waterdog

Hi guys, Does anyone know of any companies hiring day boats near stoke on trent. Thanks in advance.

Hi Guys, We have hired from viking afloat 3 times in the past 3 years and all from different bases, (worcester, whitchurch and gailey). I have to say that each time the handover was very comprehensive covering everything from dealing with the locks to lighting the cooker. From worcester as first timers we were accompanied through the first two locks and everything was explained very clearly including the dangers of the cill. And then had quite a briefing on the dangers of the severn. From whitchurch we were accompanied again but no locks as we were heading to llangollen, but we were very closely questioned about lock procedure before being let go after the first lift bridge. This year was from Gailey, again a very comprehensive handover and despite assurances that we (thought !) we knew what we were doing, were watched very closely through the first lock. All in all I have to say they got things right as we have now done the stourport ring, the llangollen, the caldon & 4 counties without incident, but as Viking are now part of Alvechurch I hope the standards dont drop. Waterdog.

Hi One Iota, I seem to recall reading / seeing somewhere about a small online (towpath moorings) community near Ratho and I think there are moorings nearer to edinburgh city centre, might be worth a trip down and have a chat with the boat owners. Also try searching for forum member "Haggis" who i believe is based in the area and might have some local knowledge. Waterdog.

Hi Adam, If she's anything like my lab, She will absolutely love the boat and particularly the water. Hence my forum name. Only panic I've had with her is when she followed me across a lock gate and fell in when the paddles were up ! Thankfully I was right beside her and grabbed her collar and hauled her out. Now she goes on the lead at locks. Stuart.

Hi Gary, Have you thought about using a transport refrigeration package. Most of the small units for panel vans could easily be fitted to a boat. Nearly all use an engine driven compressor and are either 12 or 24v electrics. You can also get a 240v hook up. There is a system that runs directly of a 12v battery bank too. One other advantage is that the systems are designed for road use so tend to be more robust than your normal house type system. try googling "transport refrigeration". Some companies that come to mind are, GAH, Hubbard, Carrier Transicold, Thermoking, and Sanden. Stuart

Yes, I totally agree Tomsk, the point I was making is that under Part P you are not "banned" from doing DIY electrical work, which is what a lot of people seem to think. Stuart

Hi Guy's, You CAN still carry out electrical work on your own, However it must be checked and signed off as safe either by a "tame registered electrician", or approved and inspected by a council building control officer. WWW.partp.co.uk I have recently wired a loft extension and rewired a kitchen with no problems. In fact the firm that I got in to certify the kitchen offerred me a job !! Stuart

The Feathers at Barlaston was good at one time, bowling green and a 25 stone landlord who sampled his own wares quite regularly, I remember him proclaiming when someone enquired about closing times "This pub shuts when I have had enough"....... My kind of pub. Cheers John, sounds just like my local Back to the Romping Donkey and the very plausible story of how it got that name. Many years ago the Landlord of the place commissioned some general redecorating and signwrighting for the place which was at that time called the Red, White or some other kind of Lion. The painters skills at signwritting sadly where not matched by his artistic technique and what started off as a rampant ferocious lion on the pub sign ended up, as one of the regulars comented, more reminicant of a Romping Donkey. The name stuck. Excellent.

Hi Mac, Thanks for the reply, I take it the centre of stoke is a bit dodgy then? If we stick to the plan then we will be moored near barlaston on the sunday night, then through stoke on monday and out onto the caldon near norton green by monday evening. Oops - Just noticed we come back out of the Caldon on FRI 13TH !!!!!. Did the LLangollen last year from Whitchurch, Very beautiful canal and really enjoyed it but it was a very easy week. there is a cracking little farm shop right on the canal side, home baked bread still warm from the oven & proper farmhouse jam and marmalade, lovely. Thanks for the tip for the romping donkey (interesting name) we should hit heartbreak hill at the weekend so hopefully our son will join us to do the "donkey" work on the locks. Cheers Stuart

All sorted now, Booked up for two weeks out of Gailey and planning to do the 4 counties backwards (i.e anti clockwise) with a side trip on the Caldon to Froghall & Leek. It was somewhere around 20 years ago that I saw my first narrowboat at froghall when visiting the area during a trip to Alton towers when the kids were kids !. I have listed a loose itinery below day 1 overnight moorings near penkridge. day 2 " " " weston & trent bridge 80 T&M day 3 " " " trentham lock 35 T&M day 4 " " " norton green lift bridge Caldon day 5 " " " Consall Forge (black lion, thanks John) Day 6 " " " Leek day 7 " " " bridge 14 caldon (foxley) day 8 " " " church locks 47 day 9 " " " bridge 159 T&M wheelock / sandbach day 10 " " " bridge 7 S.U. minshull day 11 " " " audlem locks day 12 " " " bridge 58 S.U tyrley day 13 " " " bridge 22 S.U. wheaton aston day 14 " " " near to gailey The above was planned with canalplanac (thanks bottle), but obviously will be a fairly loose plan. So any advice on places to moor, good pubs/ restaurants in the area, places to avoid, etc etc. will be greatly appreciated, BTW if anyones going to llangollen soon don't miss the jack mytton, superb food but phone ahead to book. thanks Stuart.

Hi mck, Don't know the area so can't add much to help. However, having taken narrowboat holidays in 2005, 2006 and again booked up for this year I cannot fault Viking Afloat, Some people don't like the boats colour scheme and they are now part of the larger Alvechurch group, but so far they have done "exactly what it say's on the tin" The handover, the condition of the boats and the staff are all first rate. Hope you enjoy your holiday. Waterdog

Quite bad here, trees down, lorries blown over, loads of roads closed and traffic backed up all over the place. Took the day off W**K, I'm a driving instructor so couldn't take the pupils out in that. Downside is I dont get paid

yeeeeeeeeeeeeee-haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar Just booked it, two weeks in april (starting 12 weeks yesterday). From Gailey, up to stoke then caldon to leek, froghall, infinity & beyond.

Thanks Bottle, just tried it, loads of good info. John, I made a bit of a cock up in the original post, the hire company does say 2 weeks, canalplan reckons it can be done in a week (9hours cruising per day), You seem to know the area quite well and just to clarify did you mean "do able in a week" and do you agree with canalplans cruising time estimates. (on average 15 miles and 12 locks per day) thanks Waterdog

Started to plan this years holiday and would like to start at gailey and go up the caldon to froghall and back. the hire company describe this as an "energetic" one week trip and there will only be a crew of two from gailey to endon, where we will collect no1 son who will join us for the trip to froghall and return to endon, then leaving me and the missus to get back to gailey. Is this a feasible one week trip do you think ? also any advice re good places to stop / eat would be greatly appreciated, thanks Waterdog Doh, just re-read the brochure, trip is two weeks, silly me ! still want to do it though.

Hi Blackrose, Don't think it'll be the fan belts, but it would be a good idea to tighten them properly as this may affect the charge rate of the batteries. Most likely a fuel problem, could be due to any / all of the following, badly adjusted (loose) throttle cable / control linkage sticking throttle control lever faulty fuel pump / injectors / clogged air filter. Does it have a rev limiter ?? Just a few suggestions to get you started, I'm sure there are people on here more familiar with your type of engine that will be able to help better. Stuart

Hi Guys Thought some of you might be interested in this, Tried to copy a link but it won't let me, but you can access it from the viking afloat website. Stuart

Hi All, I'm a member of another forum that contains posts from its members that regularly name & shame poor service providers, not going to go into detail cause it would take forever but I've copied a set of the forum rules below. As far as I know the site hosts have never had a problem with law suits etc as the contents of each post is solely down to the writer. The stuff on here is very very tame by comparison. Each member has to agree to this at the sign up stage. STICKY TOPIC - FORUM RULES « on: January 20, 2006, 09:34:58 PM » -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You agree, through your use of this forum, that you will not post any material which is false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, adult material, or otherwise in violation of any International or United States Federal law. You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless you own the copyright or you have written consent from the owner of the copyrighted material. Spam, flooding, advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are also forbidden on this forum. Note that it is impossible for the staff or the owners of this forum to confirm the validity of posts. Please remember that we do not actively monitor the posted messages, and as such, are not responsible for the content contained within. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information presented. The posted messages express the views of the author, and not necessarily the views of this forum, its staff, its subsidiaries, or this forum's owner. Anyone who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to notify an administrator or moderator of this forum immediately. The staff and the owner of this forum reserve the right to remove objectionable content, within a reasonable time frame, if they determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however, please realize that they may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately. This policy applies to member profile information as well. You should not create threads solely for the purpose of advertising products or services. You may however talk about your product or service in an existing thread if you think that your product or service is of use to a particular member. If you do have a driver training product or service to offer, these forums can be a great way to promote it and the best way to do this is to add information about it to your signature in your member profile. Then contribute constructively to as many threads as possible. If you make a post that goes against the above rules, do not panic. If we think a post needs to be dealt with, we will contact you and treat every case in its own merit. It is very unlikely that anything more than the post being deleted will happen in most cases, but persistent offenders will be banned. Every member of the forums, and their opinions, are welcome on the forums and each deserve respect. We will not allow single members to cause trouble and ruin the site for everyone else. You remain solely responsible for the content of your posted messages. Furthermore, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless the owners of this forum, any related websites to this forum, its staff, and its subsidiaries. The owners of this forum also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or any other related information collected on this service) in the event of a formal complaint or legal action arising from any situation caused by your use of this forum. You have the ability, as you register, to choose your username. We advise that you keep the name appropriate. With this user account you are about to register, you agree to never give your password out to another person except an administrator, for your protection and for validity reasons. You also agree to NEVER use another person's account for any reason. We also HIGHLY recommend you use a complex and unique password for your account, to prevent account theft. After you register and login to this forum, you will be able to fill out a detailed profile. It is your responsibility to present clean and accurate information. Any information the forum owner or staff determines to be inaccurate or vulgar in nature will be removed, with or without prior notice. Appropriate sanctions may be applicable. Please note that with each post, your IP address is recorded, in the event that you need to be banned from this forum or your ISP contacted. This will only happen in the event of a major violation of this agreement. Also note that the software places a cookie, a text file containing bits of information (such as your username and password), in your browser's cache. This is ONLY used to keep you logged in/out. The software does not collect or send any other form of information to your computer. .

Hi Carrie, for some reason carl's post is up twice, the one with your reply is further down the page.

Doh ! Never thought of that, if it is we might have to do the shroppie instead. that was the idea, a nice quiet relaxing week, last time we did the stourport ring in a week and felt it was just a little bit too much. My wife wants to do the aqueducts on the langollen and it does sound like a good relaxing trip but to be honest I dont really care where we go, I just want a week on a boat. Stuart

Just phoned the hire base at whitchurch, no problems from there to langollen itself just cant get to the shropshire and vice versa. Panic over, Stuart

Hi Dor, More info please, We have a week booked on the langollen out of whitchurch starting on the 18th (a week on sunday). I don't know the area that well, but is the section between grindley brook locks and langollen town still ok, from what you say I think whitchurch is on the "good" side of the breach, am i right? stuart,

Hi Bones, I can see exactly where your coming from, Gary could have so easily have ordered all stock / parts well before the build, threw loads of men at the job, put it all on the webcam and stormed through the build, while shouting from the rooftops "look at us aren't we superb, etc etc......." , giving a totally false impression and probably duping potential customers into parting with thier money under false pretenses. instead he chose to be honest and show a real time build including all its problems and frankly in my opinion it took a hell of a lot of guts to expose his company this way. There's plenty of posts on here from disgruntled people who have been sucked in by unscrupulous builder's and lost thier hard earned cash, one particular group have a lot to thank Gary for, his company stepped in to help when he could easily have stood back and laughed at his competitors misfortune. Another point in Gary's favour, is his constant replies to queries and requests for advice, he often gives free advice on here and provides links direct to suppliers instead of saying "I could get you one of those" and bunging £100 quid on top for the priveledge. Now before you all start having a go, I have nothing to do with ledgard bridge, in fact I have never even met Gary. But I would rather deal with someone who is up front and holds thier hands up if there is a cock up, than deal with someone who is out to hide things and try and con me. Maffi, I'm really sorry your boat is going to be late, I hope you don't lose out on too much of the summer, mind you the way the weather is here at the moment your better off in saudi. And as has been said before, I'd rather have a good boat late, than a bad boat on time, or even worse as some have found out to their cost, no boat at all. When the time comes for my boat to be built, I know who is top of the list. Waterdog