Tam & Di

Rudders are normally just a bit of solid round bar with a flat plate (the rudder plate) welded onto it, and the ramshead (you are referring to it as the swans neck) fitted in some manner at the top where the tube appears. This will often be a squared section of the round bar that the ramshead locates on, held firm by a nut of some kind. Even if this is not exactly what you can see, play must almost certainly be between the ramshead and top of the round section visible at deck level. It would be extremely rare for the rudder blade itself to be attached other than by weld, and that would not do what you are experiencing. Tam p.s. I see I am corrected in my assumption by BEngo, and the rudder blade attached other than by weld is not as rare as I thought. This would be a better explanation if play is not visible at the top.

There is so much stuff that should not be below the waterline but is; perhaps something has made the boat heavier. It could be a doubled bottom perhaps, though you'd expect the seller to promote that if it were true. In many respects it is easier to find and repair a hull leak below water, but all this rain water getting in will be more problematic, plus also whatever damage has followed from that. Unless you already have the various skills necessary, especially the welding, David Mack is right about the boatpole Tam p.s. MtB is obviously right too - if you buy it for £10,000 or do it does change things, but you'll be buying into constant maintenance forever after that.

Mandatory crossings with appropriate signage quite often occur at locks too - if I (in the foreground) had to wait on the other side of the waterway I'd be being pulled into the weir. The blue board is augmented by an all-round flashing white light too. Tam

Except it is never clear what the right answer is for him - sit there and fume I guess, and then moan on CWDF that rules is rules. Tam

Scott Pereira and his wife owned Alcor - his wife's name is Hilary, and their names "Scott and Hilary" on the cabin side goes along with Redshank & Greenshank owners Nick Gray and Corinna Brown's "Brown and Gray" by serendipity as the most memorable owner pairings. Tam

That may not make sense to others. You know Tommy Osborne of course, and it was him who told us that that is what he did when he had a woman wartime trainee who couldn't tell left from right; he put the cheese on one side of the hatches and the bread on the other and gave instruction accordingly Tam

and with duckweed it needs for you to go very steady so the weed is not drawn down to the intake. Tam

In most normal families kids expect to be taught by their parents - it's part of their whole life, though even there the relationship they have with a father will be rather different to that with their mother. The relationship between husband and wife is very different and leads to the position I suggested - it leads to conversations like "It would rather better if you did it this way dear", answered by a tight lipped "You never did like my aunt Edith did you!" Tam

One of the most difficult things in life is to try to teach your OH, particularly some practical skill. Something meant as useful comment very easily becomes criticism in the other's mind and before you know it all sorts of old niggles and grievancies come bubbling to the fore (or so I'm told 🙄) Tam

I sent Jason a link to the thread and told him he can't afford it 😃 - he's too busy with his yacht repair business in Mallorca anyway though. A couple of views of Jason and Mike Carter at the bottom of the Hanwell thick taking two joeys for a job on the river. Johnny Dakin is on the hopper behind. Also coincidently we saw Silverlit at St Symphorien last week - Silverlit won the tug of war between the two at Brentford as I recall. Tam

I've only just seen this thread, but the video of Alrewas is so embarassing on so many counts I can't imagine how they allowed it out in public. It would at least help if the photoshop man could tidy up their top cloths and clean the leaves and other debris off for them. Tam

A view echoing John's description of rope handling that Ditchcrawler will recall of trainees under instruction. I was just on a modern repro barge with beautiful shiney stainless bollards and the owner had beautiful silky lines to go with his shiney boat. The problem was he had one end of his line tied to one of the bollards and then wrapped round and round it to stop it coming off and making it unusable for anything else. He was taking the line from the boat, round a lockside bollard and back in locks, so he then only had the other one of the pair to take turns of line on to hold the boat steady. He'd had to cut a line the previous day as it jammed when he was going downhill, and that nearly happened twice more while I was with him. He was from a sailing background and had only had his barge for a week. He was unable to understand what I told him that would minimise the odds of getting lines jammed and seemed to think it was a normal part of canal life. I fear he is going to get through a lot of rope before he learns. Tam

I'm sure you will get a couple on here Robert, but it is fairly short notice so if not have you thought of the DBA site https://barges.org? Have a good trip Tam

What is the significance of two short blasts - is this a published signal for tunnel use? In normal use at sea or inland it signifies that the craft is bearing to or turning to port (his left, for the non-nautical). The usual signal for craft that are in reverse gear is three short blasts. I realise that very few inland boaters know what correct signals mean, but it is even more confusing and potentially dangerous when they invent their own, and here there are two craft sounding 2 short blasts. Tam

In that case just be sure that you don't need attendance by firemen/doctors or other outside assistance there. Tam

I think it is this one in a 2018 thread - it lead to discussion of the tunnel house shown too

This day 2014 - the canal formerly known as the Marne à la Saône, recently renamed the Champagne - Burgundy canal to encourage tourism, but known universally to boatmen as the Heuilly canal as that is where it joins the Saône. Lock-keepers often offer garden produce, but this one had jars of truffles from the local forest. A major difference between UK and France is the majority of locks are automated and you work from the boat to the bank - you don’t want to climb up and down slippery lock ladders and rope handling skills are useful. You need a decent line and an eye large enough to go onto all the various bollards you encounter.

I've got an almost identical series of photos from the same time but near Chaumont on the Hueilly canal 😧 It's just amazing how neat the swathe of broken trees is, with those right next looking completely untouched. Tam

I don't know where Sally Ash got the film from but I see that one of our pairs makes a brief appearance at 12.36 minutes in. It must be 1977 as I painted the top of the stands with union flags for Jubilee year, but painting was obviously 'in progress' at the time of the film clip. Tam

Is Boris becoming a continuous cruiser? I must have missed that 🤷‍♂️ 😃

Well I certainly don't keep going into and out of gear. However my point really was to counter BigCol's silly demand that that is what boats should do when the go past him, and that he thinks this is the art of boatmanship.. Tam

Never mind - if you keep at it you will eventually learn that going into and out of gear is not good for the engine and leaves you out of control of your boat. The art of boatmanship is learning about things like that. Tam

My understanding of the regulations is that someone on board the boat must have a personal ‘Operator’s Certificate’ ('Short Range Certificate'), having done a training course & test. Others may use the VHF 'under supervision'. Tam

That looks to be the video I linked to with my opening post! The rain does appear to have stopped here in Burgundy but it will still be a few dayes for the water to run off. Tam

Another series of 4 videos from the same source shows a young couple who have been forced to leave their 38m ship on the quay at Namur for safety. You see them on the quay doing what little they can, and the water level is visibly rising while they are filmed. At the last video the quay is well below water but their ship looks to be OK as it has plenty of long strong lines out, but there is always the possibility of it floating over the quay and getting into trouble when the waters drop off as there was not much they could do to avoid that chance. Tam