Newbie with a DIY Urge

[Chewbacka]

6 minutes ago, The Grumpy Triker said:

:-) good point! ...I do need quicker than slow but not as fast as ambling

one thing I can't find, are there any rules for what can and can't be painted on the side of the boat?....within bounds of decency I should add. Are you allowed national flags fluttering or coat of arms etc. Just trying to think of items that may not be considered public property etc. 

Have a load of different ideas for the Boat Name picture but not sure if any are out of bounds for the waterways.....really naive question I know

Not aware of any specific regs, but obviously trade marks etc are strictly controlled so no painting Starbucks or Costa on the side.  Probably CRT take a view on advertising.

[Neil2]

2 hours ago, Peter X said:

It seems to allow 10-12 minutes per lock, but I've found it works well if you have competent crew. If not, or you're single handed, the conventional formula of allowing 20 minutes per lock is more realistic. Also, an average cruising speed of 3mph is fine for most canals (probably including the OP's trip on the Staffs & Worcs) but on a canal that has more moored boats (mostly in the south), 2 or 2.5mph would be more like it.

Canalplan is good for playing with options such as hours per day; in June you get a lot more daylight of course, and provided you and your crew are up for it it's quite possible to do 12 hours per day. If you want to do a trip quickly, the key is to get up early and keep going, eating on the move.

Yes Peter, good point I was forgetting Grumpy's on his own.

I think you're probably right about "flat" speed too, stationary boats are becoming a significant factor in many parts of the network I reckon our cruising speed is a fair bit lower than it used to be.  By contrast I can't remember the last time we had more than one boat in front of us at a lock when once upon a time lock queues were common, so maybe it's swings and roundabouts.  Or maybe we're just on a long lucky streak..  

[Sea Dog]

37 minutes ago, The Grumpy Triker said:

:-) good point! ...I do need quicker than slow but not as fast as ambling

one thing I can't find, are there any rules for what can and can't be painted on the side of the boat?....within bounds of decency I should add. Are you allowed national flags fluttering or coat of arms etc. Just trying to think of items that may not be considered public property etc. 

Have a load of different ideas for the Boat Name picture but not sure if any are out of bounds for the waterways.....really naive question I know

One of the Navy's narrowboats was called "Shy Talk" and there's a lot more edgy around as was being discussed on another thread recently. You may have to live with the name for a long time, and your granny might visit, so choose wisely. 

Do a search on the forum for flags, Captain's Hats and anything else you may think may be amusing to sport - you may be surprised how controversial some seemingly innocent things seem to be!

[Peter X]

You see quite a few boats with national flags, frowned upon by purists, but if it is technically illegal I don't thing anyone will stop you, not inland anyway. A red ensign at the stern is legal as far as I'm aware, but not mandatory inland, and most canal boats fly no flag. Do not fly a white ensign, as I think a recent topic concluded that any Royal Navy officer seeing that can and quite possibly will arrest you.

As for coats of arms, I guess it would be illegal to use any you aren't entitled to, whether on a boat or anywhere else. But only an expert would ever know unless you appropriate something very famous, and even then you'd probably get away with it for ages. You could always make your own up.

If you want to stick within canal tradition, there's a whole mass of material about what is or isn't traditional, lots of differences of opinion, and endless discussion on these forums about it.

[Machpoint005]

23 hours ago, The Grumpy Triker said:

>>>  .....also wondered whether reed choppers or shredders were commonplace around the prop, or of this was a fancy extra?

What you need is a proper weed hatch that doesn't require the user to have three double-jointed elbows on each arm.

[The Grumpy Triker]

On 11/05/2017 at 19:35, Neil2 said:

Yes Peter, good point I was forgetting Grumpy's on his own.

I think you're probably right about "flat" speed too, stationary boats are becoming a significant factor in many parts of the network I reckon our cruising speed is a fair bit lower than it used to be.  By contrast I can't remember the last time we had more than one boat in front of us at a lock when once upon a time lock queues were common, so maybe it's swings and roundabouts.  Or maybe we're just on a long lucky streak..  

Sorry dropped my iPad and just got insurance replacement - cheers Neil....be lucky if I don't clog the first lock while trying to get the lines sorted...tripping over the centre line whilst holding the stern line in my teeth and bow line under my left foot :-)

[The Grumpy Triker]

On 11/05/2017 at 19:43, Sea Dog said:

One of the Navy's narrowboats was called "Shy Talk" and there's a lot more edgy around as was being discussed on another thread recently. You may have to live with the name for a long time, and your granny might visit, so choose wisely. 

Do a search on the forum for flags, Captain's Hats and anything else you may think may be amusing to sport - you may be surprised how controversial some seemingly innocent things seem to be!

Sorry, as per above dropped my iPad and just got insurance replacement - cheers Sea Dog :-D ...yep, know things can get edgy so thought I'd better sound you guys out :-)

will keep the name just wanted new artwork on mine :-)

[The Grumpy Triker]

On 11/05/2017 at 20:05, Peter X said:

You see quite a few boats with national flags, frowned upon by purists, but if it is technically illegal I don't thing anyone will stop you, not inland anyway. A red ensign at the stern is legal as far as I'm aware, but not mandatory inland, and most canal boats fly no flag. Do not fly a white ensign, as I think a recent topic concluded that any Royal Navy officer seeing that can and quite possibly will arrest you.

As for coats of arms, I guess it would be illegal to use any you aren't entitled to, whether on a boat or anywhere else. But only an expert would ever know unless you appropriate something very famous, and even then you'd probably get away with it for ages. You could always make your own up.

If you want to stick within canal tradition, there's a whole mass of material about what is or isn't traditional, lots of differences of opinion, and endless discussion on these forums about it.

Sorry for delay - see above :-)

yep was a it worried about the flag, wanted a St George Cross fluttering with a Red Rose with stem curling around it to denote the name English Rose. Either that or a couple of other options. Was going to ask about the red ensign, seems a bit much but then again does set you aside from the hire boats....as does your ability :-) ....but not mine yet 

On 11/05/2017 at 20:15, Machpoint005 said:

What you need is a proper weed hatch that doesn't require the user to have three double-jointed elbows on each arm.

Apologies again . As per above :-)

can you fit a weed hatch to any boat or are options limited to initial build?

[DHutch]

We have always done our own blacking, using an epoxy primer and one part vinyl blacking. As always prep is key and often skimped on, although I have also seen some very poor paint application by 'profesonals' , certainly I am quite sure we do a well above average job of both prep and application.

Emily Anne flies a red ensign and always has, not as such traditional canal attire but she's not a traditional canal boat and it looks the part I think.

Canal plan ac is very good and my main source. Else we work to 'locks divided by two, added to miles, divided by 2.5' for a ready recon, hence an 8hour day will do around 20 lock miles. Large flights are faster than this, narrow/shallow pounds slower. 

You can retro fit a weed hatch to most boats reasonable easily. You also need access to the hatch.

 

Daniel

Edited May 15, 2017 by DHutch
clarity of first paragraph

[The Grumpy Triker]

19 hours ago, DHutch said:

We have always done our own blacking, using an epoxy primer and one part vinyl blacking. As always prep is key and often skimped on, although I have also seen some very poor paint application by 'profesonals' and and quite sure we don't an above average job.

Emily Anne flies a red ensign and always has, not as such traditional canal attire but she's not a traditional canal boat and it looks the part I think.

Canal plan ac is very good and my main source. Else we work to 'locks divided by two, added to miles, divided by 2.5' for a ready recon, hence an 8hour day will do around 20 lock miles. Large flights are faster than this, narrow/shallow pounds slower. 

You can retro fit a weed hatch to most boats reasonable easily. You also need access to the hatch.

 

Daniel

Cheers - all good info thanks DHutch 

[The Grumpy Triker]

Just now, The Grumpy Triker said:

Cheers - all good info thanks DHutch 

Quite fancy a Red Ensign flying as am proud of the history but didn't want to look even more of a spanner than I will already with 'L' Plates up

:-D

[DHutch]

21 hours ago, The Grumpy Triker said:

Quite fancy a Red Ensign flying as am proud of the history but didn't want to look even more of a spanner than I will already with 'L' Plates up

We have only lost one, and snapped the current one once....  ...similarly we have only hit the wheelhouse on a bridge three times in 26 years.

Looking a bit of a spanner is I think a key part of life, and getting on and doing stuff rather than just watching and talking about it.

As said, the Ensign is a bit still, but them so is a Dutch barge style steam powered narrowboat, so given where we are as a starting point!

 

Daniel

[ditchcrawler]

On 2017-5-14 at 22:27, The Grumpy Triker said:

  Was going to ask about the red ensign, seems a bit much but then again does set you aside from the hire boats....as does your ability :-) ....but not mine yet 

 

 

No it doesn't lots of hire boats have flags, they normally have the name of the hire company on the side which is bit of a give away

[The Grumpy Triker]

23 hours ago, DHutch said:

We have only lost one, and snapped the current one once....  ...similarly we have only hit the wheelhouse on a bridge three times in 26 years.

Looking a bit of a spanner is I think a key part of life, and getting on and doing stuff rather than just watching and talking about it.

As said, the Ensign is a bit still, but them so is a Dutch barge style steam powered narrowboat, so given where we are as a starting point!

 

Daniel

:-D