Chertsey

Or turning the page of the map, or texting, or making a note in the log... I'm lucky in that my boat will keep itself on course without being steered at all where the conditions are right, which is more impressive still. I even managed to walk round the gunnel to collect a cup of tea on my last trip, when the teamaker didn't fancy the gunnel walk. And of course that is probably more risky than 99.9% of the time spent standing in the arc of the tiller... But better than them falling in or me not getting my tea. I was going quite slowly :-) I don't think I would steer with my back when going that fast!

That would be blacking surely?

I guess tights would do... But be careful what sort of cat litter - I think some will just turn into mud and not go up a vacuum. You can (or could) get stuff that looks like cat litter especially for absorbing oil and other spillages and then sweeping up. I have no idea what its proper name is, PB used to call it 'chicken feed' which is what I guess it was known as in the motor trade.

Oooh, that's a lovely idea! Did they have a specific livery?

I've still got the strainers on the outside. Just off to look for some photos...

This thread has demonstrated that different positions suit different people and of course individuals must make their own risk assessments and weigh up comfort against safety (where the design of the boat doesn't allow both to be achieved simultaneously). However, hopefully the message will have come through loud and clear to the OP that there *is* a risk in standing within the arc of the tiller - even if only one of the posters in the thread has experienced the tiller swinging hard while going forwards - we can argue about how big a risk it is, but it having happened just once might be enough for some people to wish to avoid it. And that was what the OP asked - had it ever happened. Thousands of people saying it has never happened to them don't prove that it couldn't happen - perhaps to them, perhaps tomorrow - but one person saying it did proves that it can happen.

On the gunnel, on the towpath side, holding the handrail. And dangly fenders.

Oh wow, who'd have thought it would lead to all this fabulous info. I have of course been up and down that line many many times - I am just very geographically unaware. I'm quite pleased that the picture turns out to be pretty accurate. One little thing still bothers me - how are the running blocks fixed? I've never paid much attention but I thought they went under the top strings - but in the picture they're not lined up with them.

Some days I steer for ten hours or more but apart from a satisfying overall tiredness, I don't get any particular aches or pains. I don't understand the idea that standing on the step means having to twist... Maybe the boat makes a difference?

I guess the cabin sides need to be higher because the hull is less deep on a modern boat. Another argument in favour of an old one! I am not tall (5'3") but the tiller sits nicely in the small of my back (meaning I can steer with no hands on not very bendy bits). When I get my new step (which will be soon :-) I am going to see if it's possible to make it a little higher but more for visibility than comfort. I am also going to have it projecting deeper into the cabin so I can stand further forward without my toes hanging over the edge.

When I first volunteered on Tarporley, and was being 'trained', the 'trainer' plonked himself in the hatches and asked me which side I wanted to stand. I replied 'I want to stand where you are, please' and refused to set off until he moved. It didn't fill me with confidence (although the boating practice I got and being their first ever skipper to take an all female crew out on a trip did, eventually). Tarp's swan's neck was bent with the result that they could only use a short tiller otherwise it wouldn't clear the cabin top. It was pretty heavy work.

Goodness, how do you find these things? The box does indeed give B J Freeman as the artist. Isn't is marvellous that someone has a blog dedicated to jigsaw puzzles featuring steam trains. Oh yes, so it could. Is (was) there a railway line there? I've never noticed.

Steering round a sharp bend? Conveivably, the foreward, balancing part of the rudder hitting something.

Oooh, PB and me have just joined the W&A Trust (well, I joined him for his birthday :-)

I know I'm a sucker but I couldn't resist this jigsaw puzzle in the Oxfam shop. Well, you know, those long winter evenings... (when I should be crocheting a bedspread and making sidecloth strings). I know this sort of picture's a cliche but just how (in)accurate is it? And is it a 'real' place? Like I said, just for fun. If anyone else has examples of this sort of thing it would be nice to look at them too.

I found that a large hardback copy of the collected journalism of George Orwell admirably served this purpose on Warrior, being exactly the same height as the upstand for the slide.

Others will be more knowledgeable than me about different sorts of blacking, but the first thing I would check is how well the current thin coat has adhered, which will depend on how well the steel was prepared before it was put on.

If you're standing on one gunnel, how do you get the tiller hard over to the other side, unless you have exceptionally long (6-7'?) arms? Also, the gunnel is ok for standing on if you've a hand free for the handrail, but if you're steering, you're not really very well anchored. I can't picture one hand on the tiller and one on the handrail without being a contortionist. Or facing backwards, maybe... I would imagine that swinging the tiller towards the side you're standing would tend to throw you away from a secure position too. I can't imagine why anyone would want to do this. I've done it a couple of times when I've been teaching someone else to steer (don't laugh) and it's all but impossible.

And you can haul yourself up and sit on the cabintop (although I have yet to master working the controls with my feet and I do have to get down for any but the gentlest bends).

Yes, it has absolutely happened to me, at least three times. The tiller has moved so violently I've had to let go of it. Far more likely when reversing in my experience. Like Top Cat, I always stand on the step and make sure that any fellow travellers are on the gunnel well forward of the stern - and that they're on the towpath side too (bridges). This isn't just in case I hit an obstruction, but for the far more likely scenario of having to steer round a sharpish bend. Having a sensible place to stand, and using it, means that you can have a decent length tiller which makes steering easier. When I see people standing on the counter, steering with their hand half way up the tiller, or with a short tiller, it not only looks potentially dangerous, but unnecessarily hard work too. Standing in the middle on the step you can change hands and stance as often as you like, you can face to either side or dead ahead with the tiller behind your back. What's not to like?

Ah, but it was very well designed.

Don't rely on them, they didn't send me one last year.

Likewise I'd rather stick with the tried and tested than the latest whizzy (and likely far more profitable) product. I've got Waxoyl between my original baseplate and its overplating so your post is very heartening!

I was going to ask what sort of wireless you were wanting to run off it... in your butty...

This has happened to me more times than I care to recall, but I have especially fond memories of a smallish boat called Shy Swan, crewed by an elderly couple, who rescued us more than once when we (on an early Chertsey outing) were travelling on the T&M along with Minnow, when it was really far too windy to be trying to move at all. Minnow's Bolinder kept going out and we kept blowing onto the rocks. Shy Swan kept pulling us off. Eventually Dawn uttered the immortal words "We'm stoppin' before someone gets killed" and we gratefully allowed ourselves to be blown into the bank. The crew of Shy Swan were waiting for us with glasses of brandy! Never seen them since and indeed wonder if they are still boating.