The old days of cruising.

[greywolf]

They look well built to me. Back in the days when kids knew how to make rafts

 

The fact that they were transiting through the lock! Can you imagine what the risk assessment would be today.

 

Yes it was the lock in particular that i think cause some worry.It should be consider after all that British waterways has to deal with "dangerous water" as one of the trustees put it.

 

Certainly if games such as conkers and British bulldog have been banned from schools such activities would be thought to dangerous.Though as said there probably would be no legal question as far as the rafts are concerned.

[Dyertribe]

On the subject of "Health & Safety" I remember my first canal holiday, I must have been about 8 at the time, we hired a boat from a boatyard in Kinver (?? Dawncraft) It was GRP with a wooden cabin, leaked like a sieve, I remember my father and uncle pulling it under a bridge one rainy night to keep us drier! It was steered from the centre and powered by an outboard motor encased in the rear cabin which was so full of exhaust fumes we had to close the doors when on the move and then ventilate well before my 2 year old cousin and I went to bed.... How we didn't get carbon monoxide poisoning remains a mystery! Water came in jerry cans and the toilet discharged straight into the cut.

We loved every minute and it was the first trip of many.

[David Mack]

Do you think that the makeshift rafts the kids were on would be allowed in a canal today?It did seem to be far simpler times probably more fun less red tape and health and safety.

 

 

{takes off rose tinted specs]

 

It still goes on. We encountered these lads on the Wednesbury Oak Loop during the 2009 BCN Challenge.

 

 

David

[FadeToScarlet]

But raft building is fun, even when you're supposedly an adult.

 

 

This was on the Thames. Despite being designed by an engineer at Cambridge University, and me who's been around boats for most of his life, it was still sub-optimal at floating. Hence my buoyancy aid! I think I had less faith in the craft than the other designer...

 

NB. Although doors found in a skip are lightweight, hollow, and air-filled, make sure that all seams are sealed with gaffer tape, otherwise the water will get in and you'll slowly sink!

[Max Sinclair]

I think it was derelict then.

 

It was before it became fashionable to live on the top of a windy hill in rooms that couldn't get furniture to fit in

 

 

Any idea what Actis was carrying. She's 'full' but light in the water.

 

Hay?

The windmill was restored as a private home and has a swimming pool in the base.Disadvantage the furniture has to be curved for maximum space.

[ditchcrawler]

It still goes on. We encountered these lads on the Wednesbury Oak Loop during the 2009 BCN Challenge.

 

 

David

I fished a lad out at Old Ford locks who tried this on a sheet that was to small, had I not been there that day then nether would he today.

[Max Sinclair]

Marinaaaaaaa Aqua Marinaaaaaa

 

Phwoarrrr

 

 

Marinas are for salt sea water so lets sink all these phoney names and return to boatyards and basins before our canals become totally boring.

[The Pipe]

Marinas are for salt sea water so lets sink all these phoney names and return to boatyards and basins before our canals become totally boring.

No idea where the dam word came from probably from the septics, but it don't fit in with the canals for sure.

[Barry]

Marinas are for salt sea water so lets sink all these phoney names and return to boatyards and basins before our canals become totally boring.

 

You miss the point I was making sir

 

By a bloody big mile

[cheshire~rose]

You miss the point I was making sir

 

By a bloody big mile

 

But Bazza - not everyone on the forum is old enough to remember Stingray!

[Barry]

Maybe not - but I am

 

And so are you.....obviously

[Ray T]

But Bazza - not everyone on the forum is old enough to remember Stingray!

 

 

I am!

 

 

Totally but hey ho...."Anything can happen in the next 1/2 hour".

 

Edited December 31, 2011 by Ray T

[Derek R.]

Then again, there are those of us who would have been in their twenties and even thirties when certain childrens TV progs were on, and real women (and men of course) were more to the fore.

[FadeToScarlet]

But Bazza - not everyone on the forum is old enough to remember Stingray!

 

Oi! I'm the second-youngest forum member, at 25, and I remember Stingray. Obviously it was repeats, but it was still on telly.