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alan_fincher

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Everything posted by alan_fincher

  1. CRT registration no 519542 is certainly not from 1992. I don't have access to the data at the moment, but is well post 2000. As Tony suggests though a modern CRT number is not a meaningful way of determining boat age -one of my boats has a 6 digit 501vxxx number, but was built in 1936.
  2. Does Chris Pink still have an interest in it, or has it at some stage before now changed hands?
  3. https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/1387222361915474?media_id=0&ref=share_attachment
  4. I think I would be wanting to sort out/replace all the cables before assuming the fault is definitely with the alternator. The state of things where terminations are crimped to iffy looking conductors wouldn't give me any confidence at all.
  5. This one keeps coming around. https://www.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/narrow-boats-traditional-for-sale/655585 £94,995 seems a bit much if it is quoted as over-plated. It claims original hull sides were iron rather than steel. I can't recall if that is correct or not, but must admit I always thing the construction of these boats was welded steel. Perhaps I'm wrong? EDIT: It seems I was wrong! On checking I now believe the actual construction was welded wrought iron, (other than the bottoms which were wood, as the boats were of composite construction.
  6. Have Braunston Marina somehow managed to put an extra zero on the asking price?
  7. I recall that when there was a massive failure of one of the sidewalls on a lock towards the end of the Aylesbury arm that CRT had access to plans that they assumed would show how it was built. I may have this slightly wrong, but my memory is that they actually found that the brickwork was about double the thickness of what the plans actually showed.
  8. My first reaction is that if you want to drill through the base-plate at various positions then the boat will need to be raised from the ground by more than the length of a suitable drill armed with a suitable drill bit. Many narrow boat docking arrangements would not raise the boat up sufficiently. Once you have the holes how would you propose to measure how much solid steel you have before it changes to scale or rust? You have really got to trust whoever is welding up those holes, and hope they don't get t sightly wrong at any point!
  9. A British Waterways Maximum Craft Dimensions document that I have a filed copy of lists the following maxima for the GU. Brentford to Braunston 76 feet Braunston to Camp Hill 78 feet The fact that Progress has been able to make it to the outskirts of Birmingham certainly proves that an oft quoted maximum length of 72 feet for the GU is decidedly pessimistic
  10. A good analysis of the situation, I think.
  11. Assuming the damaged door, (is there only one?), will lift off the hinges, it might be worth asking Martin Kedian, who posts on here from time to time, if he could fabricate a replacement. Martin is the expert of all things hatch related, and I'm sure would give an honest answer. Alternatively if might even be possible to straighten what you have.
  12. By any measure almost 14 years is a long while to leave a dormant thread before trying to bring it back to life! I hoped for a moment that the much missed Bones might have started posting again, but sadly no!
  13. ..... and in rear ends! The whole thing was frankly a Marmite boat. I wonder where it has ended up.
  14. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  15. Interesting footage. However without squinting too hard and for too long, it looks to me that most of the SandCC motor boats pictured are not the Charles Hill welded boats, and are instead the wooden types identified by a number, rather than a name. The most obvious identification in distant shots is that the wooden boats had their motor in a conventional engine hole ahead of the living accommodation to the rear of it - so the exhaust comes from where most of us are used to. The Charles Hill boats had the engine room to the rear, with the living accommodation ahead of it. That makes the engine exhaust at the back (nice for the steerer!) There may have been some examples of this in the film, but if I I didn't see it on a quick run through.
  16. Widgeon (aka Thaxted) Northwich Boat Co 72 Traditional for sale UK, Northwich Boat Co Used boat sales, Northwich Boat Co Narrow Boats For Sale Historical Work boat with existing busin - Apollo Duck
  17. Just 35 feet of boat but wit a Lister HB2 in it - a strong potential for waves breaking over the towpath!
  18. A narrow gauge railway, always horse worked, certainly. I would tend to only use "miniature" for those lines operating stock that looks like a miniature of that on a full sized railway. Much of it is still there, or at least the run between the bridge under the West Coast main line, and the boundaries of the former gas works. I am not sure how much exists on the other side of the West Coast mainline, where the standard gauge coal wagons were discharged down chutes into the narrow gauge ones. There is a heavy locked fence that stops you getting through from the canal side, (and ultimately into people's back gardens!) Yes - I assume where that map shows "Mill" it is referring to East's saw mill.
  19. That picture was taken slightly north of the bridge that carries Billet Lane over the canal - that's it in the background. As far as I know East and Son's premises were alongside the same pound, but further to the South - opposite part of the gas works, I believe, although I can't remember the exact location without looking at some historic maps So it is a bit of a mystery why this pair has tied up onle a couple of hundred yards from East;s yard. I must admit I didn't know this private yard was into wholesale production of lock gates. Only a few miles North of this picture is Bulbourne Works, where company produced lock gates were manufactured. (Someone will now tell me that East's had multiple canalside yards in Berkhamsted!)
  20. I agree with the suggestion that the cabin was probably clad in "Masonite" - it is highly unlikely to actually have been MDF In my experience it was quite normal to have a layer of heavy duty roofing felt between the Masonite outer and the tongue and grooved inner, usually with a bituminous product applied to all surfaces in the "sandwich". I have certainly constructed a cabin that way. It was not unusual to have no additional insulation
  21. They are ordering a wide beam boat - it will not be handsome whoever builds it!
  22. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  23. Ah! - I did say I could be wrong! 😁
  24. The butty DABCHICK pictured was part of a pair operated by the Willow Wren carrying company. It was originally an LMS "station" boat - a horse drawn boat - and would have been used for short haul interchange traffic on the BCN. They were elegant boats, but with lower hull sides than on many purpose built motors and butties, which limited their carrying capacity, particularly on cargoes that were bulky rather than dense. The boatmen tended to favour boats they could put bigger loads on, as they were paid by weight carried. I think DABCHICK might have been the only LMS station boat to end up in the Willow Wren fleet - though I could be wrong.
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