dmr

Its obvious, once somebody turned up without having had several pints of beer the night before the engine started. Laurie was not turning the key correctly. Laurie, we are in Stoke on Trent now and will be in Brum by late September, will our paths be crossing??? ..............Dave

Only discovered this pub this year, it will now be an essential stop. Its right up there with the Ma Pardoes and Great Westerns etc. As a veggie I can only give it 8/10 but if they did a proper cheese cob rather than just the pork pie it would be a 10/10. We might be back in tonight, depending upon how the day works out, probably early evening. PM me a mobile number and I can text you. ..................Dave

Just had another little session at the Holy Inadequate in Stoke on Trent. 6 beer handpumps, 3 cider handpumps and some craft lagers. Nice pint and a half of posh lager is about £4.50. Best value this summer was a strong IPA from a local micro at a Weatherspoons in Liverpool, about £2.10, but Weatherspoons is full of sad old men and won't let the dog in so I don't drink there that often. Anything from a bottle is very expensive though Peroni on tap is usually just about affordable. Most expensive beers were from Brewdog in Liverpool, between £4 and £7, but they were rather nice. .................Dave

Would you buy a house if it had a walk thru bathroom???? ........Dave

They were doing that again this weekend. I think they are having signalling issues so joined the Steam train and the Diesel together (no signals needed if only one train running) but that makes a long train which is a bit heavy for that little tank engine to pull uphill by itself. Not a good weekend, rain, rain and more rain, only option was all day drinking sessions in the pub and just popping outside each time the train passed. ..............Dave

Always good beer if a bit costly, ate there two years ago, food very good, dog ok in bar but not in back eating room. Tricky getting over the lock if you overdo the beer ................Dave

I think its the informal parking on the verge in the lane that runs right next to the canal. I also think its another case of a very familiar story... boaters piss off locals, locals decide they would rather not have boaters near to their houses and get council involved. I am aware of some alleged anti-social behaviour from boaters but not sure if its true. There was some very serious overstaying by one very untidy boat last winter, almost right outside the cottage at the end, but otherwise it all looked reasonably ok to me. It is a nice place to stop for a week or so in the winter, deepish water, good car parking! some superb walking/dog walking in the nearby hills. .............Dave

This is very true. Lots of arm waving and excitement and directing the two boats coming up who already knew exactly what they were doing (as one of them was us). Totally failed to notice that the inexperienced single boat coming down had got his fender caught up on the gate. .................Dave

Interesting stuff here, thanks. So now I need to estimate the static load on the tie when the boat adopts a unhealthy angle, this should be within my engineering capabilities, or skill set as people like to say these days. Interestingly I did some experiments using paracord as the weak link (550 lbs load) and it did break on several occasions when we nudged the gates a little harder than intended. We hang the button just below the nose rather than on the nose otherwise we are too long for a few locks, so a bump at the front can maybe give a bigger tensile force component along the chain. So maybe finding the balance between the boat getting hung up and general shock loads is not trivial .............Dave

OK I've been cutting half way through the side of a shackle and it sounds like this might not be the best idea. Which thickness of cable ties are people using please? ...................Dave

With a boat at almost 71 foot we often intentionally keep the front in contact with the gate, especially when on the K&A where a couple of the locks are only 70 foot long. A weak link is a very good idea. Some locks cause significant surging and with only a foot or two of clearance it just isn't always possible to avoid banging against the gate so a front fender is pretty much essential. ...............Dave

We were talking about this in bed this morning (I assume all boaters talk about corrosion and oxygen levels in bed in the morning???) The canal water gets a lot of movement, boats stir it up and lock emptying really moves the water about, so I would think that in many places and for much of the time there is almost as much oxygen 3 foot down as there is a few inches down. Probably a bit different in a quiet marina in winter but I would love to see some facts on oxygen vs depth. I think not "blacking the bottom" is because its difficult and unpleasant work, and just not viable in many dry docks. Is this not why builders use thicker and thicker baseplates? I also suspect that there is significant rusting from the inside out at the bottom inch or two of the sides on most older boats. We have never blacked the bottom but like I said, probably will next time. Question is what is best to use? Main objection is to fill the pits so I reckon an epoxy but maybe not to hard, scrapes will certainly takes some epoxy off but don't want it to tear out of the pits. We just came out of the water after three years to have a look at the state of the hull with two pack on. All very interesting. ................Dave

Not convinced about this even though it is accepted wisdom. As long as the boat is looked after (regularly blacked) then I suspect the bottom and lower sides corrode most. Many overplating jobs are the bottom and bottom foot of the sides rather than the waterline. However last night the boat moored opposite looked pretty rough on the waterline. By co-incidence I had a quick look at our baseplate yesterday, (2001 boat), it looked pretty good but quite a bit of pitting, did not measure this as the dry dock floor was cold and wet and time was running out, but I reckon 1.5 mm. Think we will maybe get craned out next time (when the boat is 20) and have a better look and maybe epoxy the bottom. ...............Dave

Neil2 has just produced one of the truest and most sensible posts I have seen here for a long time. In the last month alone we have twice shared locks with a boat where the Mrs hated every minute of it, one of which was up for sale. If you live on a boat then do try to get out of the marina as often as you can and do some boating, and ideally man and wife should both become equally skilled at boat steering and lock operation. I am also one of the luck few, Gillie is as much into boat life as me, maybe even more so. If you take to the boaty life it might not be easy to go back to the land later. Could you downsize from a house to a flat, extract equity, buy boat and rent the flat out....and live on boat for ever???? .............Dave

We went past the Cornflakes factory last week and judging by the smell they were cooking up something like All Bran rather than Cornflakes so I reckon that all Kellogs products are interchangeable. Actually it smelled a bit like Wadworths, maybe its a brand new breakfast cereal for boaters? ..............Dave If Red or Blue are not to your taste then Wellseal do a rather nice golden yellow which works very well. Never seen a green one though. ................Dave

There are selection packs available on eBay for example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gasket-Material-Paper-Starter-Pack-5-assorted-sheets-270x230mm-/311655749999?hash=item489021596f:m:mwaoHdL_PXmRJTAbvs9wePQ These won't take up much space so are ideal to keep somewhere on the boat. The ability to make your own gaskets can get you out of trouble, its easy, and quicker than trying to get one at the shops. ....and if you use the Cornflakes box then where would you keep the Cornflakes????? ...............Dave

Yes, we also live on a "boutique" Colecraft. Last week a passing boater correctly identified it as Colecraft, that's only happened once or twice before. Last year I saw a 10 year old Colecraft that was effectively an old wreck due to total lack of any maintenance. Have also seen a couple of top name boats with some rather untidy welding! ...............Dave

For myself, and Gillie, the great pleasure of living on a boat is....living on a Boat, the boatiness of all and the fact that its not a house. Adjusting our routines to fit in with boat life and not having all the attributes of a house. Not having a TV at all, just download any stuff that we really want to watch. Can you not enthuse your wife with the pleasures of boating???? A good proper boaty boat is more fun that a boat trying to be a substitute house. .............Dave

64 foot is plain daft, either 57 so you can go everywhere, or 70 and have lots of space (ok maybe 69 so the locks are not too tight). Any decent live aboard boat should have a washing machine, launderettes are sordid boring places and an endangered species. Boats can get very hot in summer and no place to leave a dog alone until you have worked out how to reliably keep them cool. An open port-hole is not enough. Mould should not be an issue as long as you manage heating and ventilation correctly. A bit of condensation is hard to avoid. Wipe port holes each morning in winter. House appreciate, boats depreciate. You don't buy a boat as an investment. Batteries last much much longer on a hook up as long as you don't accidentally over charge them. Mains hookup is standard on almost all boats. Big water tanks are good for cruising, less important in a marina, 500l should be the minimum. Much much better to learn how to drive the boat rather than having a bow thruster. The extra water capacity is much more useful. Many boaters with bow thrusters never learn to handle their boat well and are in right trouble when the bow thruster breaks (but maybe different if you are old and single handed). ...............Dave

Its interesting that many people find old working boats, which invariably have "textured" paintwork, to be a thing of beauty and worth taking photos of, but then go and get a "replica" working boat (Hudsons etc) and demand that the paintwork is pristine. I am also working on the textured look above the top guard/rubbing strake. ..............Dave

Yes, that's much better than doing nothing at all, but not nearly as good as doing the job properly. It will significantly slow down the spreading of the rust, but most likely will not stop the rusting from slowly getting deeper behind the port-hole. A small grinding stone in a Dremmel will allow you to remove the visible rust right back to bare metal, then carefully prime and paint. Can you trust yourself with a Dremmel? much less potential for big diy disasters than an angle grinder!!!! ................Dave

Is that Butyl rubber tape? I got some off ebay and used it to seal the little port-holes in the Pigeon boxes. It was (and still is) 100% waterproof though in future I think making neoprene gaskets is the way to go. So if its not butyl rubber what on earth have they sold you????? There is an old (rather silly) practical joke where you give people washing up sponges made out of closed cell foam, is this the opposite?????? ...............Dave

Its truly horrible for the couple who have had their boat stolen (and I am amongst those keeping a look out) but, its very very rare for a boat to get taken away. Theft from the boat (and resulting damage), arson (truly horrible), accidental fires and accidental sinking in a lock are much more real threats, and any security efforts should really go in these directions. ...............Dave

It would indeed be great fun, attending training courses in a subject that you are expert in is really interesting, and you will learn something too. Its very difficult to attend a course and not learn anything at all. In my field of work I once, and only once, attended a course where I learnt nothing at all, but even then I learnt something about the mentality of the company that was running the course, I also learned that a course run by people who know their stuff but perhaps do not present it perfectly is still much much better than a course run by "professional trainers" who know nuffin and just work from a script. ...............Dave

For small "stone chip" style holes and scratches on the cabin sides I find a little grinding stone in a Dremel to be very good. Go right back to bare metal removing any and all rust, prime (Bondaprimer) with a small artists type brush. Very carefully fill with car body filler so as not to leave a depression, then paint, again with a small brush. Possibly unconventional but I have been doing this for a few years and it works. Inspect cabin sides frequently for damage and fix before the rust extends below the paintwork. Below the "guunel" sand damage by hand with course paper (60 grit), prime, and slap paint on liberally, its a boat and that bit takes some stick. Edit this applies to painted hull just below gunnel, blacking is a different matter altogether. Angle grinder and knotted wire brushes are nice tools for big boaty jobs. ..............Dave