Picard

Quick thinking. Well done.

I think it might have been on this forum or face book, but in the event of burns apply egg whites, if you have any, to the affected area, but at the time of reading, I thought how do you get the yokes from the whites, I know cooks can do it by using the egg shells, but this bottle way is so quick it could be the difference between a lasting scar and a minimal mark.

Hi. Just filled up with 171 litres, 146 hours since last fill up, = 1.17 litre an hour. A piece of string is twice half it's length.

As a Newby, I am not quite sure when I can claim a lock. But as a rule, if I can see a boat coming it belongs to them. After all as it was told to me when I first started, "It's not a race."

Marmite. It works. (p.s. Eat it, do not rub on body, unless your into that sort of thing.)

Being a noob and singlehanded I am still learning, but have found that going up or going down, take your centre line with you, going down to keep the blunt end off the cill and to pull boat away from gates in order to open them and going up I have the boat in gear to push pointy end against the gates to stop it drifting back and then rushing forward at warp speed, when lock almost full just knock it out of gear. Closing gates behind you is fun, I tend to just drift just beyond gates, put into reverse to stop, then close gates and hope boat has not drifted too far, have used boat hook to pull gates closed, but only a few times as you can't do them all. If you can see daylight between lock gates as you approach them, and no water running out, try to very gently push them apart, save lots of time parking. Have good boots/shoes in order to get up and down ladders and invest in a windlass holder, and don't let others rush you.

Hi. Thank you for all your help. Started out late today. With the volume of traffic it took 3 hrs to do the Brauston locks. So having arrived at Norton Juction late this afternoon, I will take the lazy way out and get a taxi to the show in morning. Thank you again for your replies.

Passed it this morning, tis the "70s" boat.

Hi. Am in Braunston for the night, then in morning the final leg to Crick. Any thoughts about where to park, any moorings online that are left are costing lots, somebody mentioned Cracks Hill, is that an option? Any suggestions welcome, or do I just take pot luck? Many thanks.

"Dusty" on the Oxford is £0.89.

Bin there, dun that, but could not discribe it as good as star. Go Girl.

Hi. Don't know what Refleks is, but I do have a Lockgate Morso diesel fire, sounds the same. When I first got my boat had rough time trying to get it to light. Got some advice from an other owner. Make sure you have fuel. Clean filters. Take out pot/cage and get rid of carbon in base, use hoover to get rid of scale. Use rod from side to clean fuel hole. Replace cage, pour in 50m of meths, light, close door. Wait until cage glows red hot, (3-4 mins), then turn on Diesel tap to mark 3, should be small mark on numbers. The flames in pot will die down, meths being burnt off, then yellow flames will start to come up turning to blue. When fully alight, the effect will be like a blue glass saucer on top of pot/cage. Don't forget to turn on pump for back boiler, (if you have one). Hope this helps. Forgot to say, push down lever on front. Also use Rurboy cleaning brick every now and then to clean holes. If any probs call Lockgate on 01332798317.

Star. Loved your list, can I add this one. "The best mooring site on the cut is the one you passed 20 mins ago".

Hi. Being a newby, have only used a winding hole about 3 times, thought I was doing good, slowly put the pointy end into the vee, when firm, turn rudder untill level with bank, then reverse, when midway out into the cut and still going asturn, go in to forward, turn rudder and turn on the mid point of boat whilst still going backward then more forward, might have to do it twice, then away. But saw narrow boat going into winding hole rear end first, and he did it so smoothly and in one go, was wondering if this might be better than front end in?