Scholar Gypsy

I read something from a Committee member recently: they hope to publish GOBA news before the end of 2025.

I have my main tunnel light at the stern. That way it illuminates what you need to see - the position and direction of the boat relative to the walls - and not what you don't need to see (500 metres ahead). There is a low power light at the bows to avoid confusing oncoming boats. And here it is in Blisworth (no flash used!). When another boat approaches I just turn it to the right.

I tend to drain mine in the depths of winter. I have added a pump that is connected to both sides of the calorifier. (There is also a valve W that goes round the TMV in the hot circuit). Here's a schematic. The drain pump can also be connected to a pipe to pump out the cabin bilges, rarely used. There is no NRV on the inlet to the calorifier, one has to remember to open the hot tap in the galley to let air in. Most of the draining is done with C open, and B and D shut. There is also a "winter mode" which enables you to run the cold water system but not the hot. It takes five minutes to drain the calorifier and five mins to refill it when I arrive on the boat And here is a picture of the drain pump, and valves C D E and F. I am sure you can work out which is which.

To answer the question, hire boats are no longer allowed onto the tideway (downstream of Brentford). The way this has been achieved is through tougher construction standards for hired boats on the tideway, which are almost physically impossible to achieve with a narrowboat design. At the same time (more or less) Black Prince closed their hire base at Willowtree marina on the Paddington Arm, partly due to this and partly due to the perceived/real difficulty of mooring in Central London. The change was made following an incident at Hammersmith bridge, where a boat went the wrong side of the Dove Pier buoy and got pinned against some rather large houseboats & had to be rescued by the RNLI. There was a video about this on the RNLI website, but since they reorganised their website I have not been able to find it. I have once been asked by the Harbourmaster if the boat I was crewing on was a hire boat!

Ashline is still user operated. However the shrouds have now all been removed so an ordinary windlass will do the job there (and at Marmont Priory, now also user operated).

Here's a 2016 thread. I've had no problem since then https://scholargypsy.org.uk/2016/11/05/blacking-and-no-more-singing/

Nice to see this. I have to say that the river gets even better further downstream, pretty much all the way to Peterborough. Good moorings for shopping in Wellingborough, though I try to avoid stopping overnight due to a very noisy flour mill (which used to be served by narrowboats).

I can confirm that sea toilets are still allowed on the Nene, Great Ouse and tributaries. Those rivers are covered by different EA Bylaws to the non-tidal Thames and the Medway, which others have commented on. I don't think there are many still around. The signs on the GOBA moorings, especially those at the end of the navigation (Wicken, Reach etc) now tell you discharge of sea toilets is not allowed at that location.....

The current signage implies that you can go about 2 metres above Jesus Lock, in the summer months.... In practice the lock is only used in the summer months by the 2 or 3 boats that have moorings above the lock ....

There is no extra fee to travel above Jesus Green lock. It is covered by the general licence arrangements for the Cam - the best option is an Anglian Pass which covers licence holders on the Middle Level, EA Anglian Waterways and the Cam Conservancy waters to use the other two for a small annual fee. Sadly neither Jesus Green nor Baistbite lock are navigable at present, but we are working on it. There are a few boats with permanent moorings just above the lock. They don't move very much (and not at all at present).

I keep a good distance away from the pier. The yellow track here shows an arrival from upriver, turning to face upstream. and then drifting backwards to the Grapes to let half a dozen other boats lock in ahead of me, and then entering the lock. (The other tracks show a departure for the Barrier (red), travelling past on the way up to Brentford (white), and then departing again for Teddington (black)! All part of the SPCC cruises this June).

Yes it does take a while to get used to the fact that the water is moving, and that the direction the boat is pointing can be very different from where it is going. Here's another track (over the ground), when I had to delay the crossing a bit to avoid an inbound Uber boat (the video I posted earlier), For this direct approach the (Catholic) church and the "M" of "Marina" on the bridge give a handy transit line. Again some people can handle that concept and some people can't.

PS I have always understood the torpedo approach as meaning crossing some distance upriver, near Shadwell, well before you get to the corner, and then coming down the wrong side of the river with the tide behind you and then - hopefully - turning left into the lock entrance at the correct moment. I have never tried it and don't intend to, for the reason you suggest.

This is a ferry glide, the boat is pointing up to 45 degrees to the left of the track. You can as you say turn to the left once you get to the other side - for example if the lock gates are not open - and wait for things to calm down. I think a fouled propellor while crossing the river (which you have to do, come what may) would not be a lot of fun whichever approach you are using.

Thanks - I would agree with you on timing the departure from Brentford. On the point about confusing other river traffic, that is the great benefit of VHF. On my last crossing London VTS made me aware of a rather large inbound trip boat (MILLENIUM CITY, I think it was) that was about to come around the corner. I spoke to them on the radio and checked they were happy for me to cross slowly in front of them, rather than going behind them. There was plenty of room. If it was an Uber clipper I would make clear my intention to cross behind. As in the video below - taken a year ago and also shows the outer pontoon (and additional fendering!) I also meant to say that however you approach don't reduce power until the boat is going under the bridge. I find quite a few skippers I crew for reduce power as they get closer to the wall. which greatly increases the chance of hitting it! If anything a blip of full power as you straighten up for the lock, and then half astern once you are under the road bridge and lined up for the lock. Then you can worry about getting your bow and stern lines onto the steel riser cables.

Yes, Jeremy Batch. He is still doing talks at various locations, well worth hearing if you get the chance. Anyway, back to the main subject. Brentford and Limehouse now operate 0700 to 1900 (shorter hours in winter), and must be booked at least 48 hours in advance on the CRT website. Brentford is open 2 hours either side of HW, and Limehouse 4 hours either side. So on the day in question HW is 0500 at Limehouse (0600 at Brentford), and there is no way you could depart Brentford at 0700 and get to Limehouse by 0900 when the lock will shut. As others have noted the outer pontoon is not operative at present, and mooring for 4 hours there is not going to be fun. My preferred approach to Limehouse is shown in this GPS track. As well as the tide it requires coordination with London VTS and other traffic. I normally slow down if needed to let outbound traffic overtake me, and get advice from VTS as to whether there is something coming upstream that I may need to cross. I also attach (link below) a log of a recent trip. This was quite a slow boat (and the overheating alarm decided to start buzzing when we got to Waterloo!). I would normally plan for 3 hours for Brentford to Limehouse, plus some contingency time. https://scholargypsy.org.uk/2025/07/11/brentford-to-limehouse-10-july-2025/

Indeed I am. We have indeed taken advice as you suggest,

I am not sure I follow all the above, but here are a couple of photos of the lock that is now part of the golf course. Somewhere near Cowbridge lock!

Thank you, I will add that to the list - although any water ingress there won't cause a safety issue, just a slightly fuller tank! Thank you, that's very helpful. At least one of our club boats does have the vents opening inwards, for this very reason. Indeed so. I have a copy of the orginal Safety Bulletin and send it to people from time to time!

I am interested in understanding the purpose of engine room vents that are below the side deck. You can see some on this boat, blocked off with gaffer tape., just underneath my head (I am sitting on the cabin roof). I can think of three possible reasons: 1) Engine cooling, on an air cooled engine. Quite rare. Obviously not a good idea to block them up 2) Engine space cooling, on a water cooled engine. I would have thought should not be necessary, if you have an adequate keel tank. Not safety critical? 3) Air supply to the engine. A 2 litre engine running at 1500 rpm needs 1500 litres of air (1.5 cubic metres) a minute. If the boatbuilder was a bit obsessive about soundproofing then you need to add a way to let air in. If such vents are sealed up then one may need to lift a floorboard or take similar action to let the air in and allow the engine to breathe. Anything else I have missed? I am just reviewing the guidance St Pancras Cruising Club gives to boaters visiting the tideway. Different guidance applies to composting toilets, fore deck scuppers and gas locker drains.

This is a more than unusually nerdy blog. I do rather enjoy having three journeys on the same map! https://scholargypsy.org.uk/2025/06/30/st-pancras-cruising-club-annual-tideway-cruise/

The Teddington arrangement is indeed high power electric drills. That part of the hydraulics is not working. Fortunately the gate rams are! I use Mxmariner on my mobile phone, which is linked to a set of nautical charts. The track facility produces a GPX file of waypoints (time, lat and long) which can be used to produce a map in GoogleMaps. This is quite handy eg documenting the rather strange route I tested out at Hungerford bridge (in the blog post). I have also written an Excel programme (in VBA) that imports the GPX file, and then processes it to produce the output shown. I manually created a simple database of waymarks that I am interested in, with lat and long. The programme finds the waypoint that is closest to each waymark and then outputs the information you see. It can do knots, mph or km/h. The documentation is currently non-existent but it's fairly easy to use, I can email a copy (not this week - I have the SPCC annual cruise to organise!).

That's good to hear. Others might like to see the timings from my trip from Teddington yesterday, with a group of four boats (so two lockings needed). Given boats go at different speeds, I reckon four hours is my standard time now, leaving Teddington 90 mins before HW (ie 30 mins before HW London Bridge). One pushes the tide a bit between Teddington and Brentford, which takes 90 minutes. HWLB 1030, HW Teddington 1130.. Most of the rough water in Central London is due to the trip boats (and no exposed beaches), I think. https://scholargypsy.org.uk/2025/06/21/teddington-to-limehouse-june-21st/

At the moment CRT are not accepting bookings for Thames Lock Brentford, I think to avoid a logjam building up there. The work on site only starts next Monday, when we should have a better handle on reopening times. It could be several weeks. If you are going to a specific mooring in Brentford then CRT may agree to let you in. Teddington is currently operating 0900-1700 (last entry 1630), so picking a tide is a bit tricky. If you are catching an early morning tide, a number of boats are locking out the night before and spending the night on the tidal river on the floating pontoon. If you can get from Staines to Teddington then the bit to Brentford is straightforward, if you get the timing right. This page includes a few tips and a photo to help you turn at the correct time when you get to Brentford https://thamescruising.co.uk/?p=36

There's a fine set of lift and swing bridges on the River Hull, sadly not used very much nowadays. Photos here. Sadly they wouldn't lift them for us... https://scholargypsy.org.uk/2021/06/17/rivers-trent-humber-and-hull-2-old-harbour-to-beverley-beck/