dixi188
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Everything posted by dixi188
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Not speeding, but last Sunday I stopped under a bridge in Alrewas for a crew member to go to a shop for papers and milk. A guy fishing from a boat just beyond the bridge shouted that I can't moor there. I said I wasn't mooring but waiting for friend at a shop. He ranted about my selfishness and I calmly replied that if a boat came along I would move. A paddle boarder went past quite happily and then a boat came so I moved along past two boats to a winding hole to wait. As I passed Mr Angry, he again shouted that I couldn't moor in the winding hole. I said that if a boat came along to wind I would move. 3 boats passed and I asked each if they wanted to wind and all said no. When friend returned I wished the fisherman a better afternoon as he was obviously having a bad morning. He was still ranting as we went on our way.
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How often do you change oil and filters? Did mine last June (Barrus Shire 45) but only did about 14 days cruising and so far only 6 days this year. Not sure if I'll do it this year, maybe save the planet by not throwing away perfectly good oil and filters.
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Hi Keith, Why not? Assuming you have a narrowboat, how do you get on handling the boat when coming alongside a lock landing or mooring place. I find using a centre line much easier than bow or stern lines. When actually mooring, I only use bow and stern lines, not the dredded centre line that some seem to think make the boat more secure. Cheers, Dixi.
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A Chinook can only lift about 10 tons so unless the boat is plastic or aluminium it would be too heavy.
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In 1969 I started my apprenticeship and a very nice Mr Ratcliffe at Poole Technical College told me that after 1971 I would never use imperial tools or measurement again. I retired in September 2019 after 50 years in aircraft engineering and was still using AF spanners and occationally even Whitworth ones on some pipe fittings. Some rivets had gone metric but even then they were really imperial as in 3.2 mm (1/8in), 4mm (5/32in) 4.8mm (3/16).
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I hope it was his own boat and not some graffiti tag.
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And the railways used the canal to move the stuff to build the railway. It's called progress. Wait for Elon Musk's Hyperloop to put every other mode of transport out of business. Not much chance I think! High speed rail is starting to reduce short haul air travel in Europe. You need to get city centre to city centre times to below 3 hours to do this.
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On the subject of being injured by the tiller when going forwards. I have never considered it as a problem. In reverse yes, and I always stand forward of the tiller arc. The amount of rudder forward of the hinge line is very small so if something hits it the lever arm to deflect the rudder is very small compared to the lever arm of the tiller. Also anything hitting the rudder has to get through or round the prop first so I don't think anything very big could hit it. (I have had a log stop the prop though). I can't find a photo of my rudder at the moment. Am I being stupid to be in the tiller arc going forward? (8years of ownership and a number of years of hiring beforethat).
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Going up or down Hatton with another boat, I find the best way is to rope the two boats together then you only need one steerer and it's quicker between locks. Same at Stockton. Some folk worry about it until they try it. Can't do that on Caen Hill on the K&A though as the gates are too narrow.
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Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening.
dixi188 replied to Jackofalltrades's topic in General Boating
On the K&A near Hungerford a few years ago a storm hit us with flashes all around. No time to moor, so I just put the boat in neutral and ducked inside 'til it passed. -
I see that your hose should not be more than 7 meters long, this is due to back pressure causing water to be vented from the supply tap. I think mine is about 20 to 25 meters on a reel. Does this mean I'll have to get shorter one, and how will I reach the filler if I can't get the front end of my boat near the tap?
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I wonder why. I like the high flow rate on the Thames. It means you can often fill while waiting for a lock.
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Your right it was LH at Southall. The one at South Harrow had NO.
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The gas holder in Southall is gone now, but it said "NO" with the arrow. Did it mean NO for Northolt or NO this is not Heathrow. Runway 23left was closed about 2006 so the problem has gone away, also all approaches to LHR are now instrument approaches and radar monitored, unlike 1960.
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About average for Americans. I remember a Northwest airlines DC-10 that landed in Brussels instead of Frankfurt.
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I thought you had to wear life jackets through Harecastle since that unfortunate fellow fell off and drowned about 4 years ago.
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Hostility towards cyclists on canal towpath
dixi188 replied to Alan de Enfield's topic in General Boating
first Mountain bike was 77-78 ? I had a bike in the '60s that we called a Tracker, it was an ordinary bike with knobbly tyres, I used it off road to ride through the woods. Managed to brake one of the brazed joints on the frame. -
My boat has Sheffield on the side as that is where the first owner was from. The boat was built in Chesterfield. I do get people thinking I must be from Yorkshire rather than Dorset. The boat lives in Warwickshire, so should I paint that on the side?
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Wood burners are potential killers scientists report.
dixi188 replied to Alan de Enfield's topic in General Boating
Why would you taste Ad Blue? -
Went up last year with a lot of water coming down, the week before the flood. To get the bottom lock open we did as Tracy D'arth says. open all four paddles until the pound above is a good few inches below the top of the gate then close the top paddles to empty the lock. A few years earlier some lads at the pub were jeering as we tried to open the bottom gate so I roped them in to help. Problem solved.
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My 57ft. boat has a Barrus Shire 45. Max revs in gear is 2100 so it may over propped. When it was built the then owner had the prop changed to a coarser one as he said it needed too many revs to go at normal speed. Tick over is 800 rpm, Narrow/shallow canal I use about 1200 to 1300 rpm and 1400 on the deeper and wider canals. I have been flat out on the Thames going upstream on a wide straight bit above Reading. After about a minute I had three bow waves and was putting up quite a wash at the bank so I slowed down. I don't know how fast we were going, but I would guess about 7 or 8 knots. (Naughty) The Barrus manual says something like "Run the engine at full speed under load for 15 minutes every 25 hours to avoid build up of carbon"! Where can I do this? It's a bit like my Volvo car. That needs a good thrash to clean the soot filter every once in a while.
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Do you keep your fenders down in canal locks?
dixi188 replied to Rambling Boater's topic in General Boating
I assume the reason a few people leave the fenders down is to try to stop the blacking on the rubbing strip from being scratched, If you don't want your boat scratched, leave it in the marina! It's called a rubbing strip for a reason. I was delayed on the Napton flight in early August due a wedged boat. Lock 10 I think. -
Last week I had someone ask the time. I replied "August"! (I don't wear a watch and there isn't a clock visible from the aft deck).
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My view has always been "If you don't want to scratch the paint, don't leave the marina".
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Fenders are for mooring only. Saw a boat stuck on Napton flight a few weeks ago when his small fenders jammed when leaving a lock. He had to cut them away.