Scholar Gypsy

I'm not correcting you - indeed I would agree. Could the OP let us know where they are coming from? If you are coming downstream from Brentford or Teddington then you really do need to leave the river at LImehouse, unless you fancy going further downstream through the barrier, waiting for low water, and then coming back upstream several hours later, and up Bow Creek. The Creek itself empties at low water. If you are coming upstream (say from the Royal Docks - see recent SPCC trip here) then it's an easy run up the Creek at or close to high water. A radio is even more advisable than usual, as there is tug & barge traffic in Bow Creek at the moment.

I believe that this posting shows what can happen if you moor facing downstream ...

The Imray's guide says Thrapston. Not sure why there ...

At Cromwell all three sets of gates point the same way - the tidal side can't be higher than the freshwater side, as the weir is open - and as you say are used to conserve water or increase speed of transit when only smaller boats are involved. Also, at most of the locks that have eight gates (ie one set for use when the tideway is lower and one for when it is higher), at very high tides the tidal water level will be higher than the top of the inner gates, which means the lock cannot be used until high tide has passed and the water has come down a bit. I nearly got caught by this at Bow Lock(s) a year or two ago...

No, it won't matter. I assume the ring connector, when crimped, grips on bare wire, not the insulation. I assume you still have the two small grub screws that hold the ring connectors onto the terminal? We have the same switch on our boat, on our water pump. It has lasted about 20 years, I think. I don't think that model is designed to operate in a wet/splashy environment. So my hunch is that it is time for a new switch. It may also be worth cleaning the pump, removing hair, & putting vaseline on the impeller at the same time.

I think this topic should be about bi-directional locks, not those that have long and short modes (eg Sunbury, Cookham, King George V dock etc). So for the former there are a number on tidal or river links that are truly bi-directional (Limehouse, Bow, Three Mills, Denver, Salters Lode, Dog-in-a-Doublet, Keadby, Dukes Cut in the past etc etc). These often use radial or guillotine gates and some that have three sets of gates, with the outward facing one just there to keep out a higher water level (eg City Mill lock on the Bow Back rivers, King George V, Torksey I think).

It might be helpful to see a photo of the connectors (are the spades or chocolate boxes?), but it sounds like you need a new switch. Also, does the pump work properly (your comment "it makes a noise ... " made me wonder). If not then it may also be useful to measure the voltage delivered i) to the switch when it is turned off and iii) to the shower when the switch is on. In each case you would need to find a negative return wire. If there are other dodgy connections in the circuit that should help you find them.

This bridge is where the passport was not handed over ... The ramp down to the towpath starts at the "B" in "Baynes". Slightly ridiculous plot, I thought ...

Interestingly, this does not seem to be very recent news. It is referred to in the most recent report and accounts (for the year to 31 December 2012) available here and I think discussed at the AGM in May 2013 (see here) and at a subsequent EGM. The AGM minutes include more detail of the business case for a reopened plane. If I have read the accounts correctly, £8000 of their reserves are in a restricted fund (called "engineering study") and the rest (£44k) are not, and so can normally be deployed as the trustees decide (subject to remaining within their charitable objectives of course). I should stress that I am not a member of the trust, or connected to it in any way, and there will be others who know far more of the detail than I do.

Thanks - I had the right canal but wrong location... I think the industrial estate is off to the left of the OP's photo. I have neither cruised that bit of canal (yet) nor been on that railway (Bath to Westbury - not sure I would describe that as a Great Railway Journey but perhaps we should have that debate on another website!).

Oh dear, none of my suggestions. Railway appears not to be electrified, iv) K&A near Bradford on Avon? More google maps... Doesn't look right ... v) and neither does the other aqueduct a bit further west

iii) I did wonder about where the Settle & Carlisle crosses the L&L near Skipton, but the railway goes over the canal...

I've not seen the film, but from your description it could be i) Warwick? Link here - Leamington to Moor St railway, River Avon, Grand Union canal. ii) or near Leek: Leek branch of the Caldon canal going over a railway, and the main line of the Caldon (OK not a river I know). Picture here.

Bristol to Weston-super-Mare, 15 mins on the train. Does Gravesend count? - St Pancras Cruising Club organising another trip to the fine pontoons on June 7-8th. Not a lot of beach though. So you could then catch the ferry to Tilbury and then a train to Southend; or you could hop on a train at Limehouse after the cruise, and go direct to Southend.

I was also wondering about the pipe just to the right of the air filter. it would surely be a bit odd for the red gate valve to be on the bypass circuit, as the bypass should always be open?

I don't think that's right - that looks like a folding tiller arm to me (rather than the more common arrangement on the right ie a removeable tiller arm). Any connecting rod would need to connect further away from the vertical axis about which the rudder turns (google hobiecat photos eg here).

When the sail is in use (it's been removed in this photo, due to limited air draught) then in gale force winds the boat heels to leeward, so only one of the rudders will bite ...

I should have looked more closely at the picture of your boat. As you are not running a washing machine, inverter, central heating boiler, shower pump, TV etc etc I am sure it will be fine either way.

On the question about the isolator, that depends where your current isolator is. If it is on the negative side of the battery then that's fine, you just connect all the negative cables to one side of the isolator, and the negative terminals on both batteries to the other side of the isolator. On the relay, the setup shown is designed for use on a vehicle / camper van I think, where the main (engine) battery takes most of the load and the auxiliary runs a few things. On a boat it's usually the other way around (ie the bulk of the charging current needs to go to the domestic battery) so I think it would be slightly better to connect the alternator direct to the domestic battery, and then connect the engine battery to it using the relay.

280 volumes of records at Kew ... Annoyingly, they have "how to do research" guides on railways, but not on canals.

I tried the wonderful legislation.gov.uk but this only covers Public Acts. But this archival site gives the name of the Private Act (Coventry Canal Act 1768). I can't yet find an online copy, maybe a trip to Kew is needed.

I too am straying off topic, but our ship's bell is inside the cabin, near the front of the boat. The skipper rings it by pulling on a length of tensioned cord (cf the old system for ringing bells on buses, for those old enough to remember). The code ranges from one ring ("any chance of a coffee?") to four ("get ready to drop the anchor"). And here is another approach used on our boat ...

I have one of these and they are very loud - just to add that you pump them up with a bicycle pump (100 PSI max).

See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawkesbury_Junction "The junction between the canals was the source of great controversy" Although this article is mainly about tolls - and the saga is nearly as bonkers as that at Worcester Bar - it mentions water as well. As noted above the local colliery needed to pump water from its workings, and it would be convenient to put it in the canal. My hunch would be that Oxford canal company would have emptied their water into (say) the Avon at Rugby (where there are lots of overflow weirs) rather than giving it to the nasty Coventry company, though the stop lock. I have never seen a bypass sluice at Hawkesbury, but (see this posting re Aynho weir lock...) there may be one hidden away somewhere.

There were two dogs on board