Grassman
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Posts posted by Grassman
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When I bought my boat it had an Alde 29 series (upright in the corridor) in it. Knowing how much gas they use from when we had a share in a boat, I changed to a Webasto diesel installed in the engine bilge of my cruiser stern.
When I removed the Aldi I was delighted to discover how much precious storage room it's void created. A full arms length narrow space from floor to ceiling. I fitted some shelves and it's perfect for storing things like shoes, toilet and kitchen rolls etc.
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I wonder if any independants will take over some of MC's sites like Park Gate Leisure did a few years ago with the Penkridge store.
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2 hours ago, Memories said:Car insurance is a major thing.
It is a major thing, but why not relate the title to the subject you want to talk about? Such as 'Car Insurance' for example. Then you wouldn't be wasting those peoples time who aren't interested in the topic. A little thought and consideration for others before posting?
It does my head in, but thankfully the vast majority on here have the common sense to think about the subject title before posting.
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12 hours ago, plato said:
To be honest I very much doubt anyone at CRT would have had a clue how to get those boats out. They poneyed up the cash and left the real experts to plan and execute the job.
Not knocking CRT they had to instigate the work in first place.
To my mind they’ve become more of a management company.
Years ago pretty much everything was “ in house”but now they just farm the majority of it out to tender and call contractors when something needs doing.
I agree that they should do more 'in house' and not farm out work as much as they do, but for this kind of thing I'd rather they subcontract out than purchase and keep all that very expensive specialist equipment and expert manpower just for the odd occasion when something like this occurs.
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An inch or two of snow here in Birmingham. In fact I had quite a shock when I looked out of the window.
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All CRT 'non essential' staff are off for a fortnight over Christmas and return to work on January 5th.
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14 hours ago, magnetman said:
It is for now but what is more reliable? A canal or a circular tube.
Affinity Water own Stockers lock house in Rickmansworth. Presumably they want to use the site for a water transfer station at some point.
I bet that despite this breach CRT will still want to pursue their barmy Grand Union Water Transfer plans.
Nobody apprears to have mentioned the boaters who are stuck on the 'wrong' side of the breach. Granted they won't have suffered in the same way as the three distressed boats, but the breach will nevertheless have an impact on some people's lives whether they are liveaboards or somebody who happenned to be away from home cruising.
Mind you, there are far worse places to be 'stuck' of course 🙂
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The only corpse I've encountered in our 49 years is a deer on the Witham Navigation near Torksey, a common occurrence apparently despite the deer ramps, which are useless. That is apart from the usual dead fish, rats etc.
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I was under the impression that much of Whiltons sales business was at the lower end of the market value, and that it was a good way of selling a boat that either other brokers didn't want to take on, or that they or the owners struggled to sell. A kind of 'We buy any car' but for boats.
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Being a relatively 'newbie' to the canals compared to many of you others, my first narrowboating (with 4 mates) experience wasn't until 1976. We'd hired from Alvechurch and made our way into Birmingham for a few days, moored outside what was then The Opposite Lock. We absolutely loved it and it was this trip that got me hooked for life. Hard to describe but it had it's own unique atmosphere, so different to 'the outside world', and if my memory is correct I think it looked similar then to how it was in this film.
Sadly I am the only one of those 5 'young lads' who continued with the love for the canals and narrowboating after that. The other 4 have missed out on so much 🙂.
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I'm not sure if somebody has linked this on here before, but I've come across this nice little BBC feature from 1970
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4 minutes ago, nb Innisfree said:
It's been 49yrs since the '76 drought, I'm 78 and remember a dry brown landscape & trees dying, all after 4 dry years, worse than now, one estimate was driest for 1000 yrs! 🤔 Whatever, I recall one tabloid headline "BRITAIN'S BURNING!" and it was, but it didn't last long before the downpour came & quite quickly was forgotten, no more was heard of govt thinking of declaring a national emergency, now it's difficult to find reports of it, strange.
I remember amidway through August the govenment created the role of 'minister for water' (Dennis Howell) in order to deal with the water shortage problems. Two weeks later on the August Bank Holiday it poured with rain all day, and neary every day for the next month or so.
It could be argued that Howell was the most successful government minister ever 😃
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June 1976 was my first ever narrowboating experience. Together with 4 mates, we hired from Alvechurch Boats in the days when they were just in Alvechurch. Our destination was Stratford on Avon but when we reached Kingswood Junction the pounds ahead were dry, not even a trickle of water.
Thankfully the GU was fine so we headed up to Birmingham and spent a few days in the city centre moored outside Bobby Browns nightclub on the p*ss 😀. On one of the days we decided to explore some of the BCN but this proved impossible, particularly the Soho Loop, which unknown to us was dried up and derelict half way round. Having to reverse back the mile to the junction was challenging to say the least, but the whole experience got me hooked on narrowboating.
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That's a few hundred more boaters who they can fleece 🙁
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15 hours ago, IanD said:Some of the better hire companies still take more care over boater education,
I recently had some work done on my boat at Anglo Welsh Great Haywood. I was there for about a week, and being a nosey so and so I often listened to them going through everything with the hirers. Every time they were very through and covered details like slowing down when passing moored boats, not mooring at water points, winding holes etc, and then accompanied them through their first lock.
The problem is that it's a lot of information for the hirers to take in, particularly when they're itching to get going so probably aren't taking it all in as much as they should be.
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8 minutes ago, David Mack said:
Reasonable that CRT should provide life jacket and corporate clothing. But why on earth are licence payers subsidising your 180 mile round trip? If they are going to pay travel expenses, which I would question, they should be capped at a level based on volunteers working close to where they live.
Why can't you volunteer closer to Bristol?
I'm surprised at this because 'officially' there's a limit of 20 miles for which volunteers can calim mileage expenses. When I do the winter offside vegetation cutting this is the case, and I thought this rule was across the board. I can't comment on other areas but on my patch most of us don't make a claim and we often car share.
With regards to the volunteer lockies, another reason for their introduction was to be a face of the CRT, engaging with the public and giving them information about the charity because a lot of the public haven't a clue who runs and pays for the canals. Yes there's obviously a cost with workwear, training etc, but CRT get a lot of new members supporting them with their £8 a month (or more) because of them.
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On 15/08/2025 at 22:22, Ken X said:The impression we got was that the vollies had given up reporting defects as bashing your head against a brick wall hurts and it's probably best to stop doing it.
Exactly this. I do occasional volunteer lock keeping at Fradley, and can confirm that the issues with the locks have been reported in the past time and time again.
Regarding the comments about lockies, I’ve boated 80% of the system since 1976 (including tidals such as the Severn Estuary, Ribble Mersey, Thames Tideway etc) and over the years have amassed 7,000+ miles and 4,800 locks, and as a liveaboard for the last 13 years, so I reckon I’m reasonably experienced.
The lockies at Fradley are a mixture of boaters and non boaters, as I imagine is also the case elsewhere. All of them know what they’re doing, and that includes the non boaters amongst them, some of whom been doing it for years so are very experienced, so it’s wrong when people assume that just because they aren’t boaters they mustn’t be any good.
Also they do appreciate that some boaters like to do their own locking, but if you do feel uncomfortable with them around you may find it handy to know that they usually finish at 1pm.-
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This was the pound between Shadehouse and Middle Lock on Wednesday. A lockie mate has just texted me (8.30 Fri) to say it's now full again and boats are passing through without problems.
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11 hours ago, Sue68 said:
Would that work with pigeons? The pigeons aren't bothered by my water pistol and I need to deter them from squirrel feeder. The pigeons have destroyed one squirrel feeder but the squirrels ignore my bird feeders.
Yes it does, but bear in mind just the same as with Canada Geese a laser is less effective on bright sunny days. Cloudy days are usually fine and dusk or darkness even better.
On 02/08/2025 at 08:59, Mac of Cygnet said:Don't they make a terrible mess? That's what I mainly remember about Canada geese.
I once read a piece from a wildlife 'expert' who said that on average each one produces 1kg of shit a week. I reckon the geese at Wesport Lake in the T&M do twice that amount!
Besides which, it's not just the mess it's the noise they make, especially in the Spring when it starts up at 4.30am.
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If you use your phone for online banking, shopping, or other information sensitive tasks, you should bare in mind how long the manufacturers support (updates) will continue for on that model. Even if you have good antivirus software on it, it's reckoned that your phone could still be vulnerable without those security updates. Also, certain functionality problems can occur once the support period has ended.
Presumably manufacturers do this to 'encourage' people to buy a new one even though their current one seems to be working fine
I don't know how significant this is or isn't, but no doubt the more knowledgeable people on here will know more than me about it. Which magazine have been campaigning to get them to support their phones for a longer time-span and have had some success, especially with Apple and Samsung.
Here's some more info about it, and IMO the 2 minute video is worth a watch.
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13 hours ago, GUMPY said:
I find a red laser pointer is good for Canada geese.
I don't know why but it spooks them and makes them leave en-masse. Very effective at clearing our lake a few years ago 😱
It's because a laser replicates a preditors eye so it scares them. For that reason a green laser is said to be more effective, however obviously your red one works too. A laser is very effective, especially at dusk, in the dark, or on duller days.
Wherever I moor up, if there are Canada Geese about, a few flashes of my laser and they soon get the message and keep away.
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6 hours ago, BoatingLifeUpNorth2 said:
Is there anywhere to get diesel on these closed long pound stretches between locks? As the last thing I would want is to keep moving to comply, then realise I don’t have enough diesel to get anywhere once everything opens up.
This ocurred to me too. Perhaps where locks are shut to conserve water rather than for repair, CRT could open them briefly as 'one offs' to let fuel boats through? After all it's their livelihood, and there must be loads of bridge hoppers and continuous
cruisersmoorers who are going to be in the mire without fuel to run their engines to charge their batteries etc. -
My (only) visit to the Erewash Canal a few years ago echos John's description. Yes it poses a few difficulties but it's well worth doing.
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Yes it's a day when local IWA volunteers help boaters through the lock(s) and aim to make people aware of who they are and what they are about in order to try and recruit new members, as well as raising some money through sales of cakes and merchandise.
In the midlands IWA Lichfield Branch do this once a year at Barton Lock on the Trent & Mersey Canal (4th August this year)
Fuel Shortages and canals.
in General Boating
Posted
There is a marina on the T&M a couple of miles north Fradley Junction which has increased it's price by 52ppl even though they'd had a delivery at the old price a week before the costs began to rise. And that's for it's own moorers so it's probably more for 'outsiders'!
Pure blatent exploitation 😠.