twooh10

Trent 5: https://hnbc.org.uk/boats/trent-5

Whilst it’s certainly possible, I’m not yet convinced that this water is actually coming in from the outside, and that needs to be established before you get too excited about the right now. Whatever’s happened during today may have given you a better idea, but if you’re still unsure I would suggest completely emptying your water tank, then doing as much as you can to dry the area out - as mentioned above this the concrete and scale wil retain some water so it will stay damp for a while. Once you’ve solved your immediate problem you do have some thinking to do as poured concrete ballast can lead to a world of pain:

If this area has been covered by an inch of water only yesterday it will take a while to dry out even if the source of the water is removed. Both concrete and scale hold quite a bit of water that will seep into the open in an alarming manner when the surface is hoovered and it can take a few days to dry with good air flow (fans). Whilst you do need to take this seriously, I'd also want to look at your original theory - the hole circled in red in the initial picture is quite high up - where was that water coming from? Can you see anything through that circular hole? With a converted old boat the water tank could be in any form or any material, so learning more about it, with a torch, a phone camera, and some contortions (!) could be useful.

If you're on Facebook it might help to join the London Boaters group. I think they often recommend Ship Shape for this sort of thing. Have a search of their page, it's the sort of question that gets asked a few times.

May I ask the OP a question out of curiosity? What makes you think that canal boating is for you? I think you said you are new to this forum, but I’m not sure if we know what you experience of canals is (I may not have read all the posts, so forgive me if I’ve missed this). Many people on canals are here precisely because they like escaping many of the trappings of the modern world and embrace not having to keep up with the times. As far as boat building goes it may be worth a reminder that this is a pretty small community. There are something in the region of 35,000 (??) boats registered on CRT’s waters and many of them were built in the last century. The size of the market does not necessarily encourage large-scale ambition. Innovation is also much hampered not only by the value and interest that many people place on these waterways’ history and tradition, but also by the dimensions and infrastructure of the narrow canals. It is not merely the restrictive dimensions of a lock which dictate a narrowboats’ design, but also the curve of bridges, the depth and shape of channel, the need to maintain rope and person quick access to certain areas, to not have additions which may cause potential damage to infrastructure or person. For these reasons many design features have their origins firmly rooted in the 19th century! Also, not many people will keep one boat for their entire lifetime, they will want to sell at some point, and something out-of-the-ordinary is frequently hard to sell (think the house sellers neutral colours!) Sea going boats, and even river designs have a far greater scope for variation. I think your internet search for builders is a good start. Many of what would be thought of here as the “best” builders are indeed older and often do not have the fanciest websites – they do not need to. Also many of these people will have long waiting lists. I think you may be looking to find someone younger and perhaps more recently established who is not so entrenched in traditional ways. Sorry, but I am not able to help with any names. As has been said before, please do update the forum with your progress. I for one am much intrigued as to what your bespoke designs may be! Good luck.

That's not a star, it's a compass. The boat is called "The North"

It says in the ad: During the war years she was a fire boat stationed at City Road basin, London. She was fitted with 3 large pumps each rated at 700 gallons per min and used to extinguish fires following bomb damage at busy ports and transhipment depots. I believe one of the features of the fire boats was a door in the backend. There's still one on Callisto.

It also depends on when you do it - e.g. going through Camden in the middle of the day on sunny weekend (like last weekend & potentially the one coming) can add significant time onto your journey due to amount of traffic, both boat & pedestrian.

I don't think anyone has yet mentioned what a p.i.t.a. it is living on a boat while you are refurbing it. It wouldn't be quite so bad if you're doing it full time, as the pain would be over sooner, and being on a mooring with electricity helps, but if you are trying to continue normal work/life around it it quickly becomes very dull (& messy!) Usually when people are doing this they are turning a boat into their (near) ideal, so are happy to put up with the inconvenience as they expect the reward to be many years of happy boating. If you are doing it just for (dubious) profit it may not be so rewarding. There will be several threads on the forum mentioning this topic if you can search them out.

I'm intrigued that: "every penny you have given is spent directly and entirely on work to conserve, restore, enhance and educate people" and wonder how I can become a recipient of some of this enhancement?

Try this thread: http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=12134

Hello Dave, I'm afraid the reason that people haven't been very helpful on the subject of solicitors so far is that it is really not common to use them in boat purchases. I never have, so I'm not much help either!

I don't have any experience of cruiser sterns, so could be making some incorrect assumptions, but for single handing not only is there the warmth in winter issue, but the fact that you can have everything you need quickly accessible with a trad stern - rope & windlass on the slide in front of you, kettle simmering on the stove near your feet, vast array of clothing - waterproofs, hat - hanging on a hook within arm's reach, sunnys, suncream in a cupboard near your knees......so that you can grab whatever you need without having to leave the tiller.

Have you actually been out on either of them? There is a danger with owning a boat you may actually want to go boating at some point!

If you're in London there are several community boats which are run by / crewed by volunteers and they are often happy to have complete novices help out. A quick Google found this list: http://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/community-boats.htm

According to the booklet with the CO alarm that I coincidentally fitted today: "35ppm - the maximum allowable concentration for continuous exposure for healthy adults in any 8 hour period (as recommended by the OSHA) 200ppm - slight headache , fatigue, nausea after 2 - 3 hours 400ppm - frontal headaches within 1 - 2 hours, life threatening after 3 hours 800ppm - dizziness, nausea and convulsions within 45 minutes. Unconsciousness within 2 hours. Death within 2 - 3 hours."

Callisto does that area. Mark: 07702 031 718

A little bit of Googling found this Missing Episodes forum link so I guess the answer is you can't

Saw Callisto at Mountsorrel in October.

Got hold of some fire brick & put a piece down each side of my Squirrel so can pile it up in the centre - maybe a fraction less heat output? but now stays in a treat over night.

There's a bit of info on some of the fuels commonly used on canals here: http://canalcarrying.com/wordpress/?page_id=6 Once upon a time, the first winter I had my boat, I bought a bag of coal from a garage & it was disgusting smoky stuff that furred up the stove. Learnt my lesson!

Oh, I would, if I had waaay more money than sense. unfortunately...

How long is your boat/pipes? My 70 footer has a non-professional installed system which is far too long with too many radiators, so without the stove raging like a furness it never gets warm in the back cabin & there's no hope of getting hot water off it, so the tank is on permanent bypass!

Hi Sarah, Don't be worried! There's not that many times when a bit of ingenuity can't be more help than having a bloke around when getting stuck! It's really useful to have some movable ballast - coal bags etc. to shift to get the stuck bit of the boat afloat, then re-trim when you're free. It's wind (of the weather not baked beans kind!) that scares me the most & I have been in a situation stuck on the offside bank in a high wind after the engine cut out when only the kindness of strangers could help me. In this case it's useful to have a couple of cans of beer in the cupboard with which to say thankyou! Mind you, going single handed & loaded is a different matter...

Was able to spend a bit of time with the gravel boats as they left Paddington It's taken a while, but finally managed to get something up on YouTube: