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Painting a bargepole


Ricco1

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I've yet to hear from the OP so I assume he has found better advice elsewhere. Personally, I'd never twist paint a long shaft, they are a piece of working gear on a boat....ours get another coat of raddle red every year or so. Both mop and cabin shaft are banded, rather than striped. I've deliberately opted for a " less is more " approach with Resolute, so the ram's head/ Z iron / swan's neck is treated likewise. Besides, striped paint is terribly expensive.....

 

Dave

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I do think you have to be careful cos you could end up with a white elephant like me. Lovely to look at but scared to use it. As we reverse round a very long 180 curve every time we leave, I use a long shaft every time. So ended buying another and painting it in simple colour bands. The ends are tipped with copper and a copper caps. Ie large gas pipe.

 

Once undercoated, all that's needed is masking tape and a lots of time between coats. Masking tape is available in pinstripe thickess's from eBay.

 

Spirals can be formed in masking tape if you take your time. One of life's pleasures is peeling off masking tape to reveal the stripe.

Edited by mark99
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Brinklow Boat Services and Rose Narrowboats both stock longer shafts than Midland Swindlers. I think 14' and 16' are available. Ours are 16', useful for manouvering in tight situations rather than the white water rafting, engine roaring, employed by some boaters. Barge poles my bottom....they are shafts!

 

Dave

When my dad worked on the canals they were called “Itchers”

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What most people know now as a boathook, which was known as a cabin shaft on some canals, was called a "hitcher" on Thames barges. Perhaps there's a similar root.

Yes, my dad was a Cut-hand/Lighter-man so he could work the Thames or Canals this stemmed for the war years.

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Two points of advice on 'shafts' gained from personal experience.

1. Don't paint them the same colour as your wooden hand rails.

2, Never use one as a vaulting pole when the gap betwixt boat and bank is a smidgen too far to jump.

I don't think these need any explanation!

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Corrected that for you!

 

 

LOL so true.

 

I used good quality masking tape but it suffers, as you know, at the joins or crossovers. Hence keep one nail on your finger long and use it with a thin rag and white spirit run your fingernail /rag to clean undo any fudge lines.

 

20140925_165741_resizedv_zps433431ac.jpg

 

 

20140922_111119_zps7f9d4d8b.jpg

Edited by mark99
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I thought I'd better paint my 2 year old pine bargepole before it starts rotting away. I've started with 2 coats of primer and one undercoat, it's now time to think about the top layer. My boat is green and red with white stripes, I have supplies of all 3 colours. Rather than just painting it one colour I thought I made spend a bit of time making it look nicer, by using all 3 colours.

 

I've seen one or two done with some kind of spiral design but I've no idea where to start with that. Otherwise I was thinking of painting the whole thing one colour then overpainting sections in the other colours, using low tack masking tape.

 

Any hints or tips?

 

Thanks.

 

 

Masking tape.

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