Ricco1

Hi Dave the red is on the task list for the next few days along with the gunwales, decorations at the front and painting the handrail at the stern. I'm just out from blacking, epoxy was used, the guy who did it said I could paint straight over it. May try sanding it first to get it flatter, maybe try a test patch first. I've plenty of water at the moment, filled up at Red Bull, but will be using lots to clean down before painting, don't want to run out. Cheers I prefer to cruise 3 hours or so once a week, my water lasts about 10 days. Can cruise longer if needed, but I like to take things easy if possible.

I'm on the Trent and Mersey at the moment, heading north west towards Middlewich. I've spent a while googling 'water points Trent and Mersey', 'CRT service points' etc.etc. but I can't find either a list or a map of where I can get water and empty my cassettes. This information must be on the web somewhere, surely? Can anyone help?

I'm at Rode Heath now, it's nice here. There's a road nearby. Unfortunately it's fenced to prevent wheelchairs, sorry, motorbikes, being taken onto the towpath. No worries, it's a 5 minute push to the next bridge, no restrictions there.

I've done, I think, 6 locks. Moored up now in a lovely spot in the middle of nowhere. Only problem is that the towpath is consistently too high to get my motor bike off. Hope the whole stretch isn't like this; I'll starve!

I painted one side of my boat with this yesterday. I went on very nicely with a roller, and looked a treat. However: today some of it is falling off. The bulk of it is OK, where I sanded down existing paint. However where I treated rust with Kurust and then red primer it's not sticking. The red primer is oil based, as is the gunwale black. I prepped the gunwales; sanding then washing, wipe down with white spirit and tack cloth. I was thinking of sanding back the affected areas then perhaps coating with oil based undercoat, before repainting with the black. Does anyone have any idea why this might have happened, or suggest a better paint than undercoat to cover the primer? Thanks

It would have been £315 for bitumen, paying the extra was a no brainer. It's taken a couple of days to set properly but seems tough as hell now.

I'm trying to get a feel for it: is it a few hundred yards between locks; one after the other; or varying distances?

2 pack epoxy but scraped and pressure washed rather than blasted first. £350 for my 35ft boat, good value.

I'm coming out of Red Bull Services tomorrow, just had the boat blacked. Highly recommended. Anyway, I'm going to head west along the Trent and Mersey. I'm aware that there's a long series of locks known as Heartbreak Hill. I'm not keen on doing long cruising days, a few hours is enough for me. Can anyone recommend somewhere to stop for a day or two? Or are the locks that close together that I just need to carry on? Ideally I like stopping somewhere open rather than tree lined. Also somewhere where I can get my motorbike off the boat and towpath. Not bothered about pubs, somewhere out of the way is fine. Any recommendations? Cheers.

I mostly use a dongle with a pre paid 6gb card from EE. This generally lasts me 6 weeks or so internet use which is mainly email, forums etc. I don't stream anything. Anyway my phone is Giffgaff which I think is on the 02 network. I buy their 'goodybags', usually a £5 one which generally gives me enough minutes. A couple of times I've bought pricier ones that have larger data allowances, tetherable. I've found that when I tether the data gets eaten up very quickly. Where I might use 150mb in a day with EE, similar usage with Giffgaff is eating up the best part of 1gb. Does anyone know why this might be?

That's interesting. Mine has the same poor design, water down the steps and into the engine hole. Visible welds where plates are joined. Rubbing strips just tacked on, allowing rust to form under them. That does seem a pretty top whack price. I paid £18,000 for mine 3 years ago. I've been out and double checked. The base plate is thickest right at the back, under the counter. Presumably this is because there's no physical wear here and there's an anode nearby. Anyway, with a tape measure and my aged eyesight it seems to be slightly over 6mm. That makes me think that perhaps I was mistaken, the plate is 8mm, but I'm not sure

My boat is a Hallmark. I believe they were a budget builder, they went bust around 2000. I saw an identical looking boat for sale on Apollo Duck. Same length, same year, described as 10/6/4. Because of this I was surprised to see the thinner bottom plate. Perhaps they just built boats with what they had in stock? Anyway, my assessment is nothing like scientific. I can see and feel that the steel thickens as it goes away from the edge of the rubbing strip, towards the weld. Looking under the boat there are lots of big blobs of orange that conceal pitting, much bigger than the blobs that were on the sides. I suppose a 6mm bottom plate doesn't last for ever and at 18 years old is approaching the end of its useful life. Perhaps it's best to put some money on one side and get a new 6mm bottom in a couple of years. There seems little point in having an expensive survey when the demise of the plate in inevitable. New bottom on 35ft, £3000 or so?

My boat is out of the water for blacking at the moment. It's a 1998 boat which I bought as seen without a survey. The sides are in pretty good condition. There's some pitting, more towards the stern than the bow but no significant ones. 1 or 1.5 mm might be the maximum, leaving over 4mm of good steel. I'm happy with that. The bottom plate of course is more difficult to judge. This plate is also 6mm. The plate overlaps the sides by an inch or so, giving a wearing edge. This is mainly in good condition but around the centre of the boat has worn a bit thin. It still overlaps by an inch but the edge of it is very thin. In this worn area the metal is still thick where it meets the sides but then feathers down to almost nothing. My question is: does this wearing strip give an indication of wear on the bottom plate? My thinking is to hire/ borrow a thickness meter at the next blacking, in 2 or 3 years. Any thoughts?

I'd like to paint a broad red stripe in gloss red, in the traditional style, at the back of my boat, just above the waterline. This area is currently blacked and has no doubt many layers on it. What are the chances of getting a reasonable result if I attempt to sand this area; prime and gloss? Thanks.

I'm at the northern side of the blockage. There are a total of 10 boats here at least 2 of which are going to stay put when it re opens. There could be more further back of course. There's room here at Whitely Green for another half a dozen or so boats.

Fair point. My thinking was that if I used 6mm steel for the overplate hatch it would have a very long lifespan, even if not treated. Hell, it's such a small amount of metal that even 10mm would only be a few quid.

My boat is 10mm bottom, 6mm sides. The counter plate is 6mm. Leads to my first question: is it normal to build the counter plate from the thinner steel rather than the same as the bottom? Now my weed hatch: it's built from 3mm steel, or it could be 4. This seems ridiculously thin to me. The bottom part of it is submerged so why isn't it made from at least 6mm steel? Feeling inside the hatch it's quite badly pitted, below the waterline. I guess there's only 1 or 2mm of good steel left so at some stage it will need to be repaired. Regarding the repair: I think it might be possible to do the work without removing the boat from the water. Sections of steel could possibly be welded to the counter, outside the weed hatch rather than in the water, effectively overplating the existing hatch. Then, if the existing weed hatch does rot through there's a brand new one ready to receive the water. Would the above be good practice? Many thanks for any replies.

I'm nearby a CRT bloke said it's a major problem, going to be weeks before it's open. The hire companies are going to love that!

Is it moored at the farm moorings south of Congleton, the boat in question being the first one there as you go south? If so I admired it when I went past but failed to link it to the advertised boat. I'm heading down there again next month I'll have a look, if it's not sold by then.

'Hero' moored at Higher Poynton. Boatman's cabin, Gardner engine just a small amount of work needed, nice interior. Grubby paintwork but after a clean it's close to immaculate. Apparently recently changed hands for the princely sum of £5000.00. Why am I never around when these bargains crop up?

I've no idea what's going on with the links but it's the 60ft Dave Harris tug that caught my eye. Saab engine, any thoughts?

I've been looking to upgrade my boat for a while now. I'm looking for something with a large tug deck so I can carry a mid size motor bike. I also fancy something traditional. I've noticed this: http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=472440​ Any thoughts on this boat? Particularly regarding the engine, which I'm not familiar with. Also whether it seems to be reasonably priced. And any other thoughts. Thanks

My understanding is that if the width of your boat allows you to turn it round you can do so anywhere. So while Bollington Wharf may not be an 'official' winding hole if the space here is big enough you can indeed turn your boat round here. No doubt someone will be along soon to correct this, if I'm wrong.

Thanks for the replies. A brush it is! I've been doing some preparation today. My idea was to use low tack masking tape and apply this to the cabin sides directly over the weld to the gunwales. However: I scraped off a small amount of bubbled paint and treated the rust. Most of this is on the gunwales, no problem there. In a couple of places though the rust extends around 3/4 of an inch up the cabin sides. I guess one option is to touch in the areas on the cabin sides. This isn't ideal as it's fiddly, and the paint I have isn't a perfect match for the rest of the sides. Otherwise I could run the masking tape around an inch up the cabin sides and paint this bottom inch in the black. What would you do?