Ewan123

Does anyone know whether the locked swingbridge for this basin opposite Taylor's Boatyard can be opened with the usual BW key? I'd check myself but I'm only passing on foot and my key is on the boat out of town. I'm on a recce for mooring spaces but most out in the main basin are suspended/reserved for those travelling to the Ellesmere Port gathering later in the week. There are no private/anti-mooring signs in there, loads of rings and a CRT sign instructing users to unlock the padlock of present to swing the bridge... so I'm optimistic!

Fair enough. I still think it's an odd exception to allow.

I reckon it could look good. I think that boat pictured looks bad to me just because of the shape and proportions rather than the paint job (I think widebeams can look good, just not that one).

I walked into this with my eyes wide open lol. Something unexpected could happen towards the end of a day, delaying passage such that the boat ends up moving in the dark. That seems as likely to me as a sudden engine failure and need to drop an anchor. Maybe the engine fails late on the day and gets fixed but not before darkness falls. Is that so much less likely?

That's interesting, I wonder whether anything has changed since that. It rather assumes that everything will always go to plan. In fact by the same logic, I wonder why they would enforce the requirement for an anchor given that it shouldn't be needed either, unless things go wrong. I'm crossing the Mersey as well so do intend to have things in place just in case things go awry. I don't think anyone is suggesting otherwise are they?

Thank you, that's a nice solution 👍 To be fair, my question did rather open the door to botch suggestions. I've been happily convinced not to botch it though . Sparkly nail varnish is probably the best type then I reckon? Certainly not matte.

Ah that's more affordable than I saw elsewhere, thanks. Yes reducing brightness was my concern with the painting bodge too.

We've got port and starboard nav lights. a) The starboard light tint seems faded and looks a bit close to white. Is there a decent (but cheap) way to tint it green again? Green glass paint? A replacement lens just seems a bit much when it's still intact. b) We need to add a stern light, does anyone have suggestions for a temporary one? There's not many decent places to mount one permanently on our semitrad stern with the gates on the back, without it being really low down at the gunwales. I know we don't generally need them on inland waterways, but we're getting a seaworthiness survey for the Manchester Ship Canal and are crossing the Mersey soon, so I want to do it at least a bit proper.

I quite enjoyed it when Emu or Clover were alongside us for diesel etc. Looking down the boat from one end, you could see the whole body twisting slightly from motion of the Bolinder.

Good point, we just don't have any big electric things on board that would make it worth getting the shoreline cable out. We've already been solar-powered for nearly two weeks now with 400W of panels - even with a few hairdryer-uses!

Crikey, makes £15 sound like a bargain! Which, to be fair, is probably reasonable. Just adds up when one is accustomed to free canalside moorings.

Thanks

Did you try these out? I'm wondering what good options there are for mooring in Liverpool. We're crossing the Mersey in April and can't really justify the £15/night (as of April 2024) for more than a night or two but would like to hang around in Liverpool for a couple of weeks.

Let us know whether Stonebridge even registers enough flow to measure! More might be relevant in some places though, e.g. if multiple taps, was there another boat filling at the same time? We were going to fill at Ellesmere recently but with two boats already trying to, it felt mean and a bit pointless to slow them down even more by joining in.

Well we've got the pilot Stuart Wood on board and he's been very helpful with advice so far. Weather dependent of course, we also have a date and would be open to another boat/s joining us for the cruise - if anyone else fancies it on Sunday 14th April, let me know and I'm sure we could form a plan.

I wonder whether that's actually how it will be framed or whether the IWA are putting a bit of a spin it there 🤔

Crikey! I'm glad we've just been on the Llangollen over winter. I went down Grindley yesterday and only met one other boat coming the other way after the staircase. I think that was only one of two boats in the whole cruise from Whitchurch to Swanley Bridge too, I was surprised given that it was a gloriously sunny Saturday.

I've just used the normal flu brush sold by the chandlers (looks like this) for the last few years, never had a problem with it. It's just a few mm wider than the flu, so pushing it down/pulling up while turning is effective. Mind you I don't get any significant build up of tar really, generally just that fluffy dry stuff (I burn dry wood from the fuel boat, with heat logs to start up (or all day if out of reach of a fuel boat)) and having swept the chimney today after 2-3months of running the stove daily, there was only about 3mm of that fluffy stuff coating the inside. What are people burning to get tough tar deposits building up in the chimney? Is it wet/unseasoned wood?

That's my thinking too.

We've got a trap on the (boat's) kitchen sink, never blocked. The bathroom sink regularly blocks though. It's a flexible concertina-type pipe with a u-bend, and seems vulnerable to hair and solid soaps. Boiling water does help delay the block, but I'm thinking of changing the pipe.

More likely to be jumping off from the canal I think. The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct has a reputation.

I reckon that padlock on the hatch is like putting up a sign to say "no one on board" and if anything makes your boat more attractive to opportunists. Many padlocks are sadly easy to break with brute force.

This does make me thankful that the stop lever is on the top/side of our Isuzu without a need to reach past any moving parts.

Would you mind sharing how you sorted it? When people come to the forum and search to see whether someone else has already asked their question, it's quite nice to find the full resolution.

Are you sure a 55 inch screen is what you want? If you're sat too close it'll be worse than a smaller screen. It's all doable though if you've got enough money to spend on batteries and charging systems (and the habits/will/money to run and maintain those systems). I think The Floating Workshop can probably sort you out, and if you're in the right area you might even get them coming to you with their beautiful pair of boats. Contact details here or you can find them on Facebook too: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/directory/51207-the-floating-workshop