X Alan W

I always find it so sad & strange that the so called enthusiasts get so picky over different company's production of what are now vintage/historic boats , my ex "Josher is now 105 years old & to find a #of boats from even older & down to almost 60years old is great the usually good natured " banter of if itwasn't built by Yarwoods it's no good " quips are all part & parcel so do examples by lesser known builders be excluded a boat built by Gilberts pre WW2 should any stilll be around suffer this fate Sadly the ,#of wooden boats decreases at a faster rate than metal/composite as the skill & finance cannot readily keep up

I had 2"Tatty chimney pipes" which were fitted & the good ones put in the cabins if the boats were left (short period ranges going )or no fire the carefully selected can (Tightish fit on the collars were fitted)I also had all 4 nice decorative brass tiller string eyes 'nicked wile moored at the top of Buckby although the cabins were wood & the eyes having wood screw type thead it would have been no easy task to remove & guess it was some one on a boat/s as I doubt if a non boater would know & have a use for them 'GGRR'

As an ex owner of "Lily" if she"d had 15 tons of load she would more than likely have been drawing North of 3'6" depedent on distribution of the load in the "Seffle power days the stationary draft was 3'3"& the loss of dry side was around 1" per ton

That rings a bell David there always seemed to be boats laying about I was asked one day if I would take a "Gennie from one section to another on the gas line job when I got there a"Mattys" boat was tied up where I needed to of load I dropped off & reloaded the 'no go' on to take back, the man himself appeared out of the "office" When I told him he had a boat there & could have done the job "tother way around his reply was "Ah that's were the bugger is" price less.

Gunwhals Side cloths, Top cloths chains fenders &&&&&&&&&&& all the rest A labour of love & a lot of money I fear

I'm gutted I wanted to get in before the dreaded "B"& offered the asking price subject to survey only to be told he/she wouldn't post to France

The Shropshire Union fly boats were built barrel sided & lighter construction so carried less tonnage AFAIK they didn't travel to much faster than long distance boats but having a right of way they kept going having usage over other boats at locks they also changed crew & horses more frequent intervals.they traveled mostly at night so avoided the movement of most other craft Packet boats often had a sickle type blade on the bow to cut other boats towlines if they were to slow moving out of the way.

Glad to hear at least the odd boat here & there is trying to give it a go, possibly a good job i'm still not on the cut as I think the present day usage I would find very frustrating good luck to you semi commercial lads for keeping your cool

It always amazes me the present day teeth sucking /hand wringing that goes on over"problems" that in commercial days were never given a second thought ie, will it scrape my blacking off, boats with multiple guard irons that have fenders drooped down even when under way causing more problems than they solve would guess the canal usage/purpose& the folk using same have to had a complete change also the folks spending goodly sums of cash & going out & purchasing a boat to live on with very little knowledge/research of what it entails suppose it the IN thing

My "Seffle "had 3cotrols gear rod speed wheel& oil rod (to adjust the sprayer/injector) another anomaly a couple of boats I steered thrrar rod was back to front pullback for forward gear & push forward for reverse "confusing"

"Cor" you & TreeMonkey are weird enough to be a boater s?

Not relevant to your requirements but some refurbed boats cabin cooking ranges are the "wrong way arounnd " firebox nearest to the foot board /bulkhead if the cabin is wood it could be & has caused problems setting the footboard on fire

The Snap on Uj would be worth more than the rest of the boat ?

Did you have the "bacca" tin to jam "twixt" string & cabin beam to get the last rev out of it Standard kit for the Armstrong Sidderley set up

2 of the participant were boaters 1 with the same name as his famous dad & the other was a member of the Bosworth clan.

Some years back the subject of the "Ram on "Tyco' was being discussed & the outcome of collission the guy steering it quiped "yo'll be alright its a "denter not aoler"

I guess with the advent of the the modern cast square parallel hole headed windlass the spindle being various shapes/sizes slippage is a more likely occurrence

Buuuuuuuut the rattling paddle gear was there long before the cottage became an idylic hidey hole

The first time I boated work wise on the GU with Ham Baker gear there were still half dozen or so still with original pawls that would have been early 1958

The black painted broken off up stand was the original part for the fitting of the pawl the cast irn obviously broke at some time & rather than effect a weld or plate reapair to bring to near original the crowfoot/chain was fitted

The original Ham Baker paddle stop was quite a good setup the crowfoot spanner type on a length of chain is not so good the bodges /modds made to other rack & pinion gear over the years has verged on improve ment to down right dangerous (pinion stop on back to front )back in my working days it was lock dependent on if he pawl was lifted or left to click on the pinion

The length of the Du Midi is a good trip