JamesWoolcock

Leaves at Hockley Heath? Just a few seconds in neutral and one or two turns of the prop astern sorts that. But the bloody pigeons! That takes a lot longer to sort the paintwork and cabin top in the morning. James

I am so saddened to hear this. Saw and chatted only very recently. I moored at Fradley Junction for quite some years and saw a lot of him and enjoyed his wise words. He told me much about the history of this boat after her working days in which he was involved in condemning her first cabin fitted as a cruising boat! Should I boat to a 'boaty' do in the Midlands, Harry always turned up. Bless you Harry. You enriched my life and understanding of the canal world I live in. James

Nor me. Just in case she's longer than CRT think. She fits very nicely into the very top of a manageable licence bracket!

Now there's a thought for the future George. A foldaway sofa for the bank side! Heading for eBay to get one first. Hope you made it to Hawne without too many problems. See you soon. James

And all of the Leeds & Liverpool where there are some newly made chain type locks that are machined too tight for most keys! Hopeless.....

Yes. The same boat. Molly was built by Tony Francis for the late Kevin Scragg. He did a some sort of exchange (£+/-)with Roger Murrey for FMC MONARCH when she was still in steam. I am told Roger Murrey had Roger Fuller extend her tug deck by building a complete new fore end thus replacing the original and Roger Murrey renamed her Zulu. The internal painting is Kevin Scragg's and I suspect Kevin (Hazardous) Worthington who in his later narrow boat days worked as painter for Steve Hudson. I remember Molly in BWB colours before being repainted in Hingley's livery which was originally, I think, on their tug CROWN. There is even more to the tale of CROWN but for another day perhaps ....

Swarfega. Rub it in then wash the item. 100% I think on fresh oil and grease. James

I gave up on all such relief in locks after I heard the commanding voice of a school teacher call out "Now children, gather round"! Yes indeed. The size of the bottle neck is what is important to most of us.

Over the years I've learned so much from so many former working boatmen that has made so much difference, but the relevant tip given to me for single handed male boaters is to carry a fabric softener bottle. I'm never without one! Cheers Ed ? James

Any news on The Prince of Wales?

I met a quite a few on the Bridgewater on the way to Lymm today and very entertaining. Lovely weather. Lots of pirates. Lots of booze. Lots of people on board too. But it's wide and deep so they had more room in which to screw up and they were having a lovely day on the waterways. James

That's because they haven't fixed the leak in the bottom gates.

So it wasn't just me! I suggest to help to improve things you should tell of this to [email protected] She is the engineer trying to solve this situation and I know she would really welcome your input. She's very approachable and really would welcome your comments. James

Oooooops Typo: " ...in the mid 1970s" !

MARQUIS is indeed a former FMC steamer of 1898, shortened to 54ft during her later working life on the BCN. The 'skirt' is in fact a 'false counter' or sub counter, added by Eddie Hambridge and a rather young Andrew Rothen when they worked for Pinders at Horninglow in Burton on Trent in the mid 1960s. They put the steel bottom on then too. Like all early steamers she has both a very long swim and entry so when shortened there is only about 16ft where the baseplate sides are parallel. The purpose of the false counter is twofold: to give greater stability to a now rather wobbly boat and to raise the counter. The first it must do to some extent, although she can still wobble! At the last out of water survey in 2017 it was observed that the false counter had become perforated and was full of mud and water. After an excellent repair at Canal Cruising Co's dock in Stone, there is no difference in draught. In the latter respect I don't think it does much. Nevertheless Malcolm Braine advised me not to have it removed because of the stability issue. She draws 3ft at the back of the skeg and around 2ft 3in at the stem post, representing a load of some 12 tons. This was scientifically measured by popping her alongside EMU with 11 tons of coal on! MARQUIS was lower at the deck beam. All this is when the two water tanks at the forend are full. When I crossed the lower pound at Minworth they were partly down so she might have been drawing half to one inch more. She does draw down more than this when under way, where here she barely was. I hope this adds something to the discussion. James