alan_fincher

It would be interesting to know which unconverted Grand Union motor still in working trim represents the most expensive so far ever sold. I haven't been keeping much track for quite a few years now, but am of the impression that few fetch in excess of £50K. Any boat where the "asking" is £20K more than this would I think have to be something exceptional. Maybe Buckden qualifies - I admit it is an example I don't know a great deal about.

Had you been going through (say) 50 years ago there wouldn't have been anybody other than boat crews controlling how things were done. It sounds surprising now, but I don't recall things working any less well than is now the case with volunteer lockies.

Undoubtedly a very nice boat. but £70,000 would seem absolutely top dollar for an unconverted boat.

It certainly is, isn't it? I can honestly say I have never ever seen anything remotely like it.

I'm not sure where you are looking, but certainly most of the GU fuel boats don't travel with front fenders deployed. First image I found on Facebook....

"From an avid collector of nautical antiques" Got to love the price!

There is no requirement in the bylaws to have fenders permanently deployed. You must have them available ready to be deployed, and steerers of many 71' 6" working boats choose to operate like this to avoid having to lift them to fit a lock, and then redeploying afterwards.

Exactly - there are actually lots of errors. It is entirely possible that the person captioned as Mrs Laura Carter is not actually a Laura or a Carter (or both). That would be no bigger a gaffe than some of the other known errors in Sonia Rolt's supplied captions.

Yes, please say exactly which Smith and Allen oil. Their web site is a bit overwhelming, but whist I can see viscosities that are a good match for your engine, most seem to have an API spec that is not. Note a "more modern" oil is often an unsuitable oil in these older engines.

Where's the life jacket then?

I think that is correct. Most irritatingly GJW are now, it seems ,only prepared to offer cover if you supply a full survey of everything. They used to accept a full HULL survey

It's probably also worth noting that very much more recently, (say within last decade), they have started using more than one shade of blue for the hire fleet. Not the best resolution, but this from the CRT archives shows a pair of Wyvern Shipping Company boats operating on camping boat duties. The butty is clearly DUCHESS OF YORK, and the motor most likely HEATHER BELL. I feel sure I have seen other colour images from this era, but can;t at the moment recall where. I think this is probably not a bad rendition of the Company colours. The tug leaving the lock is the SICKLE which we currently own. Fishery lock, Grand Union, circa 1958.

Thank you - that;s what I had always assumed. So who, I wonder, was MRS Laura Carter?

Yes.

Serious question, but is Mrs Laura Carter, as in Longden's photos the same person who subsequently worked with the Whitlocks for Samuel Barlow and then Blue Line? I had always assumed not, as I thought (perhaps wrongly?) that the latter Laura Carter was a spinster. Does anybody know, please?

I agree with the others that your pressure figures seem low, particularly if it is a fully rebuilt engine. One of our previous boats had a "well used" BMC that had almost certainly seen virtually almost no work beyond basic servicing in a decade. All its psi numbers were appreciably better than those you are recording after a rebuild. You do know that the pressure gauge is accurate, do you?

I guess that must be the "stinkhole"? Looks like Martin O'cCallaghan (spelling) did the repaint - I didn't know that.

Mike Askin has certainly owned Victoria since at least 2009. It may be even longer, but that is the oldest year I am qite certain of. Now you have me wondering if we are talking about the same Mike Askin!

Methinks you do protest too much! Here is how you get 143 feet of fully loaded boats passing a different 143 feet of fully loaded boats in the opposite direction. All while also making the 180 degree turn. Easy, really!

That's because it is standard practice, and exactly what they would like you to do. They offer the possibility of a "pilot" if you would prefer to be taken through, rather than take yourself through.

A lot quicker than that, I believe!

Yep, it's still there! 😄 Possibly wooden and a lot of filler!

a.k.a. "The Cannabis Boat". I find it amusing that because it's listed on Rightmove the "Other properties kike this" section lists some properties with an "asking" of 100 times Dodona is priced at. Well Dodona certainly has no proper permanent mooring. However if the new owner can get away with"cc-ing" it over a similar range to its current owner, then they will have almost as convenient as a fxed location, but with the added example of zero cost!

I personally would advise against Tony Tucker. It is admittedly a very long while ago, but a survey he did for us got too many things plain wrong.

It is indeed. They never really ever actually finalised on one size. Hydraulic paddles from around the 1970s, and original Ham Baker ones using the "candlestick" type paddles between Calcutt ans Birmingham all remained as a much bigger size, somewhat akin to how GU main line London to Braunston used to be. (although they were tapered, which the two types I have listed were not. I don't actually know the detail of how the switchover was done - we didn't have a boat at those times. I don't think it actually represented any type of improvement though!