Francis Herne

A couple of thoughts: - Tug No. 2 has a lightly-constructed plywood cabin, whereas Tycho's while shorter appears to be steel, and doesn't have a chunky steel ram mounted above the waterline. - Tug No. 2, typically of BCN tugs I think, is very heavily ballasted. The counter is entirely into the water when stationary with the tip of the rudder submerged (drawing 3' compared to her once-sister Atlas at about 2' 9"), and the bow is well down too. Photos of Tycho shows quite a bit of the counter and ~3" of rudder out of the water when stationary, and the bow looks a bit higher. The combined effect being that No. 2 is a heavier boat with a much lower centre of gravity. Also resting on the silt on a lot of the BCN! EDIT: on an even further tangent, photos of No. 2 working for S&L show her ballasted rather less than now.

It is. They had us drag both boats a hundred yards back round the corner to get the initial shot coming through the bridge. Scorpio and Leo have much shinier running gear than that!

I've settled on burning Excel - partly for its low ash which my stove likes, but mostly because it seems very consistent and is available pretty much everywhere. I can just set up my fire and go out knowing exactly how it'll perform without having to experiment with air settings or find the thing's gone out when I get back. No other brand seems so widely available and even then there often seems to be huge variation between batches.

So far as I can tell the Haines Branch has been almost entirely built over now. The only ones that are mostly in water and could be 'improved' are the Rood End and Anson branches (the latter thoroughly stanked off but in 'water' beyond), the Cape Arm, and stubs of the Gospel Oak and Bradley Locks branches. And I suppose the Ridgacre and that end of the Wednesbury Old.

This one has just drifted away down the Weaver https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10237547619415232&set=pcb.9078346578923117 Blew up in June, owner seriously injured (rumoured that he's since died, but not with any source). CRT have been aware since it happened but left it to sit there taking up half a 48h mooring, in a very visible location, on a river that floods regularly. Now they're putting their staff at risk trying to snag it - at New Year's Day unscheduled overtime rates - instead of moving it at any time in the last six months.

They're owned by a Tim Adams. Angel has turned blue in the last few weeks.

A few months ago I asked the chap responsible (Alan ???, involved with Spey) why it was done. If I remember what he said correctly: The original island's walls had become unstable - having been built rather hastily as a wartime measure - so it had to be taken down. He had a fixed budget from the council to do up that whole area, and there was a bit left over, so he decided to put the new roundabout in as a decorative focus and as a nod to the original. The new one was put a bit further out to make boaters' lives easier, German bombs no longer being a design consideration. @agg221 did you get the 70-footer to go round? I've spent a few minutes measuring the satellite view and still couldn't decide whether it was possible... haven't yet dared try it with Atlas in case the answer is "no"!

There are a lot of abandoned fibreglass cruisers scattered around the system. Several wooden Broads-style cruisers, and of course the odd wooden narrowboat. I think the steel ones, as you say, have enough residual value that they're rarely abandoned. Still a few that have sunk in awkward places, like that one on the Aire.

Tide forecasts for Sharpness at https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast-and-sea/tide-tables/12/522a High spring tides over 7.8m, usually for a few days around new or full moons, will overtop the weirs at Gloucester and cause the river to flow upstream. Very high ones to well past Tewkesbury. The outgoing tide is correspondingly strong. You can steer clear of those days altogether, or take advantage of it by leaving Gloucester just before the tide turns so you travel upriver with it. The tide reaches Maisemore weir about an hour after high water at Sharpness, and you must be out of the parting by then. Leave some time to spare (which you'll spend going almost backwards around Ashleworth) then the tide catches you up and takes you quite rapidly upstream. Going downstream on a falling tide is possible but a bit scary, especially when you get to Gloucester to find some trees have got there first. Not sure I'd do that again. In either case check with Gloucester lock keeper for advice on times and to check the lock/parting aren't obstructed by debris which is very common. Call again when approaching the parting so they can have the gates open for you. Stopping on the chains above the lock isn't easy if there's a flow. Be aware of the shortage of moorings below Worcester - in particular, the one at Ashleworth is now closed, and Haw Bridge pontoon only holds one full-length boat or a couple of cruisers, so you can't rely on mooring anywhere between Lower Lode and Gloucester. Tewkesbury is all paid-for and needs an ANT license, Upton is often full in the summer although breasting up is common (but April is probably fine).

I'm in Birmingham and there's a big mock-German Christmas market just up the street. Not really my thing but it's there. A variety of large churches. Naturally there are dozens or hundreds of town and village churches close to canals. Those I've been to services and/or rung the bells of include Acton, Alrewas, Armitage, Attenborough, Audlem, Alvechurch, ...

Good spot. I'd seen this advertised but wrongly thought it was the same boat. Didn't go back and check the March Hare photos in detail. Personally I rather like the wide dayboat guard irons.

Various groups are often looking for volunteer crew at little or no cost. Canal societies run trip boats, community boats for the disabled etc., historic boats, workboats and so on. If that sort of thing is of any interest we could suggest options given a general area.

I said something similar in a previous thread about Springers, but in this particular case it is to be a holiday leisure boat. @MtB might have a point this time - savings from only patching really thin spots are a lot more than £(replacement cost × chance of losing the boat). Not sure I'd advise anyone to take that route but it doesn't seem unreasonable.

It was a good talk with some very interesting photos. I forwarded a copy of the one of BEN to the current owners who hadn't seen it before. The loading/unloading arrangements on the Tame Valley were quite impressive too.

Applying 2-pack epoxy by hand isn't difficult. If anything I've had more headaches with bitumen, working outdoors the consistency varies wildly depending on temperature. Grit-blasting is of course best, but we got what appeared to be decent results with cup brushes and Tercoo wheels. As the post above, it hasn't yet been long enough to see whether all the blacking falls off! My guess is that, if the hull is 5mm originally, getting 4mm for fully comp insurance might involve some quite large areas of pitting. I've spent a couple of days grinding back while a friend welded up pits on his boat, but it does take a long time and the costs would add up if you were paying someone (at welders' quite high hourly rates) to do the work. If you can spend a few days doing it yourself it would be cheaper and better than overplating. There is of course a middle ground with smaller patches/replacement of the worst areas and pad welding of pits outside that. hider's post is a bit doom-and-gloomy, but do be aware of the weight you'd be adding adding to a short, light Springer. Cropping out and replacing would be better if possible although it's somewhat more work. As the owner of a shallow, V-bottomed boat, the "no headroom" is a tradeoff for never getting stuck on anything in normal canal cruising and mooring against the bank virtually anywhere. On the BCN this is rather a nice feature. Presumably you've seen the boat; if you can stand up in it it's fine!