howardang

As a non-engineer I have always thought that the best tool for hitting a nail is a shifting spanner. Am I wrong?? Howard

If you want some more information, the Flag institute is based in Hull; their web site is as follows; https://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/about/about-vexillology I hope you find it interesting. Howard

And the fish and chips are a million per cent better! Howard

Have you tried googling for crane hire, Kennet and Avon Canal? You may find some advice in the search facility on here. I presume that Aldermaston Marina cannot point you in the right direction for a suitable contractor. Howard

To complete the story, the third vessel is the Wingfield Castle which is berthed at Hartlepool and is open to the public with free entry. The berth is in the same dock as Hartlepool Marina - see the details in the link below. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_Wingfield_Castle Howard

We sometimes watch the tv programmes about policing and we often comment about how most of the work shown seems to be predominantly social work and also frequently demonstrates how the public have little or no respect for the police which to my mind is a real contrast to my memories of how the police were regarded when I was younger. I can speak with some knowledge because my father was a reasonably senior police officer until he retired and I spent most of my formative years living at or very near to police stations until I left home to go to sea. The modern police contrast greatly to my experiences of them in earlier times, and if some of the TV programmes showing them on duty are representative I am saddened by how they are disrespected by some members of the public, especially by younger people. Howard

Quite common on dredgers so you may well have seen then on dredgers on the canal network. Howard

For goodness sake, please stop the pipe dreams and be more realistic. I hate to say this, by the very nature of your questions so far it is patently obvious that with all due respect your journey to see the barge would be an utter waste of your time because of your lack of knowledge and experience. If you are really wanting to get involved with boats, start more modestly and don't waste your money on a pipedream. Good luck with whatever you decide but please think very long and hard and look at other more realistic ways of getting into boating before you make what could be an expensive and time wasting mistake. Howard

Not Ashley's book which is all hand drawings of the various knots and bends. It is a very useful and definitive bookshelf reference book but at times it is not the easiest book to follow, and it is not cheap compared to some others. Howard

This reply sums up many of the points which I was also going to say but I will only add that I do hope that you think long and hard before you spend a lot of time and money, not to mention potentially risk your life while chasing a dream. Yes, everyone has to start somewhere but please take some time to get experience of what you may be taking on. I also come from the same part of the world (Brough) and may I suggest that you may find it very useful to have a chat with some of the moorers at Hull Marina or at Beverley Beck, who may be able to give you some assistance and point you in the right direction. Finally, I would also say that around the coast you will find the remnants of many a pipe dream, left by people who had the same wishes but who found that they had vastly underestimated the need to walk before you can run. Good luck Howard

So why expend a great deal of time and effort in duplicating something which is already readily available to the OP with a slight amount of effort? Howard

Quite right. Ignore the moaning minnies, although you could take their ungrateful comments as their way of volunteering to help out so maybe you might be able to recruit one or two of them to ease your burden - they have nothing better to do! Many thanks for sorting it out , something I wouldn't have a clue about. Howard

Good to see you lean towards tautology. 😀 Howard

I agree that to allow general advertising on the main forum would quickly get very messy, but I am not averse to a well set up dedicated section where organisations could advertise their goods/services. Would it be possible to impose a small, token charge to use this service which would go to offset the forum costs? Howard

I see you divide and rule! Howard

Talk of spray systems reminded me of a car ferry I was involved with. Built in 1964 it was equipped with a water drenching system over most of the superstructure together with airlocks which were fitted in case of nuclear fall out. They were fitted if needed to decontaminate the ship in the event of nuclear fallout contamination and the air locks were fitted with drenching showers for crew decontamination. They were removed some years later when the ship was sold for conversion to a small cruise ship. This system was fitted to a car ferry, and some other merchant ship of the period had similar systems and of course I am sure that warships also had similar systems. Thank goodness they were never needed in anger.. Howard

I recently saw a film of a car ferry in Scandinavia which was electrically powered but instead of batteries it took its electrical power from a long length of cable stowed on large drums on board. In that respect it resembled a modern version of a chain ferry using power cables instead of chain. It seemed to work well. Howard

The UK imports coal from Columbia to the UK by ship to a number of ports, including among others Hull and Immingham. Last figures I am aware of are 167,000 tons in the last few years - 2021 I think.

Many shipping companies have similar corporate structures where the actual owners can be difficult to winkle out. Howerver, to the average cruise customer this is meaningless. They have very little knowledge of who actually owns a ship. Rather, I suspect that they are unaware of the reality, but shipping company corporate structures have been like this for many many years. As an example, I once worked for a shipping company with a fleet of about a dozen ships, each onwned by a different company. Howard

It was a great shame to see the ferry company, which bears the name of such a prestigious historic british company behaving in such a manner. Up until quite recently the P&O name was highly respected and one of the elite British shipping companies, ever since their start in 1837. It is very sad to see how they have fallen from grace in many peoples view in such a fashion and there must be many potential customers who feel, like you, that they wouldn't use P&O Ferries on a matter of principle. However, I'm not so sure that the cruise ship division are having the same type of comments directed at them and indeed I know a number of people who cruise with them and regard them highly. Howard

They are also still showing on my PC. Howard

I think you may be making an assumption that there are "experts" on here who would be able to contribute and there well may be, but how can you be sure that everyone who contributes actually has the knowledge required? That is where the can of worms lies, and that could lead to inevitable longwinded arguments, differences of opinion and fall outs which would make the Wiki of questionable merit. I would suggest that the potential for aggro would not be worth the effort of setting it up and maintaining/monitoring worthwhile and would be more trouble than it is worth. Howard

A pump handle Howard