David Schweizer
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Posts posted by David Schweizer
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On 06/06/2025 at 12:03, pearley said:
I'm not there but would think an A frame.erected over the lock with a chain hoist would be simple.
Which is exactly what they did in the 1960's. BW replaced all four gates above our mooring at Uxbridge Lock, where there was no road access, in one weekend, using A frames to lift and lower the gates into position.
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On 09/05/2025 at 22:48, MtB said:
Swerving off at a reckless tangent, I notice the price is £99.52. That's a weird price to settle on but I notice lots of ebay sales with similarly odd prices. £99.99 would seem a more conventional and understandable price.
Does anyone know why these apparently random number of pence get added to ebay selling prices these days?
When eBay stopped charging sellers a commission earlier this year, they added what they call a "Buyer Protection Fee" to the price payed by the buyer. The fee is 4% of the price the item sells for, plus 75p per item. It makes for some very odd selling prices.
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9 hours ago, booke23 said:
I imagine any switch off is at least 10 years away.
I think the OFCOM report projected that 27% of households would still be getting their TV through Freeview in 2040, so it seems likely the government will opt for some sort of half way house arrangement, at least for a while.
Trawling the internet, I have discovered that there are no immediate plans to discontinue transmitted Freeview until at least 2030 and that some mainstream transmissions will continue until at least 2034, so given that these deadlines often get extended, an estimate of 2040 seems quite possible
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Thanks for the replies. A secondary question :- We tend to use a Humax to record tv programmes and watch them when it is more convenient, also when there are two programmes we wish watch being broadcast at the same moment. Will this facility be preserved when TV is only available through the internet?
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Most people seem to be talking about receiving their TV signal on their boat through a mobile phone (Smart Phone?) However our mobile signal at home varies from poor to non-existant, so will it be possible to get the TV signal via the internet as an alternative? I am currently planning to change our internet from copper wire to Fibre, will that provide a solution?
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RE:- Disposing of oil soaked rags, I have been using linsed oil in its various forms (Raw, Boiled, & Pale Boiled) for decades, and have never experienced the spontaneous combustion that various people predict. I am convinced that it is an urban myth promoted by the internet and people who have never used linseed oil on a regular basis.
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50 minutes ago, Opener said:
Now that beavers are more common on the waterways, my bargepole or barge pole of indeterminate age (20+??) is showing signs of deterioration (!!!!).
I've just acquired a nice new one - what are the panels views on protection bearing in mind that it lives on the roof 24/7/365? I have considered leaving it to natural weathering, painting (primer plus gloss), or varnish.
Oops! It's wood - maybe ash.
I hope your new your pole is Ash, which will bend and not split or shatter under pressure. If it is pine or some other softwood, it could split and cause serious injury if it breaks under pressure. Throw it away and get an ash one. As already mentioned, there is no need to paint it, unless you want it to look pretty, it will suvive without any decoration.
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10 hours ago, carlt said:
...an even poorer copy of a postcard, from ebay, hence the watermark.
Thanks for that Carl, I had seen that postcard many years ago, but could not find in on the internet. It shows the "square" back end far more clearly.
9 hours ago, David Mack said:I seem to recall a trip boat 'Ladywood' that worked in Central Birmingham in the 1970s. Is this the same boat? It would explain the name.
Ladywood came to the K & A Trust second hand, already fitted out as a trip boat, but I do not know where it worked before being based at Bradford on Avon Wharf. Interestingly it had a marinized 4 cylinder Mercedes-Benz engine.
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Some Hancock and Lane boats also had square sterns.I used to captain the 72ft H & L trip boat "Ladywood" which worked out of Bradford on Avon Wharf, and that had a square back end, which was a pain when turning in tight winding holes. I cannot find a photo of the stern but this rather poor copy of a postcard does show it to some extent.
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We can safely rule out Braunston Canal Services as the shell builder, the bow bears no resemblence to the boats they built for Willow Wren hire. or the later Braunston Hire boats.
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If I remember correctly, Rugby Boatbuilders were located at the same base as the the Willow Wren Hire boat fleet, which had been aquired and was being operated jointly by Balliol Fowden and Wyvern Shipping. In the late 1970's/early 1980's they started to replace some of the old fleet with new boats built by Braunston Canal Services which was also owned by Balliol Fowden. There is an outside chance that the OP may be looking at one of those boats, although a 6mm base plate seems to suggest otherwise. Braunston Canal Services boats had some distinguishing features, and whilst they are not initially obvious, a couple of photos of both the bow and rear counter would help with identification (or otherwise).
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15 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:
The historical attachments help (Including the boaters strike perhaps?) Didnt Ron Hough work from there. Tradlines is a decent supplier and Midlands Chandlers are handy too. Theres usually at least 5 historic boats moored up in the area. .>clip
Yes he did, I first met him in the 1960's but only got to know him well during his last twenty years. He lived in the village from a very early age until his sad demise nearly ten years ago, he was one of the many people who made Braunston so interesting for me.
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1 hour ago, Paul H said:
I think that is the Kent.
Paul
On reflection, I think you may be correct. I have a vague recollection of someone telling me it was Jim and Doris Collins old boat, and I do believe they operated Kent before taking on Stanton. However, I also have a recollection of them working Hood for a while, or is that my imagination??
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The various photos of Hood on this thread have inspired me to look out a photo taken on the Aylesbury Arm in 1998. I believe the boat on the opposite bank is Hood with our boat is in front of it.
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10 hours ago, Inagnu said:
Yes correct, others speak highly of him.
We lived in the Bath area and the K&A was a light bulb moment back in the 90's
Wherabouts in the Bath Area? I was a regular captain on the K&A Trust trip boat "Ladywood" based in BoA in the 1990's.
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5 hours ago, Inagnu said:
Hi Steve and Tony, Re Bmc B type box.
Yesterday I had a well known engineer from Braunston on the Grand Union Canal UK,
Look at the gearbox as per the picture of the gray glossy one with reduction box.
He took off the plate with 4 bolts and adjusted the 3 bolts around the shaft from engine,
The 2 bolts running through the top of box I found is only for reversing.
He showed me what to adjust to get box working forward and reverse, made gear changs more positve, he said if you have a engine (RN DM2) and this box you should be able to fix it yourself, lots of hints and tips, great for him to show me the ropes.
Did 6 wide locks up to Braunston Tunnel and on to Norton Junction, No problems.
Thanks for the pictures and ideas.
Would I be correct in guessing that the well known engineer was Jonathon Hewitt at UCC. He has been there for decades, and was always my go to person for any engine work. if not please name.
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3 hours ago, MtB said:
Was any boat ever built with an 8mm baseplate after 1995?
But more seriously, I suspect it more a case of surveyors looking harder. Pre 1995 narrowboats were cheaply built and nobody worried all that much. Now, when a decent modern boat costs well into six figures buyers expect their surveyors to look VERY closely indeed which encourages surveyors to kick up a big fuss about trivial corrosion.
Not all pre 1995 Narrowboat were built cheaply. Helvetia was built by Braunston Canal Services in 1980, and had a 10mm base plate 6mm hull sides and 5mm cabin sides and roof. Most of their boats were built to the same specification, although a few appear to have had 4mm cabin roofs.
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7 minutes ago, Tigerr said:
An update.
The polytrol worked well, until it didn't. I think this is a very 'application-sensitive' product. One can be fooled into thinking you've done it right. I was.
It looked very good for the rest of 23. For a few months it looked like a new boat!
In 24 it weathered, and not so well.
Anyway - the boat paint now is an awful mess. Looks like a 20 yr old boat!
Im not too fussed, as I prefer a bit of patination to a shiny boat. I always think of doilies when I see those manicured house-proud boats go by.
But, terrible grey/white smearing and marking all over, suggests an unloved boat. I am debating whether to apply a strong cutting compound, and wax, or go for another application of polytrol.
If I go for cutting it back, is there a good alternative to T cut? available in larger sizes? If I cut back, is a rotary polisher from Lidl a good idea?
But first, what do the panel think?
When I was an apprentice, I earnt a bit of "Petrol Money" on Saturdays working at a car showroom. One of my jobs was restoring shabby paintwork on older traded in cars, and we used Brasso, which is basicly the same as T cut, but cheaper, we bought it in 1 litre tins. It worked just as well, if not better.
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23 hours ago, Tonka said:
Do they do hacksaw blades that don't cut metal ?
I am not aware of any woodcutting blades suitable for a standard size Hacksaw. However, it is possible to get 14/15 tpi wood cutting blades for both Coping Saws and Junior Hacksaws. I have several of each type in my workshop sawblade tin.
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36 minutes ago, Ray T said:
Renfrew & Belmont, but where?
Both the boats appear to be in BW livery so, presumably, before they were aquired by Blue Line.
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17 hours ago, Mike Todd said:
Pedant alert:
Whilst the default legal position is that all measurements must be in metric units, some UK exemptions exist - the famous pint of beer, for example. At present, yards on road signs remains a legal option although I read that actually on roads signs saying yards are actually metres. It is said that
(Which comes first 800 metres or half a mile?)
In Wales, it is necessary to use llath as well as yards, only yards is not permitted.
UK is the only major country to us m as the abbreviation for miles on public roads, but not on private land, where it would mean metres!
The previous governments attempt to woo Reform UK voters by having a consultation on allowing imperial units again, met with an almost total opposition and so has now been (quietly) buried.
Fortunately there are few occasions when the accuracy of a distance labelled as yards, but is actually metres, is material! That said, for some people 300+ metres is importantly different from a few yards.
1,760 yards in a mile, or 5,280 feet. And no I didn't have to google it !! I am quite happy to be called a Luddite.
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3 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:
Looking at the crack in the top flange, the way it seems to have propagated from the point that the cap would have exerted maximum upwards force. It would not surprise me in the least if that is what happened and a long neck cap was forced on. Luckily it seems there may be a pressure cap on a remote header tank so a plain sealed cap should solve the leak, once the crack is addressed,
I may have missed it, but I cannot see where the OP might have suggested that there is also a remote header tank, or if there is, where it is located. Helvetia had two tanks, one being a standard Bowman expansion tank on top of the engine, and another at the far end of the boat where the last coolant fed radiatoor was located. If I had fitted a blanking cap to the remote header tank, the heating simply would not work because of restricted circulation, and if I had fitted a blankng cap to the Bowman, I suspect that the heating system tank would have served as the engine pressure relief and probably spewed water out all over the front cabin floor. Or am I missing something?
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2 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:
They also come in long and short neck, but neither the pressure nor the neck length will have any effect with the plain flat sealed cap. Even if the cap's pressure was nominally too low on a canal boat cooling system filled to the correct level, it should not allow it to leak, because the coolant level will not rise enough. The pressure is to prevent localised boiling inside the engine under high power and load conditions, that you don't get on canal boats very often.
Yers, that is what I meant by "...different spring lengths." One of the header tanks on Helvetia's central heating system used a short neck cap, and a long neck cap could not be fitted without a great deal of force.
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Things may have changed recently, but radiator caps always came with different pressure relief ratings and different spring lengths. Although the basic cause of the leak seems to be a faulty overflow outlet jonit, I am still persuaded to ask if the OP is trying to fit the correct cap.
Ovaltine boat William
in General Boating
Posted · Edited by David Schweizer
We may well have also met, my association with Pisces was between 1965 and 1971. I am attaching a couple of photos of the William attempting to get under a lock sluice on the flooding River Nene, on its way from the 1971 IWA rally in Northampton. If I remember correctly, we had to help the crew remove the water tanks from the roof to gain sufficient clearance.