Grebe

Keep an eye out for the Retford and Worksop Boat Club flotilla. They are reviving their club cruise in company and are heading into Lincolnshire. They were planning 10 boats in company, leaving Stockwith 1000ish today. Saxilby planned for fish and chips. An assault on Billinghay Skirth is scheduled for Monday along with a revisit to Timberland Delph. After assorted dabbles at the Witham, Drains and the South Forty Foot they are making for South Kyme for the rally next weekend. Cobblers Lock will probably be missed because of low water levels. John Lower of Richlow is acting as group leader on his trsty Madeley Wood. They are operating VHF on CH 6 for group stuff.

Hair straighteners are a regular topic on the Norfolk Broads forum. The following points always come out. Try to get her to forget about it for a few days (often a non-runner) Get gas heated straighteners. GHD are the favoured brand but they are very picky and will only work on a pure sine wave.

Have you had a chat or swapped e-mails with Nigel and Sue at Shire Cruisers? They are a mine of information. They also sell guide books to their local canals. Every person has their own favourite. I would recommend a trip up the Rochdale canal to the summit and then a trip by bus or train into Manchester. The Huddersfield Narrow Canal can be very hard work and I would avoid it.

Alan, It all goes to show that 'oral history', though much loved by the modern history and interpretation community, is actually useless unless verifiable from other sources. I remember an eminent historian saying something along the lines of....oral history is very important - write it all down - then go away and checkm it thoroughly before you use it - it is always vague on dates.... On boating books, UPGATE and DOWNGATE by Ernest 'Boatie' Clark, a horse-boater on the Chesterfield in the 1930's, is worth a read if you can get a copy.

Thanks for the steer. Will follow this up on Sunday. Mal NB Grebe

We have just used a picture of a narrowboat approaching Naburn lock on the cover of a guide book. It is not a waterways guide unless it has a boat on the cover. We are trying to contact the owners regarding the picture. The boat in question is NB Above Bored. She was heading for Naburn in early July 2010. If anyone (especially the owners) could send us a private message with contact detail I would be most grateful.

Our friends run the hot tap into a bucket until they draw warm/hot water. They then use the bucket to flush the toilet. It saves water but not the heat lost from the pipe run.

Could be soft engine mounting. Engine shakes about and shakes itself to a stop. Our engine got to the shaking as going to stall level but never actually stopped. (The faulty stop timer did that before I junked it)

Our Vetus used to leak from the filter bleed screw washer. I replaced the washer with a 'Dowty' type washer, these have a rubber seal insert. The big washer on top of the filter body can be hard to nip up. You could try drying the body and then try to turn the filter a little. You will something to increase the friction between it and your hand, I use a jar-opening cloth, but a rubber glove might do it.

Sorry to read about the screw sheering off. Hope all goes well with pump man. The leaky bit is often the soft (copper) washer that distorts/flattens over time. We often had a drbble from the screw. To cure it I used a 'Dowty' washer, which has a rubber seal in the washer. I always carry a couple of spares just in case.

It is a scary feeling the firsat time you see the water. I reckon you have solved the mystery already. Another possibility could be a leak around your shower tray. This was a recent cause of a friends puddle.

NB Grebe has 'Waterways of the Humber' written on the side. However we are based on the Broads. A regular question is ...how did you get here?...did you come by sea? Not a daft question, as most of them have some boating knowledge and are aware that some narrowboats do offshore passages. p.s. all gongoozlers from 'ull who see her, think we must be from 'ull, because 'ull is the Humber. Tell that to the Yellow-Bellies.

What four times doubling in cost? Four time more earth to dig out for a tunnel was what I wrote.

Sorry to be late with this reply, but I had to dig in some papers to confirm the details. The answer Mr John Sparrow of the Trent and Mersey company wrote to five 'Brindley' canal companies asking them to send two representatives each to a meeting to be held in Lichfield on 14/12/1769 to discuss/confirm common standards. In theory they were already working to the same dimensions but this meeting formalized the narrow lock dimensions. Mr Brindley was tasked to survey all the workings to confirm 'standarisation'. Apart from the T&M these were the Bridgewater canal, Staffs & Worcs canal, Oxford canal, Coventry canal and Birmingham canal. The Droitwich was not asked, it being a 'barge' canal to take Severn craft. The Chesterfield canal was still in its infancy and nor invited. My thoughts Even today boat design and dimensions are a compromise between numerous requirements. With a canal the only fixed dimension is the length, the width and depth are etermined by the vessels that will use it and the depth of the company's pockets to finance the digging. The wider and deeper you dig the more it will cost. Presumably they figured out that 25 tons could best be carried in a boat we now know as a full size narrowboat. In turn this gave a canal about 24 feet wide with a depth of about 3 feet. Economies came in tunnels where a smaller cross-section could be used. A doubling of beam to 14ft beam would need four time the volume of earth to be dug for a tunnel.

Are you dealing with propane or methane? Propane is heavier than air and will as stated sink to the bottom. Methane is lighter than air at outdoor temperatures and will rise (if it can).

The Richlow Guide to Lincolnshire Waterways Richlow shows 'Elsan disposal' at Torksey, Saxilby, Lincoln, Bardney Lock, Boston. There used to be a facility at the White Horse pub/caravan site at Dunston Fen but I think It is currently closed up. On our boat we use 'Brewer's Yeast' tablets in the cassette. We were recommended these by Sea Otter. 'Smells like a donkey' for the first few days but then it is fine. Being natural it can even go into septic tanks. Note Brewer's Yeast is a 'health food' from those shops not a brewing yeast from the home-brew shop.

Hi Teadaemon, The fore-shortening in the image makes recogintion harder. The picture appears to have been taken from the small Staithe at How Hill, looking south. Turf Fen Mill appears to be opposite the moorings when it is actually beyond the moorings (southwards) and round a bend.

The non-canal picture (number 5) is How Hill on the River Ant, Norfolk Broads. Hope to be passing there on Saturday on Grebe if this thaw continues. Regards Mal NB Grebe.

Casper, Sorry to butt-in, but are the universal joints on the shaft aligned correctly? During my dim and distant education I was taught that this type of joint does not deliver a 'constant velocity' they 'speed up' and 'slow down' and therefore the yokes on the shaft should be in line with each other to cancel-out the accelaeration/deccelartion effects. Your are set at 90 degrees to each other.

As one of the "talking heads" on last night's BBC4 TV programme "Unlocking the Midlands", it's good to know it came across OK. Not only Chris Tarrant knew little of canals, but nor did the rest of the production crew. After they contacted me it was perhaps fortunate that I sent them a copy of my book "James Brindley - Canal Pioneer". It was, however, a day to remember, and Chris Tarrant is very good at putting people at ease. So, with star-dust in my eyes, I return to producing our Richlow canal guides. Christine Richardson

Our 26ft Sea Otter has 16ft of cabin and about 5ft at both bow and stern. However the taper to the bow begins just forwards of the front cabin windows meaning the cabin has a slight taper at the front edge. Our transom is flat rather than the more usual curve/ellipse favoured by most builders. This gives a lot of space in the engine bay. We are and remain devotees of cruiser type sterns. Mal

Our build plate is made from two-tone (one colour shows through the other when cut) engraved plastic, like the stuff they make ID badges from. It is fixed below the morse control. Our HIN is stamped into the bottom of the swim, ahead of the weed hatch. Mal

Before we met my wife had a thick sheet of builders' plastic membrane round the prop in Coventry. She had to buy a hacksaw to deal with it. On our own boat in the mid 80's we were on the Maud Foster drain at the back of Boston docks when all drive stopped. Down the weed hatch was a blue boiler suit - looking like it was still occupied!! However a bit of cutting and it deflated thank goodness.

EA are only concerned about flooding. On Saturday we were out and about the Yorkshire Derwent and Pocklington canal by road. The Derwent was running very fast. Canaldrifter (Tony) reported on here that he was moored at Barmby because of high flows and low headroom at Wheldrake. The marker on Cottingwith lock was in the red - meaning do not proceed into the Derwent. On reference to the EA site for Saturday it showed all levels to be within the normal range, that is no flooding risk, but as demonstrated navigation was not possible due to high flows and low headroom.