The Boat Team

by: Myron

It’s been a couple of weeks now since our last blog so what’s been happening.

Monday the 18^th saw myself grabbing the skippers slot on Margaret.  Not that I did much except watch the crew demonstrate how to move a hopper breasted up.  We are finding better ways of tying the two units together with as little movement between them as possible.  The tighter the more manoeuvrable the whole thing is.  We also did some conventional end to end hopper pushing.  One result was that John Ferris got his’ Margaret with hoppers’ ticket.  Another fully trained crew member.

Wednesday the 18^th was at first glance a very disappointing day in that a full day of activity on Weedie had to be cancelled due to the oil slick in that pound.  What was even more disappointing was that we had been due to give a demonstration to a group of schoolchildren.  I hope they catch the b******* who put that oil in the drain that caused this mess.  I also had my good friend Jerry with me on his first day as a volunteer.  So, being basically unemployed, I decided that we would have a walk round, more a walk along really. We started at Western Depot, where Reg kindly gave Jerry a good introduction to the workings of the yard. Next we stopped off at Wookey.  They were busy dragging huge bunches of reeds out of the canal just up from Upper Mills.  Next we saw Patricia trying to turn round so they could get a better angle on the upper wings of Ryeford locks.  They couldn’t quite do it so they were taking a few bites out of the bank and emptying into a hopper.  We then came across Margaret patiently waiting for the hopper.  While we were there the hopper was accepted and it was interesting to see the tug and hopper coming up the locks. Here Jerry joined the Margaret crew and soon made himself useful.  The dredgers had reported two large concrete obstructions just up from the lock gates.  They had probed the lateral dimensions quite accurately but had not got a real feel for the depth.  So Margaret trolled up and down with a crew member on a pole, checking the depth. For once it was quite good news. Although the obstruction is quite big and goes out to mid channel, at normal water levels it is about 1.1 metres below the surface, enough for it not to be a problem for our deepest drafted boat, Margaret.

Jerry probing the depths while Malcolm with clip board looks on, a budding manager

Last Monday I was once again unemployed, comes with having a great team of volunteers I suppose.  Walking down from Ryeford I spotted Aquila dodging up and down the cut, with Tony leading some outboard practice with a boat load of volunteers.  Good to see so many responding to this being organised.  I did manage to get some useful employment helping to clear behind the lower gates of Ryeford locks, the picture proves it.  Wookey came to visit us, cue for sarcastic banter both ways.  I guess that makes us one team now.

Myron doing some work for a change

Once the outboard experience was over, the crew returned to Margaret in time to go and do some tug stuff for the dredgers. Yet another volunteer was given his WRG 21c ticket. Congratulations to David Lovemore.  He is unique in that he is the first trainee to complete the entire syllabus in one go.  This was due to his patience and diligence, making sure he undersood and could do everything before he went for his ticket.

David Lovemore quietly celebrating his skippers ticket with Tony

Last Wednesday we had Margaret out training with hoppers.  Seems like we’ve found yet another way of moving them.  We’ve established  a useful way of breasting up, but now we’ve discovered another way to tie tug to hopper by using two springers.  This has the benefit of reducing the amount the two units move in relation to each other when say going from forward to stop.  I can’t wait to try it myself.

Springers used to breast up

I was busy with my new crane instructor hat on.  I had Maurice Miles for a 3 year refresher and John Sirett for an endorsement to his WRG 22.  I think it all went very well and needless to say they both passed with flying colours.  We now have 12 volunteers who have their crane ticket. This is across 3 different teams. That’s an achievement that I think we can be proud of.

Maurice and John undergoing crane training

John reaches for the sky

I hope you agree, we’ve not been idle.  Thanks to Iain Tweedie and Rob Wilson for the pictures.

A Destination Canal

by: Bob Hallam

This week, the Western Depot and Wet dredging team has been the destination for two very different organisations.

 

The first on Monday, came about by an unusual connection. BobH (and wife Lynn) are members of the CaRT "Boating Buddies" scheme.  They fairly regularly get to take members of CaRT staff - who may never have been on a canal boat - on their Narrowboat for a day.  This can be (and is) anywhere in the country during the Summers out on "The System".  The staff get to see and hear of boater's views, and Bob and Lynn get to find out about a lot of the "back office" stuff that goes on. 

Anyway, the arch organiser of the BB scheme is Damian Kemp, the head of Boater's Communication and Consultations. He was interested in both our dredging operation in CCT and BB's views on canal matters generally- as well as creating a new podcast for CaRT!  On arrival, he was amazed at how much work goes on at WD. It seems - if I understood correctly, that we now carry out as many repairs and fixes as almost any CaRT region workshops!  Needless to say, he was very impressed by our dredging operation and the support from all the volunteers in all the teams.  We await the podcast! 

Don't know how many of our readership use Facebook, but one item on their is the CaRT restoration page.

A few weeks ago a picture of Patricia was posted on there.  A short time later, BobH was asked to ring Rod Gordon . He's a member and frustrated dredger crew volunteer for the Grantham Canal Society!  After making the call and arrangements, Wednesday saw a fact finding visit from the Grantham Canal Society, 

http://www.granthamcanal.org/

with 4 of their volunteers- again with dredging as their main interest. (We must be doing something right!)

Again they were very impressed by all they saw, the "tour" took in the Western Depot ("Look at all these volunteers and equipment!") and a long look at Dredger No. 5 rebuild (fantastic!) 

We discussed all the necessary documentation we have produced for dredging and operation of the plant, then went off on a Whistle Stop tour, taking in The Ocean, the Ryeford Dredging site, (almost drooling over all the plant especially the long reach digger and Patricia) then off to Ham Mill where BobA showed the repairs he and his hard-working team have been battling with. 

Finally, they had a long chat with MartinG about Ham Mill Lock and project planning. 

A busy week and more connections made to other organisations. 

Project 'DNF' - No.5 Refit

Our noisy racket continued today with more of the deck getting the nail gun treatment.  Not quite half has been cleaned down now.  No paint was applied as we wanted to get the cab back in place, big boots on soft paint don't mix, so that internal fittings could now be installed and protected from the weather.

The cab is almost complete with regards painting, but certainly in a condition ready to reinstall on the boat.  A method of shifting it onto the flat bed truck was devised and the process went very well.  After its short journey out of the yard gate and across the car park, it was slid and rotated into position.  Next came the answer to the great question:  'Does it still fit?'

Well, it dropped into place perfectly and the doors hung back on their hinges.  Another important step in the progress of this refit programme. 

The hydraulics installation is making good progress and may well be complete by next week.  

The Construction of the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal

** Tonight **

This is an event organised by the GSIA which members of the CCT may find of interest.  Visitors are welcome to attend.

Venue: St Johns Church, St Johns Ave, Churchdown, GL3 2DB at 7.30 p.m.   

Speaker, Nigel Jefferies is a founding member of the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal Society (now Trust). 

http://www.h-g-canal.org.uk/

He has researched extensively the fascinating history of the construction of the canal which took place in two phases. 

Full of optimism, construction started in 1793, but inevitably there were difficulties which caused costs to spiral, in particular for the 1¼ mile long tunnel at Oxenhall.  In 1798 worked stopped altogether one mile out of Ledbury a distance of just 18 miles from Gloucester.  This was barely half of the planned 34 miles to Hereford.  In was not until 1839 that work restarted under the direction of Stephen Ballard as clerk and engineer to the company.  The canal finally reached Hereford basin in 1845 but by now we were firmly in the Railway Age.

Project 'DNF' - No.5 Refit

Another fine sunny day, perfect weather for a bit more painting.  The cabin is pretty well ready to go back on the hull now, something that we hope to achieve on Wednesday, perhaps.  The doors also received attention today, together with the interior of the roof, oh, and a bit of window cleaning - long overdue.

Since our working party last Wednesday, much has happened with the hydraulics plumbing.  Many of the new pipes are in place within the hull, the piping on the boom is the biggest part remaining.   

Today, the saddles for the pipe clamps were welded in place on the boom.  These will need cleaning and painting next time.  More deck scraping again, but some serious mechanisation is required if good progress is to be made.  The old paint is stuck well and very thick in many places.

The limit switch for detection of the control joystick assembly now has a mounting point, close to the release catch.  All the electrical parts are in stock, so fabrication of the new control box is next on the priority list.

Ham Mill - Weds March 20^th 2019

by: Andy P.

Bob, Duncan, Mathew and Andy set about todays jobs.

Cutting and 90 degree bending of the reinforcing mess to wrap around the pipe under the bridge. A clue is in the description. All sorts of heavy duty bending tools were brought into use and we even managed to break many of the welds. Amazing what can be done with scaffold poles, wood and pick axes. The mesh was then placed over the pipe to await its fate under the concrete being readied

A mortar mix was made for Bob, so he could continue with brick laying.

Duncan dug a trench and fitted the water drainage pipe on the opposite bank before moving to the mini digger (MD) to again grade the slope down to the bridge.

Mathew and Andy spent most of the day mixing and precariously barrowing concrete down the muddy slope to pour over the pipe.  Lots of tamping to get it under the pipe. 15 loads and 1 meter done. 6 m to go. Do the maths. Gulp.

Buffs , Colin and Geoff (Thank you all ) arrived with the fuel bowser and we put over 200 l into the MD, BD, dumper, generator, pump, and every can we could.  A BD fuel leak put a stop to this as fuel was removed.  Lots of looking and ideas to solve the problem but BD still after TLC.

The generator also was found to have a leak in a red flexi pipe.  More looking and ideas and TLC needed.

Late in the day Bob again looked at the big mixer, drained the fuel and fired it up-no still dead. Our helpful neighbour and temporary landlord, with spanners, helped out with dismantling fuel lines and fettling. Then 3 spins and it not only fired, it ran and kept going. Marvellous. A change of skills sets for the ham millers.

Community engaged!

by: Leonie A.

In between covering Dredger No.5’s cab with red oxide and a much more fun purple, a short outing was made to Stonehouse for more paint rollers. 

Conversation at the till concerned the Ship Inn site and the strong local support for a green space area, with café/facilities (CCT bookshop/visitor centre) and not the proposed housing scheme.  Locals are asking what the news is on this.  

Unable to help with that question, few moments later, a £20 note was put into my top pocket from the lady behind me – a donation for the Trust which could go towards our latest £1.5m fundraising target.  Thank you to the local community in Stonehouse for supporting the canal restoration and for asking for recreational facilities to go alongside it.