Graham Bowers

Sort of. The generic name for the process is abrasive blast cleaning. There are many types of media that can be used for blast cleaning. Graham

What do you want it for? I ask, as the LED pezl I use for dogwalking would not be suitable for some of the nocturnal sporting activities I use my 25+ year old halogen bulb pezl for. (Coming down off mountains in the dark in the winter, before anybody quips). Graham

Petrol must be treated very carefully on a boat as its vapour is heavier than air so any vapour spillages will accumulate at a low point and then only needs a spark to ignite. There are plenty of places that sparks can come from - any electrical switch for example, even one on your bilge pump - or the commutator on any electrical motor. My petrol tank is in a well at the rear of the boat that is "outside" and any vapour spills will drain overboard. There is enough space there for spare petrol. There are those that say that petrol on a boat is too dangerous. I'd say that its an acceptably low risk if you obey "the rules". They are, keep the tank and spare petrol in an outside location that can not accumulate petrol vapour, and ALWAYS top up your petrol tank off the boat - even if its raining cats and dogs. I've recently bought a bigger (25L) fuel tank as on some river passages 12L is not really enough between mooring points and I don't want to get in to the situation where I can't top up off the boat. And another thing. I think plastic fuel tanks / storage containers are porus and allow vapour to pass through, as I always get a petrol smell in my car if I have petrol in a plastic container in the boot - so even if a liquid spill does not occur, I suspect that vapour would accumulate at a low point if plastic containers are stored inside the boat. Hope this helps Graham

I get 2.5 miles per litre from a 10 hp Honda 4 stroke on a 25 foot cruiser. As others have said, what you get will depend on the boat and outboard in question. I have a 12 litre tank and carry another 15 litres in a well ventilated storage location. I just bought a 25 litre tank but haven't used it yet. When on a big trip I use the internet to find petrol stations near the canal and mark them on my Nicholsons guides. Graham

I fitted a shower to my cruiser by making the toilet compartment in to a wet room. Its not big enough to swing a cat in and has some compromises compared to home, but it works. The feasibility for you will depend on the boat layout I suppose. Key steps on my installation: Replace chipboard bulkhead with marine ply. Make shower tray and install. I made it because standard sized ones would not fit in the space. Constructed from plywood then fibleglassed over and finished with flowcoat. Connect whale gulper pump to the tray outlet. To save height there is no separate sump beneath the shower tray - the water collects in the tray and is pumped out by manually operating the pump. Line the room with upvc tongue and groove. Fit instantaneous gas fired water heater (not inside the shower room) and connect to the shower head and and galley basin. NB the water temperature is set on the water heater so I have to remember the temperature setting. All in all quite a bit of work but my time is free. I agree with MJG about the height. I have to lower the canopy for some bridges. I can just move a centre support so the max height is then the screen. That can be done in seconds so its no big deal. There is one bridge in the Fradley lock flight that I've had to lower the screen on though, so it was canopy completely lowered and then lower the screen.

Long post warning. I'm going to assume the Viking is on a petrol outboard. Others will fill in the gaps, I'm sure and on reading what I've typed, there is some overlap with other posts. Some may seem OTT but much is based on mishaps I've experienced, seen or avoided due to prior training. If you can drive a car, then you can drive a boat, but there is new stuff to learn. Always have a plan. Its tough when you are learning, but bear in mind that is the end game. Accept mishaps will happen, but can be mitigated by having a good plan. Consider professional training. I'd talk through your circumstances with a trainer and agree syllabus content. For example, RYA powerboat 1 and 2 both contain launch and recovery with trailers – you don't need that – but do not contain anything about locks. Safety equipment. We both have self inflating life jackets and I admit, the discipline to always use them always is lacking. Must do better, but I always insist the missus uses one when locking. I also have a lifebelt and a throwing line, and have practised using it. Also think about how a faller-in would get back on to the boat, especially out of standing depth on the river, with difficult bank access. I know this to be difficult, see crew control below. I have bought a ladder and its going on this week. Practice man-overboard recovery, using a buoy, or something. (I've done this at sea btw). The trick is not to mince the casualty with the prop, and practice brings home how you may manoeuvre in to a good recovery position. The real trick is not to go swimming in the first place. Ropes. Can't have enough rope on a boat. I'd recommend two mooring ropes at the bow, one for each side, and two at the stern as well. You can get away with one at each end and keep swapping them over, but when you want the rope in a hurry it'll always be on the wrong side. Make sure the stern ropes are not long enough to get caught up in the prop, or you have a foolproof system to keep them off the prop. If you do end up with short ropes to keep them out of the prop, use rope extenders with eye splices and a karabiner to make them longer as needed. Also, use a centre rope. The layout of a cruiser with a screen and canopy makes it difficult to transfer from side to side, so have two centre ropes, one for each side. Comments about rope and the propeller apply to centre ropes too. You can get by with a few knots. Round turn and 2 half hitches, bowline, cleat hitch. http://www.netknots.com/html/boating_knots.html Crew control. Whilst a cruiser can be single handed, if you have a crew then always ensure they know what you want them to do. e.g. get back on board in to the cockpit, not make a lunge for the bow as it passes the "island" between the two locks at Sawley - and end up with hands on boat, feet on land, gap widening until the inevitable. Put all of the keys on to corks, even the "spare" BW key you use for Sawley locks. Fuel. Always have enough fuel for the passage. e.g. Torksey to Cromwell against the tide will be tight on a 12 Litre outboard tank. Mitigated by mooring at Dunham and topping up. Now have a 25 Litre tank. Never ever be tempted to transfer fuel on board, whatever the weather. Start the engine in good time and let it warm up before setting off. Always check the telltale on engine startup. Rivers. When on the river, always have an anchor ready to deploy instantly, even on the short river section at Alrewas. I've never needed it, but why take the risk? Ensure its tied on securely to a strong location on the bow of the boat and the rope / chain is not in a tangle and won't catch on your fenders etc. Mine is a danforth 5 pounder I think, with about 5 feet of chain and 30 feet of rope. A danforth holds well in mud. The rope needs to be 3 times the water depth. The water is shallower on the inside of the bends. Keep off the tidal Trent until you are more experienced and have read up on it. Then, know the state of tide plan to go with the tide as best you can. You'll use a lot more fuel and take more time if travelling against the tide. As the Trent floods for a couple of hours and ebbs the rest its hard to always go with the tide on an upstream passage, but do your best and knowing you are going to be travelling slowly over the riverbed and that you have enough fuel reduces worry. http://www.waterscape.com/media/documents/84.pdf Wind. Cruisers can be a bit like corks in the wind and some days its better just not to go out. In strong crosswind, you have to have some speed on in order to be able to counteract the crosswind forces with steering forces, and even then you will end up crabbing along. Mooring in wind can be very easy or a nightmare. It can be very easy if the wind is in a direction to blow you on to your mooring. If the wind wants to blow you off then you need to come in faster than usual in order to avoid being blown off. If there is somebody on the bank then throw them your centre rope. Don't forget to use your boathook either, once you are in range. If you fail, and get blown off, go round again, or if you can, go somewhere else where there is shelter, or the canal is pointing in a different direction so you're not getting blown off. Another little trick is to pull the stern in with the outboard by putting it in reverse and turning the wheel towards the bank. e.g. mooring with the RHS of the boat to the bank, at the last moment, put the engine in reverse and turn the wheel to the right. This will pull the back end in, but the boat will pivot about the middle. Not sure how useful this will be on a centre cockpit boat, try it on a calm day. Handling a boat in wind takes practice, so practice where there is plenty of room. Current. Its better to moor against the current as you can use your engine in forward gear to stay in control. If going down current, you may get swept past your chosen spot. Bridges. Sounds like you've found T&M bridge 3. The previous owner of our boat did the same, as have many others by the look of the scrapes along the bridge roof. I have a system of lowering the canopy high point without detaching it from the screen. Yours may allow you to do the same. There are at least 2 more bridges as low between Shardlow and Fradley. Can't remember which now, but one is a pipe bridge that has the pipe inside a an angle iron "cage" and the other is in the Fradley flight. Don't forget that the height of the canal can reduce your air draft, as I found out at Fradley. We missed going up, but had to lower the screen coming down. If you're not sure, go very slowly, or even haul through with ropes. Some put a vertical pole a bit like a fishing rod pointing up on the bow at the height of the highest point. This gives you half a boat length warning. We used to cruise with the canopy down until we got the confidence to leave it up. I still have "moments" on strange canals. Locks. Never tie up with a knot on the rope in a lock. Also, be careful that turns around a bollard do not lock up (too many locks, I know). The problem is that the boat can end up hanging off the rope if the lock is emptying, and can end up being tipped over if the lock is filling. If sharing with a steel boat the rule is they go in first and come out last, irrespective of the position in the lock queue and how competent the crew of the narrowboat seems. I broke this rule once as I was already in the lock and a narrowboat came around the corner. We'd shared locks before and the crew seemed experienced so we opened one gate to let them in. There was a bit of a crosswind and we were on the downwind side of the lock. The narrowboat skipper tried to hold his boat with the centre rope but the wind was too strong. We were just behind the upstream lock gate, so like a nut in a nutcracker. I gave his bow rope to his crew and with the greater leverage, the narrowboat was brought in to control, no damage occurred. The moral of the story. Always stick to the rule. Take it easy with the paddles. Fill with the ground paddles first then the gate paddles as the lock fills up. If anything seems to be going wrong, close all of the paddles. The sorts of thing that can go wrong are being tied up with a rope (see above) ending up on the cill, or just generally getting battered by the water and / or other boats. Prop clearing. Picking up stuff on your prop and have your engine stall from time to time happens, or it does to me. The first time it happened I though the engine had just decided to die, so restarted it OK but it died again as soon as I engaged drive. I then worked out it was a fouled prop. I've had a sack, narrowboat fender and rope, plastic sack and a shirt . Its always happened to me on the canals and have got alongside OK to clear it. I've no idea how exposed you'll be on the river. I'd recommend working out how you are going to clear the prop and have the right cutting tools to hand. I have good access to the engine from on the boat, so can raise it to do the job. Don't forget to lock the outboard down when its lowered, or it will leap up when reversed. I have picked up weed on both the canal and the river and it just reduces the thrust from the prop. Up to now, just putting the engine in to reverse has cleared it.

I too moor a cruiser at Shardlow and have for 5 or so years. I'm on the canal at Crocker's marina. I don't think I've seen a Viking 26 there so I guess your pals are on the river, just under Cavendish bridge - but I see your post says near the Trent - so maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, since I'm there on the doorstep I'd be happy to meet them face to face. Without knowing what the mishaps are, I could only make general comments here. One I'll make is that handling a light cruiser is not intuitive, especially in sub-optimal conditions. I was taught to drive a RIB as a SCUBA diver and I found that many of the manoeuvring skills were transferable. Will IM contact details. Graham

All in all I agree with others who've said that your alternatives are to keep it for 5 years or get it certified to the RCD. The trouble with deciding when the clock started ticking on the 5 years is that you have to decide what the evidence trail is to prove it. The buzzphrases in the legislation are "placed on the market" and "put in to service". Some new info: Your shell does not necessarily pre-date RCD requirements as there has been more than one. The original RCD was known as 94/25/EC (the 25th directive done in 1994). This was enacted in the UK by the Recreational Craft Regulations 1996. Note that the craft placed on the market before 15th June 1998 were excluded. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/1353/contents/made So, I expect you should be able to get some documentation from Colecraft if you bought it before 15th June. There is a government guidance document that explains the relationship between the two directives, as one did not simply replace the other, they are complementary. http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file11294.pdf For completeness, the Recreational craft regulations 2004 consolidate the old and new RCD http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/1464/contents/made Graham

I used to steer a horse-drawn trip boat in Llangollen as a yoof so was used to a tiller. Guess which way I turned the steering wheel of my uncle's car when he gave me a go on private land. Graham

Fair point Sue. I use an old nokia 6210 that is a long way from being a smartphone but if you just want to use it as a phone its brilliant. I just read up on how to use the infra red port to connect to the internet and it seems to be a very slow connection.Thanks for the input though. Graham

Thanks to all who replied. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a wifi dongle. I'll definitely be investing in one now I've tried one. Graham

IM'd as too idle to open a photobucket account ;-))

We're off for a couple of weeks on Saturday starting at Shardlow, going along the T&M, Cov and Ashby then return. Sadly I need to log on to w*rk email every few days (I know, I know, but the pain of not doing it will be worse than the pain of doing it) so I'm trying to list wifi access points in advance. I've used the canal and riverside pub guide http://www.canalandriversidepubs.co.uk/pubs.html I have the Navigation in Shardlow, some in Barton under Needwood, the Willam IV in Alrewas, The plough at Huddlesford and Macdonalds. I see Mercia Marina has wifi but not sure if visitors have access, I'll have to call them. Is there anywhere obvious I'm missing please? Thanks Graham PS just noticed, a century of posts:-))

Antifreeze does act as a coolant, but its less effective than water. I know this as I used to run cooling tests on earthmoving machines. Unless your cooling circuit is marginal I doubt you'd notice the difference if you stick to the concentration appropriate to the temperature you are protecting against, probably down to -30C in the UK. Graham

Another cruiser owner here - Wavey Rider Elite - but not many of them about. Graham

Why not get a sterling coke can type inverter and charge in the car using the mains chargers. I do that with camera, phone and diving torch batteries. Mine is the 150 Watt version. Graham

My first canalboat experience was on the trip boats at Llangollen as a boy. Mostly I used to steer the trip boats and take the money and sometimes I walked the horses. The best fun was catching the horses in the morning and riding them bareback the mile or so to the quay. I ticked wooden narrowboat, because the boat was narrow and wooden. Graham

Its on the europa website, google for recreational craft directive harmonised standards. This is the link. http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/european-standards/documents/harmonised-standards-legislation/list-references/recreational-craft/ Many of the standards apply to components, so I expect that it necessary to purchase compliant components and get paperwork to document compliance. By the way, you may find the guide to the directive useful. This is published by the European Commission so is "official". I see it refers to the relevant harmonised standards too. http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/maritime/files/regulatory/cc_guide_cons20feb2008_en.pdf Hope this helps Graham

Why will you only have solar to charge with, if using a petrol outboard? We have a 10HP Honda outboard and it charges at 6A, as I remember. Not a huge current, but if we cruise 4 hours a day we can run our 12V shoreline chest fridge for 14 hours a day - we switch it off at night to keep it quiet. We have a single leisure battery. Cheers Graham

I've had my grp cruiser moored on a marina canalside mooring at Shardlow for 5 years and it has been there for far longer as far as I know, with no ice damage. As far as I'm concerned, its a theoretical but unlikely problem. Graham