Kez

That one, and the one's joining to the Rochadale; which although aren't under the administration of Peel Holdings, can adversly affect the Bridgwater if they are damaged during ice. Too much water being sent down would be a nightmare for repairs beacause of flooding, and the possibility of that brand new cyclist towpath being washed away

I don't know if this is relavent; when I spoke to a friend up there, they've been led to beleive that the canal is under complete obervation and many of the locks closed awaiting checks for ice damage. Neither of us have heard of the canal being shut down though

These people are pretty good with filters: http://www.marlecmarine.com/filters.htm#

'cause I was born to it and don't know any different "perhaps I don't wanna live in a row of potty li'l 'ouses"

I'd heard she broke her back as she was being raised??

Progressing along the Big Ricky list, we've got to Wivenhoe who was last seen 1965 at Bulls Bridge. Anyone know what happen to her after then?

I don't know what everyone else has, but Linnet bears a good luck charm of my dad's design. Because he's in the merchant navy, he was brought up with the seagoing traditions and superstitions. When my parents got Linnet they wanted to bring her from the Lancaster canal onto the main line, and to do this they had to go out into the open sea ('cause this was long before the Ribble link). Before they attempted this; he adapted a good-luck charm that some of the old ships had and made Linnet a rope horse-tail to keep her safe. 37 years on, and after 3 open sea trips, it's still doing it's job and she still wears a horse-tail whenever she moves

With that I most wholeheartedly agree It wasn't a sensible move leaping in like this. As it was, the opportunity didn't arise for me to see the boat in person and so I've taken a gamble with advice and support from friends and family. I'm usually given trial by fire (edited for numpty spelling)

Hmm.. that one is certainly similar to my girl, but I think the arrangement of the knees is different..

Yeah, we did a full survey "...and that's the front end" "Are those holes in the bow?" "Yeah, 'fraid so" "Fair enough" When I get the old girl back safe in the water I'll start rooting out her history. Watch this space for updates!

Erm; no, in a word. Not got that far yet I'm afraid. We think she's one of the 1890 Bantock station boats, but that's all off of her photos. Details of the newest member of Linnets fleet will, no doubt, appear on here when we find them TBH I haven't actually seen the boat in person it just seemed like a good idea at the time...

I bought the Ohm hopper

Shouldn't be thanking us, it's Ariel that did the work Any good gigs coming up in November?

Here's some of the work I've done for Ariel. It's not a brilliant job, just enough to see her through the winter, done with old (not for signwriting) paints and slapped onto a rather rusty boat still in undercoat

I always got told that it's dangerous because of (variously) the chance of it slipping off the tiller and getting sucked round the prop, slipping off the tiller and tripping someone up, slipping and catching round the tiller so the boat becomes unsteerable and raising the chance of it being useless in an emergancy because it'd catch on the pin if you needed the rope in a hurry; as well as the usual not how it's done, doesn't look right etc etc From my own personal point of view, it's because of one man on the GU. (Longish story coming up, look away now if you get bored easily ) I was steering the old working boat Aldgate on the stretch after Braunston tunnel, and had slowed her down to a crawl (as much as Aldgate does crawl) to pass the moored boats. We came past one boat that was obviously just tying up and it had the stern line hung off the tiller pin. The owner looked at Aldgate and gave me a funny look but I didn't think anything of it until about an hour later, when Aldgate had been tied up at Norton Junction and I had wandered to the pub and sat outside. The guy off the boat we had passed came up to me, and asked why I hadn't "set up that barge in the proper and traditional manner". I said "I'm sorry; the boat's not mine to 'set up', but I can pass on messages to the owner. What do you think Aldgate is missing?" To which he came back with: "You weren't storing your rear string {stern line} properly. It should be in a shunk {hank I think he meant} around the tilly stick {tiller pin}" Because it took me about a week to work out what he was trying to say, I gave hime a blank look and he continued: "In the old days, the people working long barges {narrowboats} like Aldgate kept the strings around the stick so they could get to them easily. That's why these types of barge have tilly sticks instead of the tube {tiller bar} being welded straight to the tiller. You are letting down your barge by not keeping up the tradition" By now I was completly lost and had most of the pub watching us, so I said that I couldn't visualise what he was describing and could he give me an example of a boat that showed what he meant "Mine of course you stupid girl! You passed me today as I was parking my barge! You came speeding past me instead of stopping while I parked" Penny dropped as to what he was describing, and I told him firstly I didn't appreciate being called 'stupid girl' and that he was talking a load of bollocks about the ropes around the tiller pin. He started getting ruder and more insulting at this point (the sort of thing that the mods would swoop in and remove if I typed it ) so I finished my coke, ignoring him, and walked away. I've never seen ropes around the pin in a friendly light since

Could have been worse I suppose; he could have put the rope around his tiller pin...

That bad is it? Granted, standing beside the tiller isn't the smartest move to make in anycase, but what is the more-than-standard hazard that this man is putting himself at? I admit though, that if I'd have seen him I'd have said something. Probably along the lines of "Oi! Pillock-features! Get in the hatches, you twonk!" but that's because it's like nails down a chalk board to me to see people beside the tiller instead of infront of it