magpie patrick

To make much impact on a conventional tank you'd need a lot of containers, and the tap may be frozen or off when you get to it anyway. Do enough to get by until it's safe to move

The man in charge was Pip Dunn I remember the name of the two boats we hired, that they were based in Haskayne. The Ship Inn riings a bell....

We hired Wirral Dawn in 1972, travelling to Rodley and back from Haskayne, and then Wirral Mist in 1973 - she'd had a one way hire to Rodley, and we brought her back but first visited Selby, Goole and Sowerby Bridge. I can confirm they were narrow boat style but I'd have been 6/7 at the time and can't remember details of their construction

There are many reasons why I love exploring details of the Fringe waterways, and their bucolic charm is among them. The Grand Junction was a well oiled machine, the L&LU just had to work after a fashion This picture would have been right at the end of the lock's working life, so the rough cut beam was probably a bodge job to keep the lock going for another few months

Yes, or rather so carved up by the railway as to make what was left useless. Also with so many locks it was not much used for local traffic although apparently some use by small boats persisted. The lowest length and first lock from the river survived rather longer..

Good evening Photo of a lock in "working order" on the Liskeard & Looe Union Canal (good example of why not to use initials!) - most of the canal ceased operation in the 1860s including this lock, and it's the only photo I've ever seen of the canal in anything resembling working order. I'm putting here partly as a place holder for my own benefit, although I'm sure others will be interested. Also, by way of acknowledgement, the website I've lifted the photo from Lodge Lock

Lovin it! Thanks @John Brightley for the thread, and @davidwheeler for the words and images that followed. The wooden work boat you show is a joy to behold, there is something very pleasing to the eye about it's basic lines suited to the job it was built for. One of the things that intrigues me is the way the leisure industry for so long pursued the river cruiser as the model for canal boating, much more elegant but much less practical than the sawn off narrowboats that Tingay, Canal Cruising etc offered. Does any hire company today offer a wheel steered cabin cruiser on the canals? Far more common are narrow boats on rivers!

I've got my head round my issue now. First, clearly this works for the relatively low levels of traffic (best described as a boat every now and then) but.. Lock layout below heading towards the Wash - left to right. Tide out, ebb gates closed, go past inner flood gates, close them behind you, wait in the chamber for flood tide to open ebb gates, go (someone will close upper gates behind you and prevent inundation of Spalding) Heading from the Wash, hang around outside of the ebb gates waiting for the tide to come in - not much chamber as outer flood gates are also here , when the ebb gates are pushed open hoof it before the flood gates have to be closed. You've probably got a window of an hour or more outbound between level and the tide starting to ebb (they don't allow passage in the ebb level) but only a few minutes inbound before the flood gates close and you have to wsit for the next flood level

Fulney Lock dates, I think, to the 1960s. It was built as part of a flood relief scheme and prior to this there was no look or sluice at Spalding and the river was tidal. I guess the lock was built due to the right of navigation and the need for a control structure anyway - easier to build a lock than make the case for not building one. The notes say one can only pass on a rising tide, as a falling tide risks the ebb gates closing in an uncontrolled manner. It also says the inward flood tide gates have no paddles and the outer ones have had the paddles disabled. This makes getting out relatively easy, tide level open all gates, go. Incoming is more tricky as you can only use the lock on a rising tide, in theory the same principle but in practice the timing will need to me more precise as they presumably won't let the lock overfill and then empty when the tide goes out, whereas on the way out so long as the gates behind you are closed you're good to go.

My cruiser Juno has a kill cord - Tohatsu 10hp outboard. One end is fastened to the kill switch, the other to the dashboard next to the kill switch... Even on a cruiser like Juno one needs the freedom to step away from the helm without turning the engine off.

Boating, although not general boating I admit! Further idle musings from my hospital bed led to me looking up Fulney Lock, the tidal lock (indeed the only lock) on the Welland. I have seen this lock once, about 30 years ago, and recall being surprised that it could only lock up into the tide, if the tide lower than the non-tidal side then there is only a single pair of gates, known, according to the linked document, as the ebb gates. Fulney Lock technical note what really surprised me in this note is that the flood gates - two pairs making a proper lock - have no paddles! What strange beast of a lock is this?! Of course the level seaward side is not fixed so there are ways to pass, but it does seem a bizzare structure... (should this be in history and heritage)