What do I need for my new life afloat?

[Athy]

Nobody's mentioned piling hooks (nappy pins) yet. Pretty essential.

Grommets, we call them - but very useful, yes, if the bankside is of the right type they are easier to use than mooring pins.

[sueb]

A trolly or wheelbarrow for carting stuff along the towpath

[Dave_P]

Kindling wood.

Voltmeter.

C- spanner.

Torch.

Floating keyring.

manual water pump.

Ecofan (joke)

Toilet chemical.

spare engine bits - filters etc.

Nicholsons Guides.

Captain Tolley's creeping crack cure.

Stern gland grease.

Cuddly toy.

 

 

None of these are 'essential' but they may be of use.

2 way radio.

Bucket.

Lump hammer.

[Naughty Cal]

Nobody's mentioned piling hooks (nappy pins) yet. Pretty essential.

I'm not so sure about that. We manage perfectly well without any.

 

We use pins or goat chains if we have too.

[John V]

Someone mentioned a lay flat hose, personally I don't like them as you have to run the whole length out to use them.

 

 

Yep...that was me. They might have disadvantages but they take up virtually no room and they are light to handle (though fiddly)

[Athy]

 

Hi Athy.

 

I believe (but could well be wrong) that the literal translation is 'Billy the Crook'. I understand the guy that had it built and so named thought it meant 'Billy the Rascal': a bit more poetic.

 

.

 

Cheers,

T.

Yobbo or hooligan, not necessarily criminal. I guess you could stretch it to Rascal. I wonder if the previous owner had connections with Bordeaux? Billy le Bordelais, a dissolute character who, even in his cradle, would drink only wine from his feeding bottle, and who predictably grew up into a bit of a hooligan, is a folkloric figure in those parts.

 

This reminds me, says he wandering off topic, of a French couple I knew called M. and Mme. Paul who had a caravan which was named "Le Polisson", which means a naughty little boy in French. They explained to me that when they arrived at their regular summer caravan site, their friends would say "Les Paul y sont", meaning "The Pauls are here". The last three words are pronounced "polisson", and somehow the name stuck.

 

So there you are. If you're looking for a new name, your Voyou could become a Polisson.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Athy

[cariad]

congratulations.

duck tape, wire both handy for quick repair.

anchor, chain and rope.

jerry can with spare diesel, spare windlass, vandal key, spare engine and gearbox oil.

[Jen_P]

Great stuff! Thank you.
Love all the suggestions for alcohol. However, I can't drink ! Have a liver problem and was told about a year ago that I'll never be allowed to! Really sad about that.
Boat has a massive wood burner with back boiler so I'll probably be warm.
Gardening gloves - great. Have a fantastic pair that I've never used.

 

What on earth is Captain Tolley's creeping crack cure when it's at home?

[Retardedrocker]

Billy le Bordelais, a dissolute character who, even in his cradle, would drink only wine from his feeding bottle, and who predictably grew up into a bit of a hooligan, is a folkloric figure in those parts.

 

I'll check him out. He sounds like a kindred spirit.

 

Cheers, T.

[ditchcrawler]

I think you need to see whats on the boat first, lots are sold with everything required for cruising. I thought someone said it was a wide beam, are there two.

[Neil2]

If you are lucky most of what you need to go cruising will have come with the boat. Everything else you will collect as and when the need arises, don't try and be too prepared, collecting stuff is all pert of the fun.

 

BUT, there are things that will make life a little easier to start with.

 

You cannot have too many torches on a boat. This is not just for finding your way round at night, you will find you need them for peering into lockers, cupboards etc. and there is never one handy when you are in a hurry.

 

I have the same attitude to "cup" hooks. Keep a supply of those little screw in hooks (that chandlers never seem to have, incidentally) then you can stick one in the wall/ceiling when you realise that's where you want to hang something.

 

Zip ties and gaffer tape are also in this category.

 

I also have a couple of "get out of jail" suggestions. I've never seen anyone else with one, but I don't go anywhere on the canals without an 8' scaffold pole. They are a bit heavy and I suppose an aluminium pole might do as well but the leverage you get with a sturdy steel pole is often the only way out of some situations whether it's a grounding or an uncooperative lock gate. The other thing is a little gadget which has a spring loaded plunger on on end and a little claw on the other. I've no idea where this came from maybe others can help, but it is the absolute b******s for retrieving objects that fall with unnerving regularity into the engine bilge. The engine bilge, you will find, is a magnet for small objects most old boats have quite a collection down there.

 

BTW Captain Tolleys CCC is a little tube of liquid that is supposed to seek out leaks usually round windows, and fix them as the liquid solidifies. Every grp cruiser has a complimentary tube of this stuff,..

Edited December 9, 2014 by Neil2

[ditchcrawler]

The other thing is a little gadget which has a spring loaded plunger on on end and a little claw on the other. I've no idea where this came from maybe others can help, but it is the absolute b******s for retrieving objects that fall with unnerving regularity into the engine bilge. The engine bilge, you will find, is a magnet for small objects most old boats have quite a collection down there.

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/190804450521?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

[cuthound]

Best gloves I have found are Ironclad waterproof cold resistant gloves. Not cheap but unlike other gloves don't fall apart when you pick up a rope.

 

To keep warm and dry, I like Dickies waterproof padded overalls, however they don't look very traditional. Main problem with them is the number of pockets - it can take ages to find which one you put something in.

[Neil2]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/190804450521?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

That's the fella - used it three times when I was winterising the boat last weekend.

[Dave_P]

 

BTW Captain Tolleys CCC is a little tube of liquid that is supposed to seek out leaks usually round windows, and fix them as the liquid solidifies. Every grp cruiser has a complimentary tube of this stuff,..

I wouldn't be without it and I have a narrowboat.

[MtB]

Grommets, we call them - but very useful, yes, if the bankside is of the right type they are easier to use than mooring pins.

 

These are grommets, silly!

 

 

Piling hooks are called 'piling hooks', or colloquially 'nappy pins'.

 

Generally useless IME as they are prone to unhooking themselves from the piling. 'Goat chains' are far superior.

 

 

MtB

[keble]

I asked the same question in 2007 when our first boat was being built.

 

Unfortunately the forum search won't let me search by date before 2008!

 

Anyway, someone made the helpful suggestion of getting your hands on a hire boat inventory. That proved very useful.

 

EDIT: found that original thread at www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=12304

 

(I found it using Google advanced search)

Edited December 9, 2014 by keble

[Athy]

We use "grommets" in the sense of "whatsits" or "thingmibobs" as, when we first got a pair, we did not know the correct name for them. We have (famous last words) never yet had one unhook itself. I think Mrs. Athy looks sternly at them and tells them to stay put. Luckily they understand Essex.

 

Tried to get a goat chain but the goat would not let us anywhere near it.

[Naughty Cal]

Liam looked at me as if I had gone mad when I came home with a pair of goat chains (no that isn't code for anything!)

 

Now we wouldn't cruise with out them.

[Neil2]

Liam looked at me as if I had gone mad when I came home with a pair of goat chains (no that isn't code for anything!)

 

Now we wouldn't cruise with out them.

Crikey you mean those things really are for tying up your boat...?

[Naughty Cal]

Crikey you mean those things really are for tying up your boat...?

Amongst other things

[Alan de Enfield]

Amongst other things

 

Those pink fur-lined handcuffs are much softer on the wrists - I find the chain a little bit harsh,(and it can draw blood).

 

But - hey ho - each to their own.

[Emerald Fox]

Sexy underwear. Money. Everything else.

[MarkHez]

We use "grommets" in the sense of "whatsits" or "thingmibobs" as, when we first got a pair, we did not know the correct name for them. We have (famous last words) never yet had one unhook itself. I think Mrs. Athy looks sternly at them and tells them to stay put. Luckily they understand Essex.

 

Tried to get a goat chain but the goat would not let us anywhere near it.

 

I call them "those awful noisy clip things that unhook themselves as soon as you turn your back", or lots of expletives when I get back home in the pouring rain and find my boat floating in the middle of the canal. Mooring pins or chains for me now!

 

Another recommendation for the dickies padded waterproof overalls (and I agree that it can take ages going through all the pockets!) - I use them on the motorbikes and the boat and they are wonderfully warm and dry!

[Neil2]

Jennifer's probably suffering suggestion overload by now but as I'm just repainting my cabin shaft and no that is not a euphemism I thought I'd mention the tip about marking/painting one end of the pole to indicate the draught of your boat. This is handy eg for checking the depth at dodgy mooring sites also in certain canal locks making sure you have enough clearance over the cill.