Wanderer Vagabond
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Posts posted by Wanderer Vagabond
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3 hours ago, David Mack said:
My insurance says I am not allowed to tow inflatables above a certain speed, but has no other prohibition on towing or being towed. So why wouldn't I be covered if doing either, as long as no money changes hands?
A lot of moored boats on the towpath side to pass, as well as having to leg it through Maida Hill Tunnel!
As with number of boaters, I have my insurance through GJW Direct and on their terms and conditions towing is specifically excluded from cover,
".... Are there any restrictions to cover?
! If you use the vessel for purposes other than private and pleasure use you must let us know
! We pay up to the value of the vessel and contents as agreed and noted on the certificate.
! Any item of contents in excess of £1000 has to be declared and all items of contents covered away from the
vessel have to be declared
! You or another competent person will be on board and in charge of the vessel at all times when underway
! You cannot use your vessel to tow another vessel unless customary or in an emergency
! Deductions will be made from the cost of replacement outboard motors, sails, running rigging, covers and
canopies depending on age of lost or damaged item......"(https://www.gjwdirect.com/media/1367/gjw-direct-narrowboat-and-barge-ipid-1021.pdf)
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21 hours ago, Nigel Charman said:
Hello all, a newby here.
Apologies if this has been asked before but I did a search and couldn't find an answer.
We're currently looking to buy a boat for living aboard continuously cruising, looking on the CRT website it says that the locks on the Calder and Hebble and the Huddersfield Broad are 57ft 6ins.
My question is " could a 60ft boat sit diagonally in the locks or must we stay below the stated max ?? "
Thanks in advance nige
When we bought ours I was thinking along much the same lines, but went for a 60 footer anyway, and have been able to get pretty much everywhere on the system that I wanted with it (Dudley tunnel because of height being one exception), including one or two places that perhaps weren't such a good idea
(Reach Lode)
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3 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:
I would have thought that with the kit your 1st mate was wearing (Baltic) he would have been fine with the conditions (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=baltic), or was he just tempting fate?
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Just come back from a bit of walking in Wales and saw the recent addition to this thread, have sent a PM to Joe (can't Facebook him 'cos I'm not on it). See what comes of it.
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1 hour ago, Richard10002 said:
I dont think anybody has mentioned "prop walk"
In reverse, the prop will have a tendency to walk the stern one way or the other.
If reverse tends to walk the stern to port, when coming alongside port side to, a burst of astern will walk the stern towards the bank.
Coming alongside starboard side to, a burst of astern will walk the stern away from the bank.
Once you know which way your prop walks, you can use it to your advantage, whichever side you are coming alongside.
I think most of that rather depends upon how shallow the canal is at side, perhaps you're used to the Bridgewater canal. On many canals when it is particularly shallow at the bank, any reverse thrust will have the effect of pushing a boat back out if it is parallel to the bank. My own method which usually works (but sometimes doesn't) is to turn the boat as I'm coming in (slowly) until the bow is pointing slightly back out again so that in reverse the boat should (hopefully) be heading towards the bank. Again if it is particularly shallow you can end up just scooting sideways but not coming in.
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4 minutes ago, MtB said:
Blimey employers would get prosecuted for that sort of recklessness nowadays!!
When we do our gas training we also get warned that death is not the only consequence of CO poisoning. People get seriously injured by it but still survive apparently, but no details are ever forthcoming. They just want to put the fear of God into us gas bods to make us take it seriously.
Don't suppose that helps much really.
This was back in the 1980's before the day's of 'Health and Safety gone mad' so perhaps it's not quite as 'mad' as people seem to suggest
. Other exposures I've had was to anhydrous Ammonia gas (resulting in not having much of a sense of smell these days, but it sure as hell wakes you up!!) and driving about 30 miles back to the depot in overalls that had been drenched in Formaldehyde when a drum split (possibly carcinogenic, certainly makes your eyes water). The 'advice' was "Oh, just keep the windows open"
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23 hours ago, magnetman said:
A bloke on my countryside mooring had a major problem with carbon monoxide recently. He is new to the whole thing. I went on his boat and having inspected the fire noticed that the (moveable) baffle plate had moved (!) Forwards and completely blocked the flue.
I can't remember the make of fire (arada?) but it is a small modern one. The baffle plate can move forwards and backwards and I reckon with engine running and boat being used it can easily end up in the wrong place due to vibration.
So I pushed it back against the fire bricks and there is for now no problem.
I did also suggest the fireangel CO monitor with the digital readout. Handy kit that is.
And be extra careful when burning wood on t'fire.
CO is bad news. Damhikt but I had overexposure years ago and it is beginning to show up as a health problem. You need to avoid this.
I'm fully with you about the dangers of CO but I'm intrigued as to what the long term health effects are (you say the exposure was years ago). I also had more exposure than I would wish many years ago when taking part in a training 'practical'. The storyline was that someone (me) was supposed to be trying to gas themselves in their car inside a closed garage. Following a signal (a knock on the garage door) I was to start the car engine and await the response of the trainees. Unfortunately the trainees took an age to 'get' the storyline and despite holding my breath for as long as possible I ended up inhaling the car exhaust for longer that one would wish. I was as dizzy as hell for quite a while afterwards but don't seem to have suffered any long term effects, what long term effects did you have?
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4 minutes ago, RickS said:
I think this might be the source - just went to put the ash bucket outside - it had what i thought was warm ash in it, certainly not glowing - it was kept just under the CO monitor. Moving it outside and it was considerably hotter than when it went in, and this was hours ago! Maybe this would explain the smoky taste in my throat.
I appreciate that this does sound like a ridiculously obvious mistake but it never occurred to me that it would be a problem.
I have just taken the ash bucket outside and far from being cold ash with a small amount of hot ash on top, just poking the top and it proved to be a very hot glowing bucket of ash - clearly the hot ash has ignited what was still combustible in the cold ash. i had no idea this was going on under my nose. Took it away from the boat and added a small amount of water and a big smelly cloud came off it, which tasted of what I have been tasting over the last hour or so.
That could have been a disaster if i hadn't been prompted to consider it - lesson learned I think
In fairness I think there are a lot of people who do not fully understand the CO risks from simple glowing embers. I don't normally quote the DM but this story does illustrate the problem (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2140326/Shropshire-campsite-death-Girl-14-killed-tent-barbecue-fumes.html#:~:text=The disposable barbecue they used to cook the,no smell or taste but can kill quickly.). They seem to have assumed in a well ventilated tent there would have been no problem, but there is. A boat with even less ventilation will accentuate the problem.
You have however had the benefit of learning from experience...and surviving
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10 minutes ago, RickS said:
Thanks AdE, nicknorman and Jen about possible leaks. I did a smoke test before I lit it for the first time and it was fine, but I will do another one tomorrow when this fire has gone out. There is no visible smoke, apart from when the door is open and wood is starting to burn, but I know that may not mean anything as CO is invisible.
Smoke test and sweep flue, sounds like a plan. These hard deposits, how are you supposed to get rid of them if a brush won't do it?
Chimney still in place - yes 🙂
Vents clear - I assume you mean mushroom vents etc
Ash bucket left outside - no, I have been keeping it in the boat - sounds like a mistake
Flue seals all look fine but will get a more definitive answer when I do a smoke test tomorrow
When you say keeping it in the boat, whereabouts in the boat are you keeping it when the ash is still hot? (cold ash is obviously of little concern). The other vents you need to check are the lower vents as well in the doors.
Just going off on a slight tangent, how tall is your chimney and has it been windy around there at the time the CO alarm went off? My own experience with a CO alarm going off was I had to remove the chimney to go through a tunnel but didn't replace it immediately afterwards and 10 minutes later the CO alarm went off (the fire was almost out but still with glowing embers).
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Since you are writing this, you haven't seriously poisoned yourself......yet. The CO alarm going off is the big cause for concern and sweeping the chimney would certainly be my first port of call, when was it last swept?
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On 15/12/2021 at 20:47, Ronaldo47 said:
A friend's son is a local councillor..He tells me that , while all our Civic Amenity Centres (a.k.a tips) are run by Essex County Council, our local Borough Council is lumbered with the responsibility and expense of removing fly tipped rubbish from public roads and verges. So restricting what can be accepted by the local amenity centre to save the County Council money, has simply shifted the cost to local ratepayers.
Some operators are more vigilant than others. When we cleared my late mother's house a decade ago, her local authority tip wouldn't accept her old ironing board until I removed the astbestos cement mat for the iron. I kept the mat to use as a heat shield when welding or soldering as it is perfectly sound. At my own local tip I could just have put the complete ironing board in the scrap metal bin.
There has been more recent article by George Monbiot which demonstrates further the idiocy of our current arrangements regarding waste disposal (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/24/dead-goldfish-licensed-waste-disposer-system-falling-apart). To demonstrate a point he has registered his long dead goldfish (Algernon) as registered waste disposer using a clearly fictitious address and so until recently his dead goldfish was a fully registered waste disposer. If no-one is checking the bone fides of those applying to go on the public register, what is the point of it? Any muppet can get themselves registered, no one is doing much in the way of enforcement and there is serious money to be made from illegal dumping, I wonder why it's happening?
When we start getting serious about dealing with these commercial illegal fly-tippers, I'll start to get more excited about someone putting a few ashes in a hedge. Until then it just feels like moving around a few deckchairs on the Titanic.
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2 hours ago, LadyG said:
I understand Calor own Flogas, so it's not a free market, I paid £40 for Calor Propane delivered, it's the standard price round here. I think it's £4.00 more than a year ago.
I don't use the oven much, so gas lasts 4 to six months, not a significant cost to be honest.
There are gas bottles that are self re-fill, I don't know more than that.
I don't know about 'self refill', we got some gas in Castleford a few years back from a place that independently refilled the bottles that was cheap. Turned out it was cheap because they short changed the bottles, a 13Kg bottle last us 8 weeks, except when we got it from Castleford when it lasted five and a half weeks
, I think it is called 'live and learn'.
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I don't know if gas has risen even more since then, but on 23/11/21 we replaced our empty gas bottle at Hawne basin for £29.55p. The only place I'm aware of that beats that price is the place by Etruria Junction at Stoke on Trent.
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26 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:
I agree that some are a pain in the arse, but its not hard to find a sensible council. Its offside realy that its a postcode lottery as to where you can take differing stuff to get rid of. The realy awful thing is that even though Selby take anything, they have many areas of tipping in the countryside by scumbags. Anyway, pub time now.
That is an area I agree with you, and this fly tipping is throughout the country. My original point, going way back in the thread, is that the offenders/scumbags need to be hit with penalties that will put them out of business with the fine money going to local authorities to finance enforcement. Let's say a builder's bag of waste dumped incurs a fine of £20,000 as a ball park starting figure, doubling for further offences (coupled with seizure of any vehicles identified as being used to commit the offence), I'm sure that Local Authorities could make use of that sort of money to improve enforcement.
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3 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:
Have you always been a bore? Log onto Selby council site TODAY and read what it says TODAY, not last year. If you find it hard to understand pm me or ask on here and I will explain that you can take pre arranged large amounts. They are very helpful there.You as usual are wrong and will not admit it. I am sure they arnt the only one. Also taken at Lampeter, both local to what I have needed so why do you think there are no more UK wide?
Probably because I've travelled to more recycling centres (getting rid of waste boat oil) throughout the UK over the past decade or so than you appear to have done in your usual 'know it all way'. I can, if required tell you of the one's who wont even let you in if you either don't have a residents permit or cannot otherwise prove your local address.
All I pointed out was that your observation that getting rid of asbestos was easy, isn't a universal situation, nothing that you have come up with alters that.
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4 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:
You are so quick to jump arnt you. Check out what is meant by MOST recycling.............blah blah blah. I took mine to Selby last year and whilst they ask for a set amount if you ring them they accept loads, they even help you unload. Asbestos is also accepted at Lampeter, just up the road. Most places simply ask for it if possible to be dmpened and in sealed bags. Double tied bags is accepted no question. So in short I didnt say its accepted everywhere, try reading before looking like a twatt.
And your evidence that 'most' recycling centres will accept it is? You seem to have been in couple (one of which was last year) a lot of them have changed their rules since the start of the pandemic so I would suggest that someone who claims that 'most' accept asbestos on the basis of two examples just might be the one who is the tw*t
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8 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:
Contrary to what many people think, asbestos is easy to dispose of. Most recycling, dumps accept asbestos. Most just ask for it to be double bagged. Dont just chuck it in general waste. The solid sheet stuff is a doddle, just be sensible and take precautions. A bit harder if on a boat with no car of course. I got rid of some last year at the tip with zero problem or cost.
That isn't universal, a cut and paste from my local council recycling centre website,"..Asbestos - A maximum of four strong plastic bags, double wrapped and securely sealed. Please make site staff aware of these items on arrival and it must be placed into the container by the resident, at their own risk. A charge will be made from 4 January....." (the site hasn't been updated since last year, the 4th January they refer to is 4th January 2020)
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3 hours ago, john.k said:
Its funny how councils dont have resources to chase well known criminals.......but they have plenty of resources to harass and intimidate land owners for such terrible things as grass longer than 8",in a two acre paddock,or a shipping container temporarily placed beside a shed..............Its also funny how councils can mobilize resources against landowners when a developer wants to buy the land ,and its backhanders all round at city hall.
Giving your location as Brisbane are you talking about the UK? (I can't find a Brisbane in the UK).
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On 08/12/2021 at 19:30, Maffi said:
I went to the papers in Coventry several years ago about this very subject. I consequently took my evidence to the council and got two perps prosecuted!
Two points I'd raise on this, one was your comment '....several years ago....'pretty much all councils have lost a lot of staff over the period of 'several years' and many cannot even supply the services that they are mandated to do. You also didn't mention the penalties that the offenders received, was it enough to make it uneconomic for the cowboy 'waste disposal' companies that are making large sums of money by illegally dumping industrial amounts of waste in our countryside? At the moment the fines they are receiving almost fall into the realms of 'business expenses'.
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9 minutes ago, Maffi said:
Oh FFS use some leeway here! Go to the council with the evidence gained and report them!!!!!
Well to use your term FFS realise that the council don't have the resources to do anything about it!!!!!!! As the earlier link showed, even when they catch them it really isn't worth the bother for the penalties that the illegal fly tippers get.
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38 minutes ago, Maffi said:
A lot of truck tyres have a locator/owner tag inside. I know its a lot of time on your part but if you took one tyre to a reading station it could identify who the tyre belonged too. From there you could contact them and find out who replaced the tyre for them. And then deliver the tyres back to them.
Rather begs the question of what exactly that will achieve? If they dumped them in the first place, and you return them by identifying them with a locator/owner tag, they will simply grind the tag off and dump it again, possibly in a canal somewhere (always a bundle of fun to get one of them off your prop
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What is needed is concerted lawful enforcement backed up with punitive fines, a percentage of which will be paid to anyone whose information has led to the successful prosecution. If someone picked up a fine of £20,000 for dumping the said tyres above and I could have 10% of the fine, I'd be out with a camera tracking down fly tippers (nice little earner). People are running businesses making big profits from proper fly-tipping (not just a bit of ash in a hedge somewhere) and the councils responsible for the enforcement don't have the money to actually do the job. When they are caught the fines don't even represent a few days work of illegal fly tipping so where lies any incentive to stop them. The fines should be substantial, enough to fully finance the enforcement plus a bonus for informants, and should be accompanied by vehicle seizure and crushing of vans and lorries used for dumping. If the dumpers try to use hire vehicles then hire companies simply need to put terms in their contract that they will pursue you for the full cost of replacement of any vehicles so seized (they will already have your credit card details)
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9 minutes ago, MartynG said:
Is anyone on here still burning house coal? (if they ever did)
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1 minute ago, Maffi said:
Ash is no good for resurfacing the towpath unless it has weathered for a year!
So leave it under a hedge to 'weather' for a year (J for ....!)
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Just now, Maffi said:
The solution there is a simple one! We sit in millions of gallons of water! Damp the ashes down before putting them in the skip.🤷♂️ 😉
You mean so that it sticks to the skip when they try to empty it?
Towing the boat
in New to Boating?
Posted
In fairness, how many narrowboat incidents ever result in an insurance claim? (other than a sinking). My boat has been scraped a number of times over the years by other boats but, unless the damage was really significant, I wouldn't bother with a claim. We have probably all towed others at one time or another (I certainly have) you just need to realise that if you put in a claim it may well be refused.
I remember towing a cruiser through Saltersford and Barnton Tunnel as the guy concerned didn't trust his outboard for some reason. I made very clear from the outset that since it was a cruiser steered by the outboard, I would have no control over what happened to his boat in the tunnels and avoiding the tunnel walls was going to be exclusively down to him, he accepted that and sure enough his boat hit the tunnel walls on a couple of occasions scraping the gelcoat. I took as much care as I could, but without steerage on the towed boat it was almost inevitable. He accepted the damage caused and we went our separate ways.