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DandV

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12 hours ago, matty40s said:

On this day today....reaching the first lock Kibworth Top, on the way down to Leicester, not too happy to find the bottom gates open, paddles all up!! ...and the offending boat stopped for lunch on the lock landing below....

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Very considerate of him to wait on the lock landing so thst you could show him the error of his ways! ?

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Today 2008 we went through the tunnel on the Burgundy canal for the first time. When I went to get the radio and paperwork from the lock keeper he asked if we would take a Swiss family and their bikes through with us. Ok but it made me even more nervous. The lock house part way down the flight after the tunnel has all these tools on the side of the house and given the size of his woodpile looked well set up for some cold winters. 10 years later there is even more stuff there.

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Edited by Dav and Pen
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19 hours ago, Naughty Cal said:

On this day 2011.

 

Testing the brand new Sealine F42 model out of Portsmouth. (snip).

 

 

 

A friend had already purchased this particular boat so we had to test it out thoroughly. 

 

 

Using his fuel, I trust? :D

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On 03/08/2020 at 23:38, TheBiscuits said:

How many locks do you think he built on his original canal?

And how many of them are still in working order today? Just another example of CaRT's bad management . . . (count the errors . . .)

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On 04/08/2020 at 12:04, Pluto said:

I have just been doing a bit of research into why narrow canals were the size they are. The 70 feet (approx) is quite easy, as 68/69 feet was the length used on the first long mine boats between Worsley and Manchester, although it is uncertain if they actually entered the mine at this time as the usual mine boats were only six feet wide. In fact, Brindley's first suggestion for narrow canals was for boats 70 feet by six feet. Even in the 20th century, the Bridgewater and MB&BC box boats remained at 68 feet length.

For the width, the existing river navigations around the Mersey had locks around 16 feet in width. The Duke, when he built his locks at Runcorn, used a width of 14 feet 6 inches. I suspect he did this so that he had a monopoly of carriage on his canal, as his boats were only wide enough for his locks. There were a some 14 feet wide non-Bridgewater Mersey flats at the time, but not that many, as they were mostly built for the other navigations by the 1780s. Narrow boats were then built wide enough so that two would fit into one Bridgewater lock, hence 7 feet.

In short, narrow boats seem to have developed from the boats used for carrying coal to Manchester from Worsley, and Brindley is said to have experimented with them whilst deciding upon the size for what became the Trent & Mersey Canal. The width may have been influenced by the Duke's decision to have 14 feet 6 inch wide locks at Runcorn, but it is uncertain when he actually decided upon the width of locks on his canal, bearing in mind that there were several changes to his original plan for a canal towards Liverpool and the Mersey.

This certainly sounds feasible. I am often struck by how useful a seven foot beam is, as opposed to six, as, allowing for the thickness of the hull timbers ,it still permits an average-sized adult o sleep across the hold of a boat. But let me not complicate the issue any further!

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