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Sculptor loaded for the first time in perhaps 30 years


Leo No2

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I thought that to smile.png

 

Looks surprisingly high in the water. The EMU loaded with 18 tonnes of coal followed me up Atherstone shortly after Alvecote weekend looking FAR deeper in the water than the SCULPTOR in your photo.

 

Is that really 16 tonnes of coal and 2 of water? Or is the EMU a bit of a girl's boat?

Pedant alert: Kathryn says 15 tons (not 16 tons) "coal" plus 2 tons of water. They load about a ton an inch, so whilst it may not sound massive, that makes a difference.

 

But I doubt "Emu" has wooden bottoms like Sculptor does? Trevor Maggs reckoned that changing "Corona" from composite to all steel means it can now carry (from memory!) two tons less on the same draught.

 

Plus "Stars" have deeper hull sides than Joshers do.

 

Plus GUCCo Woolwich boats are far bluffer than Joshers, so are designed to load more on the same draught anyway, (Woolwich boats also load rather more than GUCCCo Northwich boats allegedly, which aren't quite as bluff).

 

Plus a Bolinder may well way a fair bit more than an HB2 (?) does, as may a full FMC Bolinder fuel tank.

 

Plus there is lots more "blingy" brasswork on "Emu" laugh.png

 

That said it still doesn't look like quite 17 tons to me, even allowing for the composite boat.

Edited by alan_fincher
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If it's actually Julia's fuel, and Julia says it is 15 tons (or tonnes??) then that's what it will be. She runs a fairly tight ship, and I'm sure it will be no different if someone else is acting as her "overflow warehouse".

 

Incidentally "Stanton" (owned by a forum member) has performed this role in the past.

 

Not trying to get Kathryn going, but I thought I had seen a "standard pleasure craft" licence on Sculptor in the past, and if that were still the case, even if it is owned by CRT, I'm not sure it should be being used for "commercial purposes". ninja.gif

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It's looking good - but what you need to add the finishing touches are a set of Ash strips on the counter - any boat looks bare without them! Pretty well every boat on the canal had them in carrying days!

SCULPTOR did have ash strips when first restored by Ian Kemp for 'British Waterways'.

 

I seem to recall that when we bought BADSEY and BARNES in 1988 they both had short ash strips on the fore end cants (probably about 6'' in length) as well as full sized strips on the sterns.

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It's looking good - but what you need to add the finishing touches are a set of Ash strips on the counter - any boat looks bare without them! Pretty well every boat on the canal had them in carrying days!

The challenge for us is that:

  • the boat is an accessioned museum exhibit and that carries with it certain legal responsibilities which we have to abide by
  • The Friends of The Canal Museum maintain Sculptor as part of their aims and objectives to help look after all museum activities
  • we do what we can, when we can with the funds we have available (agreed by The Friends of The Canal Museum) and work is approved by CRT
  • we've done well this year with new ballast (IBC containers instead of pig iron on the uxter plate), re-wiring including a new fuse board, dry docking and blacking including repainting the tunnel bands and repainting the fore-end (gloss still to go on)
  • new cloths
  • ongoing general maintenance

All this on approximately a day or two a month (a bit more this month with her being in dry dock) all by volunteer labour. I think we have done well this year to obtain agreement to spend as much as has been spent on her. We'll get there with her; at the same time we must not loose sight of the considerable investment The Friends of The Canal Museum have made recently in her; specifically the new wooden bottom (which probably saved her from sinking) and engine rebuild. Have we always done it right? - probably not but the general feedback from this thread is appreciated by me because it suggests we are going in the right direction. If anyone wishes to help in any way (money, constructive advice or time or any combination of the three) just send me a PM - those of us who look after her wish to see her represent her past well and be a good and fit exhibit for the museum in a way that befits the legal obligations we have and that befits her 80th year in 2015.

 

ETA: A note from Brian Collings to me (Brian was a previous Museum Manager) - 'It's good to know someone is keeping a weather eye on Sculptor and planning for her future role as a museum boat, rather than 'just a boat' outside.'

Edited by Leo No2
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Trevor Maggs reckoned that changing "Corona" from composite to all steel means it can now carry (from memory!) two tons less on the same draught.

Since a 10mm steel bottom weighs about the same as a 3 inch/75mm wooden bottom, the load which can be carried for a given draught (to the underside of the bottom) will be unchanged. However, as the overall hull depth (including the thickness of the bottoms) will be 2+ inches less, then so will the freeboard. i.e. If the boat is loaded to the same freeboard (or with the skeg at the same depth below water level) then the load will indeed be a couple of tons less.

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Mike mentions Trevor's claim that less may be carried on the same draught or draft (either will do), but the deciding factor - or at least the manner in which loads were gauged - was in dry side inches not draught.

 

And to be a pain - spelling please! Whilst allowances are made for those whose grammatical skills may be less than others, most of us should be knowledgeable to see that there are two ways of spelling 'to'; London to Brighton, and - I went there too. An oft repeated mistake amongst many (not just this forum).

 

And in speaking of weight - 'weigh' is the way to go, definitely so if you are heading for Basingstoke by water, but spelt Wey.

 

It's the Virgo in me.

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Mike mentions Trevor's claim that less may be carried on the same draught or draft (either will do), but the deciding factor - or at least the manner in which loads were gauged - was in dry side inches not draught.

 

Have you been so busy checking spelling that you have made the incorrect attribution? ;)

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And to be a pain - spelling please! Whilst allowances are made for those whose grammatical skills may be less than others, most of us should be knowledgeable to see that there are two ways of spelling 'to'; London to Brighton, and - I went there too. An oft repeated mistake amongst many (not just this forum).

 

 

Yeah, toooooo may people do that.

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And to be a pain - spelling please! Whilst allowances are made for those whose grammatical skills may be less than others, most of us should be knowledgeable to see that there are two ways of spelling 'to'; London to Brighton, and - I went there too. An oft repeated mistake amongst many (not just this forum).

 

 

I can see three spellings of it there, not two!

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Boat looks like, cant really tell the front ends still due its paint in the photo, and the detail of the rope type and condition of the fire hose is lost on me!

 

 

Daniel

 

They are grey - weathered. White is aimed for, but not so easy to achieve.

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“Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination.”

― Mark Twain

 

Az long as wee orl unduhstand wot iz beeing sed.

 

(Just to make us all feel better....the recent White Paper (under the eagle eye of Mr. Gove before he was moved on') on standards of English in schools contained several spelling mistakes, including - several times - the word 'bureaucracy')

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Loading up the boat is a good feeling, and the sight of a neatly stacked load, coal or logs, and the boat sitting down in the water is always great. The lower the freeboard, the higher the '5 pence/50 pence' feeling when moving of, but the sight of a boat with minimal freeboard moving through the water is fantastic.

 

(of to watch some utube clips of Rijn traffic...)

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