Midnight

Hi Jim this is one of the very few reports of successful use of Keelblack I've heard. Several boat club members tried it without success so they are now using the Ballistic 2-pack. Too early to report back I'm afraid. As the club has it's own Dry Dock we tend to go in annually or every 2 years max. I have my doubts about 2-pack without sand-blasting but TBH using any 2-pack on top of bitumen must be better than or at least equal to using just normal blacking.

I've done many of those locks single-handed and usually stand on the roof with the centre rope looped around a slider or around a bollard if no sliders. I don't think my ropes are particularly long. My centre rope is the longest at about 27ft (half 57ft less 2ft to avoid the prop)

Is that at Blacktoft or can you turn onto the Trent and anchor near the training wall?

They intend to but are still having problems with the coffer dam

My mate Big Jimmy who took the photo says he is in pest control mode. He has been trying to escape from Yorkshire since last October, stopped by 1/ The culvert repair at Manchester on the Rochdale 2/ The bridge with the 3" of loose rendering on the Rochdale 3/ Varous stoppages on the Huddersfield 4/ Covid 5/ The silting up of Brookfoot corner which was cleared yesterday 6/ Today - Mr Someone who now has a very short life expectancy I think Yorkshire wants to keep Big Jimmy.

Just heard someone has drained the canal from at least Elland down to Brookfoot.

I hope it all works out for those of you at Goole but suspect ABP won't go out of their way to help. Sharing with a small ship is probably your best bet. Going via Trent Falls it is a bit of a white knuckle ride when it's windy. I've only done it in the opposite direction but there should be plenty of boaters on here who can give advice based on first hand experience. I believe the idea is to go down on the tide and beach on the sands opposite the junction light on the Lincolnshire side. Then wait for the incoming tide. If CaRT don't offer passage through Pollington to Sykehouse I will be coming that way myself from Selby. Best of luck - let us know on here if you get out.

I'm beginning to suspect Lord Maffi of Oxford isn't going to be on your Christmas card list this year

You'll be lucky to get from A to B never mind get back again. Wrong battle.

What's the problem? What else would they do unless of course their 'home mooring' isn't.

Whilst I agree with that and I do admire Tony for his challenges to an unjust system, I think most of us would just rather pay up and go for the quiet life. The system is crumbling, CaRT are abysmal at managing navigation whilst squandering vital resources on daft schemes. I suggest there are more important battles to fight. If only we had a few like the late Nigel Moore leading the charge we may even see some change for the better.

Thank you Arthur Marshall for taking one for the team - foooking hero!

That would be fun CaRT "Here's your boat we don't want it" TD "The b@st@rds didn't tie it up properly and it sank - FOUL!" PS I'll be off grid for a few days now in case someone tells TD

I think many including myself just can't be arsed with the agro so will either comply, pay or avoid. Yes I followed all of your posts then but I thought Nigel Moore's findings of the latest act, partially at least, scuppered your argument. Didn't he say [paraphrase] BCC could take action but probably wouldn't as it would not be cost effective but if many followed your example they probably would..............[/paraphrase] I don't fully understand these legal arguments and I'm happy that you came through unscathed. Perhaps if there were more like you these things may be more likely to be decided in a court.

Nice body swerve there to side-step the issue. I think I agree with most of what you say. I would love you to be right on the legal aspects and would like to see some organisation representing 'moving' boaters fight the case if you are. The issue as I see it is there's no boating organisation challenging the BCC and if there were I suspect none are uncertain what the legal position is. I applaud your efforts though.

I have to confess to the occasional covert visit the Thunderboat just to see how TD is getting on with his case against CaRT. Whilst the comments over there are highly amusing and I have no idea to the rights and wrongs of the case, the latest posts by TD suggest he may indeed be getting somewhere. Seems like, according to TD, that Nottingham police have agreed that CaRT have acted illegally in seizing his boat. I now find myself in something of a quandary between supporting the under-dog and thinking maybe TD was probably pushing it a little bit too far in his squabbles with officialdom and reason. I think I'll choose the under-dog if only because I admire his fighting spirit and grasp of legal issues.

My point being even if Peel are doing something which isn't legal as the OP suggests I doubt CaRT would put up much of a case. I remember the initial arguments, which subsided after Nigel Moore found some act or document to show Peel had the rights to do whatever they were doing at the time. (No need to go over that again). I think you can stay longer on the BW if you pay - seems fair enough to me. Similar to the Thames really (although you don't get a free 10 days).

Thank you gigoguy but correct me if I'm wrong didn't the late Nigel Moore find that your assertions were incorrect in your previous clash with Peel? Whilst I would love you to be right on these counts I wonder why the , IWA, NABO etc haven't reacted to this so called agreement. Those at the top of CaRT i.e. Mr Richard Parry I would not expect to fight for the boaters cause and seems to me to be doing everything in his power to ensure the demise of boating. However if you are correct, here is an ideal opportunity for such as NABO to do something positive and gain a lot more support.

Sadly no more. Drayton the Dog passed away last year he had a good life as a boat dog. In regard of telling me to foook off, even if you found reason to I'd still buy you a pint just to jaw about the Mr Angrys of this world who pop up in the most unexpected places and generally lower the mood.

Oh great another STRAVA route to add to the list. And as for "Research shows that spending time by the waterways can help us all feel happier and healthier ...." I suspect research shows boaters who spend time by the waterways waiting for the latest closure to be fixed do not feel happier and healthier at all. #parrymustgo

I don't know Maffi but I've been told to foook off many times during my lifetime. I don't carry the anger cos I know some people are just arrogant or bullies or stupid. If you are going to make veiled threats on a public forum I think you need to chill or sell your boat cos you're going to end up "reminding" a lot of people.

I have used 2-pack since the boat was new but I wouldn't expect it to last 6 years without blistering. I once left it 5 years but the water line looked similar to the pictures above so now I usually re-paint every two years. That's probably over-kill as I find it's really only the odd scrape that needs to be done., but I wouldn't consider going beyond 3 years. As I get my paint from a shipping industry supplier and being a member of a boat club with a dry dock the overall costs are probably a lot less than most have to pay for lift-out and blacking.

The problem is of course no matter how fast or slow you travel past moored boats there's always some whinging bugger who just wants to vent their anger. I once passed a boat at Preston Brook after drifting for about 200 yards out of gear. The hatch flew open and nugget shouts "Slow Down" when I explained I was out of gear waiting to get into Claymoore's yard the hatch closed as fast as it opened. I do usually drop down to tick-over about 1 mph but still get the occasional rebuke.

We all need to be

No it just confirms CaRT are as much use as rhubarb stilts