Dave123
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Posts posted by Dave123
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On 02/03/2024 at 07:37, john.k said:
removing fallen vegetation.............why dont they burn it on site ?
Probably too wet?
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On 08/10/2023 at 08:24, magnetman said:
A bit awkward to do that as it would need some sort of inverted goalpost thing buried in the canal. May not be allowed if they are listed structures.
I reckon all the control parts will be on the same side as the rams.
Does this mean the end of the Banbury stick?
This is exactly what they have been doing, and why it costs so much. They have to put a dam in either side of the bridge, dig out a tough for a tube for the hydraulics to run under the canal, then the bridge can be opened from the towpath side by hydraulics.
I think someone at CRT H&S realised a bridge could fall onto a boat/boaters head and CRT might be liable?
On 12/10/2023 at 13:05, magnetman said:Definitely agro there.
I don't understand why they need to be made hydraulic. Surely if you are using a canal boat doing locks someone on the boat is fit enough to operate a manual bridge.
Is this a ramblers thing or perhaps farmers asserting themselves with their rights of way?
Elfin Safety?
It seems crazy and pointless.
Single handed boats (and any crewed boat encountering an already open bridge) go through without the bridge necessarily being secured in the open position (whether by a lock, pole or a crew member). Several bridges, Chisnell in particular, can blow shut in the wrong conditions, possibly helped by being heavy from recent rain?
As far as I know they are hydraulic windlass operated. From the scale of operation at Wolvercote 2 years ago I wouldn't be surprised if it was £150k per bridge😔🤦. They needed permanently running diesel generators powering pumps to shift the water around the two dams, which kept getting over topped by high water levels from rain etc
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Does anyone known how the levels at which red boards are displayed were originally calculated? I know for the Thames it is to do with the % of weir gates that are open, but on CRT navigations with fixed weirs, like the Cherwell stretch, or the trent at Alrewas, or the Kennet or Soar, it's just based on the river height? Did someone actually try and work out what flow of water was too much for an average narrowboat to push against? I imagine the concept of red boards was brought in during the early days of the leisure industry, or was it in place during the working years of canals? Wondering as it seems to vary a lot from river to river...eg the Kennet can be trickier in "green" than other rivers are in yellow or even red...
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On 25/10/2023 at 10:13, Scholar Gypsy said:
I was going to quote my Craftinsure policy but @nicknorman beat me to it. I guess the problem the insurers have is that they have literally no idea how competent a particular skipper is - as we don't need any licence etc. The craftinsure underwriters were sensible when I did a Wash crossing a few years ago, ie a list of extra conditions which suggested to me someone who understood what the risks were on this trip, and what mitigations were sensible and possible.
It's worth noting that on some rivers - the Nene is a good example - the whole river goes on red even when the problem is fairly localised (or as with the recent storms, as a precautionary measure before the significant rainfall has actually happened). If you know the river then moving in those conditions is not reckless (I would argue). The EA are working on this, but it's not a straightforward issue.The Kennet river sections are another example of a navigation that has very unspecific information about the location of red boards. The CRT strong stream website usually gives information just for county lock, Woolhampton swing bridge and occasionally Newbury town bridge/lock. The CRT email/stoppage notices however, are given as blanket red board notices for entire stretches, eg from Guyers lock to County lock and sometimes even as far as Kintbury, even though there are many entirely canal sections within this stretch.
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On 10/10/2023 at 19:09, Porcupine said:
Yes, it’s an official winter mooring. Blimey, you’ve got me worried now.
You'll be fine there provided you are set up for possibly not moving until the spring. It's secure and a popular spot as far as town centres go
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On 20/09/2023 at 08:40, magnetman said:
Of course the Gold Licence, which gives you Thames and CRT 24/7/365 is an elephant in this room as it may well end up being less costly than the upcoming cc er widebeam licence.
Some work needed here to avoid evasive strategies.
If the surcharges are significant then the Gold licence must either go up or be withdrawn. I would not be that surprised if the EA and the CRT got their heads together and decided to withdraw the Gold Licence quite soon..
I am sure they will just increase it, it is priced like an extra to whatever the equivalent CRT only licence would be anyway, so it wouldn't make sense to be cheaper than a CRT only licence
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On 20/09/2023 at 09:43, magnetman said:
I wouldn't feel too sorry about someone with a hundred grand wide beam paying a bit more. I'm sure they can afford it..
For people who are on the breadline the state is there to help you and will do so it you need it.
Apart from anything else the CRT should not be subsidising people who are renting the house out living on a boat.
This is not an appropriate allocation of limited funds.
Exactly my thoughts. Charging widebeams more isn't really about the extra space or use of facilities that widebeams may or may not entail, it is simply the closest and easiest way for CRT to a means-tested licence increase, in which the more expensive boats pay more.
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On 19/09/2023 at 13:29, Arthur Marshall said:
I like the bit about some people not being happy about the increases. I'm trying to work out who are the over-joyed ones...
I imagine there are some wealthy weekend boaters, who think this change to licences will magically make the untidy boats they hate so much, dissappear.
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19 hours ago, Theo said:
I'm going to bite and be prepared to be shot down.
We have 50ft chain and 40ft rope. I do wonder if that it really enough on the Severn but I hope that as we approach the weir the water get shallow enought for the anchor to bite.
I thought the profile of rivers is usually deepest immediately above a weir, and shallowest below?
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On 26/03/2007 at 12:30, RichardH said:
Thanks for all your help and guidance guys.
Why am I now rather nervous and thinking a trip through Standedge and b*ggering up my lovely new paint job would be less likely to bring on a coronary.
Incidentally rallyfan what was 'Mr Helpful already in the lock's top tactic?
Cheers all
I found going in at Keadby far less nerve-wracking than steering through Standedge tunnel!
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On 03/07/2023 at 14:13, ChrisRichmond94 said:
Hello!
I was just wondering if anyone is / anyone knows people who are uni students who live on Narrowboats. Is it possible? I'd love to hear from anyone with experience about this.Thanks!
I was living on my narrowboat whilst working as a post doc at uni in London (which is close to being a student I guess)😅. If anything it was easier than living on a boat and working for a company (which I now do) as Uni is a very flexible sort of workplace.
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On 01/07/2023 at 20:17, matty40s said:
This will be in advance of next Winters ban on solid fuel stoves , generators and running engine in the Castle Quays shopping area.
Just surmising of course.
Most boats aren't set up to be heated by electricity though? I've always thought this is a major oversight of all these schemes to make town centre moorings smoke/emission free by installing electric bollards...it might save engine or generator running to charge batteries but in the winter most emissions are stoves or diesel heaters, which won't change with electric bollards...
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What about shutting the navigation during the hours of darkness, providing more secure moorings, and increasing the flow rate significantly after dark?
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7 minutes ago, Tonka said:
Of course we are only hearing one side of the story.
Can't really think of anything that would justify this...unless the couple on the boat were the last two Prime Ministers 😂
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Crofton was open for a couple of months at least...but I am generally encouraged that CRT are investing in big projects like the work at Crofton. It isn't meant to be shut this coming winter
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51 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:
They should be public and not members only.
I suppose...though I think it makes people feel a bit safer and more inclined to share info?
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42 minutes ago, IanD said:
There's a big difference between the small back pumps needed to restore water levels (typically 240k litres/lockful for broad locks, 140k for narrow) and the huge ones needed for water transfer (115M litres/day)...
True.
I'm in two minds about this. Having a high flow rate on these canals would cause navigational issues and structural ones (eg errosion of banks; CRT blamed the Middlewich breach on someone opening all the paddles on a lock and causing a high flow on the canal).
Equally, anything that gives the canals increased relevance and funding is a good thing.
Boats manage on the Llangollen and also some of the narrower faster parts of the K&A, eg Theale VMs and below Thatcham
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26 minutes ago, IanD said:
On which particular FB canal group? There are too many to count, many with a very low useful information content -- a bit like the political forum here... 😉
Generally if a canal has a specific facebook page it's very useful, eg the K&A, Oxford&Cov, L&L etc
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On 13/06/2023 at 22:43, BoatinglifeupNorth said:
Not interested in joining every Narrowboat related group/forum especially members only ones. I have enough problems dealing with pointless posts and wasting my time, a bit like what this one is turning into because you can’t see the details of it. Why don’t you do something so everyone can see it?
I’ll leave it to the members of that Facebook group to discuss on here, which is totally pointless on this forum. Go and discuss it on Facebook.
Increasingly news related to canals appears on Facebook and not on here though. Take the stoppage page on here for example, it used to be the first place I checked before a cruise but now I don't bother and rely on Facebook instead, stoppage info appears there much quicker now.
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On 15/06/2023 at 15:56, BEngo said:
If my fag packet is accurate, 115 million litres a day from the Coventry to Lygetune Beaudesert will need about a 1/2 a mile per hour southbound current in Blisworth tunnel.
I am sure that the cost of pumping it all up Hillmorton, Braunston and from Fenny to Leighton will not be cheap.
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Aren't there already back pumps at most of those locks? If they went via Warwick and Napton then certainly there are back pumps all the way at each lock flight.
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K&A has had multiple stoppages over the last few months that never appear on here. Guessing not many forum members in this area...heard rumours of too many scruffy boats😂 but just wanted to post this as it was the fastest repair I've encountered in about 20 years! Was preparing for a long wait after the balance beam snapped off Copse lock 80, but two working days later it was fixed with this....
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Same thing happens to the Devizes elsan each week. Conspiracy theories range from broken/blocked piping somewhere underground to idiot liveabords to local street drinkers...
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A few points to add to this;
1) It was comprehensively demonstrated (but I can't find the references) that the cost of closing a canal is close to the cost of maintaining it. You can't just walk away from a canal and stop spending anything on it. Locks would need damming up, embankments and cuttings either complete removal or regular inspection and maintenance anyway. Every watercourse joining a canal (eg sewers and streams) needs diverting or culverting etc etc plus the towpaths would still need maintaining, they couldn't be closed (as was demonstrated during lockdown when various groups of boaters tried this themselves in places). Many canals provide a water supply to sewage works/farms/factories/fiber optic cable cooling so this would need to continue?
2) No one ever discusses the many canal restoration projects when talking of the imminent demise of the CRT navigations. I do wonder if some of the resource put into these should or could be diverted?
3) Am quite concerned by the lack of planned winter closures this year though, so obviously CRT have some idea they are going to be left with little money?
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On 05/06/2023 at 13:02, TheBiscuits said:
Slide the stem up the plate on the gate. The water movement holds the boat in place, just make sure you are touching before opening paddles and most importantly there's nothing sticking out of the plate!
But that won't work in the deeper locks (which these mostly are). The bow would initially be sliding up the cill not the gate, and as it got high enough it would jump forwards and bang into the gate
Where are all the boaters?
in General Boating
Posted
It's very quiet on the South Oxford too, I read somewhere that the UK holiday market is expected to be very quiet this year because of cost of living and the bad weather last summer. But you'd think all the 1000s of new liveaboards one also reads about would be somewhere?🤔😅