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Boat move Northampton to Gayton 25/3/18


NbPlod

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Hi there, anyone available to help move my 36' from Becketts Park, Northampton up the Northampton Arm to Gayton Marina on Sunday 25th March? Be warned the boat is a bare project, no toilet and a very noisy one pot diesel. Also 17 locks in six miles. I can provide transport from Milton Keynes area, lunch and dinner.

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It's a bit of a way for an afternoon's boating, and anyway I'm not yet recovered enough from my operation last month, so I can't volunteer myself.

But this sounds like a good offer, an energetic but fun day out, and I hope someone local can step forward and help. Please save NbPlod from having to single hand his boat up 17 locks!

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I don't know much about engines, but enough to think you had to abort the move for today and someone's got to dismantle the engine a bit to deal with this gasket thingy? Is a gasket a sort of flat seal thing that stops stuff leaking out of the cylinders?

Anyway, better say on here when you're likely to make another attempt at the Northampton Arm and whether you'll want crew. Your chances of getting crew on here are probably better if you can give a bit of warning.

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3 hours ago, NbPlod said:

Yeah, the water pump was leaking quite badly and there was water coming from around the area of the gasket.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I’m sure that fixing the water pump prior to setting off would have been cheaper and far more convenient. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

There's been an unsurprising lack of enthusiasm for five miles (and 17 locks) of bowhauling. You'd also have to find a way to get the boat across the Nene into the first lock anyway before your crew/horse gets to use a towpath. How are your repairs going?

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Boat died just after we got on the canal. I towed it to the bottom of the Rothersthorpe flight last week. Will tackle the ascent tomorrow. Could still use some help to set the locks so I can pull straight through.

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Ah, that explains you having said 16 locks in the previous post. Although it's only a small boat, that's a heroic effort if you've pulled it those few miles to lock 13.

You might hope for "help" from Leon, or then again you might not, opinions differ:

 

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On 12/04/2018 at 10:34, NbPlod said:

I'm thinking a horse and an electric motor would be the ultimate hybrid.

Plus a big portable treadmill with a dynamo so the horse can charge up the batteries for you.

This arrangement might work best in areas with few boats moored on the towpath, and you'll have to have crew. Also your crew will get some funny looks walking the horse through the streets at the Angel if and when you do the Islington tunnel.

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On the contrary, the motor would be for getting past moored boats and trees and fishing matches while the horse would do the rural stretches. Solar panels to keep the batteries charged, wouldn't need a huge power reserve, plenty of towpath grazing. Genius. And you wouldn't have to keep getting on and off at locks.

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