Content Ideas

[Jon]

As a group, our collective knowledge knows no bounds. One thing I am keen to expand is the content section (Articles and Resources).

 

Do you have any suggestions on topics we could cover?

 

Would you be willing to write about a certain topic?

 

Some suggestions of my own

 

- A guide to choosing a boat builder (don't know anything about this, so anyone with personal experience like to help?)

 

- Emergency first aid for boaters (general and specific stuff) - I'm happy to write this when I have a moment)

 

Anything else?

 

Jon

[Yamanx]

Judging by the amount of electrical questions asked on this forum, it is clearly one of the major concerns amoungst boaters, whether building, re-fitting or just upgrading a component.

 

I would suggect something, regular maybe, to do with this subject.

[Richard Lacy]

A few suggestions :-

 

Firstly for total newcomers - What is a Narrowboat ie shell types ,engines , basic layouts , equipment etc . Documentation - Licences , Mooring Permits, BSS, RCD

etc. How much you would expect to pay for any of the above.

 

 

For newcomers & existing boaters - targetted info on specific canals - eg moorings -good or bad , best pubs , local recommended shops , cheap diesel etc For everyone - Health & Safety, First Aid, training available etc.

General tips and hints - misceleneous info for example how to use a lock single handed , best boating knots to use etc

 

Lastly I have noticed sometimes when there has been 1 topic an almost identical topic starts a short while later , is there any way of putting them adjacent in the forum for ease of reference ?

[tomandsophie]

A bit of a girly request but something thats absence anywhere has been bugging me (unless i'm missing something?). I would like to see something about boat interior design. There are thousands of house interior mags etc that list products & design ideas but i can't find any sites or bits in mags about boat interiors. Maybe this is because most narrowboats have to use fitted furniture to a restricted layout or that a lot of people fit them out themselves rather than buying things. I have found it dificult to find any design ideas (practical or just aesthetic) outside looking at the show boats in the waterways magazines and these are always very 'traditional' or very glitzy, - neither or which are my taste. There's never any examples of 'different' or indevidual design ideas. I have had to resort to the 'for-sale sections' to get any inspiration for the interior of our yet to be built widebeam.

 

Sophie

[NB Willawaw]

Jon,

 

We continuously cruise, so our location obviously changes every few days or so.

I have found that if I enter this in the signature or location section, it changes all past posts to the current location.

Short of having to type location in manually on each post, is there any way that the system will store a specific location against the post it was entered on ?

 

As a group, our collective knowledge knows no bounds. One thing I am keen to expand is the content section (Articles and Resources).

 

Do you have any suggestions on topics we could cover?

 

Would you be willing to write about a certain topic?

 

Some suggestions of my own

 

- A guide to choosing a boat builder (don't know anything about this, so anyone with personal experience like to help?)

 

- Emergency first aid for boaters (general and specific stuff) - I'm happy to write this when I have a moment)

 

Anything else?

 

Jon

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[John Orentas]

Sophie

 

Why don't you start the ball rolling with some general ideas of what features you would like or what style you want to end up with. You will find very little has been published on the subject, the best source being the various articles that have appeared in magazines over the years such as Waterways World, I still have every monthly instalment of 'The Narrowboat Builders Book' from 1984. It looks just as good now as it did then, I still browse through it occasionally, very little of it looks in any way dated.

 

There was a similar serial a decade or so later but I don't think it was as good.

There are many people on here who have designed boat interiors, and will have some good original ideas, there is no reason you can't design and construct much or all of the interior yourself, you may find it is easier than you think.

[Oliver]

Sophie

 

There are loads of individual narrowboat sites on the net. When we were looking at the interior for our boat, a number of the piccies on our tear sheets were taken from the net.

 

If it is still possible to get onto the Canalworld Webring that it is good source of individual narrowboat sites.

[NB Willawaw]

You could try here for some ideas:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/andy.greener/PhotoAlbum5.html

 

Best Regards

 

Mark

 

NB Willawaw

 

Banbury - Oxford Canal

 

A bit of a girly request but something thats absence anywhere has been bugging me (unless i'm missing something?). I would like to see something about boat interior design.  There are thousands of house interior mags etc that list products & design ideas but i can't find any sites or bits in mags about boat interiors. Maybe this is because most narrowboats have to use fitted furniture to a restricted layout or that a lot of people fit them out themselves rather than buying things.  I have found it dificult to find any design ideas (practical or just aesthetic) outside looking at the show boats in the waterways magazines and these are always very 'traditional' or very glitzy, - neither or which are my taste. There's never any examples of 'different' or indevidual design ideas.  I have had to resort to the 'for-sale sections' to get any inspiration for the interior of our yet to be built widebeam.

 

Sophie

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Jon]

Jon,

 

We continuously cruise, so our location obviously changes every few days or so.

I have found that if I enter this in the signature or location section, it changes all past posts to the current location.

Short of having to type location in manually on each post, is there any way that the system will store a specific location against the post it was entered on ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No, unfortunately not. Each entry is stored in a database, so dynamically updated.

 

 

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I really like the idea of the interior design section. Can you elaborate exactly what you are looking for? Is it pictures of boat interiors, or detail descriptions?

 

Does anyone have any other ideas? Would anyone be able to write anything? Full credit will be given?

 

 

Many thanks,

 

Jon

[bottle]

I really like the idea of the interior design section. Can you elaborate exactly what you are looking for? Is it pictures of boat interiors, or detail descriptions?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Sorry to be akward a bit of both please.

[Hondaman]

Hi Jon and all,

 

Yamanx made the suggestion of Electrical topics. From my experience at the boatyard this is definitely an area where many boats have problems some verging on the downright dangerous whether 12V or 240V.

 

I am always happy to help out on this subject with individual problems and if you wish I could put together an irregular series of posts (or even a series of irregular posts) on various subjects.

 

As a newbie to the forums you may want a little of my history. This is rather limited with boats having only been working on them for about a couple of years. Prior to that I have been an auto electrician for more years than I care to remember suffice it to say that as an established spark I went on a Lucas training course when the 10ACR alternator first came out. Since then I have covered the advances in car electronics to the present day. My hobby interest of amateur radio and electronics is where my knowledge of inverters etc. comes from as does the electrochemical horror.

 

I would need some advice on how to get things started so that topics could be easily accessed and added to. May I suggest some groupings such as 240V (subdivided), charging and batteries, general wiring etc. With a separate "Problem Page"

 

Regards,

Geoff

[The Lockie]

How about a Rivers section. I know from personal experience that the Beal Park IWA Festival on the Thames in 2003 attracted many narrowboats to the River and that for many they were amazed at how easy the River was to navigate.This has led to quite an influx of Narrowboats and it is gratifying to see people enjoying this beautiful River. Experienced boaters may already know this, but there is a vast amount of canal boaters that view Rivers with trepidation. As always the experiences of others can be encouraging for crews who are not sure how best to handle their boat on a river. The topic could be sub divided for say The Thames, Severn, Trent etc etc

[watermonkey]

Coming onto it, I know we're a rarity but how about us "Plastic Boat Brigade"?

 

I know you coffin dwellers hate us, but let's be honest, we're here to stay. How about a GRP area? I'd like to discuss problems with having a cruiser on the Canal and how BW feel about us etc. And before anyone starts, I have hired NBs in the past but really can't warrant buying one, hence the reason for owning a GRP cruiser

 

Surely this forum is about canals rather than what you drive? It's like having a motoring forum but ignoring Lada drivers.

[Guest st170dw]

Coming onto it, I know we're a rarity but how about us "Plastic Boat Brigade"?

 

I know you coffin dwellers hate us, but let's be honest, we're here to stay. How about a GRP area? I'd like to discuss problems with having a cruiser on the Canal and how BW feel about us etc. And before anyone starts, I have hired NBs in the past but really can't warrant buying one, hence the reason for owning a GRP cruiser

 

Surely this forum is about canals rather than what you drive? It's like having a motoring forum but ignoring Lada drivers.

24191[/snapback]

 

That reminds me - I need some new fenders!

[The Lockie]

Hmmm intresting to see the words plastic boat, Lada, Fender in the same post referring to GRP boats. Those of us with tin slugs would no doubt agree with the descriptions used.

[Sir Nibble]

Like Hondaman I am an auto/marine electrician (greetings comrade) and will happily join in within reason. First "Tech tip", DON'T fit charge controller/battery management systems. Best uprate for a narrowboat alternator is a smaller pulley.

[John Orentas]

Hi Snibble.

 

It is a bit dodgy advising people to fit a smaller pulley on the alternator, you may already know that the engine marinisers already fit pulleys to attain an optimum alternator speed at the invariably lower cruising speed of the canal boat engine, there would be a risk of over-revving the unit on the occasional river trip or whatever.

 

In any event the charging characteristics are such that they will produce near maximum output at very low speeds, the only possible advantage in increasing the speed would be that the cooling may be improved a little.

[ChrisPy]

DON'T fit charge controller/battery management systems.

25806[/snapback]

can you explain why? this advice (as far as charge controllers are concerned, at least) is clearly contrary to all published literature that I have seen, so justification would be welcome.

[Sir Nibble]

Morning all,

This is going way off topic but lets see what I can do. No maths or science, just experience.

first, alternators are safe to far higher speeds than a marine diesel will drive them, in 30 odd years in this business I have never once seen an alternator overspeed damaged. A 70A alternator at full out put will generate enough heat on its rectifier heatsinks to boil a litre of water in six minutes. Howcome it raises eyebrows to slightly increase the cuntrifugal stresses but I am trying to justify not increasing the thermal load? If you don't get enough charge in your battery then the engine isn't running long enough viz, the yatchsmen who have 20 minutes getting off a mooring, 20 minutes on and 8 hours on nav lights and radar. I must have seen hundreds of these guys alternators damaged by overheating due to these things, I have taken off more than I have fitted because they just don't solve the problem. We run engines whenever we are underway, go boating! your battery will charge.

Now make a list of all the people who make these things,

make another list of the companies who spend millions designing alternators.

How many names appear on both lists?

I once telephoned the builder of one of these devices due to weirder than usual test results after installation. He had no idea I was a professional and told me amoung other things that "an alternator is only a single phase device". The man either doesn,t know his subject or was seeking to mislead me, either way, I should trust his claims for his product?

In my 30 years of experience I have come to the professional opinion that these things cause more harm than good, take it or leave it.

That last sentence may have come over as a little offhand, it wasn't meant to.

Going boating.

[tony collins]

Like Hondaman I am an auto/marine electrician (greetings comrade) and will happily join in within reason. First "Tech tip", DON'T fit charge controller/battery management systems. Best uprate for a narrowboat alternator is a smaller pulley.

25806[/snapback]

 

Something else to consider when fitting a smaller pulley is drive belt life. The small pulley in the drive determines the power transmission capacity of the system. If you take this option be aware that a wrapped belt, (ie one with a fabric finish on the sides of the belt) will be stressed more than the original design. In order to mitigate the shorter belt life, due to higher bending moments, generating higher temperatures and a greater tendency to slip, the belt should be replaced with one of a moulded cog design. This will allow the belt to bend more easily around the smaller pulley. If you do not do this, and attempt to over tighten a wrapped belt to stop it slipping, you may ruin the rotor bearings in the alternator. When designing drives, we do sometimes use a smaller pulley in the drive, but only after taking into account the reduced power transmission capacity and shorter belt life.

Personally I fitted an Adverc!

 

Tony Collins

[gaggle]

a thread with links to canal related games for kids.

it might encourage or educate some brick throwers to be interested in the canals.

 

my kids enjoy a thread bernie put up about shooting the frog and also a site that learns the basics of going through locks,several links have been put up on various threads.

 

the wow inititive for kids is one way that kids are being encouraged to learn about canals ect.

 

i have to spend ages trying to find things i have seen and not wrote down for the kids.

a page of links would come in very handy,there must be plenty of sites with stuff about the canals aimed at the kids.

if anyone knows one will you post it.thanks gaggle

 

i know the frog isnt to do with the canal but it is on c w d f

[Liam]

I agree, Gaggle,

 

But that's just for when they're at home and are able to go on the t'internet, with the exeption that there's a few people that can get access whilst on their boat..

 

I think there should be some sort of thread for games for kids which can be played on the boat for those rainy days when you can't be cruising and working locks etc.

 

It'll keep them busy, and keep the boredom at bay.

[gaggle]

even kids not on boats and only visit the site could go on the canal related games.

if the kids who throw stones can be shown via a visit to the site about locks, water activities and what the canal scene is about it might make them think a bit before they act the goat.

 

play the game and get a bit of knowledge,it could lead them to stop the hassle.

 

 

my lad who is 10 is telling his mates in school about the boating fishing and generally saying to them the cut is great,he says most of them dont even know what the cut-canal is.more worrying NEITHER DO MY TEACHERS he says.

Edited September 20, 2005 by gaggle

[DHutch]

...he says most of them dont even know what the cut-canal is.more worrying NEITHER DO MY TEACHERS he says.

Yeah, i have friends who didnt know what the canal is or anything about what locks are, and that sort of stuff.

 

I think i've said this before,

On that subject, at the end of the Prestonbrook rally we had a small informal tour around one of the old working boats which is now a class room. And while showing us the stove the man said that in an average class of 20-30 only about 5 of them would even have heard of what coal is!! And the majory of those would make comments like "is it that weird black stuff gran had for here fire?"

 

And when my mum got her brownie pack to make chips, a lot of them didnt know that chips came from potatos, and had never seen a potato pealer

 

Its absolutly shocking the lack of basic knowlage these kids have, even at the age of 12-14.

 

And during the last week of doing my Alevel DT one of the others in the class what puting together his work (most of which had been done my the technition) and after striping the threads when screwing on the MDF pannels, he openly addmitted,the totaly serously, he had never put a screw in before ever in his life, although he had "once seen his dad put up a shelf from ikea"

- I was totaly shocked, this is second year Aleval DT (wood/metel/plastic work) who is now studying product design at university!

 

No wonder the contry is falling apart

 

 

Daniel

[Liam]

Dan,

 

Are you sure you're just 18 and not 88?

 

When I was in school, and it came to weekends we (me and my classmates) always ended up talking about what was happening at the weekend. The same old answer came out of their mouths - go down to the park, with either an array of drugs and alcohol, causing as much trouble as possible. When I told them what I was doing, they always used to say things like "you're going to that boring barge on the smelly camal AGAIN!"

 

I'd prefer to go to my "boring barge on the smelly canal" than 'hang out' with a bunch of half brained nob'eads every time..