[Olympic Park Cruise, anyone?]

I had a 40 foot boat booked (boat name Cobo) but will not be able to go so if there is anyone else who wants the place last minute it might be available. I had originally booked the qeop and the tidal bit as well.

 

I emailed the Londonlegacy organiser Steven Wilding about it a few days ago to cancel my place. Hopefully it will be a nice day for it

[Elecricity Bollards at Boston VM]

I unplugged mine shortly after they installed the new bollard - simply to reroute the shore line cable and I had to fanny about for ages trying to get it switched on again. I think it was CRT customer no. Then bollard no. Then PIN. Something like that anyway

Power switches off if plug is removed and needs full details to switch it on again.

 

I hate the umbillical cord anyway

[Elecricity Bollards at Boston VM]

If they are the same as ours you need an account with CRT and MeterMacs which is the online 'gateway' for topping up.

 

You get a PIN which you used to access the electric at the bollard.

 

All very technical and does not accept mag stripe cards.

For some reason I think that people declared as no home mooring are not allowed to have electricity accounts. If you have a home mooring with the same type of bollards (CRT managed) then you can access the service wherever it is available.

 

Not sure if there is any other way a visitor could do so other than dismantling the bollard and bypassing something - an activity which would probably alert the service provider anyway.

[Rights to stay onboard in floods]

 

I guess it does if you are on a private site.

 

But what would happen if the site owner didn't ask you to leave, or if you were on an end-of-garden or farmers field mooring on the main river channel?

I don't think they could force you to leave but if the boat came adrift and blocked a weir or something then perhaps they could take legal action of some sort? A boat in the hands of an experienced person is much better occupied than left alone IMO

 

I guess a marina will have an insurance contract in place which may dictate their behaviour towards residents. Perhaps a private contract could be drawn up by an individual boater to bypass it?

[Rights to stay onboard in floods]

A herd of cows!

A flock of sheep!

A school of wales

A fleet of ships,

 

It seems now we have lots of Doppels - would the collective name be a 'FLOOD of Doppels' or maybe a 'DECEIT of Doppels'

 

PS: I used a doppel once. I had a particular problem of great concern to me and I used a discussion forum to seek help, where I had to provide factual information about a live committee that I served on, where I suspected improper procedures and practices, where to spell out my case, the detail would be enough for a forensic investigator to work out the actual committee - and my identity - leaving me open claims of libel.

So I used a doppel.

 

Back to the topic. How do you know the EA want you to leave?

Other boaters told him - according to post by Claude aka Blackrose earlier in the thread

Because I'm one of those unusual boaters who speaks to their fellow moorers.

 

Although I must say I assumed people not talking to fellow moorers / neighbours was more unusual at least it is in my experience of mooring at 4 different long term sites on and off over a 20 year period where everyone seemed to talk to each other quite freely

[Rights to stay onboard in floods]

Fair enough

[Rights to stay onboard in floods]

 

 

Why do you think that? There have been so many examples of doppeling this clearly isn't the case.

 

Chis Pink for example has about five known-to-the-mods doppels, and probably a further ten too! And yes posting style shines through. CP usually outs himself by getting angry and abusive!

Obviously possible yes MtB but I thoight you needed two different devices (two IP addresses?) which seems a bit complicated. I suppose lots of people have phone and pooter and tablet on different connections. I only have one (my phone) so not sure it would work for me

[Rights to stay onboard in floods]

I had Claude down as Mike on Blackrose ages ago its impressive how peoples actual posting style is so individual to them. Quite strange. I thought dual IDs weren't possible on the software?

[Leisure Mooring Advice]

 

 

I am a bit late to this thread and have not read all of it bit I thought I should add a pearl of wisdom.

 

Facetious is a word which has all the vowels in the right order !

 

Very unusual

(Meant to quote a much earlier post but didn't work for some reason )

[BOATERS ASKED TO TAKE PART IN SURVEY ABOUT LONDON PRE-BOOKABLE MOORING OPTION]

Well thats good to here as we are planning a visit in the not too distant future.

 

Next summer is the Caledonian and the summer after the Thames and London.

I came from Regents Park to Limehouse in one of my boats (a 40 footer) a couple of weeks ago and there was not a single alongside towpath mooring spot available on the Regents Canal between Camden and Hackney (Victoria park) its all full. I could have breasted up yes of course but some people don't want to do this for valid reasons. Anyone who doesn't understand this needs to think a bit.

This is fact not some horror story. No space at the Inn. Perhaps I was unlucky that day. I have been west to east and east to west about a dozen times over the last 5 years and it has got to a certain point now where something needs doing because some people may like to visit London by boat on the Regents canal and they will need somewhere to Moor other than lock waiting bollards.

 

Edit to clarificate

[accurately measuring water flow speed?]

Notwithstanding your Shurflo arrangement, hasn't any other kayaker ever done this? I mean, your surely not going up xxxx creek without a paddle, are you?

 

If the Sureflo packs in or runs out of power, you're just the same as any other bloke in a kayak, just with so much extra ballast. Icant believe that you're going to be the first kayaker up any creek in the UK and, even if you are, are you really sure you need this info to a level of accuracy greater than that provided by MtB's walking speed comparison? Apologies for appearing negative, but perhaps you should be asking this on a kayak forum?

You are quite right

 

(Note to self: stop adding pointless topics to the forum )

[accurately measuring water flow speed?]

That's a good point I will check that out thanks for that.

[accurately measuring water flow speed?]

That's interesting

 

I have two old marine gps units one made by sitex and the other by koden. I find they are very accurate at low speed with 0.1mph resolution whereas the speed display on my phone tends to jump around much more. I have an idea that phone gps is not quite the same as a real gps. Phone seems pretty good for car driving speeds but below about 5mph it doesn't seem to be able to display down to 0.1mph resolution for some reason.

[Dog leg in exhaust system?]

Reading the op's 2nd post it seems to me that there is a silencer (muffler) in the system but this would not act as a waterlock so this steel thing has been fitted between the muffler and exhaust outlet to act as a waterlock. Maybe it has a little drain screw in the bottom of it?

 

Photos will help yes.

[Dog leg in exhaust system?]

The other possible reason for it is that it is there to hold the water which ends up in the outlet hose when stopping the engine.

 

The normal thing is to use a "waterlock" which will contain the excess water but its possible a 'dog leg' going downwards may have the same effect. Not sure but it seems to be a design feature and it may have been designed by someone who knew what they were doing. Or not..

Re-reading your original post I think as it is steel it is probably a home-made waterlock. These have a silencing effect so you may find if you do away with it that the exhaust is considerably louder.

 

 

This is a plastic waterlock http://www.force4.co.uk/vetus-lp-plastic-waterlock-lp45.html?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=CK2PqraDy80CFY9uGwodWvUFhg

 

 

I recently installed a generator in my boat which is cooled by canal water. I initially installed it just with exhaust hose but it was very noisy so I fitted a waterlock (same as link above) and it is now barely audible except for the sploshing noise.

 

There is a third possibility which is that it is a gas/water seperator but I don't think these are very common. I found one on ebay for sensible money for my generator and it does make it extremely quiet as the water is separated by gravity and can be routed to below the waterline so no sploshing from the exhaust.

 

If you had one of these your exhaust outlet would be dry (perhaps a few drops of water) and the steel dog leg would have a drain to route the water to an underwater fitting

I doubt it is that but its possible.

[accurately measuring water flow speed?]

I haven't looked closely at the apps available but I think there is one which gives speed v time of day (maybe a jogging thing or summat) so if it was done for say ten minutes the pushing out and reeling back in could be excluded when processing the data

 

Its too anoraky at the end of the day.

[accurately measuring water flow speed?]

No it's fairly well inland - barking creek and deptford creek and the river Darentt at Dartford are the places I am thinking about so not swept out to sea but out to the tidal thames which could be quite serious I suppose.

 

Edit for errer

[Smelly vent in sewage tank!]

I haven't got one

Nor do I. And no chem added to toilet except white malt vinegar. There is a light whiff from the vent after flushing (lavac sea toilet discharging to a small holding tank) but nothing too foul unless you are right beside it.

[Anyone know what this is?]

If it was all on one side of the boat, it could well be a Lister.

Nice

 

There is an outside chance it may be a Russell Oldbery.

[accurately measuring water flow speed?]

Which app were you thinking of? They all seem rather inaccurate at low speeds over short distances?

 

I find walking alongside a stream useful in gauging the speed. If a brisk walking pace keeps you level with debris in it, the stream is about 4mph. If you can't keep up with the flow without breaking into a jog, then it's faster. If you can relax a bit and not have to walk 'fast', then its slower.

 

What sort of stream speed would have you deciding its too dangerous?

Its not so much about danger but working out the timing of a there-and-back trip using the top part of the tidal window. I have fitted a shurflo pump motor a shaft and a propeller to it ( ) so the kayak has power assist which means I can maintain a fairly constant speed without getting tired. I can calculate this speed by carrying out sea trials on the cut. The unknown factor is then the tidal flow which will have a fairly big effect on journey time.

 

I guess its probably fairly random and changeable according to the state of the tide and channel profile. I think your walking idea is good

 

And yes phones are not ideal for low speeds I have noticed that they seem to be a bit jumpy.

[Anyone know what this is?]

Is it an anchor of some sort.

[Dog leg in exhaust system?]

If it's an anti syphon loop it should have either a vent valve or a small pipe leading to a skin fitting, at the highest point. Its a good idea to have this if the exhaust elbow on the engine is below water level.

 

If you remove it there may be a possibility of cooling water ending up in the cylinders (coming back through exhaust hose and into manifold then through the valves) which can lead to a hydraulic lock event which can destroy or seriously damage the engine.

I would try to work round it if possible as it may be there for a very good reason.

[accurately measuring water flow speed?]

I'm thinking of going on some tidal creeks in my kayak. Will do some reconnaisance on foot first.

What's the best way to accurately measure the flow speed from the bank?

 

I was thinking of strapping an old smartphone to a piece of polystyrene, app loaded to record an average speed. Push it into the flow attached to a fishing line and reel, let it drift for a while then reel it in and look at the data.

 

Is this too complicated

[Coot nesting in lock gate]

Marvellous - and how nice that the cootlets will get changes of view to stimulate their interest in their surroundings. "Ooh look, that wall is getting closer...ooh no, it's going away again...ooh look, here it comes again" etc.

 

Are you sure it's a coot? From your snap, it looks more like a moorhen.

I see what you mean - it seems to have a red beak in the photo but at the time i thought it was a coot.

 

This is possibly due to the fact there are so many coots around this area. They are very aggressive. I've seen a couple of fatal coot fights outside the boat. and very few moorhens about generally. I suppose that could explain the nesting site - getting away from the ruddy coots !!

there's a pair of tits at braunston top lock (nesting in the life ring)

 

 

 

 

I wonder what the legal status is if someone was attempting to drown in the cut and you were planning to chick the lifering to them?

 

. edit as other bit is a new topic

[Coot nesting in lock gate]

Spotted this yesterday

 

I went through the lock as did other boaters and we did not actually disturb the nest so I suppose its OK?

 

I was a little concerned I may have broken the law which prevents interfering with wildlife but as the coot seemed to be happy with it so was I.

 

At least it was one of the bottom gates! I did once see some ducklings in the same sort of place on the top gates of a lock at Berkhamsted and as it filled they did not seem to go anywhere I guess they were sitting ducks

 

Anyway what do we think of the legal status of passing through this lock.

Sorry about title typo - stupid fone !!!

And as my 6 year old daughter said "that nest is rubbish"