NB Alnwick

The answer is for those who go boating to make time beforehand to study and learn how everything on their own boat works and how to prevent it from breaking down and then how to fix it when it breaks. This is not as difficult as it sounds - if boaters only ever purchased boats that matched their personal understanding and ability there would be a lot more happy boaters. There is an alternative to this and that is to hire in the expertise but few can really afford to employ a resident boat fitter/gas fitter/engineer/electrician!

Drifting slightly off-topic - the best fill for pot holes is good old 'MOT No. 1' which is a mix of stone dust and chippings of various sizes up to about 40mm. Because of the mix of sizes it compacts well and stays put without the addition of tarmacadam. In my day, we started to use this for vehicle paths on the railway - that was after the Environment agency told us not to use cinders.

I very much doubt that they would have bothered themselves with undoing a weed hatch when a couple of minutes (at most) with the boat hook would have solved the problem. Of course, our predecessors would have had more skill in these matters than most 21st Century leisure boaters.

It looks as if someone tried to fill them with ash - but probably the 'wrong type of ash' because unlike hard coal ash, the ash from wood and the manufactured briquettes commonly used on boat stoves, is not suitable for this purpose.

These days, where determining the real management control of many companies requires a degree of intuitive detective work to get through the maize of non-operational holding companies, charges, assets, and operational offshoots, it is not easy for an outsider to work out what is really happening when this sort of announcement is made. There are some familiar names appearing as directors of the Aquavista group and I can see that the recent name change was an expensive 're-branding' exercise but nowhere near the scale of the aborted scheme to rebrand the Post Office as 'Consignia'. Perhaps the consultants thought the name indicated a beautiful view of water? My guess is that both groups have substantial loans secured against their assets because they will have borrowed heavily to establish their businesses. The action announced may provide better long term security and stability in an ever changing financial climate and this could be a good thing for those of us who are the customers.

From the Companies House website: AQUAVISTA WATERSIDES LTD Previous company names BRITISH WATERWAYS MARINAS LIMITED 13 Oct 2003 - 27 Jul 2020 So what are the likely benefits to moorers?

This looks just like the bucket that we use - and although I wouldn't recommend the practice, the paint finish does seem to be sufficiently robust to withstand the red-hot ash and cinders that we occasionally drop into it. The lid helps to keep the ash dry and prevents dust ready for responsible disposal. Prices on Amazon range from just under £13 but we paid twice that for ours from a our local stove retailer. I don't regret paying the extra because that way we were able to examine the product prior to purchase - some of the reviewers who purchased similar items from Amazon have complained about poor quality and it is likely that these may have received cheap and inferior copies.

True and we also thought it a good thing based on years of traditional practice. Cinder paths were once commonplace in the steam railway era partially because they were readily available and worked as an effective weed deterrent.. That said, I have never dumped ash in a hedge or on vegetation. And, for the last five years have used an ash bucket to make sure that our ash is disposed legally.

Waste disposal is usually entrusted to specialist contractors - steam railway operation in the 21st Century is a very expensive business.

As has been written in other topics, times and attitudes change with education and knowledge! All ash is now classed as toxic waste and therefore must be disposed of in a responsible manner. It was different years ago: When I took over the management of the Great Central Railway in the 1990s, a British Waterways lorry collected all the ash produced by our steam locomotives. I understood that the fine ash was used for sealing lock gates and the cinder ash was used for making paths - applications that had been in use for centuries. The collections stopped when the Environment Agency intervened - the evidence supporting that decision was very convincing. We live and learn - tradition is commendable but there are many historical practices that are no longer appropriate in the light of knowledge and understanding. These days our canal towpaths are a disgrace. Not just because of the piles of toxic waste accumulating under the hedges but also because of other detritus that some boaters insist that they need to pile up near their boats. As responsible and caring users of the canal network we should do our best to protect it. Well Said Maffi!

We all can learn from the ways and habits of generations of professional boaters. If we do, those years of experience will not be in vain. And, they would not have known a 'weed hatch' even if they had one!

We have a weed hatch but it is so awkward to get to that many years ago we just sealed it up with mastic and it has been blacked over ever since. For the last fifteen years I have always used the boat hook to remove anything from the prop and this has usually worked - I have only had to get in and under a couple of times and a hot shower is a lot cheaper than a wetsuit!

Boaters passing through Cropredy may have noticed an empty space at The Old Coal Wharf, where 'Alnwick' has been moored for many years. Well after saying, perhaps more than once, that we wouldn't be looking for a marina mooring, we have now moved to a new berth at Cropredy Marina. The location at the coal wharf served us well, especially when Jane was having chemo-therapy and recovering after major surgery but now that we have completed the renovation of our cottage, we are no longer living aboard and have decided, for a variety of reasons, that the marina would be a more suitable location for our boat. We have been made very welcome by the management and staff at the marina. As can be seen from the recent photograph above, 'Alnwick' is now looking rather shabby on the outside - this is the result of several years of neglect while we were living aboard with more pressing priorities. Hopefully, we now will have time to concentrate more on our boat and boating activities and the first step will be another visit to Glascote Basin in May 2022 for grit blasting the upper works and the start of a full repaint. In the meantime we have carried out some minor work including having the engine room hatches repaired by Kedian Engineering. .

Bumping up this old topic for two reasons: We still use our Valor Vanette GG7000 built in LPG oven and the matching Vanette 4001/2 hob all in blue enamel. These are good quality examples of British-built kit and it is a shame that they are no longer made. If possible I would like to get hold of some original documentation and would like to learn more about the production history of these. Alnwick was fitted out in 1998 but from the dates found on some of the hob mouldings, it would appear that the Vanette may have been manufactured as much as ten years earlier. Can anyone throw more light on the production history of the Vanette range? It is long time now since Tom Keeling fitted the new oven thermostat and I am wondering if the OP (Froggy) ever got theirs fixed?

A very nice boat at a sensible price!

Quite right but that was squeezed in ahead of the restrictive legislation. The merchants and factory owners of the period recognised that railways or tramways presented many advantages over canals in terms of speed (being able to trot rather than walk!) and the elimination of locks. One of the first railways to be built for general carrying was the Stratford and Moreton Tramway which was built as an extension to the Stratford upon Avon Canal in1825 or thereabouts. An interesting fact about this long abandoned route was that the 'stations' (some of which are still standing as residential properties) were called 'Wharfs'! In fact the term station did not come into use until the establishment of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in the 1830s and the term was derived from the building provided for early railway policemen who were "stationed" at points along the route to signal trains. This is why in railway terminology a signal person is still colloquially known as a 'Bobbie'

During the early 1800s some canals were converted into railways but this resulted in a backlash of protests from independent boat owner/operators. As a result, legislation passed in 1855 required any railway company owning or acquiring a navigable waterway to keep that waterway in navigable condition. The result of this legislation (which was eventually repealed as part of the 1947 nationalisation of transport) was that many canals survived well into the 20th Century even though they were no longer commercially viable. The Kennet & Avon Canal and the the Stratford upon Avon Canal were two examples that survived until 1948 as a result of railway ownership - there were others. In a way, railways may take the credit for saving many otherwise unprofitable canals long enough so that they could be restored for present day use!

The GWR didn't put the canal out of business. They bought it and had to keep it open to navigation (more or less) even though it proved to be a significant cost. Sadly it was the nationalisation of transport in 1947/8 that brought about the closure of certain previously railway owned navigations.

Last week my fuel filter became blocked with black slime. I changed the filter and added Marine 16 'Complete' to the day tank - this being recommended by the staff at Midland Chandlers. It appears to have worked and I immediately noticed that the exhaust appeared cleaner. I have since checked the main tank which is well below the waterline and the fuel in there is clean with no trace of water or black slime in the bottom - I used 'Kolor Kut' Water Finding Paste. There is about 200 litres of fuel in the main tank and I have now added Marine 16 to that too. Presumably if there is any emulsified water in the main fuel tank it will now separate right at the bottom.

This is the downside of buying from international (Chinese) sellers on eBay - for safety, I always source propane fittings from reliable local dealers.