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Post by Mr Stabby on Feb 18, 2024 19:52:17 GMT
I'm a big fan of Silverline tools etc. Although they aren't professional quality, they're good DIYer quality and not expensive. Not that I would do my own blacking even if I was given a gold-plated set of Snap-On tar brushes to do it with. Will be our first go at blacking. Have used Stoke Golding boatyard previous couple of times but they’re stacked out. Had a couple of quotes and just seems that yards are taking the pee, so thought we would have a go. Quite looking forward to it and will save around £500… Ali should be aware that blacking a narrowboat is a filthy job and she is likely to get enormous blobs of bitumen in her hair, her eyebrows, all over her clothes and on any exposed skin. I'd suggest that you act like a gentleman and take her out a cup of tea every couple of hours while she's doing it.
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Post by on Feb 18, 2024 19:59:28 GMT
It is important also for a gentleman to consider the comfort of the lady in preference to exhibiting his skill as an artist in this regard.
There are times when ladies may become frightened and accidents are never far away.
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Post by ianali on Feb 18, 2024 23:06:12 GMT
Will be our first go at blacking. Have used Stoke Golding boatyard previous couple of times but they’re stacked out. Had a couple of quotes and just seems that yards are taking the pee, so thought we would have a go. Quite looking forward to it and will save around £500… I think Pete Gilbert charged me about £400 for the blacking last time ( I had other jobs done and the total bill was £680 but the bill wasn't itemised). I stayed on the boat while it was in dry dock and saw how much labour it involved and how filthy a job it was. Assuming the 20l of bitumen cost £60 then the labour was £340. I earn more than that after stoppages sitting in the cab of a truck for three days and spending 80% of that time drinking coffee and surfing the internet so why would I want to do my own blacking? I'd sooner spend three more days at work and get Pete to do it. Before retiring I’d never have dreamed of diy blacking. Now we have so much spare time we tend to do more of these jobs ourselves. It’s not just the money, it’s a job we fancy having a go at. I get that it’s wiser for those that have a paid job to have others do such things. I wonder what Pete charges now? Stoke Golding charged about £470 last time, that was 2021. I had a quote of £750 for this year. Couple of other yards I spoke with want nearly a grand.
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Post by Aloysius on Feb 18, 2024 23:46:36 GMT
Also a job worth doing yourself. I suspect most yards will do nothing much beyond giving the hull a once-over with the pressure washer before slapping a fresh coat of black stuff on; if it's your boat then you will naturally put doing the job right over ease and convenience. But if all you want is a power wash and slap then Vince knows just the man, although price would be a consideration; renewed every couple of years it will probably do a fair job. If it's cheap enough.
One other thing; the practice of 'blacking' the hull began when most if not all canal boats were timber construction, and was a most sensible practice. The substance used was coal tar, eminently suitable for the purpose of preserving wood. It's my guess the practice continued with iron and steel for want of a better alternative.
So two points; you can't buy coal-tar anymore because it's been deemed environmentally hazardous, and these days there are better things that adhere to steel like shit to a blanket than bituminous goop mainly used to seal flat roofs and the like, although on the canal it's perhaps a fair choice as a top layer over a zinc-rich primer.
Andrew one remarked to me about someone he knew who beached his boat on drying sands on the tidal Thames with a wash and a slap in mind, about all that you could do between tides. Cheap, but he apparently caught hepatitis. 🥺
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Post by Aloysius on Feb 19, 2024 0:03:31 GMT
Feb 16, 2024 at 9:44am Tony Dunkley said to: ianali If I'm not careful, . . this could turn into a very informative and useful 'method statement' for C&RT and the goons who've been given the job of clearing this latest slip, and re-opening the navigation this time ! And here we are back to the ridiculously long cutnpaste bullshit that you do. It would be better if you told CRT; at least they could automatically file your submissions under B. What a pity that all you have in mind is to make yourself as unwelcome as before.
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Post by Aloysius on Feb 19, 2024 6:33:46 GMT
You do know that Vince actually enjoys winding you up, right?
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Post by Mr Stabby on Feb 19, 2024 6:33:57 GMT
I understand the next official update will be 23 February. Thought, as this stoppage maybe around a while, it merited its own thread for any reports or news. Rog There isn't an 'Easenhall' Cutting anywhere on any C&RT controlled canal or other inland waterway, . . Alice, . . and certainly nowhere along the North Oxford between Sutton's Stop and Braunston Turn.
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Post by Mr Stabby on Feb 19, 2024 6:38:46 GMT
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Post by Tony Dunkley on Feb 19, 2024 6:56:01 GMT
I understand the next official update will be 23 February. Thought, as this stoppage maybe around a while, it merited its own thread for any reports or news. Rog There isn't an 'Easenhall' Cutting anywhere on any C&RT controlled canal or other inland waterway, . . Alice, . . and certainly nowhere along the North Oxford between Sutton's Stop and Braunston Turn. There is, however, a Brinklow Cutting, . . constructed to by-pass and replace the winding contour length of the North Oxford that originally passed through Brinklow village itself, . . and about which, I can provide the following information :- Feb 16, 2024 at 9:44am Tony Dunkley said to: ianali
If your plans included using the North Oxford you're probably in for a long wait. When I've got time later, I'll post a brief account of a slip that occured in almost the same place, but down the outside slope of the cutting, early one Winter morning in 1969, . . and how the two pairs of loaded boats it held up were through and on their way again by midday. Slips of a similar magnitude to the current one in the Brinklow Cutting (often referred to by working boatmen and their family member crews as Brinklow Rocking) have been commonplace, to my personal knowledge, for at least the last 60 years. Less so the further back in time you go, . . mainly because the trees were smaller back then, and so applied less rotating/slipping force to the areas of the cutting sides around the roots. I expect C&RT and their useless contractors will make their customary long drawn out song and dance over getting the canal open to boat traffic again following this relatively minor slip, . . but in the days when the North Oxford still saw regular commercial traffic, a slip such as the present one would generally delay traffic for no more than around half a day at most. This (below) is a brief account of one such landslip :- ____________________________________________________ Early one Winter morning in 1969, two pairs of boats left Sutton's (Stop) heading South. Both pairs had loaded the previous day, . . Willow Wren CTS's 'Nuneaton' & 'Ara' from Newdigate Colliery (up the arm by Bedworth Hill Bridge) for Colne Valley Works, and Blue Line Canal Carriers sub-contracted pair 'Jaguar' & 'Achilles' from Baddesley Colliery (Atherstone) for Kearley & Tonge's jam and cooked meats factory at Southall (known colloquiallly around the 'cut' as the Jam Hole). They got as far as Brinklow Cutting and found the canal blocked a few hundred yards from Brinklow Road Bridge with fallen trees and earth that had slipped into the canal down the outside (offside in today's canal speak) bank during the night.
The material from the slip, earth and assorted smallish stones, was a bit over halfway across the width of the canal, . . the branches of the trees all the way across and over the towpath.
With no help immediately available from BW's Hilmorton Yard - the time was still only around 0645 hrs - we got to work with the two 'motors' using the 'snubbers' (the boat's length heavy tow ropes used round long pounds) snatching the upper branches of the trees from over the towpath, dragging and swinging them as far as we could round and back toward the outside bank of the cutting in the direction of Stretton Stop, . . and George Wain's son, John, ('Nuneaton' & 'Ara') walked up into Brinklow to find a phone box and ring Hilmorton Yard.
The call to Hilmorton soon brought Length Foreman, Joe Hogg, and brickie, George Russell, with a couple of bow saws. Working off the top planks from both motors slung between the boats and the towpath, and the boats and the tree branches, we cleared as wide a gap as we could between the fallen trees and the towpath.
Then with both motors working hard ahead and back together - stem fender on one motor lashed tight up against the tip-cats (stern fenders) on the other one - 'Jaguar' and 'Nuneaton' were both forced through the gap created between the towpath and the fallen trees, and then the buttys, 'Ara' and 'Achilles', were dragged through too. Both pairs were through and clear of the slip and on their way again by just before 1100 hours.
Once both pairs of loaded boats had forced their way past the landslip and opened up a boat-sized channel through the mud and slip spoil, it was relatively easy for others to get past the slip too. The remaining branches, trunks of trees, and the spoil in the canal from the slip, were all cleared away over the next few weeks, . . but all in all, it only took about five hours to re-open the navigation after the slip was first discovered.
__________________________________________
When I've got a bit more time to spare later, I'll explain the procedure - the correct procedure - that was invariably followed for clearing landslip material from out of the navigation channel, . . and why it MUST be done that way. If I'm not careful, . . this could turn into a very informative and useful 'method statement' for C&RT and the goons who've been given the job of clearing this latest slip, and re-opening the navigation this time. I'll be very surprised if they get it right, . . and don't create the likeliehood of further slips occuring soon afterwards, . . by removing too much slip material/spoil from the navigation channel too soon !
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Post by Aloysius on Feb 19, 2024 7:09:44 GMT
You really are a tragic figure. Oh well.
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Post by dogless on Feb 19, 2024 8:28:56 GMT
C&RT are the navigation authority for the inland waterways system including the North Oxford Canal.
They refer to the landslip currently blocking passage between Rose Narrow Boats at Fosse Way and All Oaks Wood at Brinklow as EASENHALL CUTTING, and as they are the authority arranging repairs it seems obvious to use their name for the stoppage.
Whatever I or anyone else chooses to call it is irrelevant and could cause great confusion.
Far simpler for everyone if we use their title so we all know to what we are referring.
Rog
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Post by dogless on Feb 19, 2024 8:36:58 GMT
Easenhall Cutting, Brinklow, Oxford Canal
Detail From Date: 07/02/2024 17:00
To Date: On-going
Type: Navigation Closure
Reason: Structure failure
Is the towpath closed? Yes
Location Closest waterway: Oxford Canal
Starts at: Aqueduct 4, Brinklow
Ends at: Bridge 34, Easenhall Lane
Upstream winding hole: Brinklow Marina
Downstream winding hole: Before Bridge 32, Old Arm entrance
Updates 08/02/2024 16:55
Due to heavy rainfall, a significant landslip on an 18m high cutting has completely blocked the canal and towpath. We're working with our contractors to develop a plan to start to clear the large trees and debris from the canal. Unfortunately these works are in an awkward location, meaning it could take longer to resolve. Taking into account the popularity of the North Oxford Canal, as recently noted by our lockage reports, our priority is to re-open navigation as soon as possible.
We'll aim to provide a further update on Friday 23rd February, once our contractors have assessed the situation.
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Post by on Feb 19, 2024 8:38:11 GMT
I want to call it dead horsecorrextion cutting.
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Post by ianali on Feb 19, 2024 8:40:15 GMT
C&RT are the navigation authority for the inland waterways system including the North Oxford Canal. They refer to the landslip currently blocking passage between Rose Narrow Boats at Fosse Way and All Oaks Wood at Brinklow as EASENHALL CUTTING, and as they are the authority arranging repairs it seems obvious to use their name for the stoppage. Whatever I or anyone else chooses to call it is irrelevant and could cause great confusion. Far simpler for everyone if we use their title so we all know to what we are referring. Rog Vince told me that as far as this area is concerned, dogless is the expert. Apparently you could find your way around here even in the dark?
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Post by dogless on Feb 19, 2024 8:44:03 GMT
Twat
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