally better. Perhaps someone / organisation has complained at a RUG meeting that the computer system was slow to react. The result is that subscribers now get a diarrhoea of reports every time ANY lock / reach has a change! A complete pain-in-the-fundament for folks on the text message service and irritating to those on email. But, hey, I'd rather be swamped with info than getting nothing.... These are unusual weather times (nobody takes any notice in the winter when most boats are tucked up) and folks are complaining. P'raps EA will modify thiongs accordingly. OTOH there are some complete drongos around why need to be taken into a corner and shaken severely to make them see sense (see posts on YBW Thames forum). Jeez. Water is potentially dangerous, fast flowing water is even more dangerous as various events recently reported in the press shows. Oooo, you're on t'other side of the River are you (being nosey, it's nice to know wko's who). Some nice boats there, plus a proper "puffer". This evening everything's Red coloured...

One of my Thames boater friends fitted a remote temperature monitor these last two winters. The boat is in the water and in the engine bay the temperature - even this last year - never fell below 4deg C. It was colder in the cabin; but not that cold. I used to flush the raw side with diluted antifreeze - just to sit in the bottom of the water block (?), but with the heat exchanger empty. Now I don't bother with the antifreeze, just kee free water away from the heat exchanger - and that's probably not necessary either.

No - but I've only been on the River for 12 years...... It's only been two years (?) since they put the status on the Web and those of us who subscribe to the status repots get inundated with emails - I've had twelve today! Before that you had to ring up and I suspect not many did that. So we are more aware that we used to be. Not been able to get out since Easter.....

YOu may think me strange (well...) but I do have a soft spot for companies who are "canalside". JG have about the tidiest, well painted factory straddling the GU canal in West London. By canal gets 5 points being spic and span gets another 5, having a generally good product, 5, reasonably priced, 5, good sales data 5,..... All of that out of ten.

Please Sir, I thought the point about the VuQube was that you just dumped it anywhere, connected it up, pushed "the tit" on the remote watch the video - here and the box does the rest - pretty quickly if it's to be believed..... Perhaps the clue is in the video - you have to set the declination via the remote 26 degrees for much of England. Edit: didn't read the above post fully - whole issue is a case of RT F M on both accounts. Question to the world at large - Why don't folks Read The (F) Manual? OK, Macho to have a go before reading anything (been there) BUT when that fails read the book? Makes sense? I'm not having a go at the OP; just wondering about the way folks in general go about things nowadays. OR is it easier just to go online (I suspect the latter...)

A JG cutter is well worth the cost cuts cleanly and more importantly cuts at right angles - can be difficlut if you're trimming to size in situ What's confusing fro the replies is that both solutions have pipe AND fittings. Use JG speedfit for the fittings and whatever takes your fancy (?price) for the tube, again stick with JG if not much price difference. If you shop around you can save quite a lot - even use eBay for fittings if "appropriate"

Should be called CT Hands off "my" River....

No, my source said the ratchet system was unreliable and removed before Elf 'n Safety was ever thought of. If you look at the pics you can see that they've been sawn off (in the days before angle grinders were invented) and not merely broken. Cut at an angle so that no scheming boater (!) could actually make use of them! If you can't get to sleep have a read of this document www.hambaker.co.uk/docs/FC_Penstocks.pdf