furnessvale
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Posts posted by furnessvale
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On 30/11/2023 at 12:39, Heartland said:
The towing of motor boats through the Telford Tunnel seems to be through concern of the methane seeping into the tunnel.
Not sure that using an overhead electric line and trolley pole, with its potential for arcing, is the best solution to a gas explosion risk!
2 minutes ago, furnessvale said:Not sure that using an overhead electric line and trolley pole, with its potential for arcing, is the best solution to a gas explosion risk!
It would appear that the overhead line is merely a signal cable and as such would be very low voltage and not prone to arcing.
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On 12/01/2024 at 13:28, ditchcrawler said:
6' 10" wide? Has she been pulled in at some time?
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On 14/11/2023 at 18:42, David Mack said:
My experience of being a consultant was that most organisations specified that the work done became the intellectual property of the client, so that they could use it in future. The bigger issue was that whilst most client organisations would take receipt of the main deliverables - typically written reports and drawings - most had no proper process for receiving and archiving all the background detail so that it would be available for future projects. From time to time clients would ask us to retrieve data from an old project and reissue what we had already given them. At least our archiving processes were up to the task!
I think the Marple flight are listed. CRT will need to do a certain amount of opening up to identify the cause of the failure and options for repair. They will then have to obtain Listed Building Consent for the works, and so while the design work is being done and LBC obtained, there will be little which can be done on site.
What they can do on site is to ensure the locks are kept in water rather than drained, thus reducing pressure on the walls.
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23 hours ago, David Mack said:
The description says the boat "has had major hull works completed to a high standard" but also "following a recent hull condition survey the hull will require some substantial fabrication before it is put back into the water". So which is it?
It can be both. The work that has been done is to a high standard but other areas will require attention.
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On 25/08/2023 at 13:33, Puffling said:
Good news first: restrictions on the Bosley flight will be removed from Saturday 26th of August ( tomorrow as I write this.). In general I feel this has been managed well this year.
But don't go celebrating quite yet as Lock 7 on the Marple flight of the Peak Forest looks to be shut for a good while. Informal chats with volly lockies suggest repairs will need months, not weeks.
My plan of crossing the Pennines via the Huddersfield Narrow have taken a big hit.
At least the Peak Forest is looking better in the other direction. CRT are opening the damaged Wood End lift bridge on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th of September to allow passage. This will be a boon to empty toilets and rubbish until the new Marple Services are complete (only water available there presently) by allowing access to Whaley Bridge and Bugsworth Basin.
The new facilities should have been completed BEFORE the old ones were taken out of use, but as usual, boaters are at the back of the queue. I'll wager the new houses on the site are completed LONG before boater facilities, if they are completed at all.
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Within the last 3 years OTTER was subjected to a considerable amount of work. A couple of years ago OTLEY won the prize for the best boat at Braunston. I remember confusion at the time as to whether the winner was actually OTTER, which in its own small way, is a measure of OTTER's turnout at that time.
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When the pain outweighs the pleasure, it is time to give up.
As the pleasure is a different concept to each individual this cannot be assessed as a "one size fits all" thing. For example, my pleasure was visiting historic boat shows which meant long days and many locks. A different concept to living abourd and moving every 14 days.
With me and the wife in the mid to late 70s, I have just sold up.
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4 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:
Blow your bugle at the DIS marker and the lock is yours!
Unless you can give a fair crack of the whip as they used to in horse days.
I have always wondered what was there to stop a boatman blowing his horn or cracking his whip early to gain an unfair advantage?
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4 hours ago, Francis Herne said:
In that light, are there surveyors particularly known or recommended for their knowledge of historic boats?
(I had the opposite problem with Lark, being aluminium as un-historic as narrowboats get and thus also quite different from the average).
Yes, such surveyors exist, and and highly recommended if you don't want trouble in having a survey of an old boat done.
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16 hours ago, David Mack said:
Except if CRT have to write off the unpaid fees and fines anyway, surely its better for them to get something back by selling the boat - it will almost always be more than the scrap value.
I believe CRT and BW before them, are reluctant to sell rough boats cheaply in case they go back in the water with a new owner and the whole cycle repeats itself, costing them even more money.
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47 minutes ago, Derek R. said:
Edited to add:
Some say that allowing the PD to run at slow speeds on tickover will exacerbate stress and fatigue on a crank, and that this may contribute to failure. Diesel engines do not like running slowly, even though the owners like it for the sound.
One of my pet hates is a washer josher going past at "tickover" so slow that I can feel for the poor engine about to put a leg out of bed.
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9 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:
What is the difference between a CE and CE2? I thought it was the CE that has a crank that can break?
Don't know about the CE, but the Petter PD2 had that reputation. I never had that problem but I put it down to only bolting 3 engine mounts down before carefully shimming the last one. Probably all in my head, but I was trying to remove any possibility of crankcase distortion.
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Starling, with Ethel, in happier days en route to Ellesmere Port 2004.
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Given that there are other railway swing bridges in the UK, what makes this one "unique"?
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4 hours ago, blackrose said:
I can't think of many worse jobs on the waterways than running a pump out boat. 🤮
Especially when the hose clips come loose!🤢
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21 minutes ago, Andrew C said:
My wife actually suggested that but I figured we'd have to keep stopping while deliveries were being made and appear as cheap detectives, badly shadowing a suspect 🤣
Exactly what happens! When out with ALTON in the ice I would often collect a tail but they would have to wait when I made a delivery. On more than one occasion I stopped mid stream for a brew and a bite to eat with a queue waiting patiently behind. On one occasion I gave up and turned back which left a couple of boats stranded at a winding hole!
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5 hours ago, Goliath said:
No one complains though when the coal boat comes through with the coal do they?
I suggest, just to wind things up another notch, it’s only those on linier moorings who never move that do the complaining.
I used to steer both fuel boats and restaurant boats. With both sorts I have had to explain on numerous occasions that the livelihoods of people depended on their moving, in the case of the restaurant boat, up to five people.
I have also explained the necessity of ice boards for those of a delicate disposition. Interestingly, I was talking to a friend the other day who said he had been berated by another boater for navigating through ice. This other boater went on to say that he had berated me for exactly the same thing about 10 years ago with the restaurant boat. On neither occasion was he deploying ice boards! Some people never learn.
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17 hours ago, Derek R. said:
1964 - one gallon of Super Cleveland Discol with 'Alcohol' - 4s/11d. Less than 25p a gallon (4.546 litres for those inclined that way).
But on £9 a week pay, and £2. 10s to Mum for keep. Good job I didn't drink or smoke, most of my money went in the bikes tank.
Same year I was riding a 16H Norton. Low compression ratio meant I was able to water the petrol down with cheaper paraffin. A teaspoon of Castrol R in the tank masked the smell from any "interested" parties!
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1 hour ago, alan_fincher said:
Highly unlikely - where Willow Wren changed the name of a boat, it was to the name of a water bird, of some kind. A greenfinch is not a water bird!
The only non water bird name I can see in Willow Wren listing is Kestrel, which interestingly, is claimed on the HNBC site boat list to be the name applied to Triagulum!
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47 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:
I’ve never found a horn to be of any use whatsoever, nobody ever hears them, or admits to hearing them when asked about it. Last time out, approaching a blind bridge ‘ole, i gave a long honk and on hearing and seeing nothing further slowly passed under. Imagine my surprise to find a boat patiently waiting the other side. I thanked the chap for waiting and told him that was the first time using the horn had ever worked in my favour. No problem he said, but what horn? He’d seen my bow coming out of the bridge so had waited 🤷♂️
Most boats these days sem to be fitted with tinny car horns that wouldn't blow the skin off a rice pudding. The first thing I do with any boat is fit a Klaxon. Not necessarily the genuine article. Cheap copies are available which fit the bill.
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7 minutes ago, blackrose said:
What if you don't happen to be a supporter of the monarchy? 🤔
Then don't blow your horn, simple. Unlike many countries we have no compulsion to do such things or be treated as a political prisoner.
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22 hours ago, Dr Bob said:
Miles Away moors in our marina, just behind where we are. He regularly takes his boat out for a trip down to Braunston on a weekend. He says the CRT aren't bothered anymore taking details of a trip ....."just give us a phone call in the morning if you are going out" ......to "It's not worth ringing them anymore". The marina management dont seem bothered at all ......and dont seem to know about the restrictions for fatboats so there is no chance of any change unless the CRT enforce the requirement for notification and then issue a CRT notice to other boaters (has this been dropped?). I've not seen a notice in the last 2 years.
We have been out since April so cant comment on his movements this summer but I will ask around to find out how much he is going out at the moment.
Sean, where are you this year? We're heading north - Chester ish.
Marina entrances on narrow canals need to be stanked off by CRT at, say, 8' 6" width so that fat boats in the marina stay there.
On 29/05/2022 at 09:33, Lily Rose said:I received this text from a friend yesterday...
"We got half way to Willoughby and got forced up the bank by a wide beam called " miles away" (remember him)... we ran aground and got a load of vegetation wrapped round the prop..
Limped to Willoughby wharf so stopped for the night. "Looks like he's still at it then, 9 months after he hit my boat by the waterpoint on the North Oxford at Braunston.
NOTE: this latest incident was on a sunny Saturday at half-term in late May That's surely asking for trouble!Has anyone else seen Miles Away out and about creating havoc recently?I have posted before that, if a fat boat approaches me from the other direction, I tie up on the towpath for a brew and HE can have the fun of the offside shallows and overgrowth.
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55 minutes ago, MtB said:
I don't see how any 50-year-old boat could be stopped from joining in and taking part in the rally, or any boat of any age actually.
Boats often do, some voluntarily, others by mistake. Don't get too precious about the blacking and there's no problem
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2 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:
A lot have them have a "snap to road" setting you can turn on or off buried in the menus. It's usually on by default for car units, which is quite reasonable!
Thanks for that. I remember on another occasion with a different satnav, I ventured onto a short new bypass near home. As I had not updated the poor device was quite confused as it thrashed away in a "field" until I regained the old road system.
45th Easter Boat Gathering
in History & Heritage
Posted
A few years ago I was winding SANDBACH after a tug of war in the top basin in front of the main entrance when I thought "she is coming round rather well". I looked down the side to find two model tugs pushing my bows round!