magnetman
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Posts posted by magnetman
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To be fair the Thames path passes through numerous different land owners' properties whereas the towpaths on the canal system are afaik owned by the authority (majority CRT and it is CRT towpaths under discussion I think.
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Was thinking of Tim Lewis possibly
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We're coming out of Limehouse inward bound at 0530 on the 27th July. When I booked it I think I saw Plover and Clover booked for 0500 on the same day.
Iirc they are a pair of unconverted Joshers so a nice photo opportunity for anyone around the River early on that day
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I bought a couple of very large picket screw anchors from a bloke on ebay a few years ago. They are 4ft long corkscrews made of 3/4 inch steel with a 'spring' diameter of about 4 inches.
Originally used to anchor aircraft hangars down. A bit over the top for canal boats to be fair.
If you want something to screw in once and leave there then search ebay for screw in ground anchors
This sort of thing
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=112021025686
Machine mart do them as well but slightly more expensive - possibly better quality
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That makes me feel old
(1974 model) -
A blanket ban is silly, the problem depends on the location. I walk tow paths more than I cycle, but when I do I'm likely to see someone every twenty minutes on my nearest cut. I slow to their pace, wish them a good morning, they stand to one side and we both go on our way. Weekends are a different matter, the tow path is a leisure facility with boaters, anglers and crowds of walkers making cycling impossible.
Problems arise in urban and suburban areas with ignorant people, or commuters who use the tow path as a rat run and leave insufficient time for hold ups.
I do think a ban would be a good idea but perhaps based on location and with some "curfew" times.
You suggest that cycling when there are lots of walkers is impossible.
This is obviously not a very common view as there are a lot of aggressive cyclists who are quite happy to carve their way through crowds of walkers ding ding dinging their bells as they go as if they have some sort of police car like priority.
Sadly the only ways to deal with these people is policing or a ban. In my opinion.
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So what happens in reality is by using a towpath rhe cyclists choose to transfer the risk from themselves (car hits bike) to others (bike hits child) such as elderly or children enjoying a walk down what is in theory a public amenity space ie the towpath. Fair enough for the cyclist to eliminate the risk to themselves but somewhat sad that those who wish to just take it easy have the risk of injury directly transferred to them. I know injuries are fairly rare but you have to be on your guard so much as to make it unpleasant to walk on some towpath areas with children because the idea is (according to cyclists) to reduce the risk of injury.Cycling on the road is stressful and dangerous. The cyclist is exposed to some quite real risks, and depending on where the road is, some ridiculous ones. There are 'cycle lanes' on dual carriageways....simply because there is no other route.
As someone who's been riding as a main form of transport for 20 years, I will always chose the path that involves the least cars, or failing that, the lowest speed limit. This includes towpaths, which are an absolute pleasure to ride along, without the constant need for vigilance on what's about to knock you down on this corner, or fail to give way to you at that roundabout.
I think the main problem isn't the weird combination of a desire to wear lycra and a lack of sense/empathy to other people, but one of infrastructure. There simply isn't anywhere to ride a bicycle as soon as you leave city centres. And even in the centres, its perilous (for motorists as well as cyclists).
Have any of you ridden in Melbourne? They have a wonderful, purpose-built network of off-road paths. So relaxing to use, with no fear. Quick too, you can travel across most of the city without being on a road - better for everyone involved. Of course, the Aussies have spare cash, and they also have modern, spaced out cities....but still.
This constant lookout makes the whole thing stressful.
I would advocate a complete ban on cycling on towpaths. What's so terrible about walking ??
It depends on what you think a towpath is. In this day and age I think it is a valuable public amenity where anything above about 5mph is unacceptable.
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Possible confusion between Shire and Shanks engines?
I believe the latter may be a lower quality chinese unit from the same supplier (Barrus) and the former is a Yanmar.
When I repowered my barge in 2011 I put a Beta 90 in it (3.8 litre naturally aspirated 4 cylinder kubota).
Noticed at the boat show they seem to be turbocharging more units possibly due to US emissions laws.
I would recommend Beta as I did the services on a heavily used beta bv1505 for 10 years between 1996 and 2006 and it was a very good unit (in a 55ft Nb so it did do some work). Really good reliable engine.
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Isn't it more for privacy than light reduction?
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I've got a Westinghouse train horn found in a French flea market for 2 euros coupled to an empty fire extinguisher pumped up to 80psi with an old halfords tyre pump.
It does tend to get the message across
Rather rudimentary and heath Robinson but fekkin loud !!
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We made ours from polystyrene pizza bases!
Me too
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Just a warning. A 20" prop should not be fitted into a boat with a 20" stern post as many modern use. I think mine is 16x14 but I do not have the invoice to look it up.
Slowing down the boat and to make sure the alternator turns fast enough for maximum charge at canal speed,
Thanks for that its interesting.
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I did mean it and it would not be visible and due to the way the pipework would be arranged it would be completely safe anyway with no possibility of any leakage as it happens.
I will use a reducer and a tee for the job
Quite right definitely better not to bodge it.
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Without knowing the OP's boat I wonder if it an ex-hire one as they sometimes seem under-propped for their size.
I also remember hearing of a hire operator that had a preference for a particular type of old engine in their boats (details escape me) and that when selling off a boat they would pull the engine (to go into a new boat) and refit the cheapest new engine available (using the new engine as a means of increasing the boats value), I suspect that a barrus shire may fit into the cheapest available category.
Interesting observation on ex hire boats.
One of my boats was built as a hire boat and if does seem rather under propped.
Why would this be?
Slowing down hire boats? Saving fuel?
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Very nice idea but all those moving parts, coal fire on board, bit of condensation I can see trouble.
To be fair I always can see trouble
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I am doing a bit of work on my generators at the moment. Fuel lines etc.
The big mains Genny was plumbed to send fuel back to the filter and this caused leakage in the leakoff pipes which resulted in fuel sitting on top of the engine (not good). Lister LPW3 engine.
Anyway I recently added a small HFL Dc generator to the engine hole and it too needs a leak off which has considerable amounts of fuel going through it due to the electric fuel pump and 'self bleeding' fuel system.
Anyway
Is it going to be OK to route both of these generator leak off/return pipes via 3/16" pipes to a fitting in the top of the tank which has an 8mm outlet? I intend to just shove the thin pipes into the 8mm pipe and fill the gap with sikaflex.
I realise this is a bodge but it seems to me like too much fannying agout to do reducers and tees etc etc when it is just a bit of fuel going back to the top of the tank. i.e. no chance of syphon problems.
What is the best approach.
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Welcome to the forum alycidon55. Another railway fan I am guessing?
You may very well think common sense applies but on here you have know your rights. And then you have to know your T&Cs. And you have to argue about what's enforceable and then about whether or not the law is an ass.
That's all tongue in cheek but if you stick around you will get what I mean and this is a good place really.
If you go about your business on here with the attitude you have in your opening post you will do fine.
Jon
Seconded
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I actually had an idiotic woman runner trip herself up and nearly fall in the canal when I was walking with a 3 year old child. The child did not do anything that is unusual but the runner insisted on continuing her high speed past me the misses and the walking child on a path about 5 feet wide. When she suddenly realised the hazard she performed a very bizarre avoidance maneououver resulting in her tripping over her own foot. Fortunately she did not fall on my daughter.
This leads me to believe that the attention area story is quite probably true.
Why they can't just slow down i do not know
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I discussed this with someone a while ago and he told me that people engaged in jogging or moderately high speed cycling have a very small attention area. This means that they can only perform basic hazard avoidance in the immediate vicinity of their location because the amount of brainpower it takes to perform running or cycling substantially reduces the resources available for other activities.
So its possible that they actually don't "see" the walkers as a hazard until the last minute. Or they are just complete <insert own word here>s.
Sounds ridiculous but apparently there have been some studies on it. For this reason I believe there should be a cycle speed limit controlled by volunteer towpath rangers in busier areas.
Time a cyclist between bridges and calculate average speed. If too high then order them off the path.
Will anyone volunteer for this
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I think towpath users should all be equal from the 2 year old toddler to the Lycra clad Eddie Merckx racing cyclist.
For this reason it is important not to 'jump out of the way' of cyclists. Let them slow down and pass safely. The more they think people just flee as they approach the more dangerously they will behave. Once they have a might is right mindset then you have a group who apparently have more rights than others to use the space available in the way they wish to use it.
Why is it the default that one must give way to someone on a bike? Is it jus fear. Its very sad if it is that
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This thread does highlight that some people take out a licence without knowing that there are terms and conditions which you have to abide by. Unless a boater takes the trouble search the CRT web site it is not obvious that they exist, although compliance is a condition of being given a licence. It may be necessary for a copy of the Ts and Cs to be sent out with licence renewal.
Howard
That's a good point but does anyone ever receive any sort of action against them if they run their engine or generator after 8pm?
Somehow I doubt it, even if it is in the T&C. For example if someone persistently ran their noisy generator at 5 in the morning would they eventually be sorted out by CRT?
I suspect the only recourse for aggrieved parties would be antisocial behaviour legislation or noise nuisance which is nothing to do with CRT anyway.
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You will need to be able to open the lid to see how full it is
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I am happy emptying cassettes but opening a two foot square gas locker type lid to directly check effluent level is going too far
Surely better to drill a hole in lid with holesaw and stick a small inspection window in there if you need visual.
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Us army marquee pegs. I have several of these - they are high quality and not expensive
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=111110765283
You could use picket screws
.. http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=321768515296
If you have leave to remain perhaps proper screw in ground anchors from machine mart would work (expensive)
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Just don't give way to them. I know its a bit awkward but I don't think there are that many who will actually collide with people. Always make sure the cylist is on the watery side of the path and do NOT give them excessive room to pass as if they have some god given priority because they DO NOT. just because they are moving faster and present a physical danger should not give them freedom to be complete and utter -insert own word here-s.Having been on the canals, hiring for the last ten years and now a very proud owner of our own narrowboat , I feel that I am entitled to my first official rant!
Well here it it is, if some of the lycra mafia don't start to slow down around me and "the boss" and abide by the signs(ring their bell & give way) we will be feigning deafness & blindness and staying in the middle of the towpath and may accidently trip and nock one the clowns into the canal. They have taken over the towpath it's time to fight back.
Its difficult to do this but it has got to be done or they begin to think they have some sort of priority.
Sad state of affairs really - the idiot bikers have really spoiled what is an enormously valuable public amenity in a lot of places.
C'est la vie !!
I confess to rding bikes on the canal (except when geese baby season starts) and i have been down right terrified of some cyclist treating it like it is a race track. Canals are not meant to replace the road, it's to pootle along to get you
to where you want to be without dealing with cars. You can't pootle when your trying to break the blooming sound barrier Grrrrr
Commuter cyclists are saving the planet for everyone else. Remember they are higher beings and very important to the long term survival of the species
Other than that they are a pain in the arse
(1974 model) 
Cyclists Rant
in General Boating
Posted
Interesting. I am under the impression that quite a bit of the Thames Path consists of "permissive paths" which involve an agreement between and land owner and a local authority. I could be completely wrong and I admit I have not looked into it closely.