odet

Hi everybody, not exactly British canals, but canals none the less. So some might enjoy the report of our trip on the waterways of Brittany: http://nbargo.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/summer-in-brittany-day-1/ Enjoy odet

Hi everybody, Sunday, murky weather, no boat in the water, boored. So does anybody know of any good boating music videos, or music videos with boats ? I start with this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sowybhBXgdU

You can yield 3 to 4 cubic meters of firewood per acre per year of a good coppice on a 10 year rotation. But if you really are confident that you can heat even an extremely energy efficient house on 100 sqm of forest, please let as all know how and we get rich together. And indeed trees grow in the summer and are usually harvested in winter. But the way you phrase make it sound that they only need 1 year to grow. If your 5 friends you describe would start growing trees now, they would have their first meaningful harvest somewhere between 20 and 40 years in the future, so you have to find them an income in the meantime. And then they wont be so much canal boat people rather then woodmen. Good Luck odet

Just a comment on the journeymen, as I think as being a German carpenter I could contribute a few facts. First of all it might seem romantic it is only to a certain degree. But its far away from being too idealistic. In the olden times when there weren't many books, let alone internet, was the idea of knowledge transfer. So you would travel to learn technologies that weren't available in your hometown. And off course you were allowed, and still are to earn money. In fact you are not allowed to work for free. And at least in Germany the more traditional crafts men are (at least mentally) prepared to take on a journeyman. The traditional proceedings are that a journeyman calls at a craftsman's work shop. Even if the craftsman has no work, he has to offer the journeyman a bed for the night and a meal. As to traveling: The tradition really is to walk, but times have changed the last 500 years. And if you want to work in say the US you are not expected to swim there. So all in all you don't live outside society, you just deal differently with live in society. odet

Lots of information can be found here: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?388524-Bavaria-capsizes-in-Zumaya-%28-Country-Vasque-Spain-%29

Hi Mibosa, only saw your post just now. Don't know where you are hiring from, but with cruisers from the usual hire companies you are only allowed to navigate the Grand Canal from Shannonharbour to Tullamore. Everything else is off limits. The Lockies on the Grand are extremely helpful and they pass you on from one lock-keeper to the next. Locking single handed without the help of a keeper as most locks have a substantial bridge over the lock tail. You can find a good guide here: http://shop.iwai.ie/catalog/index.php?cPath=22 Otherwise the Shannon is a lovely Navigation and you will sure not get bored there. odet

Just in case you are scared over there: here in Co. Clare in Ireland I experienced to worst storm of my live. And I had plenty of them. Unfortunately I had not much time to worry as I had to help a friend securing his roof. So be aware of more shit weather.

Thx Alan, I am only planning to travel later this year. Problem is, that my French is rather nonexisting. So im just trying to get my head round how things work. Greetings odet

The plan is to go for 3 weeks. The beaver can carry 2 5kg bottles, which provide hot water (hopefully no heating, which is the main reason for going to France) and also run the fridge. So I doubt that a total of 10 Liter will do me. So please can somebody clarify: They have got different bottles in France. I can get bottles there, but need an adaptor + maybe different regulator etc. UK bottles are useless once they are empty. Is that right so far ? Thanks again odet

@ditchrawler: Its a Wilderness Beaver. Just to get a bit more specific: The Sanitairs shown on the maps have not Elsan Facilities ? Therefore i basiclly dump the Theford's contents over board every now and then, ideally without using chemicals. The gasbottles are different, therefor I ned adaptors. So it seems to make sense to leave the UK bottles at home and get some new ones in France. Do the have 5 kg bottles ? Thanks again odet

Hi everybody, my better half wants us to take the trailboat to Brittany. I got the relevant carts and all semms to be not much of a problem. Only two questions would bother me: What about emptying the elsan ? Have they got the same gas bottles, and what to do if not ? Thanks for your help odet

Hi everybody, does anyone know where I can download that app? Just got my tab yesterday, so im still a bit new to it. odet

Hi, being German myself, although not living there anymore since 10 years, I have toyed with the idea of spending a boating holiday in Mecklenburg. After doing some research I scrapped the idea fairly quick. While you are fairly free what to do on English canals or on Irish waters ( as long as you use your brain and dont annoy peolpe that is ), everything seems to be regulated in Germany. Just a few examples: There are designated moorings only, where you are charges between 10 to 30 € / night. There are regualr controll by the Wasserschutzpolizei (river police) which might well turn your boat upside down. I was just recently shown a video where they searched a holiday boat for 45 minutes. When the couldnt find anything they fined the steerer 10 € for not having tied his glasses to his head.............. Even so it is an extremly busy with potentially very long waiting times at looks. In case you dont have a licence, you are very restricted where to go. See: [url=]http://www.cruisegermany.com/boat-holidays.htm[/url] This puts the most interesting destinations like Berlin and the Spreewald out of bounds. Ability wise I wouldnt worry too much. Also there are hardly any canals in Mecklenburg. Its basiclly a network of smaller and medium rivers connected by rather short lock cuts. The Müritz is the only bigger lake, which without a licence you are only allowed to cross in a marked channel. All the locks are manned. Regards odet

They seem to be reasonably priced. Do they also supply the extension leads ?

Thanks for the advice, guess I will stay away from diesel then. Does anybody know how much Petrol I am allowed to have on board in suitable cans at any one time ? Regards odet

That might do me. Creats just a wee bit of wash :-) Not quiet sure if modern ones are that noisy, espacially as I would imagine that a 27hp on a Beaver would run at tickover or just above most of the time. odet

Hi everybody, the beloved one and myself are contemplating of getting a Wilderness Beaver in the not too far future. The only thing that puts me off is the idea of having a petrol outboard. Diesel is much safer and seems to much easier obtainable along the canals. Now a bit of googeling revealed that Yanmar does / did (?) Diesel outboards. Unfortunatly I cant find a supplier in Ireland or the UK. Maybe somebody is able to give me a lead on this. And does anybody have any experiences with this piece of kit ? Regards odet

Hi Maffi, I am reading your blog for quiet a while, so it would be a pleasure to meet you. odet

@ alan sorry, didn't want to be rude. I well understand that: No water = no boats moving. Also I don't understand, why people don't share locks. Apart from saving water ist much more enjoyable (mostly) and lightens the work. Also with a 57ft boat we will be hard pressed to find somebody to share on the Oxford. odet

Thanks for all the good advice, problem is that I allready promised the little one visiting the Pitt Riever museaum in Oxford, as he is hugely into dinosaurs. So not going there is almost no option... My other option was the Leicester Ring, but I understand that there is a lack of wet at Foxton as well. I would like to make a point, that disencouraging hireboaters anywhere can't really be the answer to the drought problem. Other then CCers or other boatowners, this is my years holiday im hugely looking forward to and between the hirecosts and the ferryticket from Ireland it's not really cheap. Also I would believe that the hire industry woudn't be happy of having their punters being pi**ed off by telling them that they are 2nd class boaters. And: How can it be that you guys are having a drought, after we had the wettest winter in Ireland in 25 years? But sure we will bring some much needed rain :-). odet

Hi everybody, we are starting a 2 weeks holiday from Wigrams Turn Marina next Saturday going down to Oxford. Being aware of the restrictions on Marsdon Dole and Claydon locks, I am wondering if there is any danger of not getting back over the summit in about 2 weeks time. Also does anybody has any advice how to entertain a 5 and a 7 years old on the summit ? Thanks very much odet

Hi Greg, we had a 2 week holiday on Larch last May. Larch is really a great boat with the boatmans cabin and its Lister. But: -It was far from clean when we took it over 2 hours late. -There are plenty of moving and uncovered engine parts a 4 year old can reach ( propably my fault for hireing a trad ). -The engine exhaust wasn't sealed at all at the pivoting joint, so the steerer would have all the exhaust right in his face ( we solved this ourselves with empty cans and tape ) -The bow fender was only fixed with 2 chain and came of in the 1st lock. -After 3 days the starter battery failed. Solution: we were given a jump lead to start the engine with the leasure batteries. -On our 2nd Sunday the drive shaft came off while we were reversing. Obviously the bearing that stops the drive shaft from going backwards has broken ( sorry forgot the name ). The universal joint between the gearbox and the drive shaft knocked up the floor board the 4 year old was just standing on. Luckily nothing more serious than tears happened. Ringing the hotline I was told its 3 pm on a Sunday and the technichan can't be bothered. So 2 mechanics arrived only on monday morning. Also I told them exactly which part has failed, they missed out on bringing the right one with them. So instead of doing a proper job they spent 2 hours with a makeshift solution involving a lot of jubelee clips and cable ties, as well as sinking one of the floorboards in the drink. Therefore I just took it easy and just didn't use the reverse for our second week. For me atm that means I wouldn't hire from MN again. But then I would also love to hire Larch again if she and the company ethos was brought up to scratch. I wish you all the best for the future of MN. Regards odet

So I guess there are two quite different approches. One being just go and dont care, the other one trying to be prepeared as for a channel crossing :-) I will just try my best and hope everything goes well. But what is MV Henley ? And what is so bad about it ? Regards Thomas

Thanks very much everybody, so I will call London VTS leaving Teddington and only bother any lock keeper if I would need out of hour services.

Hi Everybody, as part of this years holiday, we are planning to navigate the tidal Thames from Teddington to Brentford in a 57ft narrowboat. The collected wisdom from the Nicholson and the internet tells me, that we should start from Teddington 30 minutes before Teddington HW, which itsself is 60 mins past London Bridge HW. So in other words we should start from Teddington 30 mins before London Bridge HW ( got the Tide Table printed out ). What i cant work out now, is what authorities and lock keepers I need to phone up exactly when. ( no VHF on board ) Please advice. Regards odet