MORE FROM RICKMANSWORTH 2011

Pictures of the lock jam at the end of the show Sunday and of me on tiny tug Sunday morning the tug was a section eight boat chopped and welded re engined and built by p&s marine bridgewater basin watford a real fun thing to have to play with all weekend oh and notice a fully loaded corona first time in 15 years that Trevor maggs had loaded her with coal in all that time but he did and went all the ways back to braunston not bad for an 83year old and well done Trevor ur a hero and a legend

RICKMANSWORYH FESTIVAL 2011

A good weekend at rickmansworth  this year 100s of boats attended 1000s of people too and was a success for the trust and the boat tug of war was brilliant as usual.

CANALWAY CAVALCADE APRIL 2011

Bio Diesiel

With the introduction of low sulphur bio diesel on to the waterways many questions are being asked as to the long term affects to the modern engine and that some degrading of the rubber seals with in the engine might be affected, this is as present an unknown but likely to affect the engine as stronger detergents and other chemicals are mixed to lower the dioxins in the exhaust, also that the fuel will degrade as it ages , therefore if you have a 180ltr tank a usual sized tank for a narrow boat, it would be prudent to cycle your tank throughout the year in other words run your tank lower than usual, fuel filter will need to be changed on a more regular basis and i would strongly advise the use of MARINE 16 Treatment available from the river canal website follow the links to the web shop, A better way if possible is to have a day tank installed fed from the main tank a throw back to a by gone age but with out doubt a better way of isolating a fuel problem I'm sure you will agree, and i think we might see boat builders adopting a smaller fuel tank instead of the large type we are all used too anyway have a safe and trouble free year and all the best.

WINTER IS HERE

Don't forget now winter is here try and be near civilisation for water and general help, although the coal boats will be running up to Christmas there will be at least a week when they wont be, so make sure you have enough fuel and coal to see you through, at some point the canal will freeze and you will need a plan B, so take care and keep warm.

P&S Marine at bridge water basin in my opinion the best boat yard in the south east on the grand Union canal, as you can see the lift out is provided by the on site Andie's crane which will lift up around 30 tones, the on site work shops can deliver to you the boater a very high level of engineering skill and fabrication to the highest standard, a real boat yard with real engineers who know boats.

BALDOCK IN DOCK

Baldock was in the dock during June for her 5year insurance hull survey and all in all came out well a wee bit of welding here and there all done by a superb welder Pete wakeman then a good coat of bitumen to match the upper paint work , re floated and is looking pristine on her mooring .