Captain Pegg

I once moored opposite the Red House glass cone overnight with a hire boat and just pushed across to their moorings in the morning. I would recommend going to Hawne Basin and Stourbridge Town Basin if visiting these canals. If you ring the Bonded Warehouse they will advise if there is space at Stourbridge, I have moored there twice but there is a cost and you will probably be abreast another boat. Quite possibly a liveaboard. I think the moorings outside the Basin are pretty much always occupied by one or more boats and I have seen boats moored along the arm. I don't think it's a problem. The path along the arm is well used. Hawne Basin is technically free for a week but they are cause worthy of a donation. It also involves a trip through Gosty Hill Tunnel which is something you should do if possible. Not for those with claustrophobia or chiroptophobia though. Jon

It's less daft than all the boats that can fit through the marina entrance but never do. Isn't there a very expensive GU remake in BW blue and yellow colours and a light blue cabin there? Never seen that out on the canal. I think we said hello to each other just before you left Netherwich Basin. JP

When I passed Droitwich Spa marina this afternoon there was a wide beam manoeuvring onto the service pontoon. There were three people on the back deck like some folk had come along for the ride. JP

I was out on the BCN last week and took a trip from Droitwich to Dunhampstead and back today, I may have passed you. I also thought it was pretty quiet for the time of year. Certainly a few boats at Brook Line that aren't on hire currently. I walked the dog up and down the Stoke flight last week and there were three or four boats heading out on a Tuesday and not many left at base. Also four or five boats on the Queens Head moorings although that may have been daytime trade for the pub. Tardebigge can be strange, it's often very quiet and I suspect a lot of hirers choose to stay above or below the flight, I spoke to one this morning who had done exactly that with a Viking boat. Of course that means winding at Stoke Prior and missing the Queens Head moorings because you can't do the Stoke and Tardebigge flights in isolation of one another (unless you like going backwards). JP

Most likely candidate is high levels of chloride compounds in the water. The obvious source in a marina being waste water containing cleaning products. It still requires the breakdown of the surface coating to initiate though. It's probably the best reason I can think of to black the baseplate as well as the sides. If you wanted to put some science into it I would start by analysing water samples from a representative sample of differing environments. What I wouldn't be doing is ever mentioning 'quality' of steel; whatever that means. JP

Oh yeah. But 99% of the folk reading this will be inland waterways folk, must cater for them rather than the 1% that have been barred from YBW. JP

You can never test absolutely every square millimetre of the hull for pits but the failure mechanism will be a small leak not anything sudden and dramatic like you imply. It will probably be noticed before anything major happens if the boat is occupied or the boat may sink in a few feet of water on it's mooring if it's unattended. Not pleasant but no-one will die and it will be insured against losses. There are far bigger risks on the average inland waterways boat than an old or thin steel hull. JP

You can't be that precise. You only know the nominal plate thickness not the actual thickness and the applicable tolerances could put a significant level of variance into the small numbers we are dealing with here. Then factor in the accuracy of the ultrasonic test reading. If the OP wasn't worried about the boat before the survey then they should be no more worried afterwards, and probably less so. JP

I deliberated on whether I should add to my post or even delete it as I knew it would trigger a riposte. Just dealing with the issue at hand I don't believe there is any good reason why leaving the water at the lower level on the locks in question (they are not empty) should be detrimental. The folks that built them had more than a basic grasp of forces and if they had got it fundamentally wrong the impact of that would have been felt long before now and quite probably before any water was put in the canal. The reason that Victorian (and older) structures survive and still work two centuries after construction isn't so much that they were 'built to last' as the continuous maintenance that is undertaken to keep them serviceable. A lock on an abandoned canal hasn't been subject to that or indeed any formal assessment of its soundness as is undertaken on locks on the operational network. Therefore you probably would be well advised to prop the walls before working in the chamber. JP

I see no reason why leaving a lock empty should be detrimental to the integrity of the structure. Each side wall is a gravity retaining structure that must be designed to withstand the pressure of the earth on the external side while the lock chamber is completely empty. There are thousands of such structures of contemporary design in the UK which never 'benefit' from having water pressure applied to the opposite face. All locks spend prolonged periods completely empty as part of the maintenance programme. They don't routinely suffer. JP

Well it's a bit of a vicious circle isn't it? There are things that can be done to help though;- 1. Join the Coventry Canal Society. Give them your time and if that's difficult give them a donation toward their work. 2. Endeavour to return to contribute to the number of boats. 3. Encourage others to visit. I cruised it about a year ago and thought it pretty par for the course for an urban canal and I am very familiar both with urban canals and the neighbourhoods this particular one passes through. I had no difficulty in cruising it and I saw no obvious problems with the state of the canal. I do wonder quite what people expect of this sort of canal. It was never picturesque, you have to find interest in other ways but if you can't do that on an urban canal it's because you don't want to. Urban canals are equally part of the network as rural ones; one makes no sense without the other. Usage is key to the health of all canals. Compared to what the generation or two before ours had to do to keep these waterways open for the benefit of boaters and the local community our task is very simple. Just use them, it's our duty. JP

Hi Donna, Your suggested route is probably one week of pure cruising time so you will have plenty of time to take things in. As far as Coventry goes there is the Cathedral and the Motor Museum which are the obvious places to visit and both walkable from the canal basin which is close to the city centre. I am assuming you have deliberately chosen not to do the Warwickshire Ring which would involve a lock heavy second week to your holiday but would also allow visits to Birmingham, Packwood House and Warwick Castle. I suspect you may also be thinking of visiting Stratford-on-Avon which along with Warwick Castle would be the most obvious destinations from Coventry. As far as pubs go the Greyhound at Sutton Stop (officially Hawkesbury Junction) is a famous canal pub and pretty much gets universally favourable reviews. The Globe at Snarestone right at the top of the Ashby Canal is also a pub that seems to be well regarded although I can't personally recommend it because I've never been there. Your basic route just misses the Folly Inn at Napton although it's a feasible on your last evening before returning the boat. It will mean going past the hire base before turning below Napton locks and walking a short distance to the pub. Probably best to book the pubs if you wish to eat at them. There are lots of other pubs on the route of which the Barley Mow at Newbold and Lime Kilns near Hinckley on the Ashby are a couple that spring to mind. If you find you are bit short of cruising with your chosen route you have the option of continuing on up the Coventry and turning immediately before Atherstone locks. Otherwise if you think you have been short on locks take a trip up Braunston's six locks and through the tunnel, turn at Norton Junction and head back again. This will take a few hours and allow you to see the main part of Braunston from a canal perspective and visit the Admiral Nelson, another well known canalside pub. JP

I'm puzzled. It was clear to me Roland knew they were locked in as far boating goes.

Craned directly in, no other possible way they could have got there. As you will know the marina is just down the road from New & Used Boat Co at Hanbury Wharf. I believe there is some commercial arrangement between the two. I followed a mobile crane down the road from one to the other a few weeks ago. JP

I wouldn't even ask who built it! Might have to squeeze a second g in there though. I'm not a digital photo! JP

I was mostly thinking of all those ex-GU boats. Anyway I had better not any make any sarcastic comments about that because last time I said that canal carrying history started back in the 1930s as a joke reference their ubiquity I was taken seriously. I am sure filling the gap with a 'sealant' was deliberate. On a more modern boat blacking covers the open joint as well and probably infiltrates and builds up over time. Corrosion beneath is still a risk though. JP

Personally I am interested in 70liveaboard's point of view and it's shame it involves so much rancour in obtaining it. It is relevant to the question the OP asked; both in terms of informing the question and pointing out the pitfalls in asking such a question. I have often read things relating to the provenance, age, grade and corrosion resistance of steel on this forum that is at best irrelevant and at worst plain wrong. There is a similar element to this thread; it is based upon well intended genuine experience and personal preference but lacks in depth understanding of the technical issues of the topic concerned. I do though believe that it's wrong not to explain technical things to people because you don't think they will understand. Those who want to know deserve to be told, and I suspect underneath the bickering here that folk actually do want to know more as well share their own experience. It's the lack of knowledgable explanation that perpetuates falsehoods. JP

I believe tack welding of strakes and guards was indeed standard practice on early steel hulls for leisure boats and that the majority of extant riveted boats are of steel construction. JP

I have to admit that I didn't know who Anthony Lewis is either. Not surprisingly the OP doesn't refer to a thirty something TV actor. It seems the Anthony Lewis in question authored a series of books about life afloat on the boat in question. JP

He most definitely implied it in the title of the thread and the choice of photograph in the opening post. What he didn't do was state that the boat was unlicensed. JP

Increasing the budget does obviously increase the consequence if things go wrong but at the same time it decreases the likelihood that things will go wrong. That's providing you use due diligence of course. However, I mostly think it opens up opportunities that you are unlikely to have with the current budget unless you get very lucky. Certainly my advice would be different if you had a budget of £45k. You would be in territory where you can start to factor in preference rather than focus on need which is pretty much where I think you are at present. JP

I doubt it was restored with a view to preventing casual towpath mooring. More that no provision was made, possibly on cost grounds. There weren't mooring sites to be restored, requirements were different in the 1930s when it fell into disuse. As I said earlier the reeds are actually a historic feature. I do agree a little bit of mooring may be useful as it's pretty hard to stop without blocking a lock landing. JP

The subject of not being able to get a wide beam into Droitwich has featured here before. I thought it was fairly well published and the purpose of the winding hole before bridge 14 was because it is the limit of navigation for wide beam craft. That said it doesn't appear on CanalPlan as a winding hole and of course the one place you might expect to find definitive information - CRTs own interactive map - doesn't appear to show winding holes at all. I would have thought it possible for a wide beam craft to moor between bridges 13 and 14, I often see narrow boats moored there and by Droitwich standards it's a wideish section. It is easily walkable into the town centre and just as near the rubbish facilities as the visitor and permit moorings. Otherwise much of the information you post is equally true for narrow beam craft. There is no Elsan anywhere from Hanbury to Hawford, there are no designated moorings from above Hawford locks to Droitwich. Mooring against the towpath is pretty much impossible other than at very few locations and even then it's unlikely to be easy. The locks are hard and the cut is shallow. There is however a water point in Droitwich. The reeds though I believe are an original feature and were planted for protection against erosion and are always tall at this time of year. You can see a lot more in the winter and it is a very tranquil setting; if you ignore the dogs and their companions. However I can imagine it is hard work for little reward for a wide beam. JP