AJLintern

Motorbike tyres...? Edited to add: Beaten too it

Great pics - many more narrow boats than shown on the BBC coverage!

There's a time-lapse video here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18320076 Perhaps they should have had that camera on the Red button so you could switch over to avoid the crap.

I was interested to learn that HMS Belfast was '91,000 tonnes'... hmmm more like a 10th of that! Yes I thought the coverage could have been better, though at least the route was long enough that they were plenty of opportunities to show the boats at different points. I guess the BBC were worried that it might get a bit boring for Mr & Mrs Average so had to inject some 'celebrity' drivel to keep them interested. As was said I think they could have selected a few boats taking part and done some background filming prior to the event to use instead of the rubbish fill in.

This is what I'd use: http://www.herculeshydraulics.co.uk/products/drive-pods.html Probably not cheap though!

The diesel electric system would solve all power needs on the boat and give the possibility of silent cruising on batteries (with a large enough bank) if one so wished. I quite like the idea of hydraulic though, not sure which would be more reliable ultimately. I think maybe hydraulic...?

You'd just have to hope the water pressure was enough to hold it in place...! Perhaps if making a hole in the side of the hull one could wrap a large butyl liner around the boat and secure with ratchet straps. Make sure your drill is set to only just pass through the steel and no further though

Lots of discussion on this a year ago: http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=38171&st=0 A summary of which appears to confirm curved side down is the correct mounting method, though it'll still work the other way up. However the focal point will be sharper with curved side up, so still undesirable from a fire hazard point of view. So mount them downwards

I would think dome downward. The prism style decklights I've seen are pointy side down - would make quite a trip hazard to have them pointing out of the deck!

Youngman boards would make a good gangplank

How about Bossom's boat yard on the Thames? Not sure if it allows residential though...

I wonder if using a blow torch on the glass would help burn off some of residue...? Anyone tried that?

Looks kind of like the launches that follow rowers - only 12' x 6' with 2 seats.

A chap at work is building a boat with wheels so he doesn't have to worry about finding somewhere to park the trailer. It's a small open catamaran with an electric outboard - the wheels retract once in the water

Depends how you design them - could extend out over the water when launching but retract the boat well onto your land when 'moored'

How about if you were to install some huge davits at the end of your garden, capable of launching your boat from your land into BW's water. Do they charge a launching fee...?

Don't you mean Dave Waters?

I think anywhere that's designated as a mooring will carry some sort of charge. If you're on a BW towpath mooring you pay them something on top of the license fee, so with an end of garden mooring you'd also expect to pay a fee. I would expect it to be the cheapest mooring option of all though - is this usually the case?

Motorists do have to pay tax for parking outside their house if it's on the public road. Your car has to be taxed and insured unless it's on private land. So it's kind of a similar situation - except you're dealing with British Waterways rather than DVLA

How about cutting the car tyres across, opening them out and nailing them to a board longitudinally...? Probably quite a tedious job though!

I suspect the sheer weight of it would make it very awkward in itself!

This ^ My original comment referred to the fact that although rudder of the ABC boat bears a passing resemblance to that of a butty, it also has aspects of a motor rudder, so if caught on a cill it may or may not lift off completely, but then neither does a normal motor rudder (unless as said above, you take the tiller off, angle it off the skeg and drop it in sufficient depth of water!) Clear?

But it surely can't lift very far before something jams up? What I mean is that it can't lift all the way off like a butty rudder can.

Are you saying it does lift off? I'm confused Would it not get jammed under the counter in some way...?

Just got the impression people were saying this is how it's done, not like that. Yes discuss away, this is a discussion forum