gatekrash

This topic has been doing the rounds on classic car forums for ages, and Tony's post earlier pretty much sums up the discussion on there. Ethanol has been present in petrol in other countries for years, and the bits it eats - rubber fuel lines and gaskets - have been ethanol resistant for even longer. If you still have any non-resistant hose left then it's time it was changed anyway, as it's likely to be decomposed beyond a safe condition, especially as you'll have been running E5 through it already. Yes, it'll go stale faster, but using fuel stabiliser helps. Given that the majority of users who will have a problem because it's sitting around are also the ones likely to be using very low volumes, then it's not going to be a significant cost to treat it. I've got loads of stuff that uses small volume - chainsaw, genny, the Mrs' Triumph 3TA bike. I just run till the carb is dry when shutting down and make sure I use fresh in the tank next fill, and then if it's going a bit off it gets chucked into the 1959 landy which runs on any old rubbish, in fact I think it prefers it as it's more like the 2 star it's meant to run on ! If there was a risk of serious mechanical issues then it'd be all over the 'net from other countries which have been at a higher level of ethanol for quite a while - there aren't any other than a bit of hearsay. At least the majority of you will still be able to choose to buy E5 if you want. Down here in Devon the fuel companies have been given a get out from delivering E5 going forward as we're deemed too rural for their supply chain, so they can get away with only providing E10, so I don't get a choice!

Second the Blue Bell, it's one of my favourite stops. Go past the private moorings, through bridge 19 and stop anywhere before you get to the next corner, else you start to hear the M42. Make sure you visit Wedges bakery near bridge 20 ! When we did Stratford earlier in the year we stopped at Wilmcote rather than pushing down to the basin, turned at the winding hole and reversed onto the moorings there, then caught the train down from the station 2 mins walk away and for £2.30 return. You could make a decision as you get there, if you're pushed for time but still want to visit Stratford then it'll save you 16 locks each direction and the train trip is only about 10 minutes.

Currently sat with a pile of random plastic netting and rope at the back awaiting a trip to the bins when we get back to the marina having been up through Brum, although doesn't sound like we did too badly compared with others. The fishing keep net, complete with all the metal rings did make me feel better when it came up shredded, felt like I was just getting my own back 😁. Can't see the point of leaving it on the towpath, it'll only end up back in the canal again for the next boat to pick up.

Tonight, Gas Street basin and "The Mailbox".

I wouldn't worry too much. Given the abuse hire boats get every week, and they survive, it's not likely that a couple of bangs will hurt it, it's quite strong bow on. When we first hired a few years ago, the guy teaching us to wind actually told us to hit the bank of the winding hole and use it to pivot on, I made sure I hit it properly when I turned in the middle of the week, wouldn't do that now I've got to pay for the broken crockery myself!

Cheers all, we made better time than expected, except for a slight delay at Delph locks whilst we removed the fishing net from our prop... Hardly saw a boat all day. Now sat on Gas Street mooring on the first Friday after "freedom day" and the first week of the summer holidays. Could be a noisy night !!

We're currently sat on the Stourbridge, near the bottom of the 16. Tomorrow's plan was originally up the 16 and Delph, and stop at Merry Hill, with Saturday being to push on through Netherton tunnel, right through Brum and stop at Hopwood which is one of our usual haunts and then crack on down Tardebigge to Droitwich on Sunday, which we know we can nail in a long day as we've done it many times. Need to get back home down south by Monday evening for an appointment with a tree surgeon on Tuesday morning 🙂 However given the weather forecast is foul for Saturday we are thinking of pushing on tomorrow instead. Pearson reckons from where we are to Netherton tunnel entrance is going to be about 8 hours. That means if we want to push on we're realistically looking at stopping somewhere around Oldbury / Smethwick tomorrow night, assuming the Pearson times are accurate. Should I just stick with plan A and get wet on Saturday or should I divert onto the old main line on Friday evening to find somewhere secure in that area, or are the Pearson times pessimistic for the flights, in which case I'll be able to push on to Ouzells loop or gas street, assuming that they're not rammed by the evening. We're pretty fast up flights, our usual average for Tardebigge is 3 and a half hours going up with the Mrs driving and me setting ahead and coming back to work the lock we're in but that flight is easy, and I don't know what the 16 and Delph are like. Any suggestions to avoid having to move too far in the forecast torrential rain welcome !

On the one we were on a few weeks ago the kitchen had 2 taps, one normal filtered from the tank, the other had a double filter from the tank and was marked as drinking water. The only reason I don't regularly drink the tank water from my own boat is because I'm used to really soft water at home and the harder water around the Midlands tastes foul to me by comparison...and that's out of the mains tap!

Today on the staffs and worcs, at the top end of Wolverley Court lock, this chap decided to sit on the top gate until he saw me coming to close the paddle, then went into the undergrowth, swam across the canal and vanished over the towpath into a field.

Currently sat on the piling just south of Kinver. This is our standard mooring angle for chains. We don't move around at all, unless someone really hammers past or unless the pound has dropped a lot since we've moored. Nor have I ever really felt the need to shout at people to slow down either.

I've only ever been shouted at to slow down when we had the hire boat a few weeks ago, never on my own boat, despite the fact the hire boat tickover was set to crawl along and the continuous moorer concerned didn't feel the need to shout at the private boat in front of us who was going a lot faster, just giving him a cheerful wave and nod of the head instead. I think some people just see hire boats as an easy target sometimes. That said in 3 hours today I've nearly been T-boned at speed on a straight bit of canal, had a lock turned against me when less than 100 yards away down a perfectly clearly visible approach, and then finally had some obnoxious bloke with family having his lunch moored on a lock landing and blocking the bottom gate who had a right strop on that I'd asked him to move it back. All three from the same company. Problem is once you get a few experiences like that then it's all too easy to form an opinion based on the livery of the boat coming towards you. We decided to stop early today in case we met any more !

Hire companies do come down hard on people who break their rules, if they find out about it. We hired this year, as despite owning our own boat it had been booked over 2 years ago pre-covid and kept getting rearranged. As we'd already paid for it we figured we'd use it. We were moored up just below Stoke Bruerne on the last Friday of our hire, when an ABC boat came past us flat out, music on full blast and the 6 or 8 lads on board clearly on the lash. It was half past 9 in the morning. On the Sunday morning when we dropped the boat back at Gayton fairly early, the same boat appeared behind us blasting their horn and being generally offensive. Chatting to one of the guys on the marina who worked for ABC, they had been reported by numerous people over a 24 hr period. ABC had tracked them down and ordered them back to the marina on the Sunday with the police involved. They'd only had the boat for 3 days of their 7, and apparently the full cost of their week was forfeit for breaching the T&C's of their hire. Their hiring rules were clearly explained, including slowing down, not cruising at night, and the difficult one for us, given it was a warm sunny week, not allowing you to cruise with the side hatch open, and you have to sign to say you accept them so anyone breaching them would be liable themselves, not the hire company.

So I'm with Athy. We don't drink the tank water and bring water up to the boat with us in a couple of large jerry cans for drinking. Not because of the iron but because our water down here in Devon is proper soft water off Dartmoor, and your water in the Midlands is that 'orrible scummy stuff that makes the tea taste nasty !

Almost as bad as the 2 stroke Dolphin diesel engines fitted to some lumpy water boats. Changing from forward to reverse involved stopping the engine, altering the direction of rotation, I believe with a lever, and then restarting the engine again!

You would be ok meeting us. Our LED headlamp points straight up in the air, rather than forward. It was fitted when we bought the boat, and I'm not buying a new one, so we just played around with the angle until it stopped being blinding. And now we find tunnels straightforward, we just steer to keep the light in the centre of the tunnel roof. We did take the side of the cabin out on dunhampstead tunnel at the beginning of the year, mind but that's because all the lights failed (another one with a dirty switch contact...) when we were about 50 yards in and the profile of that tunnel means your roof hits the wall before the hull does. Typically it was the one time I'd forgotten to put the torch on the shelf inside the rear door.