Tam & Di
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Posts posted by Tam & Di
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Prigozhin's fat thing was having problems recently too - I doubt that he'll pay for any damage though:
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If you are interested in knots you might like to look at this on my barge handling site: http://www.bargehandling.com/Bargehandling.com/BARGE_HANDLING_BLOG/Entries/2016/11/8_Knots_and_whatnot.html
Tam
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The problem with a sheepshank is it is not easy to release when under tension. The lorry drivers' knot which involves double purchase for tying down his load is vaguely related to this, but I can't imagine using it for the purpose suggested by the OP.
Tam
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When we were a boating school for the ICC that steerers require on the continent I had one couple where the wife stood on the bow as they came to each lock, indicting which way to steer. After a couple of locks I told him I could not issue him a licence, as that was evidence of HIS ability, not of his wife signalling skills. He then did the next locks, getting progressively confident on his own. Seeing him again a year or so later he could go into locks with his eyes closed (metaphorically, at least).
I don't decry all modern boating aids, but some of them are rather like having a bike with side wheels - you never really learn the art of balance unaided. In this instance, what happens the day the camera fails?
Tam
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Not exactly as large as a boat, but Osokool 'fridges' work very well. For any who may not know them they are a small metal box with frontal door, totally covered in a water-absorbent chalky material. There is a shallow saucer in the top which you fill periodically with water, the evaporation of which keeps the interior of the box cool. We used to keep vegetables and such in a basket on the deck, covered in a damp towel. For it to work you need to let the towel get more or less dry before dampening it again.
Tam
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2 hours ago, David Mack said:
Every hire boater will have received basic instruction in boat and lock operation before taking the boat out. There are many providers of boat handling courses. CRT provides a range of resources on boating safely. There is plenty of opportunity for those who are inexperienced to learn.
I had the impression that the OP is far from being an inexperienced newby?? I've boated over much of the UK (but admittedly not the Calder and Hebble other than a BWB promotion trip back in the 60s) and a lot of continental Europe. So there has obviously been a lot of locks of a type I'd not met before. I wouldn't say that everything has always gone exactly to plan and there certainly have been the odd blips, but with an understanding of the basic principles and a lot of care we've never been anywhere to have the sort of experience the OP complains of. Perhaps I've just been lucky.
Perhaps too there was no social media back in the day, so you just moaned a bit to friends in the pub, not to the world at large, and I think that is really what I take exception to.
Tam
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Firstly I have to confess that I've not boated on UK canals since volunteer lock keepers came into being, but I'm very confused here. I cannot for one moment imagine lending a windlass to someone who says he will help, whatever the circumstances and whatever jacket he might have on, and especially if I were on my own. It means I would be totaly powerless and with no way to intervene. It does seem to me that volockies have changed boaters' expectations of what is normal. In my world there were professional lock-keepers or I worked them myself. Even should I OK anyone offering assistance they would have to be watched like a hawk and told exactly what I wanted of them. This world where you have strangers with unknown experience working at locks is a world totally outside of mine, and appears to take away personal responsibility.
Tam
6 minutes ago, IanD said:What he certainly is -- given his behaviour -- is a p*llock who who shouldn't be doing what he's doing... 😞
I'd go further and suggest that there is no way the OP should have even contemplated allowing him to interfere with her passage through a lock. It is her job, and her responsibility to do it or have it done competently. On her own I can see why she got into the postition she relates, but it simply requires more self confidence to tell such people to go away and leave you alone to do the job yourself.
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The General Canal Bye-laws only require port and starboard lights on certain commercial waterways - the Trent Navigation, the Weaver Navigation, the Aire and Calder Navigation, the New Junction Canal and the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation. You would need them on most non-CRT rivers of course.
Otherwise the Bye-laws say:
10. lights and visual signals
Displaying of Lights and Visual Signals
(1) Subject as hereinafter provided, a power-driven vessel (other than a narrow canal boat) when under way at night shall carry –
(a) On or in front of the foremast, or if a vessel without a foremast then in the forepart of the vessel, and in either case at a height above the hull of not less than four feet, a visible white light so constructed as to show an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of twenty points on the compass (225°) so fixed as to show the light ten points (1121⁄2°) on each side of the vessel that is, from right ahead to two points (221⁄2°) abaft the beam on either side; and
(b) in addition to the above light, at her stern a visible white light so constructed as to show an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of twelve points of the compass (135°) so fixed as to show the light six points (671⁄2°) from right astern on each side of the vessel.
(2) A power-driven vessel, being a narrow canal boat, under way at night shall display in the forepart of the vessel, where it can best be seen and at a height above the deck or gunwhale or not less than one foot, a visible white light.
(3) A power-driven vessel (other than a narrow canal boat) when towing another vessel at night shall display:-
(a) Two visible white lights in a vertical line one over the other, not less than three feet apart. Each of these lights shall be of the same construction and character as the visible white light prescribed in paragraph (1) (a) of this Bye-law and one of them shall be carried in the same position as that light; and
(b) at the stern a visible white light of the same construction and character as that prescribed in paragraph (1)(b) of this Bye-law.
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I'm a bit late looking at this thread, but we've had several occasions when we put the stern on the cill deliberately (mostly GU locks) in order to cut barbed wire or other nasties off the blades, even with loaded boats. Doing it in a controlled manner, with the boat tied back to prevent it slipping off and someone on the paddles to control levels as necessary, is obviously a very diffferent scenario (and not a thing to be generally recommended 😃). These accidental cillings are almost inevitably due to loss of concentration during what is always a potentially dangerous situation, and then not taking appropriate action before a problem becomes a disaster. It's been said recently elsewhere, but engaging in idle chat with people at locks always makes such accidents more likely.
Tam
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5 hours ago, LadyG said:
This meant I had to overtake on what can only be described as the unconventional side, my starboard to his starboard.
The only way I can imagine for you to overtake him starboard to starboard is for one of you to be travelling in reverse. In my world when you overtake someone the starboard side of one vessel will be adjascent to the port side of the other.
Tam
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2 hours ago, Tonka said:
What is the official number of beeps for getting the other half's attention when they are in the cabin
Why isn't she out there on the tiller so you can have a nice peaceful lie-in?
Tam
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1 hour ago, Heartland said:
Mr Monk was not just somebody but a Tipton Boat Builder
I can just imagine the howls from the safety inspection bods at the thought of some two dozen or more people standing for 2 hours on the top of a narrowboat, moving or not, plus God knows how many there were crammed inside as well.
Tam
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26 minutes ago, howardang said:
FWIW Unpowered barges in a port scenario loading or unloading ships have very often been called Dumb Barges.
Certainly the case on the Thames, where they are Dumb Barges or Lighters (originally vessels that emptied/lightened a ship off-shore).
Tam
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I've known the Scots term 'but and ben' since childhood, long before I heard the word 'butty' in canal terms. There is arguably some slight etymological connection conceptually. Wiki tells me:
But and ben (or butt and ben) is an architectural style for a simple building, usually applied to a residence. The etymology is from the Scots term for a two-roomed cottage.[1] The term describes a basic design of "outer room" conjoined with "inner room" as a residential building plan; the outer room, used as an antechamber or kitchen, is the but, while the inner room is the ben.[2] The word but, here, comes from Early Scots/Middle English "bouten" "outside", and ben from ES/ME "binnen", "inside".
Tam
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2 hours ago, David Mack said:
So I suspect in the early days of motorisation they were just "boats", with the term "motor" or "motor boat" used to distinguish the newcomer.
In my experience boatmen running a pair simply used the word 'boat' if they meant the one with the motor, and 'butty' for the unpowered one.
Tam
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I'm not sure it would be the simplest way even were we still part of the EU Alan. Maybe Pelinsu D could use his skills in the UK - they do have a common language.
Tam
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He appears to be slightly lost 🛶 >>> 🇫🇷
Tam
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I'll give that a try, but as I am on mains power (and lazy) I generally just leave open the 5 or 6 sites I view regularly, so I'm not often starting it from scratch.
Tam
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I use ApplePowerbook and Firefox. Generally at top left of the screen and bottom left of the page I have "Home > Activity > View New Content". Top right shows "View New Content" and bottom right of the page too, plus also "Mark Site Read".
Occasionally and seemingly at random I lose the option "View New Content", and can't even get back to it by using the back-arrow to all prior pages. Then suddenly it reappears again as usual when I close the thread I've been reading.
It is mildly annoying when it happens, but not the end of the world 😉
Is this a known quirk?
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4 hours ago, M_JG said:
Sometimes I fear I would come across as a bit rude by not wishing to engage in idle lockside chit chat with gongoozlers or other lock crew.
And that is the major element. Working a lock is a potentially dangerous occupation, and anything else such as chit chat has to be peripheral to the main task which is concentrating on the job and doing it safely and properly. If you come across as rude, then tough tit.
When we're on our own Di and me barely need to pass a word in a lock - we both know exactly what we are doing, and we do it.
It does help if you're an antisocial git like me, but it's seen me well over our years of boating. 😁
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4 minutes ago, IanD said:
Doesn't that mean if you do get pulled backwards and hit the bank/cill/gate the rudder is more likely to get damaged/bent/unseated because it can't swing sideways out of the way?
Never had that happen. I think these terrible accidents are largely a matter of inexperience - if the boat suddenly surged backwards and I was for some reason on the counter I would know without having to think about it that the tiller would swing if I didn't keep a firm grip on it. I would almost certainly be stood in the hatches out of the arc of the tiller anyway, but I can't really think why I would be just stood on the counter in a lock.
Tam
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2 hours ago, Rob-M said:
When I have boated with old working boatmen they removed the tiller bar when in a lock and placed it on the cabin top.
We'd certainly remove the butty tiller, but we had tiller strings to it hold it straight on the motor which was the normal way to go on in my experience.
Tam
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12 minutes ago, Ronaldo47 said:
In 1985 we had no problems going right to the end of the Ashby canal. When we repeated the exercise a few years ago, we gave up half way as progress was so slow..Winding our 60 footer hire boat at a very badly silted up winding hole took ages and required the assistance of the bargepole to lever the boat round.
I assume you don't mean you actually used the pole as a lever? That's a good way to break them.
Tam
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1 hour ago, Owls Den said:
Can someone explain what a counter is, and also a swims. TIA
This is extremely basic, but assuming it is a serious question, the 'swim' is the shape of the hull at the stern as it comes to a more or less pointed shape where the propellor is. The finer this shape is the easier it is for the water to be drawn by the propellor and the less 'drag' created. This means the boat has less wash, less turbulence, greater efficiency and greater speed. The counter is the deck platform above this where a steerer stands on an ex-working boat or anything based on that hull shape.
It is much cheaper and easier to build a straight-sided hull until the last moment and come to an abrupt pointy bit for the propellor, but that gives you a far less manoeuvrable craft. At the extreme you can have something that is simply a box shape with no swim at all - simply a propellor poked through the back of the box. You get more internal space but the boat is virtually unsteerable. Working boats have a fairly long and fine swim as ease of steering, fuel economy etc was of prime importance. Most people buying their first boat now only look at the internal space and price, but never do understand why boating is then such hard work for them.
Tam
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March of the Widebeams
in General Boating
Posted
Certainly the problem to my mind is people with boats of whatever beam who are not really competent. The nearer your boat is to the limits of the waterways you're on then the more careful (and considerate) you need to be. Unfortunately boating ability is a skill that seems to be regarded as too much bother by all too many people nowadays, whatever the size of boat.