haggis

Congratulations, Ronnie! Smart looking boat haggis

We used one like that on the lancaster

Just came across this thread! They were a wee bit out in their estimate of 4-6 weeks to remove all the pontoons, dredge and replace the pontoons in Orchard marina. It is now well over a year and although the marina looks as if it has been dredged, there are no pontoons and the stop planks are still in - with a tree growing up the back of them. There has been little sign of any work being done for a while. No idea what the hold up is although I have heard it said that they put water in and it leaked and another story is that the workers downed tools. haggis

We are with Collidge too and they started off saying we needed a full survey if we wanted to increase the amount our boat was insured for. I spoke to a boat surveyor and he said that we would be better getting a broker to give a current market value (that is what the insurance company needed apparently). I ran this past Collidge and they agreed. As kelpie had been on ABNbs books when we bought her (direct from the seller) we spoke to them and one of their guys visited when we were in dry dock last week and did a very thorough walk through , including the hull which would not normally be included in a market value valuation. Yes, it did cost us but apart from the insurance we wanted to know what the boat was worth for other reasons. haggis

I think I would opt for the Big Lock pub the first night on the basis that it is a quieter place to moor. At Kings lock you are right beside a busy road. As well as the Cheshire Cheese (which I agree is good) at Wheelock there is the Italian restaurant canal side haggis

That will probably be because volunteer lockies must at all times be near toilet and tea making facilities and they are at the top lock. Unfortunately for the volunteers on Scotland Lowland canals Scottish Canals haven't heard of this and a team of volockies cycle about 3 miles from top to bottom to meet the boats (who have to book the trip) and work them up from 3 to to 16. Alternatively they will work the boats between locks 17 and 20 but this is only about a mile or so 🙂 . Presumably the same happens at the western end of the Forth and Clyde. Pretty certain there are no toilet or tea making facilities on any of the routes. haggis

I had a very good C & RT experience recently. We had been in dry dock for a week and I had weeks before booked the Anderton lift up to the T & M for the afternoon of Saturday, when we got out. The lift didn't have a good week last week and broke down for the second time on Friday. Mid morning on Saturday, I thought it would be good to know if there was any chance of getting up that day or should we go boating and come back in a day or so. Phoned the lift booking office. It was Saturday so office closed. Phoned another number on a lift pamphlet I got a few years ago and it wouldn't accept a call. Phoned the 0303 number and got an extremely helpful young lady. She didn't know the answer but said she would put me through to someone who would. However, she came back and aid she wasn't having any luck and she would get a message to him to phone me. Got a phone call from a gentleman at the lift to tell me that as soon as the engineers said the lift was operable, they would be sorting out who was travelling when (there was a queue at top and bottom and some had cancelled their booking and would phone me back. We saw the lift starting to operate and got a call to move to the holding moorings and we would be either next or next again up. I reckoned all in all and bearing in mind it as the weekend, they did well. Oh, and the guy at the lift and the area manager who phoned me the next day both gave me their numbers for future use. It may have helped that at no time was I complaining, I was just trying to get info 🙂 haggis

Two years ago we had KELPIE bottom blacked with two pack ( after a very high pressure wash ) in Northwich Dry Dock ( the cleanest driest dry dock we have ever seen ) . This is also one of the few places where you can get access to treat the bottom of the boat. We booked her in again this week to see how the last treatment had fared and also to check if our hull had suffered from having live aboard boats connected to shore power on both sides in our marina. I am very pleased to report that there was absolutely no sign of rust or other nasties and our hull was in exactly the same condition as it had been before the last treatment which had obviously done its job. The boat is looking fantastic and we look forward to leaving the dry dock on Saturday, giving all the paint time to dry and harden. I have taken a photo but I know it will be too big to post on here and I don't have anything on my phone to reduce the size. I am posting this as a while ago there was a thread on here which said that two pack only worked if the hull had been taken back to bare metal. Whatever Northwich Dry Dock uses proves that this is no necessarily the case. Haggis

But are the pontoons in Edinburgh not angled in such a way that you don't come out at right angles? I am probably wrong though as it is a wee while since I was in at Edinburgh quay. Any boats moored opposite the pontoons are visiting boats moored on bollards and I don't think they will be chained. Perhaps a strong knife rather than bolt cutters 😀

That's what we use but Iain has made them out of aluminium. They are so easy to use and stay in position and no, they are nowhere near the paint on the cabin side 😀 Haggis

I like his nice broad head. Lots of room for brains and to think up naughty past times 😁. May you have many happy years together

We always made a point of stoping at the Red Lion on our many visits to the Weaver and we have missed it! It looks really good inside and they have obviously put a lot of effort and money into it without spoiling the atmosphere. It was amazingly busy over the weekend both for food and beer and it is sad that their effort has been cut short by the theft. No point going to the pikeys looking for the gas as all cylinders look the same and it would be impossible to identify the ones from the pub. They don't unfortunately have CCTV on the outside of the premises and the padlock wouldn't have taken much to burst it. Haggis

Dish washers tend to mean you need more dishes unless you want to put the dishwasher on after every meal. On a boat this means you not only have to have space for the dishwasher , which a you say could have given you more storage space, but you also need more space for more dishes. A dishwasher on board would be well down my list of priorities Haggis

When we heard that the Red Lion in Winsford on the Weaver had reopened after being closed for a long time we thought it would be rude not to pay them a visit. We are on the moorings along side and when I popped up to book for tonight I found that two of their big gas bottles were stolen last night from the locked cage they are kept in and they will not be able to do food until they get more bottles, and of course gas is hard to come by just now. Such a shame when they have obvíously spent a lot of money doing the place up. Haggis

Oh, I never got that far. I am stuck in the Eton Mess thought process. Shame as they might be nice boats if I could get past the builders name. I have never been a fan of boats with the builders name very obvious on them ( like Braidbar - are you allowed to have one without their name ? ). If the builders name is obvious you would think they would make sure the boat was "up to scratch" but I hear stories to the contrary. I hasten to add I have never heard anything bad about Braidbar. Haggis

I thought I was the only one who thought of a rather nice dessert when I see an Elton Moss boat !

We are on the Weaver and had a wee trip down to Saltersford lock with friends and we hardly saw any boats. When we came back the pontoons below the lift were full and there were a few boats moored on the bank. In Northwich the pontoons were full and we m.oored on the wall to shop (I had to be hauled up onto the edge by Iain and another boater 😀). After shopping we moved off the wall and as the moorings opposite the marina were full we moved on and moored with three other boats below Hunts lock. Haven't seen this area so busy before Haggis

If that is aimed at me, you are way off the mark. I, like others, was trying to be helpful telling you what we would do (as you asked us to) but I am no longer bothered so will leave you to it haggis

I certainly wouldn't complain to C&RT. As has already been said there may be a valid reason for running their engine but you won't know that unless you speak to them which you seem reluctant to do. In your shoes, it would depend how bad it was what I would do. For example if the fumes from their engine was entering my boat, I would certainly ask them if they could possibly switch off their engine. If however, it is just the noise, I would probably just put up with it as I would be moving off in the morning anyway. haggis

Just a thought, but would stepping off the boat and walking along the towpath for a while a few times a day help? In this way perhaps your body won't get so used to the boat movement and will hopefully not need a lot of readjusting when you go home. Even walking to the shops or the pub might help. Anything to mix the boat and land based activities haggis

That's how they do it on the Crinan and Caledonian. haggis

A front cratch cover means you have somewhere dry to store logs, coal etc. rather on the roof or inside the boat. Unless it is raining heavily, when we are boating the cratch cover at the towpath side is open and thrown back over the cratch board allowing easy access to the front deck. hagis

Yes he did and fitted it out himself in a ridiculously short time. The last I heard he was up the Rochdale somewhere then he just seemed to disappear from the forum. A pity as his posts were interesting haggis