Captain Pegg
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Posts posted by Captain Pegg
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11 minutes ago, Heartland said:
OK how about an easy one for Christmas Day
The unofficial county top of Warwickshire in the background there. -
The replacement of the original wooden infill to the paddles with plastic is another reason to wind them down. The wood had a degree of give to it that the plastic doesn’t have and they are prone to cracking if the paddles drop sharply.
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2 hours ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:
I’m taking the piss Arthur,
I don’t pay Council Taxhope you went rioting when it were poll tax
I too have pondered the parallel between the arguments about why boats without a home mooring should pay more and the council tax vs poll tax debate. -
5 hours ago, IanD said:
If it was him who said this:
Percentage of all boaters choosing option B over option A - 40%
Percentage of all boaters choosing option C over option A - 20%
Percentage of all boaters choosing option D over option A - 24%then that's not what the results showed -- the percentages are the number of boaters who would favour each particular option above the alternatives after all the results of the ABC/ABD/ACD questions are combined, it's not a comparison of any one choice with another or the actual numbers who chose each option at any stage. It's a way to do valid analysis to measure people's opinions faced with more than two choices -- probably the easiest for this particular case since the alternative would have been six pairwise choices (AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD) which would have discouraged answers ("too many questions!") and also not given the option of the status quo every time, so could have been misleading.
After this combination -- which is not dodgy or CART trying to fiddle the results, it's a standard statistical method -- the results were as follows:
14% most preferred option A (flat increase)
40% most preferred option B (CC surcharge)
22% most preferred option C (area-based pricing)
24% most preferred option D (bigger widebeam surcharge)
It's also statistically valid to combine the last two results and say that 46% most preferred wideboats to pay more.
So those boaters in favour of the status quo/flat increase were greatly outnumbered by those who thought that CCers and wideboats should pay more.
This undoubtedly isn't what CCers and wideboat owners want to hear, but it's what the results of the survey showed and what CART have implemented.
I haven’t read a word of that but the bit I was pondering was the ‘winner’ in a four horse vote was any horse getting more than 25%.You just can’t step back from ramming your point of view down folks’ throat can you?
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11 minutes ago, IanD said:
Hence 40% for the CC surcharge being chosen.
Though 46% were in favour of widebeams paying more (C and D combined) which is why CART chose the more popular of the two ways of doing this.
The status quo (flat increase) was clearly (14%) the loser, no matter how many times people keep trying to say it wan't... 😉
The results show how all boaters voted vs. Ccers and HMers. Wideboat owners were not shown separately, maybe because the data wasn't available?
Certainly the CCer/HMer split on the CC surcharge shows that many boaters were voting in their own interest, as expected.
I was pondering @Paul C’s maths in general rather than the outcome of the actual survey. -
1 hour ago, Paul C said:
4 options, 3 choices.
And.........with 4 options available, it should be obvious that any getting over 25% is the "winner".
🤔 -
12 minutes ago, Heartland said:
Another image this time from 1948 with two Fellows Morton & Clayton Boats, one in FMC livery (STAFFORD) and one in the new Livery (SHAD)
Also in the view is a railway viaduct and a road bridge.
That right hand lock looks peculiar. The chamber wall seems to slope upward to a higher top gate which suggests it’s a staircase. However the left hand lock appears to be a conventional lock.As they are broad locks I was thinking London, maybe the Regents canal.
Above Stanley dock, Liverpool is a possibility but not sure about FMC trade to Liverpool in the BW era.
Can I have three guesses? Runcorn?
I bet all three are wrong.
ETA - I took too long to write that and JB beat me to it!
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On 20/12/2023 at 15:48, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:
That basin is/was between Smith’s Bridge Cradley and Wrights Bridge where, if I remember properly is where there’s been long term road works.
Have they finally sorted them?
I think the road dips below canal level there abouts and thought they had problems with flooding 🤷♀️
It’s either work to the services in the road or the need to remove the bridge that spans the disused arm/wharf entrance by the look of things.It was still closed at the end of November and didn’t look like reopening was imminent.
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A recent customer of mine told me of his experience of communications with a supposed boatmover that on enquiry via FB he concluded to be a scammer.
Hence I’d be grateful if @Journeyman36 could at least confirm if the scam they mentioned involved a boat mover?
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36 minutes ago, magnetman said:
It is interesting that they did not recommend knocking the power orf and gliding in to the lock waiting area using momentum. It takes judgment and a longer time. Perhaps there is some sort of hurry because of having an engine and a propeller.
The point of the procedure is to initially arrive at the place you wish to stop with the boat stationary and the bow in a position where a crew member can step to the bank safely with a line. Another feature of the training being that you never step on or off a moving boat. And @LadyG you most certainly don’t jump.If you coast in a boat when exactly is it going to stop? Most likely when it hits something or you have jumped off with a line and taken a turn around a bollard. Coasting into the side is also highly likely to result in collision with the bank if done at a steep angle or being pushed away from the bank if coming in at a shallow angle.
There’s no hurry involved at all. Hurrying involves veering toward the bank a couple of hundred yards before a lock so the crew can take a flying leap on to the towpath and run up to prepare the lock.
I was taught to use mooring rings to bring the boat to a final stand but the technique as published doesn’t assume any particular type of canalside equipment is present.
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1 hour ago, magnetman said:
I would be very wary of any instructor who thought it was a Good Idea to do a 'quick blast' of anything.
I'm mostly self-taught but did do an ICC after about 20 yars of a lot of Boating mostly on narrow boats.
I would never advocate a 'quick blast' of anything although I know that some poorly designed boats can invite this due to inadequate prop and/or rudder combinations.
It seems better to me to plan ahead, keep things slow and controlled, have a well set up Boat and avoid blasts of any sort.
That was my choice of words and maybe not the best.In the circumstance I described the boat would be virtually stationary with the bow facing the bank. The purpose of a quick burst of throttle against a rudder angled at 45 degrees is to get the stern moving toward the bank without driving the bow into the bank. Similarly to arrest the forward motion a quick burst of reverse will retard the boat without sending a wave of water between the boat and bank that will push the boat away from the bank.
A consistent part of the teaching was to start manoeuvres from a slow speed and keep the tiller at 45 degrees using the throttle to change the rate of turn, but always starting with a burst of throttle to get the boat turning in the first place.
I did the Helmsman course 45 years after first going boating and 6 years after buying my own boat. I found it very well taught and useful. That was not what I’d expected.
Unfortunately I can’t recommend the training provider, Willow Wren, because they no longer exist as a training entity.
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2 hours ago, GUMPY said:
On the canal I've strapped boats to a stop all my life, when you are on the lock side and the boat is in an empty lock it's difficult to reach the engine controls. Doing it that way means I don't have to walk on the roof or climb a lock ladder.
Many years ago at Sewer Lock I did have one of the old wooden bollards disengage from the ground, it was very rotten.
I use the bollards to stop boats in Grand Union locks both when ascending and descending for similar reasons. It performs the dual function of stopping the boat and putting it alongside the wall when working a wide lock with a single boat.Of course most GU locks have suitable lockside furniture to do this but many others do not.
The point of a training course is to teach generic techniques and give awareness of risks. The rest is up to the trainee as to what they wish to do and go away and practice and develop that knowledge.
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Considering all the above is this possibly a Leicester line or Erewash lock?
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It’s unlikely CRT are allowed to directly engage individuals on a self-employed basis. It’s probably done through an agency.
The change in law referred to above was in principle to remove the ability to employ agency staff as de facto employees while denying them the rights afforded to employees, such as annual leave, sick pay and pension contributions.
If tendered as specific short term work it possibly has no bearing on CRTs chugging efforts.
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8 hours ago, David Mack said:
So you can never strap a boat to a stop by controlled use of a line around a bollard?
In some situations use of reverse gear to bring the boat to completely stop all forward motion will result in the stern kicking out sideways so the steerer can't step off with the rope. In such circumstances strapping on a bollard can be much more effective.
The RYA method advises against taking a turn around a bollard to stop the boat because of the risk that the rope will bind and heel the boat violently as it comes to an abrupt stop.RYA prescribed methods are universal and are intended to be applied in any circumstances. You will know that taking a turn around a GU steel bollard can produce a very different outcome than doing the same on a concrete bollard or a square wooden stump.
The method described involves slowing down on approach while still cruising in mid-channel, turning the boat toward the bank at about 30 degrees and engaging reverse to bring the boat almost to a stop as the bow is about to contact the bank. At this point a crew member can step off the bow with the bow line or centre line. Then a quick blast of forward with the tiller at 45 degrees to the bank starts to move the stern toward the bank with little forward momentum and lastly a blast of reverse with the tiller 45 degrees to the opposite side to arrest any excessive forward momentum and the steerer can step off at the the stern with either the stern line or the centre line. The boat is then brought to a complete stand by direct use of the lines.
Key is to avoid bank effect on the bow which can occur if approaching too fast or too shallow. Not helped if the channel side is particularly shallow.
I was taught quite faithfully to RYA methods but some variances to allow for the particular style of the canalside equipment were made.
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1 hour ago, magpie patrick said:
It's in my original list
It's doubtful whether a wide boat ever went through it, but I presume the logic was to get wide boats to a particular wharf in Middlewich.
I haven't a clue why the barge lock in Droitwich was built wide!
The lock at Droitwich could have served a similar purpose to that you suggest for Middlewich big lock. It’s also possible the term barge lock is a bit of a misnomer because it’s a flood lock and that may be the reason for its dimensions. If it were a narrow lock it would be largely unnavigable today because of the build up of silt behind the gates. -
33 minutes ago, MtB said:
I don't think so, given the official population is 68m.
Unofficial opinions are we are well over 70m, and the housing shortage appears to support this view.
And CRTs grant is £739m over 15 years. So about £0.75 per head and £1.50 per taxpayer per year. -
Isn’t CRT’s current level of direct grant broadly equivalent to £1 per head of the entire UK population?
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On 16/12/2023 at 21:06, RAB said:
We went on a non RYA helmsman course, guessing 12 years ago. Won't mention any names but the chap was excellent, but I believe, wasn't RYA approved as he refused to only teach the approved RYA method of mooring (i.e. bow first, crew get off the bow, tie up the bow, then slow forward to pull the stern in), think I've got that right! His view was how many people really do that, especially as a lot may be operating single handed and if your about to enter a lock someone has to go back through the boat to close the bow doors. He therefore believed they should also be taught how to moor by being able to step off the stern first. Regards the RYA training bit is this true/false (or has it changed?) does anyone know?
Anyway bottom line, in my view, is that good experience is better than bad practice from a training book.
PS the training doesn't stop me from making a right hash of mooring up occasionally 🤔
That information is false. The RYA handbook has methods for coming alongside using either the bow and stern lines or the centre line. The latter method is shown for both a crew member stepping off the bow or a single hander stepping off at the stern.The instructions are explicit that you should not put a line around a bollard while the boat is moving, and that while the boat is in gear the line should be held slack.
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1 hour ago, Tonka said:
Enclosed bows are traditional. They are just behind the cratch board and often have canvas over them
Fair point but you’ll have the traditional crowd tut-tutting calling that a cratch board. -
Fencing of all railway lines in Britain is enshrined in case law in modern times.
The pertinent case being one where a child was killed by a train while using a short cut that had been created by damaging a fence and this had been done repeatedly until such time as no effort to repair it was made.
Not a modern H&S ruling but something that dates back over half a century.
In Europe all high speed lines are fenced. In rural areas this is largely due to the risk of animal incursion.
ETA - that applies in Scotland which has laws in access perhaps more akin to mainland Europe than to England & Wales. There are no designated “footpath crossings” in Scotland. That law presumably also applies to Northern Ireland which in general has a different legal framework relating to railways than that of Great Britain.
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On 18/12/2023 at 01:10, blackrose said:
I don't bowhaul in or out of locks. When you're single handed on a 29 tonne boat that's not really a practical option.
They don’t make ‘em like they used to. I dare say my great grandmother could have taught you a trick or two. -
1 minute ago, Barneyp said:
Surely it's self explanatory in the term Continuous Cruise that you are supposed to move around a lot, maybe not the whole network, but not just one small area. Yes that makes having a job with a regular fixed place of work and/or getting children to school hard, so people have to make the choice and deal with the situation,not expect CRT to solve their problems and provide them with a subsidised place to live.
The law doesn’t require any form of long distance cruise. The term “continuous cruiser” is one invented by BW and perpetuated by CRT.A boat without a home mooring has to move regularly and in a manner that doesn’t belie that the boater is literally trying to stay in the same place i.e shuffling. It is possible to do this and keep a job - particularly post-Covid where working from home is more prevalent. It isn’t necessarily easy though.
1 minute ago, magnetman said:Its nuts that people paying £20 a week rent (cc licence) are whining about having to pay £25 or £30 a week. This really is incredibly cheap for what you get. A mooring for your boat 24/7/365 for less than £5 a day and you can moor where you like.
Such bargains do not exist in the real world.
I’d say the number of people arguing for the change is greater than those opposed to it.
Noting some of the inconsistencies in the arguments of both CRT and forum members is not the same thing as objecting to the change.
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26 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:
Cock-up is my middle name.
It’s only online that we’re all perfect boaters.I reckon if I do a full days boating one cock-up is par for the course.
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"I hate these things", he said.
in General Boating
Posted
If the chap had any sense he would have remarked that he had intended to ask if the crew ahead would be prepared to wait for him to join them in the next lock but seeing as that wasn’t possible would they kindly wind a bottom paddle back for him at subsequent locks.
That’s something to consider anyway if boats are following you.