bargemast

Sorry to say, I don't see any similarity between them, to start with already completely different bows (Window breakers) Peter.

Nice one, as if the air isn't polluted enough already, it's supposed to be very poisonous too. Peter.

Even if they would have advertised as 9.8 mm it wouldn't have been the real plate thickness, as only the outer plate counts with an ultra son tester. Peter.

Hello Dean, an old blog, and very good it was too. I was amazed to see how quick you made this sailaway into a nice home for your familly. The only thing I never understood is why you repeatedly wrote that you were going to post more pictures soon, but never did. Of course nobody can oblige you to put up these photos, but there's no need to say several times that you're going to post them, if you don't do it. Still anyway, I think you did a great job. Peter.

They are lovely bikes, there aren't many around anymore, and I don't even think that many were made, but I like the looks of them and the very special sound of their engine. It takes a bit of getting used to, with brake and gear-change on the opposite site of most modern bikes. Take good care of your bike (and boat of course) and you'll never need or want another one (unless you can find a similar one). Peter.

The pitch will be left to calculate with all the information you have, by the prop makers. Who btw could never do that without all this info. For your engine the different specifications are for completely different boats, that only have the same engine in common. The first is for a pretty fast and surely fairly light boat, and the third for something more like a heavier displacement (possibly a work) boat. Peter.

As it says for MAN or Mercedes, it's used in the truck engines, and BEHR (the makers) may have an agent in the UK that can supply you with the required information. Peter.

And how about the reduction of the gearbox, which can make the pitch requirements quite a bit different. Peter.

You are absolutely right in what you're saying. Some people can walk just as well on their hands, which is not my case, and apart from that, it isn't very practical I recon . Peter.

That would really be a sexist swindle then. It's an old, and probably true story that man have been lying about inches, but this could also have been caused by the introduction of the decimal counting with the centimeters, and because of that, reading centimeters while thinking they were inches, an easily made mistake But as the saying go's, lenght is of no importance to the fun one can have, give or take a few centimeters, inches or feet. Peter.

Yes, I guess that in that case people would keep quiet. But advertising a boat at a lenght of 55' while it's only 47' in reality is as far as I know swindle. In a case like that if the seller isn't prepared to pay the Survey costs that the prospective buyer wouldn't have made if he'd known that the boat was only 47', would make make me go and have a word with him, and I'll tell him that he doesn't have to worry because my arms aren't long enough to touch him, but then when he's calling me a lier when his nose starts to bleed all of a sudden, I'll tell him that my arms are longer than I told him. As I said before, I am a non-violent person, but there are limits. Peter.

Your boat is looking good, but your land-transport is looking even better, it's a bit of a rare good looking Moto-Guzzi, a Lodola, if my tired eyes don't fool me. Peter.

Makes it even worse for the seller, really nasty trying to screw a couple of naïve newbees. I am a non-violent person, but sellers like this one make my blood boil. Peter.

Did you make de seller pay for this Survey ? Advertising with completely wrong dimension like that, isn't acceptable. 1' or 2' wrong isn't good either, but 8' in this case is pushing it rather too far. Peter.

Too bad Andy, still no luck, the first 2 showed :HTTP 403 Refusé, and whatever I filled in at the 3th didn't work either. Don't worry, life go's on for me anyway, and there are plenty of other (more important) things I have to miss too. Peter.

Hello Andy, I really do appreciate your efforts to make me see this video, that I would have loved to see, but even with the link you provided, all I get is : CONTENU INDISPONIBLE Cette video n'est pas autorisée pour votre emplacement (FR) I don't know if Alan will have more success if he gives it a try, or for anyone else who's in France, but here it doesn't Peter.

Absolutely, technology is wonderful, but .........I don't think that it does a lot of good to an old wooden boat (not even to a recently restored one either) to be dangeling from a crane, only supported by a couple of fairly narrow slings. The best transport is by water (where boats belong) on it's own keel, where the whole boat is supported evenly by the water it floats in. Peter.

Thanks for your answer Alan, I don't think that there's anything wrong with your old brain cells, they still seem to work pretty good. It's a pitty that we can't see these video's though. Peter.

Thank you very much, I'm sure that your information would be very helpful, and quite likely be the solution to this problem, but I have to admit that I'm not computer savvy at at all. If I would have to give a number between 0 and 10, I would probably get a below 0. Thanks anyway, it was kind to give it a try, Peter.

Did you manage to see this video Alan ? I only got a message saying that I wasn't allowed to see this because I'm in France. Peter.

Yes Tam, as you say, draft is a problem there, in '79 and '80 I still could do the whole canal, with the hotel-barge (draft 1m30) I owned at the time, but not without getting stuck in some of the pounds that weren't kept up enough. If I ran aground, I just waited until someone came to check why I didn't arrive at their lock, and then they would raise the "bief" a bit more. Nowadays I think that 1m20 is the very limit, but if you want more chance for a trouble free passage 1m or less is preferable. Linssen don't build 30m boats, and with many of their (too) expensive boats, you may be fine with lenght and beam but the bigger ones may be having already a bit too much draft. In a few years (if the canal stays open) you may still be able to do all of the canal on an airbed, as the bottom is rapidly coming closer to the top, which is a terrible shame. I was reading the OP's posting again, and he has the wrong idea about the lock dimensions of the other canals with his 5.45 beam as that's far from a standard lock width, only the wide chambers of the St.Quentin can handle that size (and even a bit wider), and of course all the rivers and grand gabarit sized waterways. Holland and Belgium won't be a problem unless he would like to do some of the ditches to vist picturesque places like Giethoorn etc. We'll surely meet again somewhere Tam. Peter.

Hi Tam, I agree (as usual) with almost everything you're writing, but here's a slight error, the Nivernais has a section in the middle between the Sardy flight and all the way to Cercy la Tour on the other side of the 3 short tunnels the locks are only 30m long. If the boat is bought in France it should be a boat that licenced for the sea, as on a french registered canalboat, you're not allowed to go to sea, in the UK, The Netherland, Belgium and a few other countries, it's up to you to decide if you take your boat out to sea, cross the Channel etc, but not with a French registered boat. As has been said already the Brittany canals are not connected to the rest of the French waterways, but that's not a real problem for a sea going boat, as you can get to either of them with the sea as link between them. For the money you seem to be prepared to invest in a boat, it would surely be possible to get a boat built for you, just the way you want it to be. Bonne chance, Peter. Btw Tam, nice to meet you saturday at Auxerre.

On my side of the Channel, the most common is 1 : 10. Happy to be able to use the keyboard of my laptop again, after a good (bad) week on my phone. Peter.

Hi Mike, I'm pretty sure that you wanted to write 1 : 10 or 1 : 12 for the taper, as 1 : 1 is what a reverse gearbox for a very slow revving engine may have, but never for a taper. Peter.

The 3 photos of the butty that Ray-T posted on the previous page are from a pushed butty made by Streethay Wharf. Peter.