Our Links:
External Links:
Enter a key word to search for posts:Strange objects
Posted on: Wednesday November 1, 2017 at: 6:35 pm
I think I have referred before to the problems of rubbish in the canals. Mainly in urban areas – no surprise there I guess. We are currently cruising around some of the Birmingham canal system – apparently Birmingham has more miles of canal than Venice, and I can believe it. So far today we have seen over a dozen shopping trolleys in canals (more than we have seen the whole time we have been out) and perhaps the same amount of lost balls.
The real problems start when these objects impact on the boat in some way. Today being a classic. We were just looking at a possible mooring spot for the night, when there was a loud “clunk” and the engine stopped. Fortunately, it is a very quiet canal that we are currently on, in fact we haven’t seen another moving boat on this section all day. So much so that at least one person said how nice it was to see a narrowboat on the move as they don’t often see them.
We have no choice in a situation like this. The boat is stopped in the middle of the canal and I have to remove the keys from the ignition (a loose description since the engine is diesel, which doesn’t actually use an ignition), then climb down into the engine room and remove the weed hatch. This sits above the propeller and when removed gives access into the water and down to the propeller itself so that we can remove whatever has fouled it. On this occasion, it was well and truly fouled. The water is now getting cold again, and is not very clear so that I cannot actually see what I am doing and have to do it mainly by touch. It doesn’t take long before I start to lose the feeling in my hands and arms which are immersed beyond my elbows. Usually it will be something like a plastic bag, a fishing line or rope. In the past I have had to remove half a hay bale together with its string (shortly after that, we found the other half of the hay bale and I had to do it all over again.)
As I said, this time it was well and truly fouled. It took me a while but this is what I eventually removed:
A rather leaky pair of waders
Oh, and along with this was some weed – and an old pair of underpants!
hope they are your size kit xxx