Neil TNC

Hairdryers?...on the barge Mrs TNC will have to make do with the hot air gun!

Mrs TNC knitted some...they drowned at sea and I burnt the knitting pattern. She still thinks they are in the loft.

Portishead Marina did not exist until 2003. Our first passage up we waited for the tide in front of the old dock entrance gates...our pilot said we would bottom out on flat mud...he was right! The mud was unreal, I took a sample as a present for Mrs TNC, in an old jam jar ...she still has it. It separated out into 4 horrid looking layers. I heard that Portishead was terribly polluted by the Albright and Wilson phosphorous chemical works that were in the docks...now a nice marina village!!! Portishead Marina radial gate entrance lock was built inside the old chamber, a la Limehouse.

AFAIK the boat is sunk by the side weir above the lock and does not affect navigation. Linky

Wot I have noticed is that most posters avatars have disappeared. I have just bunged mine direct on my server, so wonder if only these type of avatars are the ones showing?

My present (found in 1970) windlass owner worked during school / college holidays in his uncle's electroplating factory The strange thing is we found a similar chrome plated windlass during a spot of Seasearcher fishing a decade or so back, which is now Mrs TNC's. What amazes me is that this windlass has a slight taper, which exactly fits the modern BW taper (sometimes TOO well!) It was pickled to clean off crap, flash copper plated then thick nickle and then chromed. The chrome has worn through to the nickle on most of the handle. Lost to the waters three times, but always recovered, no other crew dare use it!

Ah...,proper boating!.... The Pitons, St Lucia and Montserrat.

Tom will have anybody on his site with strong views (unless any of those views are directed at him!). Historically there was the even more bizarre example of the late lamented Mike Stevens contributing. As usual, Tom has got NBW in the spot light....but he won't get me going there.

Slightly more upmarket than Earnest.....we used cheap lager...then drank the champagne! The Wilderness was easy to rename out of the water!

Well I'll come to your rescue...solid bulkheads are "traditional" in boat fitting. Even on my little barge, I did not want to loose length and I managed, with a bit of careful planning to loose all my wiring and pipework, in cupboards and under draws, without having to resort to stud bulkheads, something that Riversdale would have prefered to do. I can get to all this wiring and plumbing, something rather difficult if sandwiched in a stud bulkhead.

The Bentley Canal is particularly sad as it is believed in some circles that it was BWB that set fire to the bottom gates after a passage was forced down some of these locks in the 1970's. Linky to Tar Boats 1984 Flickr piccy

More piccies of Bentley Canal in 1992. Top Lock No 1. BCN cottage No 245 was to the right of the lock. The culverted course of the Bentley Canal through the BASF factory. The course of the Bentley Canal before the BASF factory. Lock No 3 and Bridge. Looking up from Lock No 3. Looking down from Lock No 3. Looking up at Lock Nos 2 and 1 Lock No 2. Lock No 2. Top Lock No 1. These locks were built with top and bottom ground paddles connected by a culvert, like on the Perry Bar Flight. Top Lock No 1. Top Lock No 1. Sorry for spaming this lot, but having dug out one piccy, I thought I might as well scan the lot!

Are the green posts parking meters?

Up the Ashby, just away from Hinkley.....or so I have been informed by the "Mrs TNC Gentle Cruising Co."

GJW covered John Chapman to take NB Frogmoore II round the Lincolnshire coast! (but he never did it, could not get crew)

I am sure if you knew the right councillors, you could turn it into a spiffing residence, to rival one above the next lock! Editted for Mrs TNC to butt in... Or a nice block of apartments to complain about the boats parked opposite.

Indeedy, Having dealt with a lot of insurance companies, during my time in business, they WILL wriggle out if everything not in order. Mrs TNC ended up with a very nice Golf, because insurers threw out a customers claim. Another thing I have always been very vary of is boat transport and craneage...I have always got my own cover for my boats.

Thanks for posting that. I always like your engineering piccy stories, it shows that there are still some proper marine engineers out there!

R&D used PTFE tape and advised me to do the same when I replaced NB Earnest's stern tube*. I was give a load of rubbish by a certain well known boat yard close to us, that you would never be able to fit a replacement stern tube so that it "lined up" and mated against the stuffing box X-Members. They envisaged having to cut out and weld in a new outer tube! Total rubbish, I had no trouble at all. Big stillsons with scaffold pole extension just fitted in, to initially crack the joint. In the case of NB Earnest it was an easy job. There is, of course the essential tip of getting an exact size replacement tube. It probably won't help you, but the R&D standard 7" x 11/2"size was supplied by Watson Engineering*, on the same trading estate as R&D / XR&D in New Ollerton Tel 01623 860780...A quick Google confirms they are still there. Watson Engineering* AFAIK, they supply stern tubes / stuffing boxes to a lot of narrowboat fabricators and are considerably cheaper than dealing with outlets, like Midland Chandlers, etc. stern tube* Knackered by cracked engine mount bolts, due to engine mounts being set too low. Replacement ones set up on 1/2" steel spacers. New one been going strong for 9 years.

I certainly would. All our boats have been insured with Navigators, certainly with NB Beatty they wanted a small extra charge for doing Bristol to Sharpness and specified a pilot for the Portishead to Sharpness section. When we first insured NB Earnest I specified all the tidal stuff we were going to do over the years and how were were going to do it, they agreed to this in writing. There was only one occasion when we deviated from proposals and they agreed to that over the fone with a small extra charge.

Maybe he is trying to turn it into a galleon barge? In Ireland we have a much better galleon barge, Fred Shares's "Newforge".

Yes, I remember Mike Fairweather...used to go on about "sewer tubes"! Remember me and John Chapman to Paul next time you see him, we could be back next year!

Thanks for posting that nice set of piccies. I have a soft spot for the Fenland waterways and like to see updates. Presumably EA are payimg for all the work?