What did you forget to take on a Narrowboat Holiday ??
Steve Harvey
My family and I will be taking our first canal holiday next month, doing
the Stourport Ring in a 45' hire boat
We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may need,
so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which any former
boating virgins may have found that they really could have done with packing
for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
Thanks in advance
Steve
steveharvey [at] dsl [dot] pipex [dot ] com
Akura
Good waterproof clothing
Dave Mayall
news:0Kidna1oTand9TPZ...@pipex.net...
> Hi,
> My family and I will be taking our first canal holiday next month,
> doing the Stourport Ring in a 45' hire boat
>
> We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may
> need, so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which any
> former boating virgins may have found that they really could have done
> with packing for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
More beer.
Allan Jones
> My family and I will be taking our first canal holiday next month,
> doing the Stourport Ring in a 45' hire boat
>
> We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may
> need, so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which any
> former boating virgins may have found that they really could have done
> with packing for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
A spare bread knife (the one supplied with the boat will have been down the
weedhatch a thousand times)
A corkscrew (there's probably one the boat already. You will find it on the
last day of your holiday while you are packing up)
--
Allan Jones - N/B 'Keeping Up'
http://www.keeping-up.co.uk
Uncle Marvo
A brick, properly directed, makes a good makeshift bottle opener. The other
option is to hold one finger firmly with the other hand and use it to shove
the cork in. Ensure that when you pour you are ready for the sudden gush
where the cork finally decides to leave the bottleneck.
Things I have forgotten include the windlass, lock gate key (left at a
lock), beer, ice, petrol can (left at a garage), shoes (really, I only had
my wellies), padlock for door (left on bank), money, credit card, wallet,
waterproof, mobile phone, charger therefor, toolkit (left in car), gas
spanner (ditto), towels, small child (left at a lock), and dog (left at a
pub).
I didn't really miss any of them though. You can have fun without all the
trappings of modern life.
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Stewart
Steve Harvey wrote:
> Hi,
> My family and I will be taking our first canal holiday next month, doing
> the Stourport Ring in a 45' hire boat
>
> We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may need,
> so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which any former
> boating virgins may have found that they really could have done with packing
> for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
Steve,
My list would include things not to take but you can't have enough
torches to my mind. Hang them all over the boat so when you wake up in
the dark not knowing where you are you can find one, saves many bruised
shins and toes.
Take a sense of humour. Take your time, although doing a ring means you
have a timetable to keep.
Don't take too many clothes, or shoes, especially your Sunday best.
After a couple of days you'll be happy looking like a scruff. Take good
waterproofs, Goretex is the only thing that keeps the rain out in my
experience. It's expensive but it works, the stuff the boatyard
provides will be as wet inside as outside after ten minutes, with your
sweat. Sandals, trainers, wellies usually do the job. My wife of course
takes about ten pairs of shoes, most of which lie festering out of
sight for the entire holiday.
I always take earplugs, it's surprising how noisy the wildlife can be.
Swans and ducks seem to love nibbling the boats bottom at 5am.
If you've got kids they may well be bored very quickly so take plenty
for them to do, you're going to be moving for about 9 hours a day for
six days, the novelty soon wears off for most kids.
See if you can persuade the boatyard to give you a centre line. For
some reason most don't provide one and don't like to. It's a lot easier
to get off the stern with a centreline in your hand and for one person
to control the boat rather than faff around throwing ropes all over the
place, most of which end up in the cut.
Don't worry if you forget something the Stourport Ring is rural in
places but you're never more than a few hours from somewhere you can
buy what you've forgotten.
Have fun
Stewart
Paul Burke
>
> We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may need,
> so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which any former
> boating virgins may have found that they really could have done with packing
> for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
>
>
On one occasion, the keys to the boat. Which we only found out after a
90 mile drive.
Paul Burke
Martin Phillips
Stewart <stewar...@gmail.com> writes
>I always take earplugs, it's surprising how noisy the wildlife can be.
>Swans and ducks seem to love nibbling the boats bottom at 5am.
Cheap sliced bread to feed the ducks. Keeps the kids entertained for
hours. It can be entertaining (to those of limited imagination)
searching out the cheapest loaf in supermarkets. The best we did was 2p
for a large medium sliced (Waitrose, reduced to clear). (No, that wasn't
in the days when you could get a steak dinner, tickets to the cinema and
a bucket of gin and still have change from sixpence).
Wassail!
--
Martin E Phillips nb Boden, Splatt Bridge
http://www.g4cio.demon.co.uk martin/at/g4cio/dot/demon/dot/co/dot/uk
Homebrewing, black pudding, boats, morris dancing, ham radio and more!
The Gloucester-Sharpness canal page http://www.glos-sharpness.org.uk
Mark Annand
> Hi,
> My family and I will be taking our first canal holiday next month, doing
> the Stourport Ring in a 45' hire boat
>
> We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may need,
> so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which any former
> boating virgins may have found that they really could have done with packing
> for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
Lipsyl or equivalent. A hat with a brim. That little book on narrow boat
handling - can't recall who wrote it ...
Canaldrifter
Pain killers for the hang-overs
Gaviscon to settle stomach after taking pain killers
Toothbrush.. or spare teeth
Dog food
Glasses (of face-furniture type)
Matches Spare matches (for when the first ones get damp)
Elastoplast (for the wife's blisters after working up Tardebigge (you
are of course required to do the hard bit by skillfully steering the
boat in and out of the locks))
Kitchen Roll (for wiping up whatever needs wiping up before the dog
gets it)
Nail scissors (for repairing wife's torn nails (see above))
White cap with fake gold braid on peak
Pump-out key
Large pair of molegrips... for use on pump-out key
Brass pump-out key... for use when plastic one gets broken by use of
molegrips
Spare batteries for ghetto blaster, wife's leg shaver, torches,
vibrators etc.
Cigar case full of angry wasps... for exciting use if vibrator breaks
down
Stuffed Rosie and Jim puppets
A large bucket of b*llsh*t for use in canalside pub conversations
And most essential of all.... the combined dish
washer/bowthruster/lockwheeler/bed
warmer/cook/cleaner/shopper/duster/drink pourer....
Tony H
Molly Mockford
wrote in <W96dnR5Ni5c...@bt.com>:
>"Steve Harvey" <steve...@dsl.pipex.com> wrote in message
>news:0Kidna1oTand9TPZ...@pipex.net...
>> We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may
>> need, so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which any
>> former boating virgins may have found that they really could have done
>> with packing for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
>
>A spare bread knife (the one supplied with the boat will have been down the
>weedhatch a thousand times)
A decently sharp kitchen knife, capable of cutting really difficult
stuff like cheese. Anything with an edge will also have spent a lot of
time down the weedhatch.
Salt. Any salt on the boat will be damp. It's a rule of the universe.
Pre-cooked stew in a tupperware box - saves cooking for the first couple
of nights.
Ice-bags. That's the only way you can ever make anything resembling ice
in the laughably-named freezer compartment of the fridge. Ice trays
never, ever freeze, they only spill. Then the water freezes just fine.
A beer-towel. Put it round the back of your neck when going through
tunnels. Otherwise the boggarts will pour drips down your back.
--
Molly Mockford
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.)
Alan N Estherby
"Mark Annand" <mark....@invalid.zetnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:44ae90a9$0$906$4c56...@master.news.zetnet.net...
> Steve Harvey wrote:
>> Hi,
>> My family and I will be taking our first canal holiday next month,
>> doing the Stourport Ring in a 45' hire boat
>>
>> We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may
>> need, so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which any
>> former boating virgins may have found that they really could have done
>> with packing for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
Depending on how many locks you plan to work through, I have always found a
pair of gardening-type gloves very useful to avoid blisters from using the
cheapo (non-roller handle) windlasses most hire boats seem to come with...
Alan
David Long
<mar...@nospam.com> writes
>In message <1152284101.6...@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com>,
>Stewart <stewar...@gmail.com> writes
>>I always take earplugs, it's surprising how noisy the wildlife can be.
>>Swans and ducks seem to love nibbling the boats bottom at 5am.
>
>Cheap sliced bread to feed the ducks. Keeps the kids entertained for
>hours. It can be entertaining (to those of limited imagination)
>searching out the cheapest loaf in supermarkets. The best we did was 2p
>for a large medium sliced (Waitrose, reduced to clear). (No, that
>wasn't in the days when you could get a steak dinner, tickets to the
>cinema and a bucket of gin and still have change from sixpence).
Lidl give their time-expired bread away, free.
--
David Long
Sankey Canal Restoration Society http://www.scars.org.uk/
St. Mary's http://www.geocities.com/andrew_fishburn/stmary1.html
http://www.scars.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/webcam/
Ron Jones
> Hi,
> My family and I will be taking our first canal holiday next month,
> doing the Stourport Ring in a 45' hire boat
>
> We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may
> need, so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which
> any former boating virgins may have found that they really could have
> done with packing for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
http://uk.vitago.com/liste_articles_marques.php?idmarque=1011
You can get some bad cuts on the cut... usually a long way from
civilization. I keep some of these plasters. They do work well in stopping
a bad cut - last I had to use one was when a friend let go of a windlass and
it spun round and whacked him in the knuckles.... ouch...
--
Ron Jones
Process Safety & Development Specialist
Don't repeat history, unreported chemical lab/plant near missesa at
http://www.crhf.org.uk Only two things are certain: The universe and
human stupidity; and I'm not certain about the universe. ~ Albert
Einstein
Phil R
"Alan N Estherby" <a...@notinthisworld.com> wrote in message
news:NUwrg.7353$wR4....@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net...
> Depending on how many locks you plan to work through, I have always
found a
> pair of gardening-type gloves very useful to avoid blisters from
using the
> cheapo (non-roller handle) windlasses most hire boats seem to come
with...
I suspect hire companies don't supply those roller handled windlasses
for
safety reasons. I have seen so many injuries from them that they are
banned
on my boat. The most dangerous windlasses have roller handles and
non-tapered heads.
Phil
Allan Jones
news:6eSdnRH5KfB...@pipex.net...
>
> I suspect hire companies don't supply those roller handled windlasses for
> safety reasons. I have seen so many injuries from them that they are
> banned
> on my boat. The most dangerous windlasses have roller handles and
> non-tapered heads.
>
on them at all times while winding.
Steve Atty
But at the same time dont forget sunscreen and after care products.
You can cook yourself very quickly on the water.
Steve
My email address is valid but feeds into a spam engine and is only checked every week or so for "real" email
Neil Arlidge
> Hi,
> My family and I will be taking our first canal holiday next month,
> doing the Stourport Ring in a 45' hire boat
>
> We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may
> need, so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which
> any former boating virgins may have found that they really could have
> done with packing for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
>
> Thanks in advance
Sadly the most important thing to have boating nowdays is a mobile fone.
So make sure your hireboat has either 230vAC for your mains charger or 12v
cigar lighter socket for your car charger.
Failing this you will have to have your own cigar lighter socket with croc
clips to put directly on battery.
In France on the Somme they have the right idea. If you have forgotten or do
not have your own fone, they lend you one!
--
Neil Arlidge - NB Earnest / Barge Maurice A (on the drawing board)
Follow the traveled TNC at : http://www.tuesdaynightclub.co.uk
KGB
Hi
A Swiss army knife - invaluable!!
Regards
KGB
Brian Holt
news:1152284101.6...@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
:
: Steve Harvey wrote:
: > Hi,
: > My family and I will be taking our first canal holiday next month,
doing
: > the Stourport Ring in a 45' hire boat
: >
: > We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may
need,
:
: Steve,
: My list would include things not to take but you can't have enough
: torches to my mind. Hang them all over the boat so when you wake up in
: the dark not knowing where you are you can find one, saves many bruised
: shins and toes.
On our boat we have a PIR battery powered nightlight which we use for
guests for this very reason If they get out of bed in the dark the
detector picks it up and puts a nightlight on for about 30 seconds.
You can get them from B&Q etc.
--
Brian Ancient Order of Sewer Ants
David Long
<br...@notharnser.info> writes
Ron Jones
> Steve Harvey wrote:
>> We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may
>> need, so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which
>> any former boating virgins may have found that they really could have
>> done with packing for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>
> Sadly the most important thing to have boating nowdays is a mobile
> fone. So make sure your hireboat has either 230vAC for your mains charger
> or 12v cigar lighter socket for your car charger.
> Failing this you will have to have your own cigar lighter socket with
> croc clips to put directly on battery.
Croc clips - tut tut. Nip along to any caravan shop - you will find
adaptors that give you a 12V square plug to a cigar socket adaptor. Or buy
a spare 12V charge lead and change the plug!
If you feel the need to take a mobile, then take the GPS as well, so you can
say where you are.
Ron Jones
You can then play "spot the streaker..." ;-)
Alastair
wrote:
>
>If you feel the need to take a mobile, then take the GPS as well, so you can
>say where you are.
>
I always know where I am, it's just that I am not always sure where
anythng else is.
--
Alastair
biggirlsblouse
and lock gates.
* a butane gas cooker lighter (one with an extended lit end so you dont get
burned on the blowback), because matches will be ok for about 2 days..then
they no longer strike.
* at least 2 torches, ideally ones which float. You will never have seen
anything so dark as a canal at night!
* white plastic carrier bags to put over your ground spikes to make them
visible at night.
* as someone has said..a swiss army knife (or multi tool sold by Lidl for a
fiver). there are times when you will need a screwdriver for all manner of
things, including taking the shower head apart to remove the scale build up
and improve the flow from the dribble it produces!
* food other than breakfast... there will be times you go to the local pub
only to find they are not serving food on mondays.
and when you collect your boat from the boatyard make sure that;
* you have 2 ground spikes
* 3 ropes (in case one gets lost/damaged) or as someone said to have a
centre rope when waiting at locks etc.
* 2 windlasses
* water station key (should be attached to boat starter key and incorporate
a float)
* a water hose which is in good nick, and the screw attachment doesnt look
buggered or the jubillee clips loose.
* ideally 2 piling chains (because as I found next morning after attaching
to piling braces it cuts through the mooring rope)
Paul E. Bennett
>
> "Steve Harvey" <steve...@dsl.pipex.com> wrote in message
> news:0Kidna1oTand9TPZ...@pipex.net...
>> Hi,
>> My family and I will be taking our first canal holiday next month,
>> doing the Stourport Ring in a 45' hire boat
>>
>> We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may
>> need, so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which any
>> former boating virgins may have found that they really could have done
>> with packing for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>>
>> Steve
>>
>> steveharvey [at] dsl [dot] pipex [dot ] com
>>
> *gardening gloves to prevent chafing of the hands with wet ropes,
> windlasses and lock gates.
> * a butane gas cooker lighter (one with an extended lit end so you dont
> get burned on the blowback), because matches will be ok for about 2
> days..then they no longer strike.
> * at least 2 torches, ideally ones which float. You will never have seen
> anything so dark as a canal at night!
The middle of the Brecon Beacons on a cloud covered night in winter is very
dark indeed.
> * white plastic carrier bags to put over your ground spikes to make them
> visible at night.
Some of those cyclists glowing arm-bands, leg bands added over the carrier
bag would also be handy (ussuming no one thieves them while you sleep).
--
********************************************************************
Paul E. Bennett ....................<email://p...@amleth.demon.co.uk>
Forth based HIDECS Consultancy .....<http://www.amleth.demon.co.uk/>
Mob: +44 (0)7811-639972
Tel: +44 (0)1235-811095
Going Forth Safely ..... EBA. www.electric-boat-association.org.uk..
********************************************************************
Uncle Marvo
allegedly :
> Steve Harvey wrote:
>> Hi,
>> My family and I will be taking our first canal holiday next month,
>> doing the Stourport Ring in a 45' hire boat
>>
>> We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may
>> need, so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which
>> any former boating virgins may have found that they really could have
>> done with packing for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
>
> http://uk.vitago.com/liste_articles_marques.php?idmarque=1011
>
> You can get some bad cuts on the cut... usually a long way from
> civilization. I keep some of these plasters. They do work well in
> stopping a bad cut - last I had to use one was when a friend let go
> of a windlass and it spun round and whacked him in the knuckles....
> ouch...
Good point. Superglue, as well, excellent for holding people's insides in
while you wait for the ambulance. You can get it in handy sealed one-time
dispensers, like they use in hospitals. Sterile, so the patient doesn't die
of staphylococcal poisoning.
Simply squeeze the leaking body part together and put a small fillet of glue
on, wait for about 5 seconds, let go. I would normally wash it in iodine or
neat dettol first. Not to stop infections, but to help the patient remember
to be more careful next time.
Paul Wells
supplied with a duvet, sheets etc. I find that you don't have to make
the bed, simply roll the sleeping bag up. Also keeps things neater in
the small space.
"Steve Harvey" <steve...@dsl.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:0Kidna1oTand9TPZ...@pipex.net...
> Hi,
> My family and I will be taking our first canal holiday next month,
> doing the Stourport Ring in a 45' hire boat
>
> We have not started a packing list for the stuff we will think we may
> need, so I would be interested to hear suggestions of items which any
> former boating virgins may have found that they really could have done
> with packing for their holiday - with the benefit of hindsight.
>
Nick Atty
<pau...@fortescue.org.uk> wrote:
>A brick, properly directed, makes a good makeshift bottle opener. The other
>option is to hold one finger firmly with the other hand and use it to shove
>the cork in. Ensure that when you pour you are ready for the sudden gush
>where the cork finally decides to leave the bottleneck.
I once opened a bottle of wine in a hotel bedroom with a screwdriver and
mole grips from out of the car.
Use screwdriver to remove large screw from bed. Screw into cork. Clamp
mole onto screw. Haul on mole.
Refitting is the reverse procedure.
--
On-line canal route planner: http://www.canalplan.org.uk
(Waterways World site of the month, April 2001)
Molly Mockford
<1-no...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote in
<mqskb2psl4m4codnk...@4ax.com>:
>I once opened a bottle of wine in a hotel bedroom with a screwdriver and
>mole grips from out of the car.
>
>Use screwdriver to remove large screw from bed.
Remind me *never* to share a hotel bedroom with you.
> Screw into cork. Clamp
>mole onto screw. Haul on mole.
Or - even worse - with you and a mole.
>Refitting is the reverse procedure.
Now you've *really* got me worried.
--
Molly Mockford
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.)
Canaldrifter
Molly Mockford wrote:
> At 18:15:08 on Sun, 16 Jul 2006, Nick Atty
> <1-no...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote in
> <mqskb2psl4m4codnk...@4ax.com>:
>
> >I once opened a bottle of wine in a hotel bedroom with a screwdriver and
> >mole grips from out of the car.
> >
> >Use screwdriver to remove large screw from bed.
>
> Remind me *never* to share a hotel bedroom with you.
>
> > Screw into cork. Clamp
> >mole onto screw. Haul on mole.
>
> Or - even worse - with you and a mole.
>
> >Refitting is the reverse procedure.
>
> Now you've *really* got me worried.
> --
> Molly Mockford
Nothing wrong with a screw out of the bed for a change.....
Tony H
Nick Atty
<nospam...@mollymockford.me.uk> wrote:
>At 18:15:08 on Sun, 16 Jul 2006, Nick Atty
><1-no...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote in
><mqskb2psl4m4codnk...@4ax.com>:
>
>>I once opened a bottle of wine in a hotel bedroom with a screwdriver and
>>mole grips from out of the car.
>>
>>Use screwdriver to remove large screw from bed.
>
>Remind me *never* to share a hotel bedroom with you.
I've come up with about 7 followups to this, and deleted all of them!
--
On-line canal route planner: http://www.canalplan.org.uk
(Waterways World site of the month, April 2001)
Molly Mockford
<1-no...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote in
<102lb2lfu245832ag...@4ax.com>:
>On Sun, 16 Jul 2006 18:48:59 +0100, Molly Mockford
><nospam...@mollymockford.me.uk> wrote:
>
>>At 18:15:08 on Sun, 16 Jul 2006, Nick Atty
>><1-no...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote in
>><mqskb2psl4m4codnk...@4ax.com>:
>>
>>>I once opened a bottle of wine in a hotel bedroom with a screwdriver and
>>>mole grips from out of the car.
>>>
>>>Use screwdriver to remove large screw from bed.
>>
>>Remind me *never* to share a hotel bedroom with you.
>
>I've come up with about 7 followups to this, and deleted all of them!
Wise man. ;-}
--
Molly Mockford
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.)
Brian J Goggin
<1-no...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote:
>I once opened a bottle of wine in a hotel bedroom with a screwdriver and
>mole grips from out of the car.
When ah wurr a student chap, up to th'college, one held a book against
the wall and banged the base of the wine bottle against it several
times.
bjg