[Help]

Can be quite shallow in places along there is the prop touching the bottom.

[Thames]

Plus many of the locks have overnight mooring for  a fiver

[Car insurance trouble]

You may find this thread useful

 

[canoe etiquette?]

You have every right to take your boat out unless the waterway is officially closed.  I have, unintentionally, cruised through a canoe race, I kept a steady course slightly right of centre allowing the canoes sufficient room to pass.  The general rule, although there are exceptions  is that "the most manuoverable boat" should give way.

[Flue pipe at least 1.3 metres needed]

Midland chandlers sell 1.5 m lengths.  On mine the pipe should normally slide through the roof fitting. Once in place the gap needs to be sealed.

 

[Aston lock on lower trent and mersey closing 3-7 april]

I"m at the lock waiting to go through and the team have discovered the culvert has collapsed so will need to be excavated. 

As they can't do that now they're going to reopen the lock this afternoon as it was before.

 

now open 

[NBTA 'Not Happy']

I can't help noticing that the NBTA only seem to protest when they are not allowed to stay somewhere long term.  I thought the T stood for Travellers. 

[Keelblack or Ballistic Black]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

Applied in a dry and relatively warm shed, which presumably aided the final curing.

Yes. I forgot to add this was done in July so ideal curing conditions

 

[Keelblack or Ballistic Black]

10 hours ago, Rickent said:

Did you treat any rusty bits before applying keelblack and how long did you leave them before applying.

Yes. Applied Fertan and left for 24hrs 

50 minutes ago, BruceinSanity said:

Doesn't sound like any saving of time on the dock over Comastic or Intertuf. For how long was the boat out of the water altogether?

How does the price compare with those materials?

The boat was out of the water for 9 days. The boatyard I used, Oundle Marina on the river Nene, charge a set price for the job and not a daily rate for the space. The keel black cost £160 for 25L - Intertuff would be around £200.  The yard used around 15L so I have plenty for touching up.

The marina cost was £750 for:

Lift out and back in
Pressure Wash 
Move into and use of workshop
Apply rust treatment
Apply 3 coats of Keelblack (which I provided)

Timescale:
Tues Lift out and Pressure wash
Wed Rust Treatment
Thu 
Fri. 1st Coat
Sat
Sun
Mon. 2nd Coat
Tues 3rd Coat
Wed 
Thu  Back in water

 

 

 

[Keelblack or Ballistic Black]

1 hour ago, BruceinSanity said:

I for one, and I'm sure many others, are grateful to you early adopters for testing this stuff. Only time will tell – if your blacking is looking good in two years time it will be at least equal to the usual stuff.

Thanks.  I did quite a bit of research including chatting with the owner of the Phoosticks, the boat in one of the company's web site case studies.  His was looking good after 12 months. Mine was applied indoors in summer with 24 hrs between coats and 48 hrs after the final coat before going back in.

[Keelblack or Ballistic Black]

I hope not too as I blacked my Hull with it last year. Seems ok so far can't really tell while it's in the water 

[Keelblack or Ballistic Black]

5 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Trouble is, if the OP (Titan) had read the other thread he might have held back on ordering Keelblack pending further reports

As Titan started both threads I assume he has read it 

[Boat vandalised in Skipton]

Very sorry to hear you've had problems. I hope you managed to clean the boat OK.

[Boat vandalised in Skipton]

Deleted 

[Searching for a small narrowboat (under 32ft)]

This one has just gone on the market

http://www.oundlemarina.com/index.php/aethelflaed/

[My shiny new Klaxon.]

Nice

 

[Single handing the river Kennet]

Hi,

I've done the Kennet a couple of times single handed.  If you've managed the Thames the Kennet will be easy. At Fobney lock the landing is a raised pontoon with the bywash water flow coming through underneath.  Just need to hop off and get a rope secured so the boat isn't pushed off the pontoon.  County lock is just below a wide road bridge and the lock landing and bollards are actually on the towpath under the bridge.  It's only a problem heading east towards the Thames as if you pass through the bridge the lock is immediately after the bridge with a large weir to the left.  All you need do it tie up under the bridge, prepare the lock, and then head straight in.  Going west toward simply leave the lock and stop under the bridge to go back and close the gates. 

Enjoy, it's a beautiful canal.

[Engine not stopping Lister LPWS4 - possible solenoid.]

I had a similar problem with mine. In my case the screw attaching the solenoid push rod to the stop lever had partially unscrewed moving the rod out of alignment and causing it to jam when operated and thus trip the reset breaker 

[Is Colwich Lock 21 still closed?]

If you're planning on turning onto the S&W the Tixall lock closure has been extended to 21 Mar 

[Tixall lock closure extended to 21 Mar]

Just got this update from CaRT

Notice Alert

Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal
Starts At: Lock 43 Tixall Lock
Ends At: Lock 43 Tixall Lock
Up Stream Winding Hole: Baswick Winding hole, adjacent to bridge 99, Meadow Bridge
Down Stream Winding Hole: Junction with Trent & Mersey Canal

Monday 27 February 2017 until Tuesday 21 March 2017 16:00

Type: Navigation Closure 
Reason: Repair

---

 

Update on 14/03/2017:

 

The shot blasting element of these works is taking longer than anticipated. The gates should, barring any unforeseen issues, be available on Friday of this week

Our team will be working over the weekend to complete the works

 

 

[Thames]

Thames licence charges are here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/569952/LIT_10600.pdf

 

[Towergate recommend chaining up your boat!]

Seems mostly sensible advice 

[VHF channel 67: Small craft safety channel]

3 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

When did you do your radio course ?

Some time ago the Coastguard ceased keeping a listening watch on C16 as GMDSS has replaced the emergency call / emergency channel.

From the RNLI :

The UK Coastguard and Irish Coast Guard have ceased a dedicated Ch16 headset watch

Instead, commercial ships and the Coastguard now monitor a special digital channel with DSC radios.

Alan,

I did my RYA SRC course in June 2016.  And you have only quoted half the RNLI statement. The full quote from the RNLI site - (http://completeguide.rnli.org/vhf-radios.htm - is as follows (I have highlighted the relevant wording: 

A VHF radio will enable you to summon help by calling the Coastguard and alerting other vessels. Up until recently this was done with a mayday call on Ch16. However, the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) has changed. There is no longer a legal requirement for any ship or coast station to maintain a manual watch on Ch16. The UK Coastguard and Irish Coast Guard have ceased a dedicated Ch16 headset watch and now monitor this via a wall-mounted loudspeaker. Please check with other countries if going abroad.

Instead, commercial ships and the Coastguard now monitor a special digital channel with DSC radios. To transmit a distress message on this channel you will need a DSC radio.

[VHF channel 67: Small craft safety channel]

I believe it was mainly used by Southampton CG dealing with the many small boats in the solent.  In an emergency I would always use channel 16 as not only the coastguard but other vessels are likely to be monitoring it.  

[roving traders]

A quick google search brought up the Roving Canal Traders Association.

http://www.rcta.org.uk