roland elsdon

If you have a pair of boats you make the tea steering the motor In the mean time you partner who has less steering duties makes the butties. At an appropriate bridge you drop off the motor pass your beloved the tea and are rewarded with your butties. Hence butty boat. I was informed of this absolute fact on purchasing a butty in the 1980s by an old boater who said ‘ with a butty you will never go hungry’. Sadly he was proven wrong, the advent of a butty meant many cups left congealing in bridge holes whilst the steerer starved, and the butty steerer got dehydrated. Mobile phones made it worse , texting do you want branstone pickle while making butties and steering the butty lead to a number of fishing match related incidents, and a discussion of tea or coffee, lead to a succession of traumatised hirers. In the end we gave up and bought a boat with a kitchen. Butties were abandoned with the boat.

On Taggs island?

In the 80s we had a long shaft out at all times on the cabin top , and a chainwinch in the hold. Got a lot of use. Now we have the long shaft in the hold ( cant remember when last used. Chain winch gone. One consistent is both boats town class .More mud less huge lumps ( cars safes supermarket trolleys )than used to be.

So matty made his ratty fatty even more tatty. Excellent.

To summarise Fatty tatty no mates.

Legally present and vulnerable then There are road and marine laws appertaining to you’re responsibility to both.

How old are you? do you have children to pass the boat on to? are you happy to leave hmrc a liability do you have alternative accomodation. do you have the cash are you overcapitlising? are you capable of the refit post complete strip out. The decision to patch ,overplate or strip out and rebottom is effected by all these factors.

I have looked at wooden boats with under plate, (plywood inside the bottoms) , and have put a tar impregnated piece of roofing felt held down with a tin sheet the bottom of my own boat. That and pouring hot pitch into knackered keelson bolt holes. You did what was needed when you were impoverished by a pair of 1930s boats in those days. Current vessel has places with three bottoms some with possibly four and has a minimum of two.

Our ha used to groan coming to a halt. Turned out to be related to the alternator belt creaking as the pulley stopped. couldnt hear it on start up as too busy groaning myself turning it over.

I think you are safe at cropredy if you dont walk on the road or brave the pavements. they haven't learned to drive on the towpath (yet.) However I can confirm it is blighted by rural criminality. 4 years ago our broom was stolen there and unless there is a secret coven there or Hairy Porter fans, I assume there is a hot market for second hand rotten brooms nearby, be advised. We tested out criminality on the erewash last week by leaving various tasty objects on the deck, rotten mop, fenders found in hedgerows and the vital broom test. Nothing went missing so I assume that there is far less criminality in those areas. I doubt if the youth in cropredy would bother you, it would involve pressing the button to wind down the suv window and the waste of a calorie.

None of the locks on the leicester line has ever been tight. Even at its worst our old butty flew up there, and she blocked marston doles back in the day, got stuck in the northern stratfordand generally was 7’2” around the mast. Adam ant had a huge build back in the day and would have been pulled in at the time. She is a lovely unique boat.

Author of link may be clue.

Apparently it is illegal to walk on the roads in cropredy during the fool run. We were informed about this by an angry mother dragging the children about in her suv ( stupid ugly vehicle) last year while walking up to the bridleway beyond the bridge. Roads there are reserved for cars only, no go.

No its the toy boats that bang around especially on southern oxford where they get a good run at the gates when helpfull people draw top paddles fast. Breaks the gate collar.

I have a toy boat now after 3 proper 71’6 ones. Not the same. Full length boats fit the full length system. No banging around in locks or getting lost in winding holes. Having a go anywhere boat still havent been anywhere a 71’6 couldnt go

Castrol magnetec remember?

Bricks are there for ballast. Water is there because the stern gland leaks. Its a sealed compartment so sacrificial so to speak. Me id clean out the bricks pump out the water get a bowl under the stern gland for the inevitable drips and then empty that instead of using the pump, unless it is found to be a through bilge

When we re bottomed our boat in 1993 we blasted and primed the new base plate inside, bitumined the inside, and then threw in about 5 gallons of waxoil. The interior of the hull from the footing up had been bitumen for many years ( at least 30) and were in great condition ,for a boat that had been open to the elements used to store steel tubes at Ilkeston . The footings and timber bottoms were however ‘weary’

One at willington still on 48 hrs 10 days later. Looks like 72 by 14 cannot see how it goes through bridges. Horrible thing.

Would unfortunately cost a fortune to put back to historic condition. However nice looking conversion and cheap compared to build cost.

Is there a bss requirement for a horn? Never heard of that. I normally wander up to the hazards people hoot at and just say ‘hoot hoot as thats my audible warning signal.’. If they cant see the funking great bow or hear the unsilenced lister then they are blind and deaf , and a little noise going peep peep 30 foot from the din aint going to be heard.

True but if you have an argument with your butty steerer just as you set off she can exact an awful revenge. Fight round the corners down the straight, whereas normally you can wander round polishing brass and making tea.