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Do Owners of ex-working boats have special priveleges?


George Kennedy

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13 hours ago, George Kennedy said:

Having just watched nb Corona which has the name Trevor Maggs painted on the side of the cabin, smash into the bottom gate of Buckby top lock and then be told by the volunteer lock keeper that it's how the working boats used to do things, I am wondering if ex-working boats are allowed to smash there way around the system. If so, it seems to me that that for those on this forum who complain about the poor state of the infrastructure and blame CaRT for lack of maintenance, they are wasting their time and pointing their fingers in the wrong direction. Maintaining the infrastructure is important but we all have a responsibility to look after the waterways too and I think that most boaters do feel the same but I also get the impression  that some owners of ex-working boats forget that their boats are just leisure boats and believe that they can basically do what they like and have some priority over everyone else using the canals. CaRT have a responsibility to maintain the waterways but surely they can't be held accountable for the actions of every idiot that they have had the misfortune to issue a licence to.

Bloody traditionalists! :lol:

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The only reason I'm on line is because it's raining and that stops me fixing the damage 80 years of trundling round the canal has done to my boat. That's what makes it a working boat ...I'm always slaving on it due locks and stuff jumping out in front of it when it happened to carry coal concrete lock gates bridge supports etc involved in fixing an maintaining the canal we all ' enjoy!" How about special priveleges or privileges for historic maintance craft... Let's go and break what our boats were used to create...

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2 minutes ago, furnessvale said:

Of course you did.  That is why it formed the main hypothesis in your post  No 65.

George

In my post #65 I was thinking of a (very old) telly programme in which a boater loaded up his boat with pottery and took it somewhere, a long way. Can't remember the details. It was a bit of fun/an adventure/recreation of history, but not a business and therefore IMO that boat wasn't "working".

1 minute ago, roland elsdon said:

The only reason I'm on line is because it's raining and that stops me fixing the damage 80 years of trundling round the canal has done to my boat. That's what makes it a working boat ...I'm always slaving on it due locks and stuff jumping out in front of it when it happened to carry coal concrete lock gates bridge supports etc involved in fixing an maintaining the canal we all ' enjoy!" How about special priveleges or privileges for historic maintance craft... Let's go and break what our boats were used to create...

Yes, I can definitely buy that definition of a working boat!

3 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

Doesn't the butler do that for you?

Oh no, the evening of scores is very much the gentleman's business, not that of his staff.

 

<imagine being a foreign person struggling with English and wondering what the time of day has to do with that sentence.>

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12 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

In my post #65 I was thinking of a (very old) telly programme in which a boater loaded up his boat with pottery and took it somewhere, a long way. Can't remember the details. It was a bit of fun/an adventure/recreation of history, but not a business and therefore IMO that boat wasn't "working".

.

 

 

Er, assuming that the telly company paid the boat owner for making the programme, yes it was.

12 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

 

Oh no, the evening of scores is very much the gentleman's business, not that of his staff.

 

<imagine being a foreign person struggling with English and wondering what the time of day has to do with that sentence.>

Yes, that crossed my mind too! Obviously you are a considerate employer who gives his butler the evening off.

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15 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

In my post #65 I was thinking of a (very old) telly programme in which a boater loaded up his boat with pottery and took it somewhere, a long way. Can't remember the details. It was a bit of fun/an adventure/recreation of history, but not a business and therefore IMO that boat wasn't "working".

 

Keep digging!  Just how you can be thinking about BUCKDEN moving pottery from Stoke on Trent while referring to coal in CORONA with no reference to BUCKDEN's journey is beyond me.

George

7 minutes ago, Athy said:

Er, assuming that the telly company paid the boat owner for making the programme, yes it was.

Yes, that crossed my mind too! Obviously you are a considerate employer who gives his butler the evening off.

With a further reference to the English language, does "evening off" the butler involve an ironing board and a hot iron?

George

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Hands up! - who has never bumped a gate ? Gently nosing up to the gate happens all the time - although 'crash' or 'smash' would suggest carelessness - lack of due care and attention -  rather than deliberately using them as buffers as some irresponsible boaters might do today.

But wasn't that the technique of old boaters back in horse drawn days using momentum as a power source to control the boat with skillful use of the ropes to open and close gates - more likely with a 'thump' rather than a 'resounding click'.

 

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44 minutes ago, furnessvale said:

Keep digging!  Just how you can be thinking about BUCKDEN moving pottery from Stoke on Trent while referring to coal in CORONA with no reference to BUCKDEN's journey is beyond me.

George

I'm sorry it is beyond you, but let me explain that the issue was a general one about boats that might trundle around pretending to be "working" when in fact they were just enjoying hobby boating. Buckden (if that's who I was thinking of) was an example of such practice.

53 minutes ago, Athy said:

Er, assuming that the telly company paid the boat owner for making the programme, yes it was.

It was just a 5 minute snippet on Water World. I very much doubt any money changed hands. Certainly not enough to fund the whole enterprise and make a profit.

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55 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

I'm sorry it is beyond you, but let me explain that the issue was a general one about boats that might trundle around pretending to be "working" when in fact they were just enjoying hobby boating. Buckden (if that's who I was thinking of) was an example of such practice.

 

Your thinking is indeed beyond me.

Even your latest comment makes unjustified assumptions about the thought processes of the owner of Buckden.  It was simply a demonstration of what used to happen not "pretending to be working", which would be difficult to achieve with half a dozen baskets of pots.

George

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I don't agree with the naming and shaming aspect.

But interestingly the worst "bash" of gates I saw (and it really was bad) was a working boat that hit the top gate on the GU that one was slightly open, the gates sprung open from the shock sending a wave backwards and I'm still not sure if it was a mistake or by design but I am convinced that it was NOT good for the infrastructure.

 

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1 minute ago, mark99 said:

But interestingly the worst "bash" of gates I saw (and it really was bad) was a working boat that hit the top gate on the GU that one was slightly open, the gates sprung open from the shock sending a wave backwards and I'm still not sure if it was a mistake or by design but I am convinced that it was NOT good for the infrastructure.

 

This sounds like the correct technique done wrong. The use of the wave to open the gates is right, but hitting the gate suggests the steerer got it wrong

Richard

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25 minutes ago, furnessvale said:

Your thinking is indeed beyond me.

Even your latest comment makes unjustified assumptions about the thought processes of the owner of Buckden.  It was simply a demonstration of what used to happen not "pretending to be working", which would be difficult to achieve with half a dozen baskets of pots.

George

"A demonstration of what used to happen" - when boats were working - and "pretending to be working" seem pretty similar concepts to me. It is only your hyper-sensitivity to the suggestion that working boats and their operators are anything other than divine that causes you to make a fuss about the difference.

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17 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

"A demonstration of what used to happen" - when boats were working - and "pretending to be working" seem pretty similar concepts to me. It is only your hyper-sensitivity to the suggestion that working boats and their operators are anything other than divine that causes you to make a fuss about the difference.

Yawn!  Have the last word, Nick, you always do.

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I've smashed into a lock gate before, twas on the Nene, in winter, powering into a lock to beat the side on current from the weir and as I went into idle the engine stalled. Couldn't re-start as the old start needs a 2lb clout 50% of the time. I hit the lock gate with such force it bounced open briefly, everything that was on anything in the boat was on the floor, even the cooker and kitchen units moved! It also opened the bow somewhat!

 

image001.jpg.9098335fe350b2a8c8d887394134ddcb.jpg

Mistakes happen, move on with your life and don't make assumptions about folk.

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It's stopped raining for lunch, afterwards I'll get back to getting my boat working so l can deliberately go round breaking things... It's an interesting thing.. I was taught to push gates open ( having stopped first, shut gates with paddle assistance carefully..., work my boat single handed in deep locks with lines, turn with wind assistance, shaft boats round,close gates with a line, strap boats off, and thumbline. ) all these skills are obsolete as they don't fit some bow thruster rev maximising wind the paddles as fast as possible world, where any "mistake " makes tinternet immediately.

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7 minutes ago, David Mack said:

And of course steerers of modern boats never bash gates do they.

(Or any of the Tim and Pru programmes)

That is quite disgraceful. It's perfectly clear that there should be no apostrophe in "its".

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3 minutes ago, mykaskin said:

When entering a lock with a full length working boat, it is usually advisable to place the fore-end on the gates to hold it in place while a second boat joins.

Works for any 70' boat, we usually do this

Richard

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Surely pushing open partially open gates with the bows helps to damage the mitres which starts them leaking more. Mostly wide beam boats often do this on the Stort and some are leaking quite badly because of it. You can see the scrape-gouge marks on the mitres.

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