David Schweizer
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Posts posted by David Schweizer
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We kept both a diary and log book when we had Helvetia, Nothing fancy or electronic, just traditional pen and paper. We still have them despite havig sold the boat nine years ago. It serves of a usefull reminder of the various places we visited.
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57 minutes ago, Tonka said:
Or they just stick Tata stickers on an old piece of steel
Hopefully they weld it better then the new Scottish ferry which has taken 7 years to build and only started operating in January. Now out of service due to a crack letting in water
You do know that Tata have closed their blast furnaces so cannot produce the top grade steel anymore in this country. It will be a few years before their electric arc furnaces come on line and they can only produce recycled steel
Is that actually correct? When I was at College we studied both Blast Furnaces and Electric Arc Furnaces as a means to manufacture Steel. I have no recollection of being told that Electric Arc Furnaces were only able to use re-cycled steel, but the process using ore was more complicated and time consuming when using raw Iron Ore. Producing steel by using only Electric Arc may make it a sound commercial option, but not an impossible one, as is now being suggested.
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2 minutes ago, Annie cariad said:
Seen this before complete rubbish just a scam of sorts
Are you suggesting that the OP is a scam, or something else?
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51 minutes ago, China wang said:
Oh, thank you, sir. This indeed appears to be an excellent direction. However, it strikes me that the digital archives in the UK aren't as comprehensive as one might hope. In my current situation, the materials available to me are largely limited to some second - hand books. Nevertheless, I'm extremely grateful to you for suggesting such a great research path!
A lot have not been put on digital access for a good reason. Many of the records in local Records Office are loaned to them, and are not the property of the Local Records Office. Requiring students to search them personally helps to stop people from stealing someone else material. Some of the records I research are still owned by the organization that placed them in the local Records Office, and one requires written consent from the originating organization to call them from the archives for personal research, which I have always been given, but it can be withdrawn if the information is used inappropriately.
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Suspect post. This does not read like someone writing in a second language. Reported
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1 hour ago, Tonka said:
Only advisory now on private boats. Think it is compulsory on commercial boats including hire
I am certain it was compulsory when we bought the boat, so it already had all the legally required ventilation. It worked well and there was no need to remove it.
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But surely boats are legally required to have permanent ventilation via low level cabin side/door vents and roof ventilators. We had both and more than the regulations required, our cabin was always dry.
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Our old boat was built in 1981 and was insulated with Rockwool. The cabin sides were lined with pine matchboard and at some time most of it was temporarily removed for re-wiring. In 20 years, we had no moisture issues. We also had no problems with wet bilges. I suspect that much depends on the initial quality of build and the fitting of the insulation.
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38 minutes ago, blackrose said:
Yes many seem to, rolling their eyes and getting in a state because someone new used the term barge when they meant narrowboat. It may be widely regarded as incorrect terminology amongst narrow boaters, but since a narrowboat is a specific type of barge it's not that incorrect and not worth getting one's knickers in a twist about.
The only person who seems to be repeatedly insistant on re-arranging their underwear regarding this issue appears to be yourself. 😀
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14 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:
I believe Sculptor has a lever for engine speed rather hand the near ubiquitous speed wheel, (assuming no more recent change of hardware).
I'm not sure if it is "original" equipment or not.Wasn't Sculptor also converted to a London Fire Boat If so, maybe the lever control was fitted at the same time.
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Pisces, which was a Small Northwich, had a rachet lever throttle control, and a very long pivoted lever connnected to the gearbox for gear change. I do not know whether they were original equipment, or controls fitted when the boat was either converted into a Fire Boat, or later into a Water Bus, but they were the controls on the boat when aquired from Brittish Waterways in the early 1960's. I seem to remember seeing another former working boat with a similar arrangement some years ago, but cannot remember the name of the boat.
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Yes thank you. I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I was already aware of the newspaper article identified by Heartland, but had forgotten about it, along with some census research I conducted some years ago. To make ammends the link to a 2019 thread giving more information is here:-
https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/99623-canal-boat-or-narrowboat/
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1 hour ago, 5239 said:
yeah interesting, weren’t there comments elsewhere recently that suggested the term/name Narrowboat or narrow boat is a modern term adopted by leisure boaters?
I say modern, I mean 50 years ago,
They may even have said it were Rolt who first used the term? 🤷♀️
and the term widebeam must be more recent,
widebeam being a boat/barge built in the style of a Narrowboat but wider,
Rolt certainly appears to be the first person who used the term Narrow Boat in print, but he must have got the term from someone, and it was a tad more than 50 years ago his book "Narrow Boat" was published in 1944.
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12 hours ago, system 4-50 said:
Why do we need a Jewish section?
11 hours ago, Graham Davis said:What?? There's a section for us vasectomised members?
Is this sort of "humour" appropriate?
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5 minutes ago, BoatingLifeUpNorth2 said:
It’s ok, I would like it if there were old working boaters on here and more people who actually remembered them, it would be nice to read their experiences of real working boats and working the canals and it would be great to see their old photos in that long running post of what’s nice on the canals👍👍
Very unlikely as very few went to school or ever learnt to read and write. Up until quite recently there would always be a good number at the Braunston historic boat rally, but sadly many of them have either passed away in the last few years, or are too unwell to attend. If you want to see old photos, may I suggest that you start by taking a look at the Historic boats for sale section.
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Fair enough, I must have mis understood what you were trying to say. However, there are a lot more members on here who remember working boats then you may think, but most of them choose to post only infrequently.
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19 hours ago, BoatingLifeUpNorth2 said:
How many years ago were the working boats of yore? Long before the majority on here were on the canals and Rosie & Jim were on kids TV and people played at being on a working boat of yore, complete with Rosie & Jim rag dolls.
How does that make recollections of those who rermember the old working boats, make their experience any less relevant ?
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3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:
I thought lots were fumigated from time to time
I have never heard of that happening. I knew a lot of boating families in the 1960's, and can only think of two who might have qualified for that sort of treatment. All the others kept both themselves and their boats clean and tidy, despite the often dirty work.
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1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:
deleted
17 hours ago, magnetman said:I have one hanging by the front door.
These are the best genuine article bronze windlasses. The right size, LG2 and hard as nails. Brilliant bit of work.
My Bronze windlass is exactly the same as the one illustrated.
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On 14/02/2025 at 18:34, magnetman said:
Unusual one. I've seen the single Dunton style version but not the double in brass.
If it is brass it is liable to bend and break.
Maybe it is LG2 gunmetal like the ones Laurence Hogg produced, or aluminium bronze.
One would hope it is a bronze if it is useable rather than an ornament.
Quite a lot of metal in these so it will be a heavy blighter.
If its brass it will probably break at the bend.
I still have my bronze Boatman's Cabin (Laurence Hogg) short throw windlass. It is a lovely item, which I used on all but the stiffest lock paddles. It is now in my small collection of interesting windlasses, but not on display!
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Not really. Old rare, and interesting postcards can fetch serious money.
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2 minutes ago, IanM said:
https://www.facebook.com/p/Phil-Speight-MBE-Traditional-Painter-100054789315845/
His contact details are on there.
Yes, I just found that !!
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51 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:
His Facebook details if you use it, I wont tell anyone if you do (1) Facebook
Just a bit out of date (15 years and only one post)
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17 hours ago, junior said:
Thanks Dave. They are indeed Phil Speight. I'd like to try and preserve them for as long as possible. If a covering of Yacht Varnish will give them a few more years then that would be my aim.
Would you recommend any sort of light sanding to try and remove any loose paint, or just start applying the varnish to try and seal it up as it is?
Whatever I do, I definitely don't want to try and touch them up or do any sort of pain restoration. I want to keep them as is, albeit try and 'seal' them up to prevent any further deterioration.
I dont know if he is still around and/or still painting, but you could always ask Phil if he would be willing to tidy them up a bit. Alternatively you could try Meg Gregory, who was Phil's aprentice, and paints in a similar style.
Bad Language. A Reminder.
in General Boating
Posted
I only report posts if I feel that they contravene forum rules and warrant it, but in the last to instances I recived no confirmation of recieipt or comment on one, and on the other, only a comment more than a week later. One might wish to suggest that the system is either failing, or the mods consider my intervention to be irrelevant.