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Dave_P

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Posts posted by Dave_P

  1. I have a friend who has agreed to take an abandoned and derelict, but floating, hull off CRT's hands.  It's to be used as a sort of floating pond (don't ask).  I think it's to do with a charity.  The boat will be lined somehow before waterlilies etc are added.

     

    AFAIK CRT aren't charging her for it and they legally have to crane it out anyway so it can't be reclaimed by the former owner.

     

    CRT have suggested that it should be blacked while it's out at the boatyard.

     

    Questions:

     

    1.  Would you black the the whole boat inside and out?  Or black the outside and vactan the inside?  Or something else?

     

    2.  Would you epoxy it?  Is it worth the cost?  The boat is virtually worthless, but once this project is in place, it won't be easy to black it again.

     

    3.  Is there any point in putting anodes on it?  The boatyard seem to want to do it, but I've always assumed that the joey boats I see moored up have no anodes.  This is kind of the same thing.  No engine or electrics.  The boat will not move once in place.

     

     

     

     

     

    boat.jpg

  2. 2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

     

    Well they wouldn't saty in business very long if they relied on my business. I've neve had a problem finding a 7-day blacking yard.

     

    One of the best being :

    Undercover, you can stay on board, shoreline hook-up, water, toilets and any work done that you want.

     

     

    Screenshot (207).png

    CAM00042.jpg

    Yes, I found one similar.  They're out there if you look.  I expect the marinas rely on their moorers not bothering to look elsewhere.

  3. 1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

     

    You have obvioulsy not much experience of any 'proper' boat yards. Every one I have used has always been an 'in on a Friday morning and out on a Friday morning'

     

    Then a agenda pretty much as Biscuits lays out - except a 3rd coat on day 4 or 5 , and an extra  'hand brush painting' in all the nooks & crannys'  (up the weed hole, around all the joints and angles, on the rubbing strakes etc)

    Depends on your definition of a proper boatyard.  The bad experience I described above was very much at a very well established and very highly regarded boatyard.  Try ringing round a few and you'll find that friday to friday is very much the exception rather than the rule these days.  Mosty boatyards just want you in and out as quickly as possible.  Why do one boat a week when you can do three?

  4. 9 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

     

    Yep, that's how I do it usually.

     

    Day 1: enter drydock, wash, scrape, cupbrush.

    Day 2: first coat

    Day 3: second coat

    Days 4-6: any other jobs while in the dock.

    Day 7: exit drydock.

     

    It does help that I prefer Wigan drydock - you can only enter and exit on Friday mornings so you have to wait the full week.

     

     

    Why would 7 days in a dry dock cost three times as much as 4 days?  There's no extra work being done in those extra three days.

    Much the same for me.  I'm currently on the slipway and due back in tomorrow.  I know it's early in the year but the last of the blacking went on Sunday afternoon and it's been a mild week.  Covid cancellations meant a very cheap slipway came available at the last minute so i took it.

     

    My first blacking experience was quite similar to the OPs.  I got a well regarded boatyard to do it while I was out at work. It went up the slip, was blacked and back in the water approx 48 hours later.  I didn't know any better back then.  Predictably, they'd done an awful job and the blacking must have been still wet when it went in, as the weed hatch had glued itself shut.  I raised it with the yard and got a shrug and "well we're busy, what do you expect?".  Needless to say I would never go back.

  5. From reading this thread and others, I've got the impression that a good monitoring set up would be to have 2 meters.  A Victron/NASA type to tell you when to stop charging.  And a Smartgauge to tell you when to start charging.  This Balmar interests me, because it looks like it's a single unit which covers all bases (if it works as claimed).

     

    Can anyone recommend someone who could fit one for me?  I had a look at the 'simple' installation instructions, and I might as well have been reading Russian!

  6. 1 hour ago, john6767 said:

    Feeling in a generous mood today; I think you will find the Hatherton is not part of the BCN

    My copy of Another 60 Miles says it is BCN as far as Hednesford Basins to the North and Churchbridge Junction to the west.  It states "Although the Staffs and Worcs Canal Co contributed towards the costs of building the branch it was still part of the BCN".

     

    If you want to be picky, you could say these parts are the Cannock Extension and the Churchbridge Branch, but they are part of what we now call the Hatherton Canal.

  7. 14 hours ago, Victor Vectis said:

    IMG_1916.jpg.bb6ec48962faab8c1bf97a55cfe1dce6.jpg

     

    < adopts smug git expression >

    I have 2 of those.  Lovely bedtime reading!

    17 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

    As a bona fide BCN person you’re most definitely welcome.

     

    JP

    Thanks boss,  I'm still not quite sure how any of this will work, but I'll be ready to help with the team!

  8. 2 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

    Rob-M and I briefly conversed yesterday evening, having been an actual team for the past four Challenges. I too had held back due to being full time at work, albeit from home.

     

    What I could do is enter a team and nominate @Rob-M and @tree monkey and any other working folk who are interested but unsure if they can commit as spokespersons. Just so long as everyone is clear we might not get off the ground. There would no pressure on anyone, including me.

     

    We might ‘beat’ Laurie to the wooden spoon.

     

    JP

    Hi Cap,

     

    I'm another worker who'd love to join your team.  I also have a copy of the other 60 miles, but unfortunately, it's in my drawer at the office while I'm working from home.  I may be of some use though...

  9. This idea is not a lot different to our forum chat room, just with added video.  The chat room used to be well attended and could get quite busy, but it's died a death.  It's a long shot, but why can't we add video to our chat room on here?

    1 hour ago, Victor Vectis said:

    Please be careful with this.

     

    The Archers podcast, DumTeeDum, put out details of a Zoom meeting on Twitter.

    It was ruined by trolls. A bloke, ahem, pleasuring himself, another calling one of the organisers the 'n' word etc.

     

    Be warned!

     

    Simple solution:  get a list of forum members who want to join and dm them the link

  10. 16 hours ago, Mrs Tawny Owl said:

    I (We) are in the process of updateing the scoring system for this year.

    Once that's done I'll publish on the BCNs website, and send to all current participants.

    I don;'t see any reason not to make available to everyone, it might encourage otheres to enter.

     

    Not quite sure when, most of my spare time at the moment is helping my sister with lambing and calving on her farm, I saw 3 lambs born this morning, up and feeding within 1/2 hour. very cute.

     

    It will be in plenty of time for those who've already decided their route to rethink if necessary.

     

    Sue

    Thanks Sue.  I'll look out for it.

  11. It will be 3 years this year since I joined in with this as a boater, so think I'll probably throw my hat in the ring again this time.  I can't remember if it's possible to see the scoring system before officially entering?  Is it online somewhere or do I have to pay my fee first?  Thinking about where the accumulator sections are and which canals score in both directions.

  12. I may cycle it again this year and try and beat my mileage from last year.  If I'm clever I can strategically moor my boat for the saturday night to sleep on, start from one of the railway stations and try and do most of the BCN over the 2 days, then finish at.... hang on, where's the finish?

  13. I'm moored in the centre of Birmingham at the moment.  You're welcome to come and film my boat.  (She's been on telly before and quite liked it).

     

    Kate - once you've made 5 posts on the forum you can send private messages to other members.  This will help with arranging things.

  14. 26 minutes ago, bizzard said:

    I need one of the those plug into the mains USB chargers to charge my 3 Wi-Fi dongle's battery as my old laptops  double USB port is now faulty. It has three but I don't want to use the third one because I use it for downloadung from my camera and what not. The laptop is working fine wirelessly from the dongle but of course its not charging it at the same time and I have to use my windows 10 notebook to charge it.  The question is are all the plug in USB chargers the same and won't bugger up or blow up my 3 wi-fi dongle.  :)

    No they are not all the same.  In simple terms, if you go to Argos, Tesco, Currys etc and get a branded charger it will cost you upwards of £10 and should be fine.  If you go on ebay (or to a car boot) and buy an unbranded charger for about £1.50, it's likely to be junk and may well damage your gear.

  15. Post which led this thread astray have been hidden. I’ll say again - if you want to discuss your political views then this forum has a place for you to do it. 

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