Transport Boat River Soar to London

[Rickent]

9 hours ago, matty40s said:

It's a brilliant trip with Peter joining you, just make sure you have some heating installed before the trip, even if something makeshift with a flue sealed.

And an eco fan would make the journey a whole lot better.☺

[Tacet]

Do we know where in Hertfordshire (London ) this boat is heading?  There are several days travelling between, say, Berkhamsted and Bishops Stortford - even though both are in Hertfordshire and begin with a B.

 

 

[Peter X]

21 hours ago, harrybsmith said:

It's not the blue one with the Lister single cylinder engine is it? If so, absolutely no waaay will that make it to London under its own power. 

I don't know much about engines, or what engine Graham's boat has. But as I find Nuneaton's two cylinder Lister pulls a loaded pair of Grand Union town class boats along quite nicely, maybe half that power is enough for one 57' leisure boat? It's probably not that simple!

 

Graham is indeed intending to go to the Lea/Stort side of Hertfordshire, i.e. via London, so we won't need much speed passing all the moored boats down the GU and through London.

[Alan de Enfield]

5 minutes ago, Peter X said:

I don't know much about engines, or what engine Graham's boat has. But as I find Nuneaton's two cylinder Lister pulls a loaded pair of Grand Union town class boats along quite nicely, maybe half that power is enough for one 57' leisure boat? It's probably not that simple!

From his post, Harry may know something of the history and condition of said engine, maybe all is not as it would appear.

[Peter X]

Of course we will be on rivers at the the beginning and end of the trip, but I'll be checking what the flow is like as the time approaches and seeking further advice if the engine doesn't have a lot of oomph. I've been along the Thames a few times, though never yet below Brentford, but the only time I've been out on a flood was actually on a canal, caught on the Rochdale at Christmas 2015, and if the Soar is not behaving itself in two weeks' time we won't be setting off.

[matty40s]

You probably won't need to go on the Thames, the Paddington Arm and Regent Canal bypass it.

The River Lea is pretty much a navigable channel with the river running alongside for a lot of the length, and rarely gets in an exciting state. The Stort can go up and down quite quickly though.

[mark99]

There is a telemetry device on the Stort that gives live flows. It's called Bizzard.   It also alerts repeats of Minder canal edition too.

Edited November 30, 2018 by mark99

[harrybsmith]

3 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

From his post, Harry may know something of the history and condition of said engine, maybe all is not as it would appear.

I do indeed if its the 57ft blue semi trad that was for sale in Barrow last week. I speculatively went to look at it as the owner was considering a part ex and thought I might be able to be cheeky and swap my cruiser for a narrowboat of roughly equivalent value. The engine was very low on compression and produced a lot of blue smoke- pointing to a worn bore.  

 

Of course, it could be a completely different boat and the engine could last the journey no issues at all, I'm not a boat mechanic. 

 

Anyway, whatever boat you've bought OP, welcome to boat ownership! 

[Alan de Enfield]

57 minutes ago, harrybsmith said:

I do indeed if its the 57ft blue semi trad that was for sale in Barrow last week. I speculatively went to look at it as the owner was considering a part ex and thought I might be able to be cheeky and swap my cruiser for a narrowboat of roughly equivalent value. The engine was very low on compression and produced a lot of blue smoke- pointing to a worn bore.  

 

Of course, it could be a completely different boat and the engine could last the journey no issues at all, I'm not a boat mechanic. 

 

Anyway, whatever boat you've bought OP, welcome to boat ownership! 

Thanks for the clarification.

As of Wednesday the OP was only 'thinking about' buying it, but maybe things have changed, or, he had really already bought it.

You would have thought that a surveyor would have picked up the engine problems so the OP may be aware but unconcerned.

[Peter X]

Graham, how are things going, especially the restoration work? Is the boat going to be ready to move south as planned?

Are you ready, have you lined up a mooring or got plans to move about enough on the Lea/Stort to keep on the right side of CRT's interpretation of the law as a continuous cruiser? My offer is to help get you there, but you need to have thought about that. Ditto with the batteries, if they're in a poor state you may well find they're fine while we're moving south running the engine for hours every day, but a problem when you get there if you don't have a mooring with a landline.

 

The CRT notice says that the closure at Kings Lock (the one on the Soar) is due to finish at 4pm this Friday 14th Dec, and I haven't found any update to it. Does anyone on the forum know whether CRT are ahead of or behind schedule?

As far as I can tell from the Internet, the level of the River Soar is normal at present, but if anyone with local knowledge knows differently please say so!

 

It's probably a good idea to give me a call on the mobile number which I gave you by PM, particularly so that I know whether and when I'll be travelling up to Leicestershire and can book my transport in advance.

 

matty40s: It wasn't at all clear from my post, but I only mentioned the Thames in the context of my experience (or rather lack of) of being out in flood conditions. I've read the theory of going down the river and in at Limehouse, but wouldn't dream of attempting it myself unless I'd done it a few times with an experienced captain, made sure the boat was suitably equipped and got organised for the VHF radio thing. I would strongly discourage Graham from using that route unless he knows a lot more than me about it; we'll be taking the less exciting route via Camden.

[alan_fincher]

On 28/11/2018 at 22:04, LadyG said:

according to canalplan its about 100 hours, 

https://canalplan.org.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi

Well "Hertfordshire" might only mean "Tring cutting", or it could mean all the way down to London, and back out up the Lee to Hertford or the Stort to Bishops Stortford.

Quite a difference!

(With apologies if exact actual planned destination is somewhere in the thread!).

[Peter X]

Graham did mention going through London and up the Lea.

But he hasn't got back to me, so I suppose the trip is either cancelled or postponed.

Graham, if the problem is that the fit out is taking longer than expected, you either need to set off before Christmas to have adequate time to get down the GU before those stoppages begin on 7th Jan, or to just let it take as long as it needs and accept a long postponement until the route re-opens. Most things cost more down south and especially in London, and I see no reason to expect boat repairs to be an exception to that rule, so you may do well to just wait. Anyway, please let us know what you're planning.