Liam

A very original engine room lid showing the double slides above each set of doors. As far as I know this boat has always had an RM DM2 (not sure about the same one from 1935 mind) but at some point in the past has had the exhaust relocated a couple of inches further forward.

My boat holds a Bridgewater Canal license and so is automatically added to the canal companies email list as I noted down my email address on the license renewal forms. There'd be no harm in emailing bridgewatercanal@peel.co.uk to ask them to add you to their list. Liam

EMERGENCY NAVIGATION & TOWPATH CLOSURE AT SEAMONS MOSS BRIDGE (BRIDGE NO.29) THURSDAY 27th JUNE 2018 UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE Notice is hereby given that due to a road traffic collision the Seamons Road Bridge will be closed to highway traffic. The Bridgewater Canal & Towpath will also be closed until urgent health and safety works are undertaken. To maintain safety, pedestrians traveling on the towpath will be diverted are asked to be vigilant and obey signs and instructions in the immediate vicinity of the works. The Company regrets any inconvenience that these necessary works may cause.

They mustold not get out a lot then, I go up there twice a month and there's a fairly large and active cruising club at the Runcorn end, with active members who are always out boating.

Wasn't Bideford being towed by Bletchley?

I'm still weighing up options and so don't have any proper measurements yet but it's for Ariel's back cabin. Not as much as you'd need for a full cabin boat but a bit more than you have spare unfortunately. Thanks though!

Where abouts from please? I'll be going down this route soon and need to find a source. Thanks

After realising what was happening I ran back from the yard office where I was having a brew and a chat and grabbed a bucket from the shed and in a frenzied manner hurled several buckets of canal water in through the open stern doors. The yard manager was hot on my tail and in a more reasoned frame of mind grabbed a hose pipe from the adjacent mooring and took over with extinguishing. Fire extinguishers are located in the cabin and one in the engine room but with the heat and smoke/fumes made it impossible and completely stupid to even try and reach them.

The boat was rebuilt without the 'ole through from the back cabin to the engine room. Practicality meant that this was put in place a few years ago. It's a double edged sword as the doorway through meant that the fire/heat/smoke was able to penetrate through to the engine room which resulted in melted electrics and damaged tools, coats etc. But a small price to pay if it gives anybody in the cabin a second route out. Fortunately I wasn't on the boat at the time, but close enough to run back when the alarm was raised. Tommy was with me on the bank and apart from a few sacrificial burns to my forearms whilst extinguishing the fire, everybody is fine.

Thanks Richard. Although not fully investigated yet it appears the engine and gearbox have managed to survive the fire pretty well, albeit covered in a layer of soot! Hopefully one day I can give you a shout regarding the gearbox which we spoke about some time ago.

Thank you to everyone. Massively overwhelmed by everybody's generosity, offers of help and support and best wishes. Fortunately nobody was hurt. Me and Kerry (and Tommy dog!) are slowly getting back into the right frame of mind now to move forward and get the ball rolling with rebuilding the boat and business. There's lots to sort of course but we'll get there. Liam

As I was taking the boat back to bare steel I used 40 grit. It also works well on the rusty bits too. I have just ordered some more as I'm dry docking on 10th June

I have used a scabbler before and they're excellent bits of kit although not cheap! When I started to repaint my boat (painted in red oxide and then left) I used a "flap disc" which is basically layered sandpaper on a disc that fits on a 4.5" grinder. It worked really well even on the rusty parts and a pack of 10 or 20 will go far and will be less than half the price of a scabbler. I did have the problem though as mentinned above about going too far in one hit with the prep and running out of time in the day and therefore got lots of gingering the following morning. I took a different approach after a few failed attempts at continuously prepping the same bit of boat. I prepared 5ft then painted. Even a blinder cost of primer helps in the short term. Scabblers certainly have their place though in removing a thick build up of rust and works well on removing bitumen as there's no fine sand paper to clog up with tar as you're working. Rather messy though so face mask and eye protection is a must.

Tie up in the CRT compound at Litherland. All services available there including Tescos and a quick ride on the bus into the city.

We're usually out of the boat by 8am when we visit and not back until late. The ferry over and a walk down to New Brighton is a favourite for us. A bit pricier than the train but a lot more enjoyable. We then let Tommy the dog go crackers on the beach! A walk back the same way usually has hI'm tired out. We have done the museums etc which are thoroughly interesting, but we tend to walk around more visiting the other half's relatives in Wallasey. We've done the Baltic Fleet which I'd recommend and also would highly recommend the fabulous Guinness in Pogue Mahone's on Seal Street. You can (and we have) lost a lot of time in there!

I took one trip into Eldonian on our first visit to Liverpool, and had to reverse out. Nothing there per say and open moorings leading onto a road. I've never known anyone stop there even though it has been suggested by CRT in the past. Its always been either Melling for us or Litherland. This is my only problem. I have a dog who refuses to go to the toilet on anything but grass. Ive had a look around and the easiest for first and toilet breaks of the day was on the grass behind the Pier Masters House. The grass near Liverpool One may be closef I don't know, but the sometimes lengthy wait for the green man to cross the road puts me off this choice.

Not sure where Alan ran this boat, but I don't think it was too long before it was purchased for the Huddersfield Canal Society to run as a trip boat. Unfortunately it appears to be not that successful.

Out of the blue the Huddersfield Canal Society have just got back to us with various issue numbers and pages to check so we've been going through these. All very interesting stuff. Thanks for the picture Pluto, a very nice suprise to find a colour photo

A message has been sent to the Huddersfield Canal Society, hopefully they'll get back to us. The person who responded to our message hasn't been involved up until recently so they're passing our request on. It would be interesting to find out if Mark does have any pictures. Although I have no idea how to make contact. I only heard the name Alan Picken after acquiring the boat and researching history.

After recently acquiring an ex LMS boat, I'm trying to track down any pictures of the boat. With huge thanks to Pete Harrison we've got some details of her history and so I'm now after any pictures. She was Alan Picken's trip boat SABRINA and later the Huddersfield Canal Society's boat BENJAMIN OUTRAM. Later on in life the boat was based in Worsley before moving to Runcorn. Thanks

It shouldn't be a problem for single handed boaters. Pontoons have been put in place at the two swing bridges and there is access on and off at the Stanley Lock flight and at Princes and Mann Island. It just takes some thought. I don't think there'll be a boat checker to make sure you've booked in but there will be adhoc volunteers assisting in the operation of Stanley Locks.

Apart from the usual maintenance of locks, I'd say none really. Apart from the gate from Canning into Albert Dock, that's pretty important as it holds all the water in place for Albert, Salthouse, Brunswick etc.

We've just come into Salthouse today for a weeks stay whilst we visit family and do general touristy things. I was speaking to one of the volunteer lock keepers who pretty much confirmed what's been publicised (as you'd expect) but went onto say some questions put forward from the team who actually operate the bridges and locks remain unanswered so things are a bit hazy. We had assistance when passing down through Stanley, but pretty much worked through to Mann Island on our own where we waited inside the lock for CRT to give us the nod to continue. All pontoons etc as stated are already in place so very easy for your lock wheeler to jump off/on at Stanley Locks, Princes and Mann Island. I think if the new system works as it should it will be a vast improvement and make it alot easier to access. Having to stop at Melling or Litherland (convenient for Tescos) was always a bit of an inconvenience generally. I know for sure it's cut our trip time down into Liverpool drastically. As for the Tuesday thing, a maintenance window makes sense as what currently happens at the Anderton boat lift. They could do adhoc maintenance as and when needed but communicating this to boaters would be a nightmare so alot easier to say no to Tuesday from the word go.

Thanks Roger but the plate will be staying with the rear half.

Not for sale, all part of the boat's rich history