***** in a bath tub in a canal

[hedgerow pete]

Ok before all the nay sayers kick in and the usual negative comments this whole thread has to be positive only. please remeber that when posting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!


due to being unemployed and as of today signed off as cancer treatment free for another six months i wish to celebrate in a mature and sensilble adult refined way that only a man in his fourties with a family could do, so i have decided to combine a two week long midlife crisses with a canal and a bath tub.............................................. result
,

kids of today have no imagination!!


found on the internet plans that turns a single sheet of ply into a 7 foot by 2 foot boat (same size as a bathtub)

two oars, a broom handle sail, an umbrella in case it rains and 48 pot noddles and a crate of newcastle brown and i think its a go'a ho and a loo roll

so since i have to sign on , on tuesday the 10th of january that means five days to build and test the boat then a tuesday lunchtime or a wednesday morning launching and then ten days to get to glouster or beyond , how big is the pond any way?

so the questions!
since i cant seem to find a book on this particular subject does anyone know certain sections of the canals and any ideas to help flesh out some of the route. with pit stops, supply shops and distence and times

considering i shall be trying where ever posible to use wind rather than oars, i might even find a canal boat for a tow! what sort of times are we looking at?

I was planning that as a worse case to abandon the bath tub in a hidden spot to return to later to complete if i have to depart for home. and then restart my midlife crisses at a later date

also i need an accomplice,

due to no internet broadband satalite being built in the new bath tub one would need a house bound person so daily texts can be sent to , to update other internet based people on this said forum, any takers wishing to be back up to an ***** in a bath tub?

and apart from that does anyone want to add any sencible ideas to the "great plan"

 

[region2]

eh?

 

[drstitson]

who's going to feed the little ixy-chicks? won't they be imprinted on you and miss "mummy"????

 

[roche]

I once sailed a sheet of corrigated iron from Hungerford to (nearly) Newbury. Stole it off a friends hen house in the morning, formed into a canoe, sailed down the canal. Turned it back into the henhouse roof when we were done...

There is a book on the subject - "how to make a tin canoe"

Good luck Pete! (who's going to look after the Beans?)

 

[For want of a better word]

Great idea!!

I built just such a "vessel" in my joof at my Grandad's house that was on the banks of the River Wandle in Wallington

The river was shallow so the Graaf Spey had a flat bottom, in fact was an old somewhat bath shaped water tank.

Front and rear or should I say bow and stern were clad in strips of T&G and Jablo inserted for extra buoyancy in case of a disaster. ( of which there were many!)

Your canals will be barely 2m at the deepest so a punt pole may be your best method of propulsion.
We tried a sail, but without a keel just slipped sideways, an old gramaphone motor was also tried but was never really powerful enough to make any headway!

I salute your cause and hope you succeed... most canal folk I have met are similar to beekeeperers being a nice and helpful bunch... I expect there is a Narrow(minded) Canal Boat Owners Association similar to our own much maligned BBKA who will thoroughly lampoon you for such plans!

Don't drink the water.. fish f**k in it!!!



Just wondering what Finnmann will make of this thread?

 

[The Cumbrian]

Which canal/route would you be taking?

Not being totally sure of where you are in the general B'ham area my map suggests a variety of possible routes.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Think Tom Bick has a canal boat

 

[yeogi75]

your nuts out of your mind ???? go for it
tinter net Jim shead has a brill site for canals and routes etc
dont forget the anchore an old bed stead will do
when finished with boat use wood for nucs

 

[JamezF]

I once sailed a sheet of corrigated iron from Hungerford to (nearly) Newbury. Stole it off a friends hen house in the morning, formed into a canoe, sailed down the canal. Turned it back into the henhouse roof when we were done...

Isn't there some sort of annual competition to build a "boat" and use it to navigate the canal from Hungerford to Newbury?

James

 

[For want of a better word]

​

Is that the annual build a "boat" and use it to navigate the canal from Hungerford to Newbury competition ?​

​

​

 

[Onge]

Cool, sounds like a plan.

Go for it .

 

[JamezF]

Is that the annual build a "boat" and use it to navigate the canal from Hungerford to Newbury competition ?

Google knows all. It is called the "Crafty Craft Race":

http://www.craftycraft.com/

James

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

Try the Optimist, I have plans for it on my boat, but not here. They are great for kids that are learning to sail, as well as adults...

 

[For want of a better word]

"Crafty Craft Race".... was on the tip of me tongue!
excellent!!

 

[roche]

Yep - it was the crafty raft race.

 

[hedgerow pete]

route wise i was thinking of a launch at galton bridge, swim sorry float along to the netherton or if have to the dudley tunnels, if i remember last summer we walked along to the netherton and it was gated shut to boats, i dont know about bath tubs

any way after the tunnel that puts me at pier head junction on the stourbridge canal off down to stourton junction

from there straight down to stourport on severn on the staffordshire and worcestershire cannal and then straigh down the severn, out at glouster unless i want to do the sharpness and mess with the big boys or i can always do the severn bore but thats going the wrong way and i would have to row like crazy, lol

the only two other ways i see is up to wolverhampton for a put in but the cars off the road at the moment or to run down to stratford on avon and then down the avon to the severn and so on.

any suggestions ?

distences wise according to my inland waterways maps and the lockmaster series of maps we are roughly talking

galton bridge to dudley 4mile
park head to stourton junc 7 miles
stourton to cookley tunnel 4mile
cookley tunnel to worcester 22 mile
worcester to tewksbury 14 mile
tewks to gloucester 14


glous to sharpness 16 mile or glouster to under the second road bridge 45mile,!

 

[hedgerow pete]

i think the hire of a seagull would be better than oars though

 

[The Cumbrian]

You might find this website helps with detailed plans - certainly on distances.

http://www.canalplan.org.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi

 

[hedgerow pete]

top website many thanks, just been told not allowed a seagull, no engine i dont need a canal ticket, engines i need a ticket.

also been told to find cheap boat insurence, i was thinking of the british canoe union used to cover you for canals, does it still do that anyone?

 

[For want of a better word]

BCU covers all the licenses for canals and most non tidal rivers.. except Grand Western and Port of London.. as far as I can remember!
Best to check with them... hope we get to see your exploits including the boat building on YouTube....

Name of boat B E E K I P P E R ?