NB Willawaw

Gary, You mentioned something about working for a new boat company. Does this mean you have new employers ? Mark

I'm sorry you are having the problems that you are with your new narrowboat. As a previous post said, it should be a time of joy. Did you read the earlier posts about Lees' Moroccan boats ? IMHO The old and now defunct Warble Boat company under the guise of Kevin Wadsworth, which used the same yard, built some of the best modern narrowboats on the cut. Cloudcatcher has just been sold and I wouldn't mind betting the owner didn't get far short of what he spent on her when she was built in 1994. Mark NBWillawaw Pyrford, R.Wey

I ordered the 30cm Dutch pattern fog horn for £3.99. I'll let you know if its any good. Mark NB Willawaw Pyrford, R.Wey

I seem to recall Onion Bargee pricing up a stainless steel boat in an earlier thread a month or so back. Might be worth searching back ! Mark

For whats its worth, my Vetus is 2.5 years old and has given no problems and I think it does have a plastic prop. However, it does have thin protective bars welded across the thruster tunnel to stop branches, etc being drawn in. Mark

Something you said acted as a catalyst - try this ! http://seamarknunn.co.uk/catalog/items/item408.htm

We plan to spend some time on the tideways this summer (probably Thames and Severn) and I was thinking about getting a VHF Radio, as mobiles are fine up to a point, but theres nothing like being able to talk bridge-to-bridge in certain situations. Has anybody applied for a UK radio licence recently and got a callsign allocated for their boat ? If so, what letters are currently being allocated ? British vessels always used to be G--- or M---, but I believe these were exhausted and other combinations with numbers in the sequence were provided. Also did you get an MMSI number (9-digit) allocated as well ? its like a digital callsign and is used mainly for Digital Selective Calling ? Best Regards Mark NB Willawaw Weybridge, River Wey

The ones I'm talking about are blown into manually. Is that a Klaxon ? Mark

Rod, No I meant the River Call Service (the one in red text) - it talks about boils, eddies, playwaves, etc. I think they're both primarily for canoeists, but it doesn't matter. The information is useful to both narrowboaters and canoeists. Mark

Its for canoeists Rod. Playwaves are for white water canoeists to do stunts on and boils/eddies are canoeing terms for recirculating water and still water out of the main flow to rest or regroup on. When it rains a lot and the water levels get terminal, you will see lots of kayaks on roof racks. Mark

Yes and one of those little nail varnish brushes !

Just don't use your bow thruster a lot for berthing before you switch off your engine. The current drain from a thruster at 12V can be quite eye-watering. As you say its a cheap and cheerful way of doing it, but you got to run very heavy duty cables the length of your boat. The main cost in the project is the thruster anyway. The cost of an extra battery and isolation switch isn't too crippling. Mark

Well they ARE American ! We just have the basic one. I heard that when Disney Cruise Line built their two cruise ships, they paid the whistle maker US$1m to develop a special version for them which plays "When you wish upon a star" . Imagine living close to the cruise terminal in Florida, where they sail from every week !!! Mark

Thanks for your help Daniel, but its the wrong thing. I've now seen two of them on the river now, but the boats are too far away to hail. It looks like it is made of plastic, is about 12 inches long and straight. It looks a little like a duck decoy, but is longer and makes a proper note when blown (not a duck quack) Mark

Stuart, The power rating is the power used, not necessarily directly proportional to the light emitted, hence my point about 700cd at 20W. I think if you look up the spec of your lights, you will find the output of your 10W conventional halogen is a lot higher in candela. I'm by no means an expert in lighting but I would suggest that this Osram lamp is diffusing the light available by employing a wider beamwidth. Its just a guess, but your light is probably 10W with a smaller beamwidth and higher output in candela. My main reason for mentioning this model is that the lack of heat being dissipated back into the roof might be an attractive feature since people are talking about overheating problems. Mark

One of my little indulgences on a modern trad boat with a modern diesel engine and no open engine room is my horn. I spent some time, a few years ago, in New Orleans and was fascinated by the Mississippi steamboats with their calliopes and steam whistles. We don't have steam onboard, so we (I actually) had the boat fitted with a Kahlenberg compressor driven Marine Air Horn which has a beautiful 322/254Hz tone. Its great on open stretches of canal when coming to blind bends, in bad visibility when foggy, etc and on the bigger rivers like the Thames. It certainly gives some the big plastic gin palaces a surprise when they start hooting from their flybridges. I actually get a lot of pleasure from polishing it as it sits on the top of the cabin midships, so it doesn't deafen anybody standing at the cratch. However, it can be a bit over the top in sleepy canalside villages etc (133dB at 1m) and I'm not a noise freak really. I've seen some other narrowboaters using a hand held horn not unlike a post horn, which would seem to be more appropriate for these kind of situations. Does anybody know who sells them ? Best Regards Mark

Has anybody seen the Osram Decostar 1 ALU halogens which have an aluminium coating on the backside, said to reduce back-heat by about 80% compared to a conventional dichroic reflector. The light output is only about 1100cd at 35W and 700cd at 20W, but it has a 38 degree beamwidth which should make it ideal for deckhead mounted recessed downlighting. Best Regards Mark

We have a Vetus unit with a dedicated battery in the bow locker (dry space) which also has its own isolation switch. It is charged from the main mastervolt charger. Mark PS I should also say that there is a charging feed from the engine-driven domestic alternator as well. The charger on its own is not enough to keep the 200AHC Gel battery charged up as it only gets mains when the genset is running or we are on shore mains (very rare) . The two DC supplies are routed through independent battery isolators.

We have a 1200mm Lucite bath which enables you to have a good soak, albeit sitting up. I have no idea how much water it uses, but its not much and our calorifier can cope with one decent bath. I can't find the volume of the bath anywhere, but I can check the capacity of the calorifier if you need to know. I can send you photo's of the bath, etc. Just PM me your e-mail address and I'll send them to you. Mark NB Willawaw Eton

Sounds like its time to come home Christopher !!

It largely depends on where we are in September. We are heading for the K+A at present but you never know. Failing that, I've got friends with boats on the Lee and Stort, so I can always get the train back for a long weekend. It just seems to be a good opportunity and therefore I'm interested in checking it out. Its a pity it couldn't coincide with Trafalgar Day, but then the weather in October wont be up to much. Mark

OK I've e-mailed him to see if we can get some more information. Mark NB Willawaw Marlow

Actually, all joking aside, thats how the Japanese view the subject. Thats why they shower clean first and then soak in their small baths up to their necks. Mark NB Willawaw Marlow I KNOW

Sounds interesting. Please keep us informed.