Tacet

Doesn't the CRT van carry spare water to refill empty pounds?

It is modern-ish sarking felt, in my guess. Laid over the rafters, before the battens and tiles. It is air and vapour permeable - and water resistant. It might do a job in reducing abrasion, but not so sure about moisture, which will find its way through somehow and is then liable be trapped.

Yes. When we tried it https://narrowboattacet.blogspot.com/search?q=kempston and grounded before the mill, reversing back with the fairly strong flow looked to be daunting. It was quite a distance back before an opportunity to turn about, and there are plenty of trees waiting to shove a branch through a window. But we got back without any trouble, somehow.

My uncle had a Transit with a York engine and the only way to start it from cold, summer or winter, was with ether. So it was fitted an under bonnet starter button and a cable-operated fuel control so it required only one person. Even them it required a bit of juggling to operate the hand-accelerator, ether spray and starter button all at much the same time.

The need to acquire land and other rights from reluctant parties was one of the principal reasons for seeking an Act of Parliament. If the proposed canal was an entirely private affair, an Act would not be required. The promoters of the Act would not want too many influential objectors, and therefore as many as possible would be bought-off by agreeing to various demands. The system prevails to this day on major infrastructure schemes. In the period when most canals were constructed, the Act would make its own provisions to compensate dispossessed owners and occupiers - and those suffering injurious affection. The Act would also make provisions for the precise level of compensation to be decided later, within its established rules. Although there was some standardisation of the provisions, they were the subject of much debate and wasted much time. The Land Clauses Consolidation Act of 1845 drew together the recognised rules and it became the practice to provide, in an Act for compulsory powers, that the compensation would be assessed in accordance with the 1845 Act. This reduced Parliamentary time and the prospects of a good scheme being lost due to disputes over private compensation. Today, most compulsory purchase orders are made by public authorities using general powers – for example Housing or Planning Acts. Whilst a local council has such powers, the use thereof usually requires confirmation by the Secretary of State and typically a public enquiry is held, if there are objectors to the CPO. But the principles of compensation and procedures is fixed by existing legislation such as the Land Compensation Acts and the Compulsory Purchase Act – with the precise amounts being capable of a determination by a tribunal with equivalent standing to the High Court. Therefore, grumbles about compensation are not heard at the enquiry. If general compulsory power are not available or suitable, an Act of Parliament is still required. Typically this is for major schemes such as HS2 with countless other factors rather than a local road widening. The provisions for compensation are put into the Act, but these will commonly refer, maybe with a tweak or two, to existing legislation.

There are some traces of the canal if you look in the right places with sufficient imagination. There are a few scraps in Gloucester Road which it passed under https://www.google.com/maps/@51.3859181,-0.0892837,3a,75y,85.88h,74.66t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sz6RklSvdi7gMNqKukbEmVQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192. The basin can be discerned in the current layout of the bus and tram station at West Croydon. Also at Sunny Bank, South Norwood and, of course, Betts Park and South Norwood Lake

Nice picture. The Massey Ferguson MF50 is not a common backhoe these days.

There is, or was, a Croydon Canal Restoration Society with relatively few members. Occasionally a message would be received to say the next working party was at midnight on the 17th. Volunteers were to meet at West Croydon Station and and bring oxy-acetylene cutting gear.

Yes - that's pretty much it if you discount hauling by road. For the more pedantic, without going on to the Thames, you can reach the Swale and thus Oare, Faversham and Milton Creeks. The Thames & Medway Canal is now closed to through traffic other than trains. My Dad kept a boat on the Medway for few years in the 1970s. Fine for weekends but not for longer holidays. At just over 6 foot beam and a full 7hp outboard, his boat was less suitable for estuary work than a typical narrowboat. But just the same, he would bring it round to the Thames and then to all points north. I remember some occasions all to well, which probably only goes to show it is not recommended unless you like that sort of challenge.

A list of some of the moorings on the upper Medway is below. I would be surprised if there was any great difficulty in finding a leisure mooring for a conventional boat. It's a nice enough river, which like many rivers, floods sometimes, but the upper non-tidal part is both quite short and isolated from other similar navigations. It is perfectly possible to run round the Isle of Grain and into the Thames - but it needs a little thought, the correct state of the tide and suitable weather for your boat. Allington Lock (Environment Agency Moorings) - Please contact the Lock Keeper for availability. Telephone number here. Allington Marina (01622 752057) Approx 100 permanent moorings Fords Wharf Boat Yard (01622 752918) Castle Quay Boats ([email protected]) Approx 15 permanent moorings East Farleigh Boat yard (07860 377384) Approx 40 permanent moorings Bow Bridge, (01622 812802) Approx 100 riverside moorings and off-river pontoon berths. Medway Wharf Marina (01622 813927) Hampstead Lock, Hampstead Marine (01622 812673) Approx 150 permanent moorings Yalding, Little Venice Country Park and Marina (01622 814158) Approx 65 bankside and pontoon moorings Twyford Bridge Marina (01622 814378) Approx 75 permanent moorings Tonbridge Boat Yard Ltd (07860 789681) Approximately 45 permanent moorings including a number of narrowboat berths

I extracted engine heat via a £30 ebay plate exchanger in the cooling circuit - and it worked well. In colder weather, the boat is nicely warmed whilst cruising and as you tie-up - so you have plenty of time to stir the solid fuel fire into action. I also put a towel radiation in the engine/calorifier circuit which was nice too - both summer and winter. It was a twin thermostat engine, so there was no chance of over-cooling the engine to a significant degree. As Nick Norman says, you could put it after the thermostat in a single thermostat engine or, if the plumbing runs made it easier, some sort of pipestat controlling the circulation pump.

If the immersion heater is tight in its boss (and it usually is), a flat, non-cranked spanner is much better as the thump from the big hammer is in line with the seized thread. The box spanner tends to get knocked over and comes off the flats; the cranked sort does that too - and also twists its metal at the offset

Sorry. Somehow posted rather than written, three times

That is a reasonable summary. You wouldn't usually remove all joists before demolishing any walls - as they would become unstable. And you may not grub-up foundations but rather leave that to the groundwork contractor of any replacement, but this will depend on the nature of new and existing buildings. Half a dozen of us took a house down working several Saturdays. Most of the arisings was sold off site and the only real plant was a tractor and grain trailer to cart away the rubble. Tile batten and other useless timber was burnt on site. One chap knew what he was doing. Broadly speaking, the house was taken down in the order it was erected. The services were cut off, all internal fittings were removed. Then, starting at the top the tiles were removed (and sold) before the outside chimney stacks were pushed over by putting your back on the rafters and feet on the top of the stack. The central stack was taken down standing whilst standing on the ceiling joists. Then the rafter and ceiling joists were taken down, then the first floor walls were taken out (whilst standing on the first floor boards) and the rendered (and rubbish) bricks were chucked in the trailer. As so on, salvaging what could. We even sold the staircase. We made a few thousand pounds - probably less than the nominal value of our labour, but satisfying just the same.