Dunton Windlasses

[Chertsey]

I must admit I didn't inspect it that closely; it looked tapered all the way through but what Pete says makes sense. I just know it felt lovely to use on that paddle gear and as I'll probably do those locks as many times in a year as all the others put together, it'll be worth me getting one. Glad I resurrected the thread; really interesting history.

[sueb]

Mr N. Moss in Birmingham

This is the gentleman that makes duntons. I have the full address if necessary.

Sue

[Hairy-Neil]

There's one odd spindle on an off side top paddle at one of the Glascote locks.

[sueb]

What I forgot yesterday is that Nick was a lock keeper and it was his son who made the windlass's. The design is brilliant and should fit BW locks as it was designed by knowledgable experts.

Sue

[pete harrison]

I found this but cured it by putting some copper grease on the hole in the windlass...one application lasted the whole of the flight!.....Both our Duntons worked fine on Hatton etc apart from that....in fact the only time we went back to our steel ones was when we did the Erewash and that was as much for self defence as having to cope with the very stiff paddles....

 

Ours are the stepped taper design....we have one normal and one long throw....

 

HTH

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

 

I would just like to clarify that I said the Dunton Double was not well suited to the spindles between Knowle and Wigrams / Calcutt, not that they would not work.

[pete harrison]

There's one odd spindle on an off side top paddle at one of the Glascote locks.

 

Time to break out the universal windlass - 18'' Stilsons !

 

We used to use 18'' Stilsons on the triangular spindle at the top of Farmers Bridge (situated behind the brick building across the bridge from the top lock). We used to close this paddle in order to stop water running down from the Birmingham level into the top pound so as to use this pound as a temporary dry dock. We would take a motor down the top lock backwards and drag it as far up to the weir as we could (alongside the second lock), draw off the pound leaving the stern of the boat high and dry on old bricks. This pound was sufficiently deep to dock a boat for clearing / changing a propellor whilst still allowing enough water for modern boats to pass through, although it had to be carefully managed. This practice stopped almost overnight upon the retirement of the lock keeper ("young" Charlie Atkins) in about 1985. I wonder what B.W.B. would make of this sort of thing nowadays !

[bridgit]

We were at Braunston a couple of weeks ago and they had sold out of the windlasses but were thinking of getting some more made as they had had a few requests for them.

[WotEver]

There's one on ebay at the moment

Item No. 170360393092

 

With over a day to go it's already up to the cost of a new one! Don't ya love ebay

[alan_fincher]

With over a day to go it's already up to the cost of a new one! Don't ya love ebay

Possibly because it sounds like at the moment you might not be able to buy a new one ?

[matty40s]

completely off topic, but I pressed the wrong button and found this,

 

item 320399681871

 

lovely piece of kit, probably wouldn't be suitable for phylis though..

[carlt]

completely off topic, but I pressed the wrong button and found this,

 

item 320399681871

 

lovely piece of kit, probably wouldn't be suitable for phylis though..

 

You never know, a spare engine could come in handy:

 

Could be worse. I've got the hots for this

 

Clicky

 

Just working on the OH now.

 

(Proper Clicky for the lump, btw)

[OldGoldy]

What I forgot yesterday is that Nick was a lock keeper and it was his son who made the windlass's. The design is brilliant and should fit BW locks as it was designed by knowledgable experts.

Sue

 

Nooo, it was Don that was the lock-keeper on the Curdworth flight (now retired) whose concept these were and it was his son's friend Nick that was the pattern maker and producer of the Dunton windlasses.

[alan_fincher]

Having watched someone try and use these on the Ham and Baker paddle gear on the GU Birmingham main line I think I am convinced they are not a terribly clever piece of kit.

 

They are phenomenally expensive if effectively only a single-eyed windlass.

 

Moreover when I enquired at Braunston they reckoned the next batch in was likely to cost even more.

 

I had thought they looked a clever idea if they worked, but I'm not convinced for the places I'd need to use them.

 

I think we'll stich with our "Walsh" alloy ones, which are not anything like as expensive if they do end up being lost.

[magnetman]

Its true they don't work well on the northern GU large taper spindles as they tend to jam a bit but they are pretty good other than that. I found one once with the magnet. it happened to be hooked over a picket fence spike which was steel. an alternative is to cable-tie a few steel nuts (M8 or M10) to part of the windlass, out of the way of the handle then it can be retrieved with the magnet.

It is important to use the right sort of magnet

[sueb]

Nooo, it was Don that was the lock-keeper on the Curdworth flight (now retired) whose concept these were and it was his son's friend Nick that was the pattern maker and producer of the Dunton windlasses.

Thanks for the correction. I knew it was the Curdworth lock keeper and his son. I didn't realize that it wasn't the lock keeper that I dealt with.

Sue

[mayalld]

Having watched someone try and use these on the Ham and Baker paddle gear on the GU Birmingham main line I think I am convinced they are not a terribly clever piece of kit.

 

They are phenomenally expensive if effectively only a single-eyed windlass.

 

Moreover when I enquired at Braunston they reckoned the next batch in was likely to cost even more.

 

I had thought they looked a clever idea if they worked, but I'm not convinced for the places I'd need to use them.

 

I think we'll stich with our "Walsh" alloy ones, which are not anything like as expensive if they do end up being lost.

 

I'm utterly convinced that I don't want one.

 

Not because of any particular concern about how they work.

 

It is more a matter that they do seem to be seen by some as a status symbol, and far too often wielded by somebody with the attitude of "I have an expensive windlass, I'm better than you"

[carlt]

Is it such a hassle, having more than one windlass, each specifically built to deal with one type of paddlegear.

 

It's a bit like when you're trying to fix something, for someone, and you ask them to get their spanners.

 

Your heart sinks when they return with an adjustable wrench.

[RLWP]

It's a bit like when you're trying to fix something, for someone, and you ask them to get their spanners.

 

Your heart sinks when they return with an adjustable wrench.

 

More so when they return with a pair of Mole grips

 

Richard

[mayalld]

Is it such a hassle, having more than one windlass, each specifically built to deal with one type of paddlegear.

 

It's a bit like when you're trying to fix something, for someone, and you ask them to get their spanners.

 

Your heart sinks when they return with an adjustable wrench.

 

Or you ask them to pass you a 9/16" spanner, and they say 'What size fits 9/16"', and you have to bite your tongue as you realise that they only have spanners in bluddy forrin sizes!

[RLWP]

Or you ask them to pass you a 9/16" spanner, and they say 'What size fits 9/16"', and you have to bite your tongue as you realise that they only have spanners in bluddy forrin sizes!

 

I used to be a purist on that until I found that my metric spanners are a useful addition to my imperial ones when the nuts and bolts are no longer - er - pristine.

 

If you do some sums they are quite close in size to the AF sizes anyway.

 

Richard

 

e.g. 16mm is 0.630" - 0.005" bigger than 5/8". MY nuts and bolts can't tell the difference

Edited August 6, 2009 by RLWP

[mayalld]

I used to be a purist on that until I found that my metric spanners are a useful addition to my imperial ones when the nuts and bolts are no longer - er - pristine.

 

If you do some sums they are quite close in size to the AF sizes anyway.

 

Richard

 

e.g. 16mm is 0.630" - 0.005" bigger than 5/8". MY nuts and bolts can't tell the difference

 

Metric spanners for metric nuts, imperial for imperial.

[RLWP]

Metric spanners for metric nuts, imperial for imperial.

 

Are you trying out chants for a new campaign?

 

Richard

[mayalld]

Are you trying out chants for a new campaign?

 

Richard

 

No, I'm putting this one to the Pope, to be added as a new dogma.

[RLWP]

No, I'm putting this one to the Pope, to be added as a new dogma.

 

Can't say I'm particularly bothered. I was brought up on AF, imperial or metric and so I can usually judge the spanner for a nut or bolt by sight. Pretty soon some REAL mechanic is going to come along and start talking about BSF, BSP and Whitworth. Then I'm completely lost....

 

Richard

 

Actually, Whitworth and latin are very similar to me, wonder what the Pope uses?

Edited August 6, 2009 by RLWP

[mayalld]

Can't say I'm particularly bothered. I was brought up on AF, imperial or metric and so I can usually judge the spanner for a nut or bolt by sight. Pretty soon some REAL mechanic is going to come along and start talking about BSF, BSP and Whitworth. Then I'm completely lost....

 

Richard

 

Sadly, with a new boat, the AF spanners get little use these days.

 

I like AF, because irks can never wiork out what is the next size up or down.

 

The only concession that the current boat makes to esoteric stuff is that some fixings are doe with 2BA screws