Is Now the right time?

[Rob-M]

I went along the Walsall canal two weeks ago, I would say it was the best trip I've had along there in 10 years.

[mrsmelly]

Just now, Rob-M said:

I went along the Walsall canal two weeks ago, I would say it was the best trip I've had along there in 10 years.

There is certainly less rubbish in the canals in the past couple of decades. The Coventry canal is much improved as are many others. 

Bought my boat at Ansty in 89 and there were more settees and cars in the canal than boats!! 

[Rob-M]

22 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

There is certainly less rubbish in the canals in the past couple of decades. The Coventry canal is much improved as are many others. 

Bought my boat at Ansty in 89 and there were more settees and cars in the canal than boats!! 

I remember standing on the bows doing fridge and TV watch along the Coventry so my dad could try and avoid them.

[Alan de Enfield]

38 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Everything has declined since the 70s. I moved onto my first full time live aboard in 1973, at the time there were around c150 working boats all painted grey and in mainly good order ready to deploy. Look at the farce that has faced that lot in recent weeks!! Successive governments of all colours have overseen the decline. The 80s and 90s were great inland but declined steadily since the turn of the century 😕 

 

Had to smile at Putin's comment following Starmer saying we will board and impound any Russian 'shadow fleet' in British waters - he says it will be piracy of civilian boats.

 

"And we will combat piracy....."

Sarcastically, he alluded to the Royal Navy's shrunken presence in the world's seaways, referring to a destroyer now patrolling off Cyprus and one of two aircraft carriers.

He told viewers: "I wonder, after we sink the first two British ships, how many will they have left?"

Historian Andrey Sidorov told him: "First the Dragon, then the Prince of Wales, and that's it."

Solovyov said: "That's the point, not many, right?

Edited March 30 by Alan de Enfield

[Dunworkin]

If we can, please, avoid any further speculation as to the fundamentals of my character, and the potential for decision making weaknesses, can I just ask one follow up. The state of the net work now, “managed decline” etc, how does this manifest itself? We went along through the BCN in 2019, and hit a submerged car, along with fridges and shopping trolleys, so we understand what can happen, but are the canals now essentially still quite manageable? I’m assuming poorly maintained lock mechanisms, leaking gates etc are still very common, but I’m just trying to get a handle on what we may be letting ourselves in for, if as seems very likely, we decide to go ahead. Any information welcomed…🍷🍷

[Rob-M]

13 minutes ago, Dunworkin said:

If we can, please, avoid any further speculation as to the fundamentals of my character, and the potential for decision making weaknesses, can I just ask one follow up. The state of the net work now, “managed decline” etc, how does this manifest itself? We went along through the BCN in 2019, and hit a submerged car, along with fridges and shopping trolleys, so we understand what can happen, but are the canals now essentially still quite manageable? I’m assuming poorly maintained lock mechanisms, leaking gates etc are still very common, but I’m just trying to get a handle on what we may be letting ourselves in for, if as seems very likely, we decide to go ahead. Any information welcomed…🍷🍷

I boat the BCN a lot and not hit any cars, fridges or trolleys but CRT volunteers did pull over 40 trolleys out by Asda on the Ryders Green flight two weeks ago.  General lock maintenance is probably the biggest issue as doing a lot of locks in a day can become tiresome if you have a run of difficult locks.

[Dunworkin]

7 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

I boat the BCN a lot and not hit any cars, fridges or trolleys but CRT volunteers did pull over 40 trolleys out by Asda on the Ryders Green flight two weeks ago.  General lock maintenance is probably the biggest issue as doing a lot of locks in a day can become tiresome if you have a run of difficult locks.

I think our encounter with the car was around Pelsall, as I remember we tried to visit the Finger Post only to find it closed. Having said that, the BCN had water as clear as gin, and in very large parts was extremely pleasant countryside to cruise along…

[Rob-M]

If you were around Pelsall you had done some of the harder parts of the BCN.

[Dunworkin]

23 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

If you were around Pelsall you had done some of the harder parts of the BCN.

We covered a fair stretch, going down through Perry Bar locks, under Spaghetti junction, then turning right, stopping at Star City for may be the best curry I’ve ever had in the big complex there, and then heading down towards Calcutt Marina and turning back on the Oxford and home via Braunston. Out for several months in total, loved it. We originally came up the Wolverhampton 21, and picked up the BCN from there.

Edited March 30 by Dunworkin

[Arthur Marshall]

I tend to stick to narrow canals, recently been down the Shroppie, T& M, Oxford and Llangollen. Generally, everything works. You get some stiff paddles,  some bust ones so only on of a pair works,  and a lot of lock gates under temporary repair. But mostly they all work, it's fairly simple tech after all. 

There are more unexpected stoppages than there used to be, but they usually get fixed with a day or two. Bits of the system run out of water, which is more of a problem.

The mindset is not to get fixated on being somewhere at a specific time, but just amble along in a relaxed manner. Then it's as much fun as it ever was. Be in a hurry or with a deadline and you're doomed.

Edited March 30 by Arthur Marshall

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

There is certainly less rubbish in the canals in the past couple of decades. The Coventry canal is much improved as are many others. 

Bought my boat at Ansty in 89 and there were more settees and cars in the canal than boats!! 

 

On my first trip along the Coventry we bounced over an underwater obstruction which lifted the boat and forced the tiller hard over and then later got a plastic coal bag wrapped around the prop, shortly followed by some plastic net fencing.

 

Lived adjacent to it for over 12 years now and in all that time I've only had to go down the weedhatch once to remove someone's discarded cratch cover from the prop, so it is vastly improved.

[Dunworkin]

1 minute ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I tend to stick to narrow canals, recently been down the Shroppie, T& M, Oxford and Llangollen. Generally, everything works. You get some stiff paddles,  some bust ones so only on of a pair works,  and a lot of lock gates under temporary repair. But mostly they all work, it's fairly simple tech after all. 

There are more unexpected stoppages than there used to be, but they usually get fixed with a day or two. Bits of the system run out of water, which is more of a problem.

The mindset is not to get fixated on being somewhere at a specific time, but just amble along in a relaxed manner. Then it's as much fun as it ever was. Be in a hurry or with a deadline and you're doomed.

We’re unlikely ever to be under time pressures, we just enjoy ambling along at barely above tick over and seeing where we end up. Appreciate the info’.

2 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

On my first trip along the Coventry we bounced over an underwater obstruction which lifted the boat and forced the tiller hard over and then later got a plastic coal bag wrapped around the prop, shortly followed by some plastic net fencing.

 

Lived adjacent to it for over 12 years now and in all that time I've only had to go down the weedhatch once to remove someone's discarded cratch cover from the prop, so it is vastly improved.

We were going through Pelsall and next thing I knew the boat had gone from flat on the water to being on a 45° degree angle. As newbie boaters if gave us a hell of a fright.

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, Rob-M said:

I went along the Walsall canal two weeks ago, I would say it was the best trip I've had along there in 10 years.

I have always liked the locks getting to the bottom from Riders Green was a different matter.

1 hour ago, Rob-M said:

I remember standing on the bows doing fridge and TV watch along the Coventry so my dad could try and avoid them.

I remember first time I went to the basin the water was so clear you could not only see the crap but also the fish swimming around

[IanD]

I'm probably asking for trouble by saying this, but in the last couple of years cruising with the new boat (about 600 miles over 70 days on the canals of the Midlands and North) we haven't had a single major prop jam, just a few things like plastic bags and weed and bits of rope, none of which took more than a couple of minutes to remove. We did hit a submerged steel mesh fence panel on the Rochdale (which we stopped and fished out) and have boinged off a few submerged obstructions, but with no damage to boat or prop.

 

I don't know if this is because the prop (16" x 12" 4-blade Canaline) is less prone to picking up debris (smaller inter-blade gaps?) than the normal 18" x 12" 3-blade or better at throwing it off (more tip clearance?) with the usual reverse-forward-reverse-forward-reverse-forward throttle shuffle, or just blind luck... 😉 

Edited March 30 by IanD

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Dunworkin said:

If we can, please, avoid any further speculation as to the fundamentals of my character, and the potential for decision making weaknesses, can I just ask one follow up. The state of the net work now, “managed decline” etc, how does this manifest itself? We went along through the BCN in 2019, and hit a submerged car, along with fridges and shopping trolleys, so we understand what can happen, but are the canals now essentially still quite manageable? I’m assuming poorly maintained lock mechanisms, leaking gates etc are still very common, but I’m just trying to get a handle on what we may be letting ourselves in for, if as seems very likely, we decide to go ahead. Any information welcomed…🍷🍷

I would say that equipment wise, everything that is available does work. Ie. if the lock gear is available it will work, you will find bit that are not available like a top paddle, but unless there is an actual stoppage on you will get through. CRT are quite good at posting the stoppages now, even at night and weekends. Its the first thing I check every morning while having breakfast 

[Dunworkin]

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

I would say that equipment wise, everything that is available does work. Ie. if the lock gear is available it will work, you will find bit that are not available like a top paddle, but unless there is an actual stoppage on you will get through. CRT are quite good at posting the stoppages now, even at night and weekends. Its the first thing I check every morning while having breakfast 

Cheers, that’s exactly what I was looking for….🍷🍷

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, Dunworkin said:

The state of the net work now, “managed decline” etc, how does this manifest itself?

...

I’m just trying to get a handle on what we may be letting ourselves in for, if as seems very likely, we decide to go ahead.

Despite the doom mongers it still all more or less works. Of course things break, and there has been an increase in reactive fixes and temporary repairs and a reduction in planned maintenance. But CRT staff are still trying to keep the system working, despite the problems. As an example, just look at how much resource they have put into the Whitchurch breach, both initially in refloating the majority of boats involved, then retrieving the three boats most badly affected, and now getting on quickly with the reconstruction work so that the canal can reopen later this year. Similarly more minor incidents like fallen trees get dealt with pretty quickly.

There was a period in the past when the system was beset with a number of 'ufn' (until further notice) closures, some on major routes, with no certainty the affected sections would reopen. We are not in that world now (Springs Branch and Wednesbury Old Canal excepted). I fully expect to be able to boat the whole of the current network without major disruption for at least the next decade (assuming we don't get water shortages like last year).

[IanD]

4 minutes ago, Dunworkin said:

Cheers, that’s exactly what I was looking for….🍷🍷

If you set up your CART account to send you email alerts of stoppages you don't even have to go and look at their website, they'll pop up in your inbox... 🙂 

[ditchcrawler]

4 minutes ago, Dunworkin said:

Cheers, that’s exactly what I was looking for….🍷🍷

Pleased you stuck around. We are not a bad bunch really, well most of us.

[Arthur Marshall]

9 minutes ago, IanD said:

I'm probably asking for trouble by saying this, but in the last couple of years cruising with the new boat (about 600 miles over 70 days on the canals of the Midlands and North) we haven't had a single major prop jam, just a few things like plastic bags and weed and bits of rope, none of which took more than a couple of minutes to remove. We did hit a submerged steel mesh fence panel on the Rochdale (which we stopped and fished out) and have boinged off a few submerged obstructions, but with no damage to boat or prop.

 

I don't know if this is because the prop (16" x 12" 4-blade Canaline) is less prone to picking up debris (smaller blade gaps?) than the normal 18" x 12" 3-blade or better at throwing it off (more clearance?) with the usual reverse-forward-reverse-forward-reverse-forward throttle shuffle, or just blind luck... 😉 

I've had nothing round the prop for years except bits of weed and the occasional fishing line. It might need clearing a couple of times a week at most. No idea what size it is!

[IanD]

7 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Despite the doom mongers it still all more or less works. Of course things break, and there has been an increase in reactive fixes and temporary repairs and a reduction in planned maintenance. But CRT staff are still trying to keep the system working, despite the problems. As an example, just look at how much resource they have put into the Whitchurch breach, both initially in refloating the majority of boats involved, then retrieving the three boats most badly affected, and now getting on quickly with the reconstruction work so that the canal can reopen later this year. Similarly more minor incidents like fallen trees get dealt with pretty quickly.

There was a period in the past when the system was beset with a number of 'ufn' (until further notice) closures, some on major routes, with no certainty the affected sections would reopen. We are not in that world now (Springs Branch and Wednesbury Old Canal excepted). I fully expect to be able to boat the whole of the current network without major disruption for at least the next decade (assuming we don't get water shortages like last year).

It seems to me that CART are doing better now with repairs/stoppages than a couple of years ago, maybe because they started to listen more to complaints from boaters about being unable to navigate and focusing a bit less on encouraging Joe Public to use the towpaths more?

 

Yes some of these are temporary fixes like the bolted-on strapping to broken gate beams, but at least these do get the canal open quickly again until they can do a proper repair.

 

4 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I've had nothing round the prop for years except bits of weed and the occasional fishing line. It might need clearing a couple of times a week at most. No idea what size it is!

I was just speculating about why I seem to have had fewer prop blockages than on multiple trips on hire boats over the previous few years... 😉 

Edited March 30 by IanD

[Ex Brummie]

On 29/03/2026 at 14:19, Arthur Marshall said:

This year, every day I  feel I'm further away from it!

 

Now  that's an attitude I heartily approve of, which is why, now I hardly ever play them,  I've got five guitars...

I fully understand that, having 8 harmonicsas ( 3 Professional standard), a Hohner Pokerwork Melodeon and a smart Ukulele. 

I find the Uke which I strum for about 20 mins a day helps keep my arthritic fingers working. The Melodeon is chromatic  like the harmonicas but rarely gets taken out of its case. I always take a mouth organ or two away with me on the boat for the same reason you keep your trombone, if I recall your reasons for solitude correctly.🤣

[IanD]

6 minutes ago, Ex Brummie said:

I fully understand that, having 8 harmonicsas ( 3 Professional standard), a Hohner Pokerwork Melodeon and a smart Ukulele. 

I find the Uke which I strum for about 20 mins a day helps keep my arthritic fingers working. The Melodeon is chromatic  like the harmonicas but rarely gets taken out of its case. I always take a mouth organ or two away with me on the boat for the same reason you keep your trombone, if I recall your reasons for solitude correctly.🤣

I always take a melodeon away with me on the boat for the same reason Arthur keeps his trombone -- but only one, the other half a dozen stay at home... 😉 

[wakey_wake]

2 hours ago, Rob-M said:

I remember standing on the bows doing fridge and TV watch along the Coventry so my dad could try and avoid them.

Worst I remember was a mattress, with all the springs pulled out.

Fortunately that was not us but someone else - Dad stopped to help for a while.

 

Other than a lookout on the bow, are there any tech toys for warning the skipper about landmines in the cut?

I wouldn't spring for side-scan sonar, but maybe a row of dangly weights with force detection?

[Rob-M]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

seems to me that CART are doing better now with repairs/stoppages than a couple of years ago, maybe because they started to listen more to complaints from boaters about being unable to navigate and focusing a bit less on encouraging Joe Public to use the towpaths more?

In the Midlands CRT have an emergency response team to try and get out and fix things as soon as they can, not sure if other regions have the same.