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gatekrash

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Posts posted by gatekrash

  1. And here is the reason he got hung up, from Rich on Roach who was moored below him....

     

     

    Further info on the boat that sank in Gregory's top lock.  He is now tied up below the lock and drying out.  He had gutted the boat prior to a refit (so not much damage inside) but is now trying to get the engine working.  A local said it had caught up on a sunken motorbike, but then we stopped to buy coal from Rich on fuel boat Roach who had been moored below when it happened.  He said it had been overplated and the chine was now much wider than it should have been, so his boat was effectively over 7' wide.  Gregory's top is apparently the narrowest lock on the W&B so he got stuck.  He went home to sleep till CRT came back in the morning, but as Rich explained, the canal weirs through these locks (ie no bywash) so his boat was functioning as a gate ... till the water came over the stern and into the boat.  He looked quite cheerful though down his engine hole!

     

     

     

    • Greenie 3
  2. One of the guys off our marina passed him earlier that afternoon before it happened and says he definitely didn't have his fenders down, he stopped to chat to him for a while.

     

    The fb posts from earlier on say they tried to flush out from the top. 

  3. On 23/03/2024 at 12:29, robtheplod said:

    Well we're a week away and I'm keeping a close eye on the Severn water levels. At present its not closed but give caution (yellow). 

     

    Looking at this week's forecast I reckon it'll be back on reds by the end of the week.

     

    At least they've finished the dredging on the Droitwich now, so if the Severn is passable you've got a couple of options for the last bit.

    • Sad 1
  4. We've got a piece of 3mm twinwall polycarbonate sheet (they sell them in sheets as replacement for greenhouse glass) cut to the size of the wooden frame. We attach it to the hatch with a small rubber sucker which has a string and a toggle attached (like the adjuster toggle on the bottom of a coat), the string is passed through a hole in the middle of the polycarbonate so that the sucker is one side and the toggle the other.

    To fit it we just pull the string through the toggle to the max length, stick the sucker to the hatch then pull the string through the toggle to tighten the sheet up to the hatch.

    Simple, and it stops nearly all the condensation. Without it we need a bucket under the thing !

     

    • Greenie 1
  5. 11 hours ago, rusty69 said:

    Equal quantities of Burnwell and Newburn here. Both will stay in for 24 hours, but both produce much more ash than they did 3 years ago. 

    We've used Newburn at home for a few years, works really well on our stove which is fitted into a very large unlined stone chimbley and quite fussy about solid fuel.

     

    I've noticed that this year's tonne of Newburn we've bought is different from last year, the briquettes are softer and aren't burning out fully to ash, plus they're needing a lot more depth to get the burn right.

     

    I guess there are so many variables when they make this stuff that it's only to be expected that reach batch is slightly different.

  6. 5 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

     

    Shows how long ago since I was involved with the Army Youth Team teaching survival.

     

    I've still got a plastic box full of the stoves and tablets - JIC.

    It was about 6 or 7 years ago they switched over I think. The new stuff has some advantages, you can light it with a spark, it's a whole lot cleaner, but it doesn't seem to put out as much heat as hexi did.

    Keep that hexi sealed, the last lot I stored loose in their wax packets in the shed had done the whole sweating thing. Still lit fine though. The rest is in sealed plastic bags and still looks ok.

  7. 1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

     

    Hexamine tablets are what the Army provides in their 'emergency' pocket-cookers.

    Nasty smell, and covers the bottom of your cans / mug in a thick greasy soot, It would take us ages to get them clean.

    Awful stuff and even the army gives warnings that it should only be used in a ventilated area (ie outdoors)

     

    Hexamine Stove | TAS

     

    Hexamine has a similar energy to anthracite, but way less than LPG, or petrol/diesel.

     

    Hexamine = 8 Wh / gram
    Chafing Gel = 7.44 Wh / gram
    Propane LPG = 13.6Wh / gram
    Mixed Camping Gas = 14.2 Wh / gram
    Seasoned Dry Wood = 4.2 Wh / gram
    Methylated Spirit = 7.22 Wh/Gram
    Petrol / Diesel = 12.5Wh / gram

    Anthracite = 8.6 Wh / gram

     

     

     

     

     

    Not any more, the MoD has banned it and now supply alcohol based 'fire dragon' cookers and fuel as the standard 'tommy cooker'.

     

    I'm using up the last of my stock of hexi (I had a crate in the store when they stopped us using it) as it makes brilliant firelighters.

    • Greenie 1
  8. 19 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

    ^^^^
     

    Good interior,

    looks boaty and personal 👍

    We're a bit 'old fashioned' compared to modern boats, but we like it. The tongue and groove is solid cherry, so it wouldn't have been cheap when the original owners had it built.

     

    7 minutes ago, DandV said:

     

    Here drying clothes and sheets under the cratch cover was infinitely preferable to accomplishing all the drying by hanging them all in the saloon.

    By dropping the weather side of the cratch cover, drying could even be accomplished here in the abundant marginal weather.

    Our regime is that we would move clothes from the cratch into the saloon at bed time, to hasten the drying though, and back outside when we got up.

     

    If you are accomplishing all your  laundry onboard your knicker bunting has to be flown somewhere, remarkably often.

    Outside in the cratch with a cover immediately available to shield it from rain, or excessive wind, is far far better then cluttering already limited living space.

     

     

     

    We use ours for this as well !

  9. 1 hour ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

    I like the open bow on my boat and spend much of my time there, it’s a great space. And many have commented on it’s loveliness. 
    If I could guarantee no rain and no thieving then I’d not have a cratch cover. I think there fugly. 

    A pill box or closed end at the front of a modern boat is equally fugly. 

    Cratch cover is a pain in the ass, but it’s a compromise. 
    I wouldn’t fancy a pram cover at back either but I have seen them put to good use. ?


     

    Yeah but there are cratch covers and cratch covers. There are some seriously fugly ones on some of the boats in our marina. We think ours works cos it's level with the roof, not raised up in the middle, so it nicely follows the line of the roof, unlike the ones that are six inches higher in the middle and look like someone just stuck it on as an afterthought.

     

    Personally speaking I agree and think pram covers are the work of satan. I wouldn't have one. Ever. But I totally understand why people do for the space. Their boat, they can do what works for them.

     

    And I agree about the stove, I've literally just fitted ours a few weeks ago, back of the saloon just forward of the galley so it heats the whole of the boat. It was the one thing missing then we bought the boat a few years ago (yes I know there's no flue fitted yet, am I ever regretting that with the last couple of days weather...)

     

    PXL_20231201_181849871_copy_1536x2040.thumb.jpg.d7502e8b897278269f7f29b8ff9e4ab0.jpg

  10. We're probably similar to @robtheplod, semi-trad, down the rear steps to a fixed double, then a corridor on the stbd side past the bathroom to the galley, which is walk through with the walkway through the middle, then an open saloon space which is 14foot long. There's enough space for a fold down table attached to the gunnel towards the rear of the saloon which sits 4 if we have visitors, and then a couple of recliners right at the front of the space with a TV / laptop area in the corner.

     

    Cratch does for the porch / storing random rubbish. Used as a fuel store in winter and a conservatory with a very small folding table to sit at for 'special occasions' during the summer.

     

    That's on a 50 foot boat, so there's a bit of compromise with space such as the folding tables. In reality, the Mrs has too much stuff so the big folding table in the saloon doesn't ever get folded away as she doesn't keep it clear of her stuff. If I was changing something I'd probably remove it and swap it with one of those 'butterfly' type collapsible tables as it'd force her to be more tidy 😂

  11. 2 hours ago, M_JG said:

    This reminded me of a few years back when we once went out our rear doors to view a rat happily chewing on the fat/nut ball we had hung out for the birds. It was hung on the end of the trellis in the garden.

     

    It clocked us,  our Jack clocked it and was off like a shot towards it. Rattie scrambled down the trellis and they nearly met at the bottom but it managed to scoot off under the shed a milli sec. before it was in the 'jaws of death'. Having watched our little dog shake his furry toys there is very little doubt that had he caught it it would not have survived.

     

    After that we have not put food out for the birds which is a shame (and we put some poison down under the shed) we have never seen another.

     

    Our next door neighbour feeds the birds excessively, she has multiple bird feeding stations and refills them 2 or 3 times a day. She also insists on throwing chunks of white bread down on the ground under the feeders.

    Unsurprisingly we have a rat problem in the area. Admittedly we back onto a farm, so it's sort of expected, but we have loads of them. I can usually shoot one or two a week as they transit our garden and if I've put the night vision on the rifle then later evenings are a free for all. 

    I've shot several hanging from the bottom of the feeders, they climb up the trees to get to them then just dangle. I told her I was going to shoot the rats and she was quite happy about it !

     

    She's also created a feral pigeon issue. Fortunately the guy up the road breeds racing pigeons and he traps the ferals because they pass diseases onto his birds. His record was 24 birds with stretched necks in a day.

     

    We spoke to the council environmental health about it but they told us there wasn't much they could do, they'd issue a 'desist' notice but didn't have the time or money to follow it up if she ignored it.

     

  12. 1 hour ago, Mike Todd said:

    Droitwich Marina has three approaches by canal, from Hawford, from Tardebigge and from Worcester. Each of these has a long stoppage planned from the start of January! Let's hope that the sort-of promised window of opportunity comes to fruition and that the repair does not over run.

    We've already emailed C&RT once about that and been told 'tough luck' (albeit in polite terms) ! 

     

    Best bet is to hope the Severn goes back onto greens for a bit, but it's not looking good on the long range for the next week or so.

     

    One of the hire boats from the marina is stuck the wrong side of it so they've been having to run it out of Alvechurch for the last couple of weeks. Not sure what they're going to do if they can't get the boat back before march next year.

  13. 13 hours ago, David Mack said:

    Belfast has a front well deck that drains to the bilge. But the cabin front bulkhead is watertight to the baseplate and there is a separate bilge pump fitted under the well deck. This is manually operated, so no risk of flattening the battery etc. Water building up down there has never been a problem. We can go weeks without pumping it out, and I have never felt the need for an automatic bilge pump.

     

    Other solutions you may find are that the cabin front and back bulkheads have drainage openings at the bottom, so water from the well deck flows under the cabin floor to the stern bilge. Other boats have pipes under the cabin to carry the water back. The first option results in water flowing through the cabin bilge which will rust the baseplate. In most boats there is little or no access to the cabin bilge so you can't derust and paint it. The second option is better for the bilges, but what happens if the pipes block or corrode through (if steel)?

    Our Mel Davis boat has the same design, watertight bilge on the well deck so it can't run back through the boat unless it overflows the top and through the cabin.

     

    We've got an auto bilge pump connected to the bow thruster battery, as the thruster is almost never used then that battery is always well charged, and if it does flatten it then it won't matter.

     

    However we never take more than a cupfull of water out of the bilge anyway . We've got a cratch fitted so the only water that ever gets in there is the stuff that blows around the side of the cratch if the wind is in the wrong direction. The auto pump has never to my knowledge turned itself on as it's never been deep enough, so I usually just sponge out any bilge water.

     

    So far this year I've had to sponge out the bilge once all year. It's generally really dry. If we didn't have the cratch then yes, it'd need bailing out a lot more regularly.

  14. The update came today then... Likely to be shut for as long as 2 months.

     

    Just in time to run into the winter closure of Tardebigge for gate replacements, meaning the W&B will have been closed for nearly 5 months, although we might get a couple of weeks freedom before Christmas...

     

    And there I was thinking it was just you lot "up North" that got stuck 😀

  15. 1 hour ago, Mike Todd said:

    As one of the boats stuck and very keen to get south of this stoppage (cannot go is Severn) I have just called CaRT and the regional team apologise for not adding an update. They are still devising a plan but say that it is a large slippage (in their terms) and will take several weeks before navigation is restored. At least they should now remember to update the notice!

    And they just sent out an update. Still investigating, no further info for now.

  16. You just reminded me that the headlights on my old S2 Landy went pop a couple of weeks ago and I bodged the fuse holder with a panel pin which I found rolling around loose on the dash so I could get home on more than just sidelights.  Now fixed today with a new fuse holder, which had mysteriously melted instead of blowing the fuse.

     

    Good old Lucas, prince of darkness 🔥 

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