hughc

During the summer of 1975 we did an extended trip on Avon. It was a very, very dry summer and there were low pounds and closures throughout the system. We were pleased to get back on the Erewash which was the only canal still running weir. Now, fifty years later, it's the same canal fed by the same river but plagued by almost constant water level problems. Same canal, same water supply, different management with I suspect different priorities.

Imperial measurements are,albeit somewhat remotely, based on the human body and are therefore probably more intuitive than the metric system. The French metric system is based on the distance from the pole to the equator and the derived values are a little more difficult to visualise than the length of one's thumb. In any case they got it slightly wrong. The Babylonians were probably more accurate. We should perhaps also consider the megalithic yard which,considering the forum's demographic maybe more familiar to some contributers to this discussion.

I have found an aerosol of switch cleaner to be an essential piece of equipment.

There is a great deal of research needed to determine which rivers were historically used for navigation. Early medieval boats and barges may have included smaller types, say 10 tons max. Load capacity, which could probably navigate what are now considered too small to be used for trade. A good start would to look wherever a Roman road crosses any waterway or early watermill sites which may retain evidence of navigation works such as water gates or flash locks.

I think , based on the boxes on which I have worked, that the 160 and 260 boxes used round section O rings and it was only when the 280 was introduced that the square section was used. I was told, on good authority, that this was an attempt by PRM to cure the pernicious oil leak which had blighted the hydraulic boxes from their inception. Percy Riley , an inspired engineer, would never have stood for such an easily cured example of poor practice.

We bought Avon off Kim McGavin in Gas St. In 1975 IIRC. We de-hogged her and fitted a great deal of new timber mainly Keruin but with some 40' lengths of constructional grade softwood which was finger jointed by Vic Hallam Ltd.at Langley Mill. We took the boat to Trevithick's yard in Nottingham.Being unable to afford all the hardwood we would have liked to use the kelson was strengthened by bolting heavy gauge 6" steel angle on either side. These were bolted to the best of the bottoms and a 6" by 1/4" steel girdle was fitted below what looked like a newish lining plank. This was welded to every knee with the boat supported only on two stands to keep her straight and when refloated she was. Rigidity was no longer a problem.We had Avon for around ten years if my memory serves me correctly and took heraround a great deal of the system. We had plans to carry on the restoration as funds permitted but 3 children intervened and we sold her and bought a 35' family friendly Holt Abbot boat. We kept Avon part loaded to help avoid the return of the dreaded hog but even so she swam better and was faster than any ex-working boat I have ever had the privilege of steering. When we subsequently took Judith Ann to Puttenham for replanting I was told that Avon had been broken up there ; to settle a debt I believe. She was of course one of the last of the Knobstick motors and in todays climate would be perfectly restorable. L

During the 1970's, well before we bought her, Judith Ann, then owned by Trevor Woodhouse, tied up next to us at Sawley. She then had two bunks in the cabin and no cross bed. When I was last on Progress, the other Keay's tug she had the same layout. As I remember Progress had a very narrow cabin. By the time we bought JA she had had a conventional cabin fit out substituted. In neither case was the headroom significantly different from most boats have known. We increased the headroom on Wyrd by using a sloping cardan shift. This gives full standing headroom if only under the slide.By the table cupboard we have about 5' 10".

We took Wyrd towing Meteor up to New Bolingroke in the early 90's IIRC. The entrance to the drain was challenging but the exit was even more difficult as Meteor had to be dragged across the bank of what looked like ancient dredging on the inside of the turn. There used to be a small foundry at the end of the drain which was opportune as we had broken an engine mounting and they welded it for us. (Thread now running as 'That looks expensive', in boat building and maintenance. We had previously reached New Bolingbroke during the late 70's with the Mersey Weaver motor boat Avon accompanied by a converted lifeboat owned by Dick Alton and called Greta Thorden which was also based at Langley Mill. Since we lacked the power subsequently available with Wyrd Dick towed us backwards until we could turn. On that occasion the local press ran an article saying we were the first boat to NB in many years. The drains are a neglected corner of the network which deserve to be better known.

An old thread but, I have rebuilt one of the F4's and it will be running at the Kelvin gathering of boats at Langley Mill at the beginning of June.

Or New Bolingbroke.

Using Tico the engine is totally isolated from both the steel and wooden bearers. The mounting bolts run in Tico tubes which locate in large washers at top and bottom. The nuts then tighten over these to spread the load. Another bonus is the the reduction in transmitted noise and vibration. In our case the engine is trying to shake a cosiderable tonnage of boat. There is still an , easily avoidable, harmonic imbalance around 1500 r.p.m. This is a fault common to many largish 3 cylinder engines and the Ford is , I believe, based on the Lister CRK3 which was notorious for this.

This is a problem that comes up fairly frequently. I have explained previously in various threads how we cured the out of balance problems with a heavy (Ford BSD 332). The bonus point in this solution was a much more secure and permanent engine mounting system. The engine is solidly mounted on Tico which is itself resting on hardwood bearers mounted on heavy L section steel which is the length of the engine room and continuously welded to the same. I haver ner had to tighten any engine mounting bolts. There is a aquamarine cardan shift.Tico is the way to go. Flexi mounts which rely on a single nut to maintain alignment are a bodge and their use by most engine installers does not make them any less so.If they are used throw the lower nut away, drop the engine onto the plate on top of the rubber element of the fleximount and use shims to align the engine. I tried this with the Ford and it still broke 5/8" mounting bolts hence the present , well thirty year old, solution.

We managed to house three oung children and an Afghan (hound) under our front deck

A tug deck makes it so much easier to work a boat and , as a bonus, there is an accessible and safe way of leaving the front end in an emergency. After steering Wyrd for 36 years I would never consider any other design. If you are drawing a plan then ,after a free swimming hull, safe access and ease of working is up there with kitchen and bathroom provision.

Plus gas, lots of heat and when still warm a suitably powerful rattle gun with a well fitting socket .

We seem to have missed a generation. Those of my childrens' age who are boating people I used to categorise as the 'young fogies.' They are of corse rapidly becoming the next generation of 'old fogies'. It is their children we have to encourage and they have difficulties we never faced in the first enthusiastic canal restorations.

Back in the early 1970's when we were doing a good deal of planking on A von we couldn't afford long lengths of clear oak, nor in the interregnum between the end of carrying and the start of interest in renovation were supplies that easy to come by. Vic Hallam Ltd. who were based just below the basin at Langley Mill, finger jointed some properly sized constructional softwood for us in forty foot lengths. That took the hog out of her and it struck me even then that good quality softwood is better than poor oak and if more had been used there might be more wooden boats surviving. Nor of course do you get the problems of tannin attacking iron and steel. After we sold Avon she went through the usual process of no maintenance and was subsequently broken up at Puttenham.

There are two Keay's wooden tugs extant, unless any one knows different. T'other one from a purely and personal subjective viewpoint, is better looking.

Fit a longer chimney. Before lighting the stove warm the chimney, a fire lighter inside the access plate works well. The draw will improve and reduce the time and volume of smoke escaping into the cabin.

As an alternative to fitting highly expensive and technically complex systems to achieve only marginal 'eco' gains perhaps more thought should be given to efficient free swimming Hull design. A total cost benefit analysis might prove that the environmental benefits of electric propulsion , especially using lithium batteries might be at best marginal. So many of today's clone craft swim like bricks that small tweaks to Hull design old lead to cheaper outcomes. As an example of 'domesticating' the diesel engine we found that fitting a trolling valve which in effect turns the gearbox into a constantly variable ratio led to finer control and less wash even in a boat drwing 3 feet.

IT would almost be cheaper to build the Grand Contour canal.

Holt Abbot boats with an overall shallow water draught and a deep keel work very well indeed. In canal terms they are exceptionally fast with a small wake. With full standing headroom the air draught is below six feet and when we owned 'Moonbeam' we got her through Froghall tunnel. It looks as though some one is trying to re-invent the wheel

I remember seeing 'Cleopatra' passing Napton in 1975 and being impressed by its smooth quiet progress. Is this boat still around?

When our children were small and we needed something a little easier to handle than Avon we bought a Holt Abbot boat which was on brokerage at Sawley. She carried the name Moonbeam but I think orginally she was .. Wyevale? The boat was 35 feet long with the same lines as Jemima. It was the fastest canal cruiser I have ever experienced and made the speed with very little disturbance. As an example we came from Sandon to Derwentmouth in a day even with three young children to look after. This was without any ill mannered shouts of 'slow down' as the boat swam beautifully and the Morris Vedette petrol engine was smooth and, from the bank, silent. I have often thought that a modern cruiser based on this design, i.e a shallow water draught but with a deep central keel and good internal headroom, would be an interesting exercise in todays conditions. We have perhaps become too accustomed to poor copies of working narrow boats which swim like noisy bricks. I last saw her on the bank somewhere on the Bridgewater.