Midnight

Whilst it may be true that resources are scarce for an aging infrastructure the current management strategy - i.e. don't fix it 'til it's completely broken - isn't necessarily always the cheapest option in the long run and it certainly annoys the paying customer with stoppage after stoppage. Try planning a cruise up here in Yorkshire. In regard of your second paragraph - I wouldn't try because it's obvious what the outcome will be no matter how much money you spend waste on "Education"

I think most boaters believe the CaRT ground staff are priceless it's just there aren't enough of them - it's the management that is the problem and until that situation changes navigation will continue it's downward decline.

I just close the rear doors and mop out what the bilge pump can't take care of - simples! Bingley 5-rise is like that, best avoided by the faint-hearted. Blinkin 'eck how will these drama queens cope with the wolves on Rochdale summit?

Pretty standard leak for Bingley 5-rise. This over-dramatic hysteria will do nothing but raise concerns for other crews approaching Bingley for the first time. I think editing the film at the point which the boat was being reversed suggests this is pure theatre. Yes you do get a water in the bows or engine bay but that's what bilge pumps, scuppers/drain holes/ through holes are for. You really just need to get on with going up or getting out, the least time whinging at the lockies the less H2O you get.

I've been with Vodafone for 25 years and initially their customer service was second to none, but it's been in steep decline since about 10 years ago. I had an account issue which never got solved yet all I asked for was to separate a second number onto it's own account apparently impossible. Since my contract expired and I'm now sim only I get are marketing calls, they ring me and ask to go through security. My usual answer is two words the second being 'off'. This is then followed by a manager call who doesn't ask for security but can't offer a better deal than sim only - doh!

There must be loads judging from the number of construction sites held up by the green brigade so they can't possibly be that rare.

Reminded me of a conversation I had years ago with a chap who lived opposite the canal road bridge at lock 47 in Littleborugh. He told me to be careful of getting grounded below the lock on an underwater obstruction. He said BW were pumping grout into the lock walls for days until the realised it was coming out of the bottom end under the waterline. Still makes me chuckle when I pass that way.

Even in this environmentally aware time so many people tend to bag dog poo then leave it hanging from a tree or fence. Plastic poo bags should be shunned in rural areas. Behind our house is a lane leading up to the moor. Every British animal known to man craps along there so it boils my blood when hikers bag their dog's poo and hang it on the willows or leave it on the stone gate posts. Unless you are one of those brain-dead morons who just leave in for someone to tread in, flick stick it into the bottom of the hedge where it can decompose naturally and swiftly.

Eleventh closure this year could be a record? With the long term closure at Figure of three and the Huddersfield not far behind the Rochdale it's not good ooop norf just now.

The residue sand was brushed off before coating. I didn't bother with that when I did Midnight just mixed it in and it's been okay. I've only seen the photos but asked the question and was told it's on the steel It's all over except for the base-plate and seems to be random

For clarity the silvery spots are all down the hull sides not just on the vicinity of the anodes. My initial thoughts were galvanic corrosion but as I said the boat has an isolation transformer fitted.

Apologies I misread your last sentence

Again this is a puzzle. Although about 30 years old and not in tip-top condition the hull and base-plate were sand-blasted prior to the two-pack coating being applied just one year ago. It's exactly the same system I've used on Midnight which despite being 16 years old now has no such issues. Although the base-plate was perhaps given an additional coat the hull sides had two coats applied. I think the Type 2 Microbial Corrosion mentioned by Alan de Enfield and Captain Pegg is the answer just very surprised it happened in such a short time span and now need to find out what the correct treatment is. In the past I remember someone washing the hull sides with Domestos.

No that's what's puzzling the base-plate is untouched

Here's a puzzle I helped a friend two-pack his hull sides and base-plate last year. Today he dry-docked to see how it was doing and was quite shocked to see the hull sides covered in silvery flecks but nothing at all on the base-plate. Both were painted just after the sand blasting and loose sand removed. He has an isolation transformer installed.

I use a big hairy one but if your hull is pitted you'll need a creosote brush as bizzard suggests

Slightly off topic This post has me thinking (nowt much else to do) about the devastated Figure of Three Locks on the Calder Navigation. There's an old lock above the damaged area that used to give access to the river. I'm wondering if it would be cheaper for CaRT to restore that lock instead of repairing the damage. The River would then need dredging at points down to Broadcut but that presumably would be the responsibility of the E.A. and if the original act of parliament was never rescinded wouldn't they be obliged to restore it for navigation?

Not as significant as quality of the steel. Midnight was moored at Ripon where the water is relatively clear for the first 7 years and that where the severe pitting happened. The hull sides were 2-packed from new and are still as good as ever. The baseplate was painted initially with Comastic then 2 years later sandblasted and 2-packed. I re-paint every 2 years and thankfully there's been zero deterioration. I was once told that paint on the baseplate would be scraped off in canals but I've seen very little evidence of that even though I've been grounded once and scraped along a few shallow canals. 'Blacking' in my experience usually means 'painting' with something er.... black

Definitely! When I bought Midnight as a shell the builder said no need to black the baseplate there's no oxygen down there to corode it (BTW tell that to the fish) . 8 years later after welding about 150 to 200 3mm & 4mm pits I had the baseplate sand-blasted and two-packed it - never had a problem since. Older boats with high quality steel seem to get by but with the crap foreign steel that's about now I wouldn't think twice about blacking the baseplate. Basically it'll cost about an extra £120. Over-plating costs a lot more than that! Edited to add - I use a 20 ton jack to move the stanchions so the whole plate gets done

Midnight's Mikuni MX60 is now 16 years old and whilst it continues to give excellent service it is rather noisey and inevitably will eventually need replacing. Just wondering if anyone has experience of the new breed of diesel heaters as I'm wondering which would be most suitable.

From my experience with forum applications a piece of code wouldn't need to be inserted as such. The settings probably have a filter for banned words in the message body which flag up some kind of action. Thunda-boat (sic) could simply be a banned word. Nothing too sinister there.

Sad news indeed a true gentleman and a great loss to the boating community

Oop norf where men are men the blokes do the locks the women steer. This is because men are better at fending off the wolves on Rochdale summit.

Serious question but why do you need ropes when descending a lock? I only use the centre line when single handed and then I'm stood on the lockside.

Bye! BTW My friend is a potato