Phlea

Ah, enjoy! We’re going into the ‘Curley Wyrley’ to Norton Canes

Virtually the same trip as us apart from the choice of last locks, and we’ve found a quiet mooring just short of Tipton. Did you have any trouble on the Stratford? We were bombarded with chunks of tree by youths just before the tunnel ?

Hahaha! Very good ?

Thanks for the guidance. We came up Smethwick Locks with few issues other than a pair of joggers around the prop in lock 1, and a virtually empty pound between 2 and 3, which were both soon sorted. Saw ‘Keeping up’ moored up but nobody seemed at home! ?

Yikes! I’m now worried about passing through there, is that near the three locks we have to go down. We’ve already had to call police this morning to escort us through an area where we were being attacked by youths throwing large chunks of wood at us! Sorry, not down, up!

Super, thanks for the help ?

Hmmm. I’m heading for Tipton today, for the first time, currently on the N Stratford. Which bit’s got the problem? In the Nicholson’s my options seem to be either the Wolverhampton Level or Birmingham Level, which was my intended route. Any guidance much appreciated, also where’s good and quiet to moor in Tipton?

Good news! Where on facebook do you get this information, is there a K and A group or somesuch?

Just come from there as my boating's been held up by this and I wanted to know what was going on. The owner told me the bow got stuck on the bottom gate as he was emptying the lock and the stern shipped water sinking the boat; he noticed but couldn't lower the paddles quick enough. Poor chap. A salutary tale for all, it's not just the stern cilling we need to be aware of going downhill. There's a couple of big pumps there trying to empty the lock so they can refloat the boat. Looks like an amateur endeavour at the moment and doesn't look as if it's an official CRT thing as none of their liveried vans are around. Good luck, hope they succeed soon!

I photographed two Narrowboats on Saturday at they passed HMS Belfast, from the top of the Shard! If it's anybody on here and they fancy a copy I can forward :-)

Thanks for all your advice, seems as if the best route is to wait until the end of the year and get a proper job done, probably in the spring for drying times. The other option I wonder about is having a liner made, but my worry with that is that surely it'll trap moisture between itself and the hull thereby storing up issues for later?

Dear all, I'm wanting to educate myself on what type of paint should be used on my integral water tank. I had it painted last year but it only lasted a few months before rust appearred again, and once again the replacement paint rusted through this year. I'm told that as it's a water tank the rust cannot be treated and that bitumastic paint was used that can't be painted over with anything else. What are my options? Thanks, Phil

Thanks for the advice, I'll bear it in mind. How do you know who will do a good job of such a potentially major piece of work? Easy with a car, just take it to a main dealer, pay the price for sure but at least there's probably some training and procedures behind what they do, and some comeback if it goes wrong.

We did wonder that ourselves and read and reread the guide, debating the subtleties between 'must not' and 'should not' endlessly. When we arrived we were blissfuly unaware of any rules, and having been given the harbour guide by the lock keeper at Netham on the basis that it was something we 'may find interesting' we put it on the side for a quiet moment. Within half an hour of arriving and delighted that with our smart pontoon mooring having electricity and water we could catch up on the laundry, we set to putting on a load and the other half started on a marathon shower without needing to be mindful of the usual water economy. I started to hose down the boat to remove the half inch of towpath dust it had gathered, only to be aware of a shouting voice. The man on the narrowboat over the way, once I'd tuned into him, repeated haranguingly 'you know you can't empty anything into the dock, have you not got a book? Do you want to read mine, look, there's TWO places your doing it'. I was shocked, apologised, thanked him for pointing it out to me and popped in to educate him indoors. Of course it wasn't practical to just switch off the washing machine or for Ian to remain soapy so we decided to finish off both and not be naughty again. I returned outside only to be shouted down again- ''IT'S STILL DOING IT' he hollered before disappearing onboard. They must be really strict we thought, so we adhered from then on. Nice to think that when we return we can be a bit more free and easy? Oh, and don't get me started on the 'customer service' in the harbour masters office when we enquired about access to the showers!

Thanks Steve, and Rob for the offer of your services. In the end we had a crew conflab and decided to head back up the K and A, for various reasons; getting 'itchy feet' through not moving for 9 days, feeling fed up in Bristol Harbour as despite being a great location in so many ways its restrictions to onboard living re it's grey water policy are tiresome (I think we'd been in every cafe or restaurant with not being able to cook on board and hiking half a mile just to wash is no fun), the K and A is lovely and we decided we could be in the midlands just as quickly if we motor well. We'll do Sharpness to Bristol later in the year once the mod's done. This turned out to be a very good move as today an engine oil seal failed, had this happened at sea it would not have been good! I've got RCR looking for somebody at the moment but if anybody has any particular recommendations for a possible compete engine rebuild of a Nanni then please let me know :-( Cheers, Phil

Yep, it's discussions with the fuel polishing chap which got me here- he needs to be able to have access to the top of the tank to stick his rods in. My engine takes fuel from a tank in the bottom which has no openings, I'm assuming this tank would normally be a water cooling skin tank on a regular boat, but mine is raw water cooled and uses it for the engine diesel instead. Hope this makes sense! Just to add, the engine tank is filled via a pipe which takes a convoluted route, or more usually by me decanting from the top tank in the counter via a small pipe installed for this purpose. Thanks Eeyore, Motion Marine were on my list but the feedback I found for them on Yell.com was so dire I ruled them out. Perhaps I should try them and hope for the best.

Hi all, I'm currently in Bristol with plans to do the Sharpness run. However, in order to do this I need my engine diesel tank cleaned, which due to it's location is impossible. I need an engineer to make some additions and changes to the pipework so that my engine can run off my domestic tank, which is accessible for cleaning. I've been here a week now trying to find an engineer who's willing and able to do this but to no avail, does anybody have any reccomendations or ideas? Thanks, Philip

Hi, I know it looks unlikely due to its size but this works fantastically well as it seems to utilise the boat as an extension to the aerial... http://www.amazon.co.uk/August-DTA180-Freeview-Aerial-Television/dp/B001AGD1Q8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1392113027&sr=8-3&keywords=tv+aerial Got one a month or so ago and can't believe how well it works, cheap too! :-)

I think we now have a plan, thanks! Looking forward to it, and being on board again after a very long time :-)

Lot's of useful advice, thanks. The main aim i think is to be away from the revellers (especially on Christmas Eve!) but close and accessible to the best Brum has to offer. Also, looking at Canalplan we'll probably want to overnight somewhere below Farmers Bridge locks on the way and I seem to remember that this flight was a bit known for 'trouble'? Or am I just being paranoid about the whole thing and we should just take what comes?!!!

Dear All, As a prelude to 2014's attempt at 'doing the system' we're planning on taking the boat from Knowle where it's being worked on into the centre of Birmingham over the Christmas break. Any recommendations on good places to moor up, and indeed places to avoid?! What's to see and do, and will anybody else be there to share some cheer? Phil (+Ian and Mollydog)

I believe Abingdon Lock's closing Nov 'til March for a complete rebuild.

I'm also moored at Goring atm, waiting to get the boat back to it's marina mooring at Abingdon. The local boatyard master informed me that not only is the stream an issue at Wallingford when in flood but the difference in levels either side of the bridge can be 4ft!!!

Lol! Thanks for your replies folks, seems I'm worrying unnecessarily. Mind you, she is only six months and everything's, new, adventurous and to be explored! I guess she'll only burn herself once though!

eh?!