[Canal at Bottom of the Garden]

Please refrain from debating the humanity of users on the forum. A report has been raised and the moderators are investigating.

[Building a Category C narrowboat!]

5 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

On his first post he’s talking about electric drive. So maybe he’s going the all electric route? So no big diesel engine.

Well spotted. However, @IanD has pointed out that a diesel generator is likely to be essential for some long tidal passage to avoid running out of juice.

[Building a Category C narrowboat!]

In addition to the design features @Tony Brooks goes through above, I'd add that it needs a sufficiently large skin tank that the engine won't overheat when being worked hard. Narrowboat engines get an easy life crawling on the ditches, but hours at higher power on a long tidal passage will show up any lack in cooling capacity. The tidal river Trent causes cooling problems on narrowboats regularly.

Cleanliness of the fuel tank is also important as part of the boats regular maintenance. Any water, or sludge in the bottom of the tank is usually not much of a concern, other than as a breeding ground for diesel bug, but in a swell, it can get disturbed and sucked in to the supply pipe. Eventually this will overload filters and water traps, stopping the engine.

[Where are all the boaters?]

8 minutes ago, mrpaulo said:

one part we did describe as "crack alley", but we are hardy souls and were chatty from the boat with the group "socialising" there, so there was no trouble.

Generally the folk by the cut with assorted substance and mental health issues are lovely.

[Where are all the boaters?]

Welcome to the forum. The canals in Birmingham just don't get the traffic. You were in probably the busiest part. The contrast with the K&A, probably the most travelled canal would have been stark. A shame really, as they are very interesting. Well done for going there. Brum does have a bit of a reputation, which isn't justified, as long as you take some precautions over where you moor. The lock flights to get up and down to the plateau also put people off, but they are easy to operate and generally better maintained than some flights on the system.

 

Peaky Blinders hasn't helped the reputation of the BCN either. 😀

[Building a Category C narrowboat!]

4 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

I suspect the stresses in the bolts and struts if needed would be very great in a side swell, so again he needs a naval architect.

You could easily see much of the full weight of a hull repeatedly coming on the bolts and struts in various combinations of tensile and shear forces in a swell.

[Building a Category C narrowboat!]

Totally off the wall idea and happy to be shot down in flames. How about two narrowboats? Use them as a motor and butty on the narrow canals, then bolt them together to form a catamaran for wider canals and the sea.

[Air filter housing]

13 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Something like this K&N air filter.

https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/k-n-filters-universal-round-tapered-air-filter-244169/

Those are washable filters, not replaceable, which the OP is looking for.

[boathorse feed bucket - any ideas about this one?]

I'm going to start selling those for people steering their propeller driven boats. No need to stop for lunch!

[Boatyard on or near the Caldon Canal]

3 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

and I think this little circular building is all that remains of the factories and estate.

That's the one.

[Boatyard on or near the Caldon Canal]

4 hours ago, Shropshire Landlubber said:

Who would think that there is a place actually called Etruria in England -  Not being local to the area I assumed it was a business name, hence the geographical confusion, it being so close to Stoke on Trent and all that !

You're right. Named by Josiah Wedgwood for his pottery, where some of the designs were based on Etruscan styles. Nearly all gone now. Being beside the new canal was important, as it reduced breakages of finished pots being transported. Wedgwood was one of the leading people behind the building of the T&M canal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruria_Works

 

[Boatyard on or near the Caldon Canal]

10 minutes ago, Shropshire Landlubber said:

Thank you very much - I've also been pointed at Etruria Marina, is this the same place?

 

No. Stoke Boats are at Longport. Etruria Marina is at Etruria (surprise!). The marina has a slipway, but I've no idea about other facilities.

[Side Hatch]

15 minutes ago, IanD said:

So you can't use the alternator side for normal entry/exit, so it doesn't need steps... 😉 

It's an alternatorative to steps. (sorry!)

😀

[Louse In Drinking Water]

12 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I think he has lost interest, not been back since February 

Or the bugs weren't as harmless as we all thought? 😬

[Canal boats’ green image goes up in smoke]

11 hours ago, magnetman said:

Being able to create fire by burning wood is a very basic human skill. It goes back an awful long way. One could describe it as a foundation of human civilisation. Start messing about with the foundations and you could get serious unintended consequences. 

 

It makes sense to not have ridiculous smoke in urban areas but over time these policies will spread and eventually people won't be allowed to have fires. 

 

If that happens then things will go pear shaped. 

 

 

Hunting mammoths and living in caves are also basic human skills, but not many of us do that any more either.

I'm a Morlock, so I do live underground, but hunt Eloi, instead of mammoths. Cooking them is with an air fryer these days, not over wood.

[Canal boats’ green image goes up in smoke]

10 minutes ago, peterboat said:

McDonald's runs its lorries on real biodiesel from its restaurants so it's real waste oil being used

The rest of the oil is used to clog up its customers arteries. 🍔

[Replacement key]

5 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

 

The "big red key" issued to Police opens most locks easily.

 

 

 

 

 

Universal pass key.

[Replacement key]

It's a lock. It is supposed to be hard to open without the right key.

[Interior window gutter - condensation tray?]

Welcome to the forum.

Any chance of posting a photo of the area where the missing window channel is? Helps any one with a suggestion for the name be sure it is what you mean.

[Replacement key]

Given the work involved in reverse engineering a key from the lock, it's probably going to be cheaper to get a new lock.

[Why oh Why don't CRT]

2 hours ago, system 4-50 said:

Can I ask for the addition of Fluoride as well please?  And vitamin supplements?

An excellent suggestion. You'll notice that all the ducks and swans have lost their teeth and have to gum their food with their bills. The waddling walk on the towpath is clearly down to rickets.

3 hours ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

Isn't all this nearly a fortnight too late?

Russian Orthodox April Fools.

[Why oh Why don't CRT]

1 minute ago, DaveP said:

Thames Water are obviously already experimenting with organic corrosion inhibitors....

Browning, rather than blacking on boat hulls. 💩

[Why oh Why don't CRT]

Add corrosion inhibitors to the canal water? No more boat blacking needed ever again. No more weed clogging up propellers. No more grumpy fisherman. Add antifreeze in the winter and we could cruise all year round.

[Network Rail completes 9-day upgrade on UK’s only sliding bridge]

10 hours ago, Midnight said:

 

Maybe they should fix the Vazon Bridge and have a sliding canal 😆

Hump back rail bridge.

By Hennessy - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=601984

 

If you were really going to fix Vazon in place, you could replace Keadby lock with a new one up from Vazon and make the cut between there and the river deeper and tidal, so not totally impractical.

[Network Rail completes 9-day upgrade on UK’s only sliding bridge]

5 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

It’s pretty common for what were once moveable railway bridge spans to now be fixed.

The nearby Keadby bridge over the Trent and on the same line as the Vazon bridge would be another example. A combined rail and road bridge that used to lift to allow tall ships along the Trent, but is now fixed.