Bonkers idea or a great idea?

[Carrerahill]

On 05/06/2021 at 21:45, canalsiderenovation said:

Ok so about half done and here's a glimpse of what we have done today and what they will look like with the fence panels bracketed on. The wooden posts are fixed onto the barriers/posts, not concreted in rather just for appearance. Really pleased with them and went for feather edge panels over waney lap.

 

They will be sprayed with creosote or my dad said he does his with old engine oil so I'll opt for this easier job next weekend! 

 

 

 

Looks excellent!

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

Wood concreted in would rot just above the concrete in a depressingly short time.

Still got some in my NE facing rear garden that are 34 years old.

[Ferdinand]

6 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Still got some in my NE facing rear garden that are 34 years old.

 

Cornwall !

[Temp]

On 05/06/2021 at 23:33, canalsiderenovation said:

I'll double check though don't want to harm any wildlife as we have ducks that visit every day - our chickens are not impressed.

 

Chickens are easily fooled... 

 

[ToughButterCup]

Broody chickens are: they seem sometimes to be in a parallel space time continuum. 

 

But ' normal ' chickens are as switched on as you can get. By turns  calculating, venal, aggressive,  determined,  excellent memory, observant. 

 

Ours learned to get the best worms they had to be first IN the digger bucket as I dug holes. And that a bucket full of clay is a waste of time. And as for sowing grass seed on open ground...

 

They like tea too.

[canalsiderenovation]

@ToughButterCup yep agree with you on the chickens. Ours have ended up in the wheelbarrow on more than one occasion and narrowly avoided being run over with the digger. They don't learn either. I dug into Geraldine's foot and took off one of her claws (I felt awful and it was a genuine accident). An hour later she was under the spade again.....

[SteamyTea]

Our chicken ends up on a plate, for between £3.50 and £12.

[canalsiderenovation]

Yesterday we worked so hard - all panels painted back and front and fixed on now. It's looking so good and I took some pics from towpath side too. The planting on the bank is looking good now too, kind of wildflower with lots of fox gloves.

 

We did discover a baby bunny that obviously had tried to go under the motorway barriers and got it's head stuck and pretty much decapitated itself ?

 

There will be a gravel limestone (we think) path then all the way along as the fence will continue outside our utility door too and all the way up.

 

As yet there is no membrane the other side but the earth isn't exactly touching but it is preventing any fall off or gravel from the embankment tumbling down. I know it won't be to everyone's taste but we are happy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jilly]

Looks good!

[Cpd]

I take it all back….. it looks fantastic! Well done 

[Big Jimbo]

That looks great. Good job.

[ProDave]

That looks a lovely garden. When are you buying a narrowboat?

[markc]

Im impressed ... and somewhat envious, secluded plot and canal frontage

[canalsiderenovation]

2 hours ago, ProDave said:

That looks a lovely garden. When are you buying a narrowboat?

 

We have mooring now so definitely at some point in the future when the house and garden is sorted. They ain't cheap!

[canalsiderenovation]

3 hours ago, markc said:

Im impressed ... and somewhat envious, secluded plot and canal frontage

 

We are on the Llangollen at Grindley Brook, in Whitchurch, right on the Cheshire/Shropshire border on the Sandstone Trail. It's not very secluded at the moment very busy with hire narrowboats.

 

Our canal frontage is longer than that but we have a bywash too, basically we are sandwiched in between two canal bridges (pic before renovation).

 

 

Edited June 14, 2021 by canalsiderenovation

[joe90]

27 minutes ago, canalsiderenovation said:

They ain't cheap!

Quite, priced one up (that needed to be completely refurbished) about 20 years ago ?. I must have been past your house in a short narrow boat hired from near Whixall moss a couple of decades ago, a very good way to chill, nothing is fast. (The short ones are a lot easier to control).

Edited June 14, 2021 by joe90

[SteamyTea]

27 minutes ago, canalsiderenovation said:

ain't cheap

My sister's cost more than my house.

You could make your own as they are pretty basic, structurally.

[ProDave]

Narrowboats come in a range of prices.  Sub £10 will get you something that floats (but for how long?)  I reckon about £1K per foot will get you a decent one.  When we retire we plan to buy a 50ft approx NB and live aboard for a couple of years and explore the whole network.  At least you won't have to pay a mooring fee (assuming you have the right to moor one on your bank?)

 

I actually find the larger ones easier to control that the "half pint" variety.  More mass and more momentum makes them easier to keep going in a straight line slowly when you want them to.

 

I have definitely been passed there, that was our first canal holiday up the Langollen nearly 30 years ago now.  There is more to explore next time with part of the Montgomory now opened.

 

The Langollen gets quite narrow above Trevor and over the aqueduct.

[canalsiderenovation]

48 minutes ago, joe90 said:

I must have been past your house in a short narrow boat hired from near Whixall moss a couple of decades ago, a very good way to chill

 

Yes not far at all. I wouldn't have used the word chill over the previous weekend. There was a 3 hour wait at the staircase locks 5 mins walk away and we had a queue of boats. Tempers were fraying as there was only 3 let up then 3 down so it was manic.

 

We can moor in our garden but you still have to pay a fee. Even as a continual cruiser with the various paperwork etc it isn't cheap. A fibreglass one may be a cheap alternative to start with. Canalworld forums are a great place to start but prices have rocketed recently.

 

This was moored up opposite us last weekend in the queue for the staircase. A caravan and boat in one! You probably can't see it clearly but the boat at the back is a Caraboat.

 

 

[canalsiderenovation]

58 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

My sister's cost more than my house.

You could make your own as they are pretty basic, structurally.

 

My friend had a dutch barge built from scratch for his retirement as a liveaboard. It was 62ft and cost around £100k. It was stunning, literally all dovetail joints on internal mahogany woodwork. It was a real work of art.

[Jilly]

I visited a few years ago, when I had a canal boat fantasy. Here's an image I took of the Pontcysyllyte Aquaduct, it's quite an amazing structure!

[joe90]

44 minutes ago, Jilly said:

Pontcysyllyte Aquaduct, it's quite an amazing structure!

Oh yes, been over that one, the frightening thing with it tho is on the path side there is a railing but the other side the water is only about 9 inches below the cast iron trough that carries the water, and the boat I was on had  no railing and about 2 feet above the water line so very easy to fall overboard and tumble all the way to the bottom of the valley. ?.

 

1 hour ago, canalsiderenovation said:

A fibreglass one may be a cheap alternative to start with.

Again I have been on a friends fibreglass canal boat but it’s very susceptible to side winds (much lighter than a steel hull) so when windy far harder to control. If you want a steel canal boat made an old skydiving mate of mine over at Tilstock used to make them as a welder, I can put you in touch ?.

Edited June 14, 2021 by joe90

[SteamyTea]

The trick with a canal boat, especially a narrowboat, is to fit bow and stern thrusters. And then stick 2 fingers up at the traditionalist.

Why make life hard.

There is also a reduced fee if you have an unpowered boat, or an electric one.

So a small electric one (with a genny obviously) and tow a larger unpowered one.

And a commercial licence is often cheaper.

Properly build GRP is ok on the canals if touring, but if mainly static, it will get hit a lot. Steel and aluminium tend not to fracture so easily. Though a GRP one can be made unsinkable.

Two biggest problems, apart from damp and flies, is fresh and waste water. They take up a lot of room.

Edited June 14, 2021 by SteamyTea

[ToughButterCup]

25 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

....

Two biggest problems, apart from damp and flies, is fresh and waste water. They take up a lot of room.

 

How are you with the noise of half a dozen ducks pecking the weed off the water line at 5 in 't morning? 

[canalsiderenovation]

26 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

 

How are you with the noise of half a dozen ducks pecking the weed off the water line at 5 in 't morning? 

 

Or pecking at the patio door for food whilst in a conference call.