Golden Duck

Just to let you know that Golden Duck has arrived on the Slough Arm and is being craned out shortly for her road journey to her new home on the non-tidal reaches of the River Medway. This will be the last entry under this sign-in.

Thanks for the crimping advice. What was confusing was that all the catalogues talk about the yellow crimps only being suitable up to 6.6mm I think it was. As no larger insulated colour crimps were offered, this implies that nothing is available for larger cables. I presume from what you have said, that I will need to use an un-insulated lug and crimp that on to the 10mm2 cable. Thanks for the concern Tony, but yes it has been thought through. As is usual in these forums, I don't have the time or space to post all the details of the intended wiring but suffice to say that each lighting output from the DC distribution panel is fused for the smallest gauge cable used in the circuit.

We are running in some 10mm2 DC cabling for a lighting circuit on another boat in the fleet and want to use some form of busbar, so that the 10mm cable passes through the busbar on to the next point and smaller cables can be taken off each busbar as spurs to power individual lighting circuits. The problem is how to connect the 10mm2 cable to the busbar. Its obviously too large to crimp reliably, so should we solder a lug on to the cable and bolt it to the post on the busbar ?? I've looked through the Aquafax catalogue as that seems a good source of different connectors, but not sure which would be suitable ??

Can you tell me which company built her ? Was it D.B ?

I wonder if anybody knew who produced such a system. I had kind of worked out how it worked, but was interested in finding some more detailed technical info and prices from the maker. Presumerably these must be some form of rotating joint between the hull and the movable outdrive leg, for the hydraulic piping to pass through from the boat to the hydraulic motor or it must work on movable gearing with the hydraulic motor fixed inside the boat.

A new community boat has just arrived at our mooring. She is called Stort Daybreak and is a 55ft widebeam day boat. Apparently, one of her features is a hydraulic drive and prop attached to the bottom of the tiller, so that there is no rudder and the whole thing turns like an outdrive to provide better manoeuvrability. The system appears to be powered by a Beta engine driving a hydraulic pump. There is also a interior steering position for wheelchair users to steer using a follow up steering lever and electronic throttle. Does anybody know any more about this form of propulsion ??

Just near the Malta Inn at Sandling above Allington Lock.

We are 11ft 2" in the beam. When delivered, Golden Duck was brought down the GU from the Goldsbrough yard, across London on the Regents and then up the River Lee to her current home. We tend to go as far as central London on trips. As with all things, widebeams have pro's and cons. The advantage as you have already realised is the living space. The disadvantage is speed and canal access. We definitely can't go as fast as narrowboats. Our greater displacement means we have to really slow down a lot when passing moored boats and on twisty/narrow waterways, we are often down to 2mph or less. I can imagine that this would be quite frustrating on a private boat. When I steer a narrowboat after being out on GD, I feel like I've switched from a truck to a saloon car. The other thing is mooring. Access to off-line marinas is sometimes a problem (can't always squeeze into slots between pontoon fingers) and on-line moorings can sometimes be restrictive on narrower canals. You can get into tighter and smaller places with a narrowboat. To summarise, if you are planning to mainly live on a static mooring with an occasional trip out (weekends, etc), then a widebeam could be for you. If you want to spend a lot of time cruising, then you might find a widebeam a bit frustrating. As the canals get busier, this will only get worse. Golden Duck is being moved shortly to a new home on the River Medway.

The other day, came in to find that some so and so had stolen both our stern lines and the back end was drifting. Admittedly, they were nice black 10mm lines but even so.... They didn't touch the diesel or bow line or the fenders ???? - weird ! The boat is in a locked compound, so indications are that they were taken from the water side of the boat.

Our boat was built without any fender eyes and our handrail is the moulded type so there is nothing to tie to. We made a couple of fender hooks from mahoghany offcuts. We just cut the shape out with a jigsaw, sanded/filed the edges round, drilled a hole at the bottom for the fender line and lined the inside with some rubber material from some old drink coasters, in order to protect the paint. They are very useful, but we have snapped one under stress when the fender got stuck. They act as a kind of quick release mechanism by breaking which isnt a bad thing, if your fender is stuck.

I think we have a similar set up to yours on Golden Duck. We have a Dometic/Electrolux Travel Power Strap-on Generator and we have the Sterling Battery Charger, which looks the same as yours in the picture. The builder told our delivery crew not to have the charger on when the engine was running and the Travel Power switched on. He said that the domestic alternator would charge the batteries then - the charger only being used on the shore line. We presume there is some threat of confliction if both are on ??? Presumerably, the alternator would provide a slightly different charging voltage to the battery charger ? By the way, our charger fan doesn't run all the time - I think it has some form of temperature sensor as it seems to cut in after a while, when charging.

As well as skippering the boat, I also teach canoeing and I paddle with a teenage boy with aspergers every few weeks. Your words are very familiar to me. We have progressed in well defined steps and we always discuss what we are going to do before we do it, so there are no sudden surprises. I have found that clear and literal instructions seem to help (none of this "when I nod my head, hit it !" type instructions). For the first few weeks (when the weather was warmer), he enjoyed spending more time in the water than on it, but now he is paddling his own boat and loving it. Today, we paddled a backwater on the river which involved negotiating a lot of obstructions like low hanging branches, logs in the water, gravel shallows, etc and he asked when we could do that again. Although, there are behavioural similarities, every child is different and I am still learning.

Its a difficult one to answer on a general basis. You might find it difficult to cope with the needs of the boat and your son at the same time, especially at moments like working locks. You might find it useful to have someone on the boat to look after the needs of your son while you are looking after the needs of the boat (or vice versa). IMHO Lifejackets are a must for special needs children as they are usually unaware of danger. Also, make sure you minimise the trip hazards and ensure there are adequate guard rails etc. When we have children on board who like to wander, one of their carers normally sleeps between them and the door, so they can't go for a moonlit walk without waking the carer. We have moveable beds on castors which allow them to do this, but presumerably you could rig a camp bed up to achieve the same result. Hope this helps.

It really depends on your child. "Special Needs" is a label which covers a wide range of conditions. Certainly, we have had visually impaired children on board who are also in the autistic spectrum.