dixi188

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.

Going down Napton last week, I got held up by someone who got stuck coming out of lock 10 or 11. They had left their quite small fenders out and jammed part way out of the lower gates. Couldn't go forwards or backwards. Ended up cutting the fenders away and rolling them out. It was a standard modern narrow boat so I guess 6ft 10 ins wide.

Had to drop the anchor on the Severn, somewhere below Worcester, a couple of years ago when the engine on the hire boat overheated. I was the assumed "expert" as I have my own boat. Another crew member threw the anchor into the water while I attended to the engine. After a while I noticed we were moving downstream. He had dropped the anchor until it touched the bottom and tied the warp off at that length so the anchor couldn't bite. Fortunately the river was low and after about 30 mins we were on our way again. An anchor has to lay on the bottom and if it has a good few meters of chain laid down as well it should hold. I guess the real need is if you are being swept towards a weir.

A few years ago I was held up at Bedwyn due to the big stone that one of the lock gates attaches to coming loose. The CaRT guys worked all day to fix it and then it had to be left 24 hrs for the concrete to go off before it could be used. Maybe tomorrow.

Ah! Now I understand, had me foxed for a while. Inflammable Material? On a plane? Yes lots. up to 62.900 ltrs of jet fuel on the last aircraft I was Flight Engineer on. We used to carry a lot of "Dangerous Goods" that was prohibited on passenger aircraft. Radio Active isotopes for X-ray machines and cancer treatment was one of the most common items. Max 200 Rems. (load it down the back).

Yep. SLF (Self loading freight) I worked in aviation for 50 years and much preferred my 20+ years with cargo aircraft when I didn't have to deal with passengers.

A couple of years ago I was tootling at idle between locks on the Hatton flight so as not to disturb an angler. He called out for me to give it some revs to stir things up a bit. I usually slow down and stick to the centre of the cut on plain canal sections, but passing a competition can be a interesting as the rods are lifted at the last moment and dropped back in right behind me. Some say I should maintain normal speed. Also, aren't these long carbon rods cheating, as I thought part of the skill in fishing was casting to the perfect spot, not just dropping the hook in.

My sister and brother in law had a new build trad layout in the '90s. Nice boat but the steerer was isolated from the others on board and they had a buzzer for the steerer to communicate. 1 buzz for tea, two buzzes for coffee, three buzzes for lock coming up, etc. When we bought our boat 6 years ago we went for a reverse layout, cruiser stern as it is much more sociable. Also when I go off on my own, I can nip inside and make a brew or grab a coat quite easily. Just put it into neutral when there are no hazards or other boats coming and pop down the steps. Our engine (Barrus Shire 45) is very quiet, in fact people come past and ask us if we're electric and you hardly notice it when inside. Yes there is no forward view from the cabin, but we do have a cratch that can be used when not full of stuff (aka shed). If you are thinking about buying your first boat, then the advice I got from the man at Nottingham boats was very good. He said ,"I don't want to build you a new boat until you have owned a second hand boat for a couple of years, and found out what you really want in your boat" We bought second hand and are keeping it, as it is just what we wanted. Just my thoughts, hope this helps. Richard.

Seems to be on at least once a year.

We went to Coventry in September and found no space to moor due to the number of Valley Cruises boats there. We moored on the water point the first night then moved in the morning when another boat left. So for me, less hire boats would make it more likely I will return. The city has lots to offer. Sorry for the people who have lost their jobs though.

This has probably been covered elsewhere, but somebody told me CaRT paid £60,000 for the design of the new logo. I think the "Bridge and Swan" was perfect.

As a slight aside, when it says 2 days, do they mean 2 nights or 48 hours or the day you arrive + the next day, so you can only stay one night? A lot of signs used to say 48 hour or 72 hours.

If by Three Way Switch, you mean one that has three positions, ie. ON-OFF-ON, (like on my boat), then there is no need to disconnect the shore power as there is no possibility of the two sources meeting.

Is the Oxford summit level down much at the moment? We draw 28 ins and don't normally have a problem. We're out and about next month to have fun with all the grockles. On second thoughts we might wait until September.

I don't disagree with railings, just that £1,500,000 seems a lot for 100 yds of railings, I would have thought that some off the shelf stuff could be done for about £100,000.

If they are supposed to represent some cotton mill equipment, how many mill machines were 100 yards long? I know whole mills were that long. As for the railway railings being "Pig ugly", maybe, but they are still going to be in view from the Aqueduct, and I don't think NR will replace them. The only people who will see the new railings will be boaters who paid for them, a few walkers and idiots trying to climb them. When viewed from the valley the railings are not visible. It just seems a waste of money for someone's glory scheme. I think it would have been better to put most of the £1,500,000 into an emergency fund for things like the Middlewich breach and put up plain railings. Just my thoughts as a licence payer. Dixi.

Thanks Jen, I'll have to go back and read up on this so I can appreciate the intricacies of the railings. I thought they were to stop someone falling off. In fact, I will have to go back many, many times to get my money's worth. Dixi.

Came from Middlewich to Barbridge yesterday arriving about 7pm. Lots of boats moored towards the junction, then we see a gap on the towpath side so pull in and moor. Just finished when a woman from another boat says, " These are private moorings, and you can't moor there as someone has paid for it". I said "Oh, are they coming back tonight" and she didn't know, so we stayed. We walked up and down the towpath and couldn't find any signs saying private moorings so how were we to know. I thought you could moor on the towpath side anywhere unless there are signs to the contrary. Have we been naughty? Dixi.

Went over Marple Aqueduct last Thursday. How much did those railings cost? Why didn't they just copy the railway viaduct ones? Mega bucks wasted!

I don't like alumimium ones, I had one break off at the weld when being particularly agressive with stiff paddle gear. Resulted in bruised knuckles and a lot of bad language.

How do people on here feel about moving another boat along a bit to allow space to moor. I have done this once or twice. Thoughts?

WW have used old photo's before. About 10 years ago the front cover had a photo of my sister and brother in law's boat (Opus V) with her at the helm and that was at least 15 years after it was sold.

I had the notification of auto renewal late in November for Jan 1st renewal. I had recently been sent a new card so I phoned CART to let then know. The person at the end of the line said they already knew my new card details. Do banks give this info out to anybody I have traded with or is it some special arrangement?

We too came through Rugby on Sunday heading south. Moored for Tesco and when we returned to Steelaway the guy on the next boat told us we had just missed some "boat rage". Lots of boats going north. There was also a guy towing a boat both ways, went north and then south and moored at the boatyard. Sunday evening we saw Tim and Pru having dinner in the Boathouse at Braunston. We had a good lookout for them on Monday in case they were bumping around. No sign though.

In 1969 I started my apprenticeship and went to Poole College. I was told that by 1971 we would be metric and would no longer use imperial measurement. 48 years later and I am still using mostly imperial in the aviation game.