birmingham to glouster on the water in a bath tub

[hedgerowpete]

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 idiot in a bath tub?

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

 

[nuggets]

sounds fantastic mate -wish a could join ya !! just don,t forget the bottle opener for the nuky broon !! best of luck to ya !!

 

[Harvestman]

Birmingham to Gloucester is against the prevailing wind, usually. Sounds like a great plan, but you may find yourself rowing a lot.

Best of luck, and I hope it works for you.

 

[hedgerowpete]

ok so ordered the wrong sort of wind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Harvestman]

Being positive, maybe you will get a nice freezing north wind to speed you along

 

[Maxip]

Cool - we used to build & race carboard canoes down grade 3 water so a bathtub made of plywood should be a breeze!!!

Good luck and I sense the opportunity for some fundraising

 

[hedgerowpete]

no ,no fund raising this time , i have an opurtuniting of blowing some bad memories and cobwebs out in a very short time scale even now as we speak the management is planning things in the way so for now its just good old fashioned blind stupidity

fund raising is planned for later on this year for a cancer charity, i have yet to decide on how stupid that is going to be!!

i would love to use a seagull but if i have one of those i need a british waterways ticket, non powered is free, i have bean told to get boat insurence, does the british cannoe insurence still covers people for canals?

 

[chris667]

To get an accurate idea of times and distances, I suggest Canalplan AC

http://www.canalplan.org.uk/

As for towing, if you are flexible and talk to everyone who goes past, I think it's reasonable. When I'm in my canoe I regularly grab hold of passing boats, and I'm certainly willing to offer a tow to people when my narrowboat is actually working. I know of a couple who have an unpowered boat (which means a half-price license), who just cadge lifts off passing boaters. They have lots of friends, and almost no diesel bill.

However, and not wishing to be negative, you need to check with British Waterways that there are no stoppages on your route. It's no problem if there are, you'll still be able to go under your own steam, but if there's no movement for bigger boats you won't get a tow.

Have you considered a little electric outboard? They're cheap enough now and cheaper, cleaner and less annoying to other boaties than a two stroke. Wind isn't reliable, and with a bathtub paddling will be hard! I would just not worry about the license or insurance; plenty of narrowboats don't, BW don't have the inclination to chase someone who's doing a one-off trip of a week. Ask them no questions, and tell them no lies.

I don't think any of my friends are on that part of the network right now, but if you want a chat about anything, do get in touch.

 

[hedgerowpete]

i did consider an electric outboard the two things that killed the idea, was one i dont own one and cant afford to buy one in time and secondly where do i charge it up ?
I would have to build a second boat to carry the genny and chargers, dont forget that this boat is only going to hold my weight and 50 kg of provisions, 250kg

the seagull idea is a brilliant one a bucket of petrol and away we go, but i also dont own a seagull or a car to buy one on ebay and travel to collect it, theres a fantastic one in newcastle up for grabs but thats a flippin long wacycle ride to collect it.

we were thinging sail but the clot i am has ordered the wrong sort of wind, so next was oars and maybe a day spent playing with a foot peddled powerd paddle boat techniques would work

the british waterways non powerd boat ticket is only £30 and i have to find out what the bcu charge on top so that kills the pocket money very badly, i like the idea of just chancing it as that means a bigger piggy bank for newkie browns

 

[John Fenna]

Membership of the BCU gives you access to the waterways without needing another ticket....

 

[toilet digger]

do it! you're never to old for a daft idea!
i've seen plans for plywood boats online, i shall have a look andget back to you.

jamie.

 

[mrmel]

My only suggestion would be to pop into the Pilot when you get to Hardwicke!
Good food and good beer!
Its right on the canal as well!

 

[chris667]

the british waterways non powerd boat ticket is only £30 and i have to find out what the bcu charge on top so that kills the pocket money very badly, i like the idea of just chancing it as that means a bigger piggy bank for newkie browns

First off, BCU membership probably wouldn't cover the boat you're making. I can't remember the exact conditions of the membership, but I'm pretty sure mine says no powered craft. I'll look it up.

Really, I wouldn't bother with license/insurance. The worst that will happen is you'll be forced to buy both. But you won't. One year, due to not being at my postal address I once managed to go a whole year without putting my license in the window, despite having bought and paid for one. The license for my boat is £600.

The Seagull idea is not a good one. I don't mean to sound negative, but you will lose a lot of goodwill amongst other boaters if you are travelling around in a cloud of two-stroke oil. They're dirty, smelly things and they cause a lot of pollution and suspicion. Seagull motors belong in the past.

A little electric trolling motor has the advantage of silence. I suggest it would be better to take a car battery and find people willing to recharge it en route.

 

[rancid badger]

Have you mentioned this on song of the paddle yet?

If not, I suggest you do and I think you may find there are plenty of folk who may well join you, as well as offer plenty of very sound advice, possibly even loan or donate some kit or equipment-you never know!

I'd certainly have joined you (work permitting) had I not been out of range, up here in Newcastle

anyway, good luck regardless

all the best

Steve

 

[chris667]

Actually, it might be more useful to post in the Canal world forum:

www.canalworld.net

There'll be plenty of boaties in the places you're going.

 

[birchwood]

For info look at the Nicholson Guide to the Waterways series. Gives you all the miles,locks etc. Are you portaging the locks or going through them? ,takes quite a bit of time either way. as an average I would look at doing about 20 miles a day.Are you camping or looking for accomodation?

 

[hedgerowpete]

i will be sleeping on the said bath tub under a plastic tarp roof, cooking will be a hobo stove and hedge twigs, sorry to upset you but i have brought a seagul for £80 off flea bay and i am an off on the train to newcastle tomorrow to collect it.

have built one of those single sheet of ply wood boats, i down loaded the drawings from the internet last week when i was in the hospital, instead of using 1/4 ply i had an old manky sheet of 1/2 shuttering ply and a few old pallets and knocked the lot up into the roughest looking bath tub you have ever seen ha ha ha

i shall slap 4 coats of farmers barn best roof seal black jack on it to water proof it, i obtained a tin from work ages ago and apart from the shed roof i was wondering when i was going to use it up.

as you can tell the boat is destined to last ages, at lest three weeks may be even four ha ha


the boat will take about 150 to 200 kg fully loaded and since i ant rowing it now now it can be as much as i want, now wheres that leather parker knoll seat, lol i was planning on 100kg of me and 35 kg of supplies but i think a few luxuries will sneak in

i reckon if i really really push it and fly past at least one pub before stopping to refuel the engine at the next one i reckon with getting out to walk around the locks we should be able to do ten mile a day with pub constipation, may be even 11!



ho yes the thing is i have started something off here at home,

my son who has done nothing but take the **** big style ever since i declared the GREAT PLAN, suddenly asked at lunch to day after helping me build the boat or SUBMANOE as he calls it .
"dad if you drove us to fort William for a weekend away could we buy a sheet of ply wood and some timber up there and could you make one of these boats on the campsite at fort William so i can do the Caledonia canal??"

oh how they laughed and oh, how quickly they return to me!!

the thing is, his will be like the one we built today, disposable. its in for a viking funeral pyre ending when i finish, a boat that has so far cost a whole £8.00 to build ant coming back, especially if i do go all they way to sharpness and say what the hell and go under both of the bridges. now that would be an adventure on its own ! sharpness to under the severn bridges

All i have to do is pick up the seagull and the bag of supplies and push it out down river with a load of fire wood on it, a knowble ending, unless someone want it but i dont know where the finish will be yet and what condition it will be in

 

[hedgerowpete]

So here we are the almost finished article. There are a few down sides to it so let’s deal with them firstly.
1, far too heavy, using 12mm ply not 6mm doubled that weight and using a plaster board pallet rather than 25mm by 50mm timber tripled that weight as well. I have yet to put everything on the scales but we are easily over 40 kg for the boat and that’s before we fit the parker knoll chairs.
2, not as water proof as we thought, we actually stopped taking the bent nails out of the sheet of ply to stop making MORE holes in it. We have plastered the outside with a stuff called IKO POLIMAR which is basically a plastic paint used to seal roof tops and flat roofs with. We have three tubs left over from a job last year and this is the last tin of it. I plan to slap two or three coats of it on the boat hull and mastic all the insides of the joints.
As a first attempt at this sort of boat we are also only planning a one way trip we did not and plan not to spend any more than possible on the whole boat

We have also brought a sea gull outboard engine over the weekend it’s a simple little job but with a service should stand me well to do the first great escape plan and after this trial maybe I can consider doing more of them but after I made a proper boat or brought an old fibres glass jobbie. But that’s for a later date.
Other considerations is the idea of two pieces of 25mm by 50mm running down the outer edges or a single piece of 150mm by 25mm cut to follow the shape of the hull as a keel to help it to guide along, she has a flat bottom and with a strong head wind I can see she being hard to keep in a straight line on the cut and river. Any suggestions any one.
I have had several people make comment on the construction style of the boat and all were laughed at by me, she is at the end of the day designed to go to a max of 100 miles before burning, joint details and sanding of hulls before painting and planning ply to tight joints, are not needed at all, we can solve all issues with the submanoe with shouting, lots of shouting. If anything goes wrong all we have to do is shouting at it long and hard enough and will we perform as planned. It worked for the British Empire and I can’t see why it should change.






Costs.
Being unemployed at the moment and having a set amount of money. Generous gift from a friend who is stupid enough to support a crazy idea of the great bathtub challenge but is not totally stupid enough to actually do it. Also we are going to pay back when we get financially sorted again.
Sea Gull outboard engine £80
Boat sealants, two tubes from a pound shop £2
Two packets of handles, to tie tarp to as roof £2
Hobo stove part £1
Rope mooring eyes (gate ties) three of £3
Flash band, roof repair tape (sealing boat joints) £8
Nails screws and plywood and plasterboard pallet were already at the allotment or collected for free off the street where I live, so was the roof sealer paint and the settee cushions and arm chair

Total so far including the £80 for the sea gull engine outboards is £96
We have still buy some ropes and two stroke oil and to service the outboard as well.
The outboard should really be considered but we will reuse the outboard on other boats so in one way so far the boat has only cost us £16 , and for a seven foot by three foot, 2.1metres by 0.9metre boat we don’t think it’s too bad for a disposable boat



and now the obligatory video and then the pictures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uf24b7PtgE&list=UUD2UDQkIfU7zYyRRfsnPQ5Q&index=1&feature=plcp

the expensive bit fromm newcastle, and before you ask , yes i did lots of them as i love the stuff, lol

and the almost finish articule

notice the hobo stove base from one of the pound shops i brought quality for a quid and saves a cycle to ikea

 

[pastymuncher]

Brilliant!!!
Best of luck to you.

 

[toilet digger]

truly stupid...........good sir i salute you irate:

don't forget to take lots of piccies.