agg221
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Posts posted by agg221
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6 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:
Crown Wharf?
A new one for me wrt Stone.
Mr Google tells me it is a Joules establishment. Another good reason for stopping there.
(Along with The Swan, The Royal Exchange and The Borehole. The McSpoons aint bad either)
I like Stone!
(Can you tell?)
ETA But I can give The Star a miss. Why drink Marstons beer when there is much better available just across the road and the bridge?)
Crown Wharf is indeed a Joules establishment. It is a new building but done well. A big, cavernous main room of the city centre pub type but with an outdoor deck to watch the boats go by and a few nice nooks and crannies if you want a quiet chat. It felt like somewhere which had been laid out by someone with a good understanding of what makes a decent pub (including the range of good beer!)
The Star was my wife's old local when she stayed with her grandparents, but it was shut on a Tuesday evening which was not encouraging. I hadn't been to Stone before (other than passing through on Middlewich Narrowboats boat at Easter in 1998), but I got a good first impression.
Alec
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Hello Everyone,
Although as per my introductory post I have been somewhat invisible for the past 20yrs due to other things taking priority, I have a longstanding interest in ice boats, particularly those of the BCN.
Twenty years ago, there were more people around who remembered the days of working boats, but very few of them had internet connections. Therefore I thought it was worth putting the question out there as to whether anyone can fill in any gaps. Below is a complete list taken from the BCN boat books (up to 1947) and various engineers' notes, with the additions from the 1952 list, plus the oral history I received either first-hand or from other people who undertook the same exercise before me. If anyone can add anything, or knows someone who might, even if they are not entirely sure of it, it would be useful in order to give something to follow up. Anything is of interest, from 'my uncle steered that' to 'I saw that one on the bank in 1985' if that extends the history.
Thanks
Alec
BCN Ice boats (alphabetical order):
Name Wood/Iron Build Date Cut Up Last Known Date Notes Antartic I c1830 1999 Converted Arctic W be1858 23/9/1887 Arctic W 1887 1947 Baffin W be 1858 1888 Baffin W 1887 1912 Baltic I c1840 2018 At Bath, full length cabin Bherring W be 1858 1888/9 Byrd W 01/01/1939 ? Empress I c1860 1970s Last seen being used as a mud hopper by the Coventry Canal Society Esquimaux (Oates) I c1855 2021 At Redhill Marina, converted Esquimaux W 10/11/1898 ? Fram W 01/09/1902 1947 Franklin W be 1858 be 1876 Glacier W be 1858 be 1876 Grant W c1863 22/1/1880 Iceberg W 1874 1939 Kamschatka W be 1858 be 1876 Labrador W be 1858 be 1876 Laplander I c1830 2014 Converted to steam McClintock W 1887 1947 Nansen W 6/11/1891 1940 Nares W 22/1/1880 1928 North Star W 1874 Sold 1904 2021 Returned to BCN as Samson by 1947 North Star II W 1904 2019 At BCLM as a land-based exhibit Pandora W 3/12/1880 06/12/1929 Parry W be 1858 6/1895 Parry II W 31/10/1895 2014 At Ellesmere Port, dilapidated Peary W 1910 2003 At Bates’ Boatyard, Puttenham Polaris W 6/3/1896 1938 Ross I 1847 2019 Deconverted at BCLM Scott W 01/01/1934 1998 Shackleton W 18/10/1934 1998 Speke W af 1858 c1888 Speke W 1/1884 1940 BCN post 1952 Atlantic 1999 Nansen II I 1998 Tardebigge ? Wilson W 1998 Worcester ? -
Hi,
Is there anyone with access to a J gearbox who could take some quick internal measurements? I need to know the diameter of the lower shaft. I also need to know the internal width of the gearbox case at this point, together with the centreline depth to the bottom of the case. Basically, I am trying to work out what the biggest diameter thing that will fit within the case on the output shaft is.
In the long-term I am looking out for the bits to reinstate the gearbox internals (currently just a straight through shaft as it's hydraulic drive), but for now I may have found a reasonably priced way to reinstate the hand start if the dimensions can accept it.
Thanks
Alec -
Further north, on the Four Counties a couple of weeks ago we went to the Shroppie Fly (booked ahead, everything was fine, drinks at the bar etc) and the Royal Oak in Gnosall as we were eating later than the two closer to the canal were still serving. They were quite happy to take a table of 9 at short notice (rang ahead) and the food was decent. We also went to the Crown Wharf in Stone, there were no restrictions and the beer was excellent.
Alec
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11 hours ago, stagedamager said:
Give us a shout if you need anything, my brother has a few Kelvin spares, including a few J bits I think, and has worked on that engine. She moored with us once the cabin was completed until May this year.
Thanks Dan, I'll drop you a PM when I have made enough posts for that to be unlocked.
Alec
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I'm sure a lot of it is perception of speed based on noise. This year we travelled with friends - us on a hireboat, them on their own boat. On the last morning their engine wouldn't start so we gave them a tow to the yard where we were returning the boat. Obviously more revs than usual and less speed. We had a lot of head popping out that morning to complain, as we went past at under 1mph... The counter to this was ~15 years ago when we moved BW's publicity boat Waterscape. We had a fairly tight schedule, so although we were well within sensible speeds the number of linear moorings on the route made it very difficult to get where it needed to be if we dropped below the 1mph that some people seemed to want. The boat was an early hybrid with an electric crossover which could be run with or without the engine. We found that if we switched off the engine and went past on battery only, nobody even noticed we were there at 2mph (measured by GPS).
Alec
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18 minutes ago, stagedamager said:
Congratulations on your imminent purchase. She is a lovely boat, she moored with us for a while at Langley Mill, if you need any help with the Kelvin, give us a shout, we have a Kelvin expert on site!
Best of luck!
Dan
Thanks Dan, I take it she was up with you fairly recently, after the rebuild? The owner mentioned that he had been up the Erewash. Very useful to know that there is a Kelvin expert available - they are lovely engines but I have spent more time on the phone over the past couple of weeks satisfying myself that there is enough expertise and are enough parts squirrelled away in stashes around the country to keep it going if needed than on any other aspect of the purchase!
Alec
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Re, Oates as listed above. Well our offer has been accepted so subject to anything untoward happening it will shortly be ours. To respond to a couple of the comments made. Firstly, it is a lot less tender than we had feared. It does move if people move around inside it, but not alarmingly and it doesn't wobble so much as reposition to where the weight is distributed. I suspect this is because most of the time when you are inside, your weight actually bears low down on the floor so doesn't induce much turning moment. It certainly leans less than a hireboat after a week with a full toilet tank in need of a pumpout!
Secondly on the hook, yes that is original and in the correct place, although the block has been renewed at some point (to the original design). Although just buying this one, I am not new to iceboats (just haven't been very visible for the past ~20yrs). I have photos of Oates pre-conversion which show the hook in exactly the same position. Some of the BCN boats had a T-stud but most had the hook on the bow and two pairs of the rings on posts on the sides. I suspect it was because you could get a more positive fix for multiple ropes on the ring than a stud.
Alec
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Can anyone help with Kelvin J gearbox dimensions?
in Kelvin
Posted · Edited by agg221
Thanks for that - would be most kind of you. Bear in mind I don't actually have these bits in my gearbox (various missing bits due to the previous conversion) so I am working from a K spares list for part names. If I'm reading it correctly, ahead is engaged by an inner cone fixed to the end of the crankshaft being engaged with an outer cone attached to the clutch shaft which passes through the box front to back, on the axis of the crankshaft (not worried about what happens further astern than that at this point). It's this clutch shaft I am interested in the diameter of, as opposed to the shaft which comes into play for reverse positioned vertically above it, referred to in the spares list as 'upper spindle'. The drawing of the K box parts suggests that the clutch shaft has a major diameter with a couple of features and then steps down at the stern end (for the back bearing?). It's the major diameter I am interested in.
Cheers
Alec