Scholar Gypsy

Hope the boat was moored up well - a friend has it this weekend...

I am vaguely thinking (winter job?) about repainting the engine: after 20 years it is looking a little tatty. I would do this in situ, so can get to most but not quite all of it. Grateful for any advice on preparation, makes of paint, means of application, how to avoid paint getting where it should not be. Many thanks.

You are welcome. Should have said that HW Hull on July 1st is 0620 BST, and it is closer to spring than neap. So the chart would suggest HW at Cromwell is 1120 - close enough to your time! The next HW at Hull is 1850 and so the flood starts at Torksey at about 2030. You might need a pre-booking, as the C&RT website shows the lock open 0700-1500 (subject to tides) on that day, ie they expect there is not enough water to get you in before 2100, the normal closing time. I guess the alternative is to stay outside all night on the pontoons... I hope a local will be along soon...

PS have just found this very neat diagram - from a 1975 article by John Liley - mentioned in an earlier post ... It takes a little while to work it out, but I think I've got it. I have annotated it show how your journey might work, setting off from Cromwell 2hrs after HW, and taking 3 hours to do the 15 miles to Torksey which is very generous, and then waiting four hours for the evening flood to start and give you enough water to get in. The ebb takes much longer than the flood! (I have not checked if you are on a neap or a spring tide...)

John Lower's very neat little booklet, which I am reading at this very moment, advises leaving Cromwell on the ebb tide, making sure to get to Torksey before the incoming flood gets there, which is 2 hours before HW Torksey I think. Then wait for a bit to get into the lock. Hope to bump into you next weekend, I will be pootling about 3-5 July between Lincoln and Tattersall Castle.

Just to be really pedantic, there are some sections of river (the Soar is a good example in Loughborough) where the river proper wanders off for a bit over a weir, and the canalised section is separated for a longer distance, and falls through a couple of locks (and indeed I think part of that section is called the Loughborough canal) before joining up again with the river. All the river flow goes down the river bit not the canal bit. So for water conversation & gate closing purposes, those bits of the navigation are really canals not rivers.... Hope that helps!

I mentioned this code implicitly on another thread recently (Narrowboat on the Humber). As it happens the PLA are just launching consultation on a revised (and easier to read!) draft. The main interest for narrowboaters is that it explains what the various buoys between Putney and Kew mean; and how to attract the attention of a rowing eight approaching at speed. See here for details.

No, I dropped the paddles after closing the gates - less gate crossing that way (I think). Then I pootle along to the next lock, which is already set.

Maybe - though one could equally say poor design. Surely the point here is that given the diversity of skill & experience it is best to have a simple rule (shut the gates, and lower the paddles) rather than a complex rule ("if you are sure the bottom gates are watertight, then leave the top gate open, but if leakage is more than X litres an hour and the next boat is more than Y hours away shut the top gate"). Here's my system for closing gates when going down the Northampton flight single-handed (with another longer rope at the other end of the balance beam to open the offside gate). On the Thames you are asked to leave the locks empty, in part to keep the lock walls cleaner! And on the Nene guillotine locks should be left empty etc - even though the reason is only relevant when the river is high.

That's not really the point I was making - if the canal is at or near the level of the bywash weir then there's not really an issue. However (and this regularly happens on the Northampton flight) if a top gate is left open then by the next morning the pound will often be completely empty.

PS I do agree with comments above about using the throttle. The trick is to keep the boat spinning the way you want it, without actually moving very fast over the ground. That may require some judicious welly.

A partial answer: On narrow canals, it is usually the case that the top (single) gate seals much better than the bottom (mitre) gates. So if you leave a top gate open you can waste a lot of water.

Not a lot to add to others comments - I was moored at pretty much where you are a couple of years ago, and I know it can get very windy there! Big squashy fenders are useful (but take them up when not in use), and do spend a bit of time getting yourself pointed in the right (or best) direction you can before you leave the mooring (and other things you can hold on to or push off in a non-scratchy way from with pole or boathook). The wooden posts (quite unusual with short finger moorings) are handy for that. Here's a better photo, I think you are about at X. I would say: * If the wind is from the North, then you can either use the engine to hold the stern over to the right as you reverse out, and then reverse out smartly and let the wind take the bows around to the left, or (if it's a gale) let the stern go to the left, give the bows a big push to the right, and then reverse into the open space and turn clockwise to the exit. That last turn will be easy as the wind is helping you. * if from the south, this is quite tricky as you risk being blown into the corner. So I would use the engine/pole to get the stern to the left, reverse out smartly, let the wind take the bows to the right, and then reverse into the open water as above. You want to get pretty close to the boats on the south (one of which has helpfully just left their mooring on the photo) before you turn - but that's OK as the wind is from the south. * if from the west, this is quite easy, get the stern to the right, and then when you reverse out the wind will take your bows to the left, and off you go. This is I think also the best approach if there is no wind at all (well it might happen!). * if from the east, that's quite tricky as the wind is blowing back onto the line of boats. I would prob put stern to the left, reverse fast, and then when you get into the open water use lots of welly to turn clockwise. Do not turn anti-clockwise as you are then more likely to end up being blown onto the boats. Lesson 2: exiting from mooring A in an westerly wind. Or an easterly!

One thought from the Thames - as I prepare for my trip on the Trent in August. As part of their 10 year vision work, there's quite a bit of thought going on by the PLA and partner organisations of various sorts on how to bring the considerable amount of guidance, circulars, notes and perspectives from previous river users (eg narrowboats, rowing eights, paddle boars, kayaks, cruisers, speedboats, barges, tugs, cruise liners etc etc) together in one place, simplifying it as much as possible, and how to make it more accessible both to the diligent visitor who wants to travel safely, and then in time to the less diligent. I do think this will be a useful approach that can be adopted/adapted elsewhere, and that the PLA have the intent and resources to lead this work - as I say working with partners eg the Thames rowers, and making best use of digital channels. [Just to take a simple example, to check the PLA notices to mariners in advance of a trip takes me a good 10-15 minutes, to work out which ones will apply to your trip. Far better to have an interactive map which - when you input the date of travel - shows you which arches are closed etc etc, as is now done for railway timetables and road works, and CRT stoppages I think]. To take another somewhat extreme example, in my somewhat over thorough preparation for my Wash trip I have found about 30 useful sources of information. It shouldn't be impossible to publish them (my effort is here), but I guess the tricky bit is to keep this body of information (which I couldn't find anywhere else in one place) up to date, and avoid any liability issues (I have added some small print to the top of my page). Ownership is a bit awkward eg as for some of the waters involved there is no navigation or port authority at all (eg the Ouse from Denver to Kings Lynn).

Radcot Bridge .. and according to Wikipedia (and here) the central channel is an artificial channel, built at the same time the Thames and Severn canal was opened. I didn't know that. So perfect, if you want to moor on a canal rather than a river....

The Boaters Handbook is a bit frustrating on this subject (page 53) .... Navigation lights It’s best not to cruise in the dark. If you do, you must get information from the navigation authority in charge of your waterway. The rules governing navigation lights are quite complex. As a guide, at night and in poor visibility, boats usually show: White lights – front and back Green light – right side Red light – left side As a result, if you see: • A white light above a red one, it’s likely to be a boat crossing from your right to the left side • White above green is likely to be a boat crossing left to right • White above green and red means the boat is coming towards you Unpowered boats may show a single all-round white light. Warning Cruising at night can be dangerous. Moor up before it gets dark and avoid using locks at night. Cruising after dark is not permitted by hire boat companies

It does - if you believe the new chart (dated today). I wonder if buoy X marks the spot where King John's treasure is buried ....

The real world is much as you suggest. On the Thames tideway a typical conversation might be: "London VTS, Narrow Boat Scholar Gypsy" "Scholar Gypsy, VTS" "Three narrowboats approaching the barrier, outward bound, permission please" "Scholar Gypsy, take Alpha span" "Alpha span, thank you". And even more casual eg if two trip boats are having a discussion about how to manoeuvre around each other. The only time I heard stuff get really disciplined in London was around the Jubilee Pageant, when VHF traffic was more or less continuous, people were told to keep messages short, and everyone did follow the proper format - all of that sensible to avoid confusion about who is talking to who -- which is after all what the "rules" are for.

I agree night cruising is good fun. For some reason not allowed on the Middle Level. Navigation lights can be useful.

I am not sure you will get an "official" answer to your question about insurance. So here is my approach. When I go along with a VHF radio on someone else's boat, I make it very clear that they are the skipper and I am a member of their crew. So when the gates open at Limehouse, I ask them "Are you ready to go, and if so do you want me to let VTS know"; they say "Yes"; and then I call up VTS. If, later on, VTS say "keep to the right" I pass this message on to the skipper, she says "OK", and then I reply to VTS saying "Message understood". It's the skipper's responsibility to have VHF on board, with a qualified operator - so they should do some reasonable due diligence on their new crew member. Equally I do some basic due diligence by asking the skipper beforehand "Do you have an anchor?", "Please tell me about your fuel filters", and "Would you like me to bring some of my spare lifejackets along?". If I don't get answers that I am happy with (not yet happened) then I would stay at home. I don't really think it is any different to a car driver having a navigator who tells them to turn the wrong way down a 1-way street. The driver needs to do their due diligence!

So I wonder if I have the honour of being the last narrowboat to use the Bulldog channel (until the sands move again)? The depth got under 2 metres when I did the crossing last month, which made me a bit twitchy...

Happy to have a go....

And EA have indeed confirmed on twitter that the lock is reopened...

56 feet for the reasons stated (although you can't get through Brandon lock for the last mile of the Little Ouse)...

The pitch is the distance the propellor would advance in one revolution, if in a solid (eg jelly). In practice it will slip a bit. This website enables you to calculate slip if you know engine RPM, gearbox ratio, pitch, and speed through the water (or indeed any of those variables if you know the other four). So assuming you have the boat out of the water and you want to actually measure the pitch, I would suggest mark (felt pen) the points on the prop where the blade is at its widest looking sideways (ie perpendicular to the prop shaft) estimate the distance between the two marks, along the prop shaft (eg one mark will be 2 inches further away from the gearbox than the other. Call this distance L. You might need an accomplice to hold a ruler, and you stand as far away as you can with some binoculars looking along the shaft, estimate the angle between the 2 marks. You will need a protractor for this (or you could take a photograph and use a digital one). Call this angle D degrees then the pitch is L x (360/D). Or you could read this 2008 thread, which has a link to show how to do it more accurately, if the prop is not attached to anything - same calculation but more accurate measurement. As Dharl has commented, I have a protractor on my boat - see photo here.