alan_fincher

2025-03-19T09:57:59Z

1 hour ago, Nicola haydon said:

A few bow thruster issues but that can be fixed🤞🤔😁

Yep!

Simply have a plate welded over each end of the tube.

2025-03-18T04:31:28Z

16 hours ago, oboat said:

We were 58'6" on the C&H and the HBC no problems.

What were you on other canals?

Sunday at 22:05

Thanks for pointing this out - and to Mike for doing the video.

Very interesting. Unlike some old hands who I have seen being able to correctly remember what their slides were of, Graham seemed to be very on the ball with his subject matter. At least when he wasn't sure which boat was depicted he said so - rather than just inventing a name!

Sunday at 11:46

2 minutes ago, Rod Stewart said:

I think Alan was nearly correct regarding Northampton. You can get to Northampton in a boat over 7' wide via the river Nene and the sea, or by lorry.

Except that he says "you cannot get North of"....

If you were on the Nene, there would be no problem in going North.

Sunday at 11:43

On 14/03/2025 at 16:01, Arthur Marshall said:

About the only thing that needs looking at on my old tub is a gas test. There just isn't anything else, and nothing else has changed. It's a farce.

Really?

Do you have an engine?

If so is there no circumstance in which it could become a hazard?

I'm not arguing that all elements of the BSS are things that must be tested, but I think it unreasonable to suggest that only the gas system is something that can have associated risks.

Sunday at 11:36

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

The North / South divide is caused by width - not length.

The cut off is because of 'single width locks' (ie around 7 foot beam boats) and 'double locks'.

A 9 foot beam boat gives you ther worst of both worlds - you cannot pass thru' single locks, and you don't have the benefits of more space given by a (say) 12 foot widebeam.

With a boat over 7 foot beam you cannot get North of, roughly, South Birmingham / Coventry / Northampton without going out to sea and back in

Pedant alert!

You can't, of course, get to Northampton in a boat over 7' width. (although you can get approximately 5 miles from Northampton).

Friday at 06:10

On 02/03/2025 at 10:00, David Mack said:

I once hired a boat which had a fixed single bunk in one corner of the cabin and a separate freestanding single bunk (basically a 6ft x 2ft wooden box). This could be placed next to the fixed bunk to make a double or on the other side of the cabin for use as a second single bunk. Ideal flexibility for different crew combinations.

I designed our last boat in exactly this way. As well as this "2 becomes 1" arrangement there was also a separate bedroom with a double.

So it could either accommodate 2 couples, or 1 couple plus 2 singles. (50 foot boat).

March 13

56 minutes ago, Ray T said:

A River Nene Windlass. 😁.

"Boat Woman on the River Nene, 1895."

From a series of post cards, photo by Henry Rudolph de Salis

Is it just me, or does that Boat Women look remarkably like a Boat Bloke?

March 10

How hard was it being "driven"? An inadequately sized skin tank is another possible cause of overheats.

You might well think "it must be big enough because the boat has been like it is for years" but having myself once bought a 10 year old boat which regularly overheated I wouldn't necessarily rule anything out.

March 10

Does he feature amongst those that appear if you do a lookup on the BSS site?

March 7

2 minutes ago, matty40s said:

My personal mobile number for Tim comes back as not known unfortunately.

I'm genuinely surprised that he was prepared to enter the 21st century to the extent of having a mobile!

March 7

14 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I thought we were discussing the changers to Tarn and if she will look OK, not his business model

As I'm sure you know, threads on this forum can drift in whatever direction any poster decides, provided those posts are within forum rules and guidelines.

The fact that the OP wants to use (just part) of the (stretched) boat for retail coal and diesel sales makes it seem to me quite pertinent to discuss the practicality of the trading boat they end up with, (after spending a lot of money to produce a boat much harder to sell on than what they started with

There are of course totally at liberty to completely ignore any points raised.

March 6

39 minutes ago, TugFan said:

I'm doing this single-handed, so handling a loaded pair is not an option.

Yes, I wouldn't wish to handle a pair single handed, but that idea is actually not unheard of. Peter Hawker operated a fuel boat business with the pair Bletchley & Argus on the lower Grand Union some years back - I'm not sure how he got around some of the potential pitfalls, but I never saw him in difficulty anywhere.

March 6

I would have thought a large part of the viability of fuel boats was how heavy a load you could carry. At a guess what you have drawn would perhaps carry no more than half what you can get on an unconverted motor.

Increasingly all the fuel boats I see trading are motor and butty pairings. theoretically they could have a combined loading in excess of 50 tons, almost certainly at least 4 times what you will be able to carry.

Don't forget that if your business model involves regular trips back to a fixed loading point you will spend a lot of otherwise unproductive time going back to load, and then again back to a point to resume your deliveries.

Also be aware that some fuel boats have found a point that they were using for deliveries then becomes no longer available.

March 6

4 minutes ago, Steve Priest said:

I’m sorting out the fore end plating on Bingley at the moment, here’s a view from a similar angle!

Thanks Steve.

Pictures like this are absolutely fascinating, and show elements of boat construction which are really only familiar to people like yourself who are involved in the conservation of such craft.

I'm sure many of us would like to see more of the same.

March 4

3 hours ago, David Mack said:

And consequently they are rarely wet, so the planking has shrunk and they leak like a sieve.

Yes, the lock keeper said that they sometimes arrange to leave things so the gates for a "long" lock are kept wet.

However the evidence we saw would suggest that this is not done often enough to make a real difference.

March 4

1 hour ago, dmr said:

I suspect we might be one of the very few boats that requires the use of the outer/longer set of gates so its our duty to keep them working 😀.

That's the only way we could do it. (71' 8").

I have to agree that conversation with the lock keepers indicated that the "full length" set of bottom gates are used only rarely.

March 4

On 27/02/2025 at 21:10, Sue68 said:

Would someone like to tell us what this is about? Thank you

I thought you used to be the Chair of this organisation Sue>

Or do I have you mixed up with somebody else?

March 2

4 minutes ago, Heartland said:

This image from the Waterways Archive shows what seems to be an early working narrow boat conversion for leisure use. What happened to her?

It looks like its wooden, so I think we can make a very reasonable guess!

March 2

1 hour ago, magnetman said:

I think a cooker jet may fulfil the test point requirement.

I think it is a low pressure test which does not require the hose to be jubilee clipped.

Not, I would say a cooker jet, (which I would say is part of the mechanism for feeding gas into burner.

However many (most?/all??) cookers have a test point on them.

As do Morcos, (or at least every one I have seen in detail),

I'm not sure if the original query has been comprehensively answered......

It is possible to remove the metric couplers on an Alde bubble tester, and replace with imperial. However previous threads about this indicated that a very considerable (possibly scary) amount of force can be needed to get the metric ones out. (I don't recall anyone saying they ever broke one though.)

As someone has already said SoCal (Southampton Calor) used to supply them with the conversion already done, but like them I don't know if you can still buy ones you don't need to convert.

February 26

3000 RPM would of course been perfectly normal on a BMC B series engine in automotive use.

However I don't think 3,000 rpm would be a good idea for a similar engine set up for canal boat use.

When we had this engine I don't believe we ever got beyond 2,000 rpm even when thrashing it. Normal cruising was usually in the range 1,200 to 1,400 RPM

February 24

I have always found it odd that the floor in the cabin of a "motor" is considerably higher from the bottom of the boat than it needs to be.

The floor only needs to clear the prop shaft, (or possibly bearings on the prop shaft).

Both our boats (a Large Northwich and a Middle Northwich) have considerable air space between the top of the prop shaft and the bottom of the floor in each case. I can't remember exactly, but I'm sure the floor could be lower by more than 3". It doesn't sound a lot, but as a six footer I would be very grateful of that extra cabin height.

February 23

Marsworth yard including the carpenters shop, where enough people objected to the development there that it did get "saved", albeit modified to accommodation.

Back in the days when dredgers were seriously large bits of kit. I'm no expert but think it was a Priestman. I'm fairly sure that somewhere I have one of my brothers photos of Renton and dredger, with dredging actually in progress.

February 23

I think that probably the easiest way to determine which ice boat it is could be to study exactly how the bottom ends of the A frame join with and are secured to the deck.

To me these seem to actually attach initially to the deck boards before being secured (if at all) to any of the steelwork of the boat.

If I'm correct they would have stopped you being able to remove at least the front deck boards, which seems an odd choice.

Unfortunately I don't believe I have good enough images of Sickle, Theophilus or Renton to make an accurate comparison to the photo supplied by Mark.

February 23

Unless I am missing something obvious the narrow boat William in your picture would seem to be operated by a firm called Joseph Rayner of Runcorn. You could usually, (but not always), assume that Joseph Rayner also owned the William.

Therefore I would suggest whoever it is pictured on the boat the strong assumption would be that they are operating the boat as employees of Joseph Rayner.

A quick Google indicates that Joseph Rayner commissioned some boats from new, including some built by the famous yard of Nursers.

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