Keith Lodge

OOPS! Show how long ago it was since I posted on here. Thanks for letting me know Graham. By the way it was great bumping into you at Cropredy and having a great chat

Well we finally set sail in January following the extensive rebuild of Hadar's engine. It is great to be on the move at last. We are at Thrupp for Easter, meeting up with one of my sisters for Sunday lunch at the Jolly Boatman. Then we intend head back north and onto the Grand Union towards Londone, where my other 2 sisters live. Then onto Bishop Stortford so that friends from where we lived in Felixstowe can come and visit and see the boat. Then it is up the Thames and onto the Kennet & Avon so we can meet Jo's friends, then back onto the Thames to Lechlade, returning to Oxford and onto the Oxford canal. After that we are then heading for the BCNS cruise prior to the IWA National Festival at Autherley, so quite a busy summer. But once all the family and friends are dealt with then we can do as we please You can follow our adventures on our blog at www.hadar.org.uk as well as a full record of the whole build of Hadar from start to finish.

We moved onto Hadar on Thursday 12 July, although she isn't yet completed. Misty Lady went to her new owner on Tuesday 17th. We have been helping out with the last few jobs, to get her finished, which she should be this coming week, so hopefully we can set off for her shakedown cruise for the 1st 2 weeks in August to the Caldon Canal, and then possibly the Maccy and Peak Forest to Bugsworth, time and rain permitting. Keith Lodge www.hadar.org.uk

Give or take a microsecond or so, hahahahahaha. Cheers.

Many thanks for the reply, it is what I thought anyway, but just needed confirmation of it. Your comment about the low charge required is why the Invertor/Charger has the 2nd starter battery output which is rated at only 4amps.

Does anyone have any experience with using a single starter battery for both an engine and a generator? I am wondering if it is possible as there will be 2 alternators in parallel across the single battery, albeit both alternators will never run at the same time. From what I understand a non-active alternator sitting across a battery has nil effect, i.e. whilst the engine is not running the alternator has no electrical drain on the system, otherwise the battery would flatten if left unused, and whilst in this state a 2nd active alternator is only like an addtional battery supplying power. The Invertor/Charger we are going to use has a 2nd 12v output to trickle charge a starter battery which, if we had seperate starter batteries, would only charge one of them, if we didn't want the added expense of splitter diodes. The domestic batteries are charged from a 2nd alternator on the engine, so the engine starter circuit is completely seperate. The generator will charge the domestic batteries via the Invertor/Charger.

My wife and I were shot at on our way to Coventry on the Coventry Canal in 2005. We took photos, and rang the police. before we reached the terminus we had a call back from the police to ask if they could meet us, as they had the suspects in the police cells, and needed statements from us. Any firearm incident is treated highly by the police.

The winding hole just before the lock states that you can wind a 50' boat there...... You can't. I tried. Our boat is 50' and it got stuck!!

As our new boat will be too long to be able to do the L&L we did it last year during July/August with our present boat, and enjoyed the whole trip and was glad we did it whilst we could. I did have my doubts before we set off, but have no regrets having done it. Mind you we did do many early morning starts, but not just to avoid the kids, but to avoid the height of the sun which we had to endure!!! It's a hard life.

Thumblining can only be carried out on Southern Grand Union locks, due to the shape of the handrail, It relies on the first bite of the rope against the upright of the handrail, and the curve at the corner of the rail and upright to stop the rope from sliding off the top. When the boat's move forward the rope does not bite against the upright, and only has to unravel from the handrail itself, which offers no resistance and falls back onto the boat. The technique was developed so that a single handed crew member could return to the descending boat/s in a deep lock once the paddles were opened and thus be able to open the gates whilst onboard, however this also resulted in the gates and paddles being left open as all the crew were now onboard, this was an accepted practice with working boats to save time, relying on the next boat negotiating the lock to shut the gates and paddles, as everyone did it the workload was shared out evenly, but is however not accepted by British Waterways as they require all gates and paddles to be closed when leaving a lock. Thumblining is and always was a risky and dangerous technique, you had to know the precise amount of line to allow for the depth of fall of each lock on the journey. The technique has been negated by the installation of ladders in locks for crew to get to the boat once the lock is emptied and gates opened. I was taught and carried out the practice 39 years ago by an ex-working boatman born on a working boat, and I would not recommend its use, as although you may practice it and perfect it, if someone else less competant copied you the results could be disasterous.

According to British Waterways General Licence Conditions, para 4.1 and I quote :- "You must display the Boat’s name, and the Licence and Boat index number on both sides of the Boat so that they are always easily visible by our people on the towpath." You can find this on page 5 online at http://www.waterscape.com/images/bw_2007_l..._fees_final.pdf Hope this answers your question. It makes me wonder how many boat owners actually read the terms & conditions of their licence seeing the amount of boats one sees without a boat name in sight.

I have been told by another boater that not fitting a silencer to a boat engine reduces coking up, anyone had any experience of this? The engine in concern is a National DA2, 2 cylinder, 30hp built 1945, and has a tickover speed of 300rpm, which I believe is the reason for such an engine to coke up quickly. This other boater does own the National DA3, 3 cylinder version of the engine.

Definitely Roger Fuller, he is building our new boat as we speak Hadar. Mind you he does have at least a 3 year waiting list. Although he is well known for his Joshers, he will build anything your heart desires, providing in his expert eyes it is feasible. Ours is a small Northwich, the first he has ever built. Last month (March 2007) he launched his 50th boat. He also specialises in historic and vintage engine, acquisition and/or installation.

If you have a residential mooring supplying mains electricity by a landline then this will be you main source of power, with this you can power all you will need on a boat. Whilst on the move you have a number of different options. Your main source of power will be from your engine and will be derived from a 12V alternator. This power will be stored in batteries, this being a similar setup to any car. However you can derive 240v AC from the 12v Dc using an inverter, the size of which is determined by your power requirement for appliances in kilowatts. If a single inverter is not sufficent for your power requirements, they can be multipled to increase their power output, however any power taken from the batteries by the inverter has to be replaced by running the engine to charge them, the more you use the more you will have to run the engine to put it back in. If your power requirement whilst away from your mooring is high, you can have a 240v AC generator fitted in the engine room if there is space, which mostly start from about 4.5kwatts upwards. A lot depends on your engine choice and the output size of the alternator. Although you can get pretty large output alterantors these days, it can be more efficient to run a generator to power your large mains appliances, thus avoiding lengthy periods of running your engine to recharge batteries. Always bear in mind that any engine or generator running is noisey and there are rules about running them between certain hours of the day. You might be comfortable and able to afford to run your engine for 8 hours whilst moored up, but will other boat users and neighbouring canalside households be as happy with the noise? One good rule of thumb is to try to install as much 12v DC equipment as possible, such as tv's etc. as running them directly from 12v DC is more economical than running 240v AC equivents through an inverter, as an inverter uses power to generator AC power, and the losses are quite high. A lot of electrical equipment these days requires a 12v DC input and is supplied with a plugtop or inline transformer to convert from 240v AC. Such equipment is usually marked at the power input socket as to the power supply required. For example, most boat owners install a car stereo as these work off 12v DC. However some items like hair driers although available as 12v DC work are not a patch on 240v AC models. However be aware that some appliances such as microwaves may advertise that they are 12v DC operating, but they are in fact 240v AC with their own built in inverter, but these cost way more that the 240v AC equivelent. Also bear in mind that any 12v DC power you use from the batteries has to be replaced, either by running the engine or generator (if you have a combined invertor/charger or seperate charger the generator will charge the batteries), each use diesel which costs money, and will cost more in the near future as we are losing the cheaper diesel we have had up till now for canal boats. Also the more you have to run either the more wear they receive. Also when selecting electrical appliances look for those that use the least power in kwatts, for example washing machines, not only consider the power consumption in kwatts, but also how much water they take, after all the water has to come from your water tank, and you have to fill that! Many salesmen will tell you that you can install and use any electrical appliances and equipment on a narrowboat, which is true, but they don't have to pay for the diesel to power them!! You may find more useful information from our website which covers the building of our new working narrowboat 'Hadar', which has it's own very unique set of requirements, which is explained at the various stages of the build, but you may find some valuable info there. You can find our site at www.hadar.org.uk

How long is a piece of string? As with any bespoke boatbuilder it will be finished when it is finished and our builder at no time quotes finish dates. It is due to go into the paintshed next week, and should be in there for 8 weeks, after that it all depends on what is remaining to be done. But having waited 39 years for this boat it is extremely close in the scheme of things, hahahahaha.