alan_fincher
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Posts posted by alan_fincher
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14 minutes ago, Derek R. said:
Classic. In need of a makeover overall, but a lot of boat for £30K. Unless the bottoms need replacing.
Malvern was put up for sale some years back by Braunston Marina before they withdrew it temporarily as it failed a hull survey absolutely spectacularly. They actually contacted individually all their known members of the historic boat owning community, unusually making available many of the worst bits of the survey, hoping someone would make a bid that reduced the losses for the then current owners.
I think it sold for very little at that point, (it might even have been under £10K, though I migh be completely mis-remembering).
I have seen the boat from time to time, and seen nothing to suggest the hull has received the very extensive steel works that it needs.The cabin also had problems with large areas of rippled sides.
Unless far more has been spent on it than I think, it could be a very disaterous purchase.-
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2 hours ago, John Brightley said:
As Patrick said above, lock ladders only started to be installed in the late 1970's, and most are a lot newer than that. I don't remember any being in place when I started canal boating in 1977.
I concur - that's how I remember it, although I started a few years earlier than that.
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In general I agree with those saying not to be too alarmed.
THe price sounds good for a Piper boat, (even a smal one), and if the engine is really new that is a decided bonus, (although you don't say what engine it has, I think.}.If I have a concen it would be the use of just 3mm steel for some of the overplating. I can't recall coming across that before - normally I would say that 4mm is the usual minimum. It seems a odd choice as the cost difference between 3mm and 4mm I would expect to be fairly minimal.
To some extent, I would say whether you should buy or not depends on how much residul funds ypu will have after purchase. Inevitably with a boat of this age you'll end up spending quite a lot on something - even if the hull proves to have no urgent need of any work.
Good luck with it anyway - I've always has a soft spot for Pipers.-
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A bit late to the game, but just to confirm that wooden topped Springers were very much the exception case.
I'm aware there were a few, but equally they were building far more steel topped ones more or less from the outset.
Undoubtedly some wooden topped ones eventually got remodelled with a steel top.
Our first ever canal bot holiday was on a brand new all steel Springer. It would probably have been fine had they not tried to power it with a pair of 6HP Evinrude or Johnson outboards! -
4 minutes ago, Graham Davis said:
There are two threads with the same title, and the other one has got photos.
Reported to ModsAnd those pictures show 9 MCBs (Miniature circui breakers) as well as one blade fuse that looks like it is a late addition.
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Out of curiosity is this a former Alvechurch hire boat?
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To me it is not at the back of the cabin, but at the very front, with part of one of the front entrance doots just above.
On a previous boat we had wet flooring similar to that depicted, and it was down to rainwater getting in around the front doors.
Generally it wasn't much, but if the wind was blowing hard towards the doors, then the wetness was considerable.
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16 hours ago, MtB said:
There is a really cute little 30ft tug on the duck at the moment for £16k IIRC...
Here:
https://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/narrow-boats-tugs-for-sale/808115
By a good builder too!
Oh, I rather like that!
Needs an angle grinder taken to those stupid and dangerous seats at the rear though!-
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3 hours ago, phantom_iv said:
Look at some of their other videos… clearly nonsense!
I was not aware there are others - now I know.
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Certainly the Southern GU didn't have them in the 1960s/1970s, and based on what davidg has said it may well be true of the Birmingham line, (where of course the current wide locks were not built until the improvements of the 1930s.
For other canals I couldn't presume to even guess.
When the ladders were added to GU locks my memory is that the intention was that they were there for emergency use only, and it was not anticipated that people working through the locks would use them all the time.
Sample image shows Lock 54 (Raven's Lane Berkhamsted) in the 1970s - No ladders
None on the Regents back then, either
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1 hour ago, Wafi said:
The bottom lock was by far the leakiest, so it'll definitely be an improvement. Hope building new recesses for lock ladders isn't as expensive as it sounds!
If it is like ones they have done on the Southern GU, it usually involves gringing a much deeper recess into the existing brickwork with no new additions other than the ladders.
I have often wondered how they know they are not going deep enough to reach a point where there is little (or no!) brickwork left to tunnel into.-
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12 hours ago, Mike Tee said:
Yes, I'd heard that about Wyvern from another source a while back. Shame, they have been around for a good while.
Yes, since the mid 1950s, and all under the ownership of the same family.
Not many can beat that, I suspect.
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14 hours ago, DShK said:
As I understand it, running blocks were never widely used as they are quite dangerous
This is not correct.
Photos of the "Grand Union" fleet in the 1930s, (for example large numbers in Limehouse Dock, or being operated by the "Idle Women"), show maybe 50% of pairs are using them.
This died out over time, and as far as I know, by the last regular long distance traffics, only one pair used them all the time, that being Blue Line's RENFREW and LUCY, operaed by the Whitlock Family.13 hours ago, DShK said:Do cross straps work for a loaded butty?
No.
Cross straps require that the majority of the thrust from the motor's propeller remains effective in pushing the boat aong.
An unloaded butty rides high enough at the bow that the thust from the motr's prop passes largely below it, and still results in effective propulsion.
With a loaded butty the prop would end up thrusting firmly at the submerged butty's bow, and hence reflected back in the wrong direction.In an emergency situation you can make some progress like this, but certainly not travel any distance.
And as I've responded to this thread...
Matt, steering the motor, is, in my view one of the very best steerers of historic boats, and has built up a wide knowledge and experience over a lot of years.
I haven't viewed the video, but I can say Matt is one of the least "entitled" steerers I can think of.
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18 hours ago, MtB said:
I think you're right.
12.5hp at 1800rpm according to realdiesels.co.uk
Not a great choice for a narrowboat.
Whilst realdiesels should know what they are talking about that doesn't sound right to me.
I think the R&H 2Y engine is usually considered to be fairly similatrto a Russell Newbery or National in powere terms.
There are quite a few in narrow boats I think, which would perhaps not be the case if they were "not a great choice".
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3 hours ago, MtB said:
Can we have a look at the battery charger please?
I doubt they bought it at Halfords
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Dusty Miller is also the name of a well respected canal artist.
I guessed wrongly what this thread is about!
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20 minutes ago, David Mack said:
According to which bit of the ad you read, that is either in India or Melbourne.
It's in India, but it is possible to see it in Melbourne.
(or vice versa, of course)-
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Fascinating footage - it's just a shame that the quality of much of the transferred video is not that great.
You've got to love those Duchesses - at least 3 sequences with these.Whilst initially looking like "just another running day" the appearance of a "Spam Can" Bullied pacific, and also of the preserved Flying Scotsman shows things that were not "every day".
A blast from the past where photographers got right down to the track-side, presumably without any consent, and certainly with no clothing aimed at making them more visible.
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If the BBC website for "Desert Island Discs is correct, he owns a boat called the Grandad Dyer.
However as his net worth seems to be at least $200 million, I guess he can have as many boats as he wants!
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Don't look at it.
Run away!!
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I'm not seeing fenders that can be speedily deployed if required!
On that note a former member of this forum, (also former owner of one of our boats), did have a pram that sported ropework, brassware, etc.-
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On 13/04/2025 at 16:46, Mike Todd said:
Note that the Salvation Army and Jesus Army are/were very different organisations. For starters the former still very much exists whilst the latter closed after a string of safeguarding issues. In style, the SA were founded and continued to have a strong focus on meeting the needs of disadvantaged people, regardless of whether they were members or not. The JA was very much a close/closed community that particularly sought to recruit young people into hippie style community. It had an authoritarian leadership style and shared some of the now discredited practices of some other oher like minded Evangelical groups.
The highlighted part is about as far of the mark as to what the Jesus Fellowship / Jesus Army actually was as it is possible to be! This has proven to be one of the most repressive religious cults in the UK in our lifetime. Physical and sexual abuse was rampant, and it is stated that at least a quarter of all children in the community were subject to extreme abuse. Most women were not even treated as second class citizens.
It can't be compared to any other "Jesus" based organisations, and managed levels of depravity that single it out from anywhere else.On 13/04/2025 at 17:20, roland elsdon said:The JA who also ruled bugbrooke were a dreadful bunch of exploiters.
St Crispin hospital had frequent victims of their evangelical carp.
Psychotic people who had been told god would fix them, and depressed people who had been exploited.
Then the sex abuse came out in 2023
Yes, this a far more accurate description!
On 13/04/2025 at 18:18, magnetman said:I was talking about the Jesus Army who had a base in Braunston and a brightly coloured transit van. Yes they were a bit hippy like but reeked of bad vibes to me.
I am not remotely surprised to read the preceding comments but yes it is off topic.
Again including the word "hippy" shows no any understanding of the reality.
And forget "transit van" - ultimately they hosted a large fleet of double deckers alongside many minibuses. They would go en masse into areas of London that hosted homeless or otherwise vulnerable people hoping to bus them back to their large properties in Bugbrooke of Northampton, (less so Braunston, I think?).
This was a huge multi-million pound organisation. It has, incidentally now been wound up, with quite a lot of it's assets now paid in compensation to those it harmed. However, even a few days ago the national press covered an alarming article that large amounts of its monies could well end up to those who perpetrated the abuse.-
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2 hours ago, David Mack said:
I hope that plug isn't there to block a hole in the bottom!
Of course not! It is designed so that you can remove it to drain out the water, wherever it is coming in from.
Historic Boats for sale online
in History & Heritage
Posted
More than a bit of fender droop there, I think.