Furniss
Well-known member
Looking at what you got upto over the years that famous quote from you know who seems rather unfair 
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6
6feetdown
Well-known member
@V8Druid was it worth the wait?teaser for later... this was mentioned a few weeks ago ... I don't recall ever seeing these pix, before I found this pile in the attic ... glad the old man snook round and took these - some great pix
View attachment 68275
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Bri963
Well-known member
Reminds me of the priest in the Rockie films looking out of the church window.
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
So .... Lyn Kerr from BK Builders calls round the w/shop one day and asks me to come take a look at a bit of job with him .. scratching their heads a bit as to HTF they were gonna tackle some roof repairs/slipped slates/etc. ... couldn't find any access / cherry pickers that could reach, with the restricted access they hadteaser for later
" ever played yoyos Lyn? .. I can get you up there, but you'll need a decent head for heights "
had to be a Saturday job as there's a primary school attached (and it's where we take Harper to nursery every Tuesday morning now
) ..early start to beat any 'traffic' likely to be heading in there as the one entrance is not gated and coning it off would've been a waste of time and effort - would not want to get set up and then have to move to let a vehicle out.
My HC75 Demag 30 tonner was a great machine for tighter spots, had a great rigger spread and was a very stable machine at reach , even with the swing away on (swing away manual extensions're primarily designed for height, rather than reach) and at a stretch it was 'planted'. Also had a very re-assuring 'feel', when hanging in a basket off the boom ...
man cradles are not everyone's 'cup of tea'
.Bought this machine off a dealer called Phil Sharpe - east end boy made good - had a yard in Sandy, Bedfordshire, but lived just outside Aber. ...
Originally went to see an HC65 25t he had, but the 75 'spoke to me'
and we had a deal on that instead.Originally imported from Sweden, so was Q plated.
Bummed a lift up to his yard with him one morning, a week later and spent a very long day driving her home, cross country - M/ways are not your friend in summat that tops out at 40-ish.
Was left hook, tight single cab, poor offside viz, an 'unfamiliar' air cooled V6, that had to be kept 'on the boil' ...
only familiar thing was the 13 sp Roadranger ...
been in it half an hour or so and as I hit Bedford, my chosen route - (remember maps) - was diverted round all the back streets - ok it was signed, but meeting buses and trucks in narrow streets, cars parked everywhere in an 8' 4" wide unfamiliar vehicle was a baptism of fire.
...cleared that and settled into a loooong drive, headed for Bicester, Oxford, Gloucester, through the forest to Monmouth and home ..
she went well and never missed a beat.
Left Phil's yard in Sandy just after nine and pulled into my yard about quarter past five - burgered!!
had her a couple of years and eventually sold her to a Frenchman from the outskirts of Paris. He paid for her and transport down to Poole, to meet Truckline's roro ferry.
I agreed to follow/meet the tranny there, unload her, drive her onto the boat and accompany her across to Cherbourg, drive her off and run through her with his driver there, 'fore jumping back on the return crossing a few hours later.
I was the first in the queue on the quayside and they loaded absolutely every other vehicle onto the boat, bar me and one other 7.5 tonner.
So they called me on - up this bloody great ramp to the top open deck, with this 7.5 right behind me and stopped us both on the ramp - then picked the whole ramp, me and the 7.5 up level, reversed the 7.5 back to virtually the edge of the ramp and then me back, with my tail weight within a foot of his windscreen and chained us both down.
Got out and asked the deck hands WTF the craic was and why I'd had to wait so long to get on ... before he could answer one of the ship's 'officers' came up to me, handed me a handful of meal vouchers, a bar pass and a cabin key (which I'd not booked), a big red badge and asked me to wear it and to please make sure that one of the crew knew exactly where I was, at all times
"WHY???"
" The truck behind you has three and a half tonnes of explosives in the back .. if we have a fire on board, we will want you to push the damned thing off the back of the boat - no questions asked - we chose your vehicle, because of what it is and that lovely tail weight - you'd have no problem shoving that bugger 'over the side'
.. we do this about once a month and tonight's 'your' night " Had a lovely steak meal, couple of drinks, looked after like royalty, 4 berth cabin to myself, coffee brought to me in the morning and a cracking full English, all on Truckline and (thankfully) an uneventful crossing
.....the contrary would've made for an even better story, but that was enough excitement as it was!!
Drove her off in the morning and met my buyer and his man on the quayside - was Beaujolais Nouveau day and the pair of 'em are there with a bottle for me and one they're getting down their necks - sod that at seven in the morning!!
Between my French and the buyers Franglais, his man had a run down and he was away, headed for St.-Germain-en-Laye, Île-de-France, Paris - two hundred miles away ...
bet he had a bloody long day too
and I got back on the boat for a second breakfast, an hour or so later.... had been an eventful 24 hrs (or not, as it happened)
any way .. the old man took some really good pix ..... and having bored/entertained you (delete as appropriate), here they all are
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V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
never watched 'em .. not a big fan of Stallone - or boxing.
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
you've lost me Kev ??Looking at what you got upto over the years that famous quote from you know who seems rather unfair
M
Monkeybusiness
Well-known member
W*nker without a shaft or something similar I think?
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
had to wizz into town earlier to pick up some med.s for Pam and swung by these .....I'll get a pic of these, in place, next time I'm passing them ...
would've taken some time to assemble on site in kit form
IIRC was sorted, stood and done in a morning. Didn't take long for sure with the Rapier to chuck all the bits about
doesn't look like they've ever seen a paint brush since we sprayed 'em over 30 years ago
doing some building work 'round the corner, BTLs, hence all the materials lying about
used to make a hell of a lot of access stairs/fire escapes and have made some right bar stewards too, but with the amount of practise I had setting them out they didn't take long ... don't think I ever made a set that I had any drawings for -
was usually .. going and drop/rise .. you guys can sort the details
.. reckon I could still do a set/flight in my sleep
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
fella in Brecon used to run a day tripper on the canal .. came in one day and asked if it would be possible to stretch his 55 footer by 8-10 ft ... was losing out on coach trip operators 'cos he couldn't handle a full 53 seater ... he also needed to have some form of wheel chair access installing to be 'compliant'
not one we'd built originally so went and had a look at the feasibility, construction-wise and duly hauled it off the water and persuaded it into the shop ... and cut the bow off it
created/reproduced the structure to fill the gap and created a full width lift deck inside the doors, with some creatively re-purposed tail lift components and a lot of crafty nadgery, pulleys and the hydraulic supply off of a truck's tail lift ... worked a treat once all the tensions and adjustments had been fine tuned. AFAIK, it still runs from Brecon basin during 'the season'
As you lot know I used to build quite a few canal boat hulls .. of all sorts of sizes .....
BWW commissioned one of the biggest for a floating restaurant which a couple of local 'entrepreneurs' (read plonkers) persuaded them would be a good idea to 'lease' to them to operate ...
some where I should have quite a few of the build on this, but found a few in the 'bundle' the other day ...
will have to come back to this when I find them, but here's a couple to whet yer appetites
had to build it where it is, to get it out the doors after
will have to find my file on this but from memory it was 55ft x 11ft, had two engine bays - one for propulsion and one for a generator set up to run the cooking facilities in the galley. being a 'publicly accessible'/hire craft it had to be inspected by the MSA (marine services agency) periodically as it was being built. Have done a few trippers/publicly accessible craft and have had plenty of experience of dealing and complying with their very fussy requirements.
Were actually doing a first at the time and building a second smaller craft for a hire fleet simultaneously, so the shop was a bit full for a few weeks -- eagle eyed amongst you will/might notice that the shop wasn't quite as full as it became - different/smaller brake press and stuff was in very different locations
the guy who we were make=ing the smaller hull for, had had a couple before and he was an 'old skool' stickler for a rolled prow bilge, instead of my cut design, that became a favourite with a lot of later customer's build. The cut prow always 'swam' better and straighter than the 'blunt', rolled prows ever did - slightest side wind'd have 'em sideways
at the time I had a young Dutch lad working for us - was in the Dutch army and'd saved up his leave to come to the UK to hopefully improve his English, by finding work here - he was a mechanic, but spent more time fabbing with us .. not only did he improve his English with us, he left a pretty decent welder too and came back a few times over the years for visits. Was a nice lad and his 'usual response' christened the little hull -- " Yis mate"
the restaurant hull even made the area rag the Dutch lad, Herman, is in the hat, below ...... usual 'posed pic' for the press
had forgotten the 'big un' had been christened 'the Dutchman' by the lads
the inevitable happened with the Williams Bro.s --- they went tits up and the boat went through several hands ...
the damned thing was way too big for the Mon. & Brec. and could only navigate a very limited length of it between two big enough winding holes where it could actually turn around ...
and it was eventually shipped off up country by BWW, when they ran out of idiots to lease it to .....
the guy who did the fit out, ruined the look of the saloon by fitting it with double glazed UPVC windows instead of more expensive, but 'proprietary' styled, bespoke boat windows - muppet
it eventually ended up, up north at the Falkirk Wheel, where it was 're-commissioned' after a bit of a refit (and some proper-ish windows) and inaugurated by QEII herself, who then went for a cruise on her ...
one day I'll go have a look at it, 'fore it rots out. I doubt it comes off the water very often for a proper maintenance regime
when Falkirk wheel was first commissioned, all the local BWW office and lads (including Pam) went up for a tour ... the bar stewards forgot to invite me
not one we'd built originally so went and had a look at the feasibility, construction-wise and duly hauled it off the water and persuaded it into the shop ... and cut the bow off it
created/reproduced the structure to fill the gap and created a full width lift deck inside the doors, with some creatively re-purposed tail lift components and a lot of crafty nadgery, pulleys and the hydraulic supply off of a truck's tail lift ... worked a treat once all the tensions and adjustments had been fine tuned. AFAIK, it still runs from Brecon basin during 'the season'
As you lot know I used to build quite a few canal boat hulls .. of all sorts of sizes .....
BWW commissioned one of the biggest for a floating restaurant which a couple of local 'entrepreneurs' (read plonkers) persuaded them would be a good idea to 'lease' to them to operate ...
some where I should have quite a few of the build on this, but found a few in the 'bundle' the other day ...
will have to come back to this when I find them, but here's a couple to whet yer appetites
had to build it where it is, to get it out the doors after
will have to find my file on this but from memory it was 55ft x 11ft, had two engine bays - one for propulsion and one for a generator set up to run the cooking facilities in the galley. being a 'publicly accessible'/hire craft it had to be inspected by the MSA (marine services agency) periodically as it was being built. Have done a few trippers/publicly accessible craft and have had plenty of experience of dealing and complying with their very fussy requirements.
Were actually doing a first at the time and building a second smaller craft for a hire fleet simultaneously, so the shop was a bit full for a few weeks -- eagle eyed amongst you will/might notice that the shop wasn't quite as full as it became - different/smaller brake press and stuff was in very different locations
the guy who we were make=ing the smaller hull for, had had a couple before and he was an 'old skool' stickler for a rolled prow bilge, instead of my cut design, that became a favourite with a lot of later customer's build. The cut prow always 'swam' better and straighter than the 'blunt', rolled prows ever did - slightest side wind'd have 'em sideways
at the time I had a young Dutch lad working for us - was in the Dutch army and'd saved up his leave to come to the UK to hopefully improve his English, by finding work here - he was a mechanic, but spent more time fabbing with us .. not only did he improve his English with us, he left a pretty decent welder too
and came back a few times over the years for visits. Was a nice lad and his 'usual response' christened the little hull -- " Yis mate" the restaurant hull even made the area rag the Dutch lad, Herman, is in the hat, below ...... usual 'posed pic' for the press
had forgotten the 'big un' had been christened 'the Dutchman' by the lads
the inevitable happened with the Williams Bro.s --- they went tits up and the boat went through several hands ...
the damned thing was way too big for the Mon. & Brec. and could only navigate a very limited length of it between two big enough winding holes where it could actually turn around ...
and it was eventually shipped off up country by BWW, when they ran out of idiots to lease it to .....
the guy who did the fit out, ruined the look of the saloon by fitting it with double glazed UPVC windows
instead of more expensive, but 'proprietary' styled, bespoke boat windows - muppetit eventually ended up, up north at the Falkirk Wheel, where it was 're-commissioned' after a bit of a refit (and some proper-ish windows) and inaugurated by QEII herself, who then went for a cruise on her
...one day I'll go have a look at it, 'fore it rots out. I doubt it comes off the water very often for a proper maintenance regime
when Falkirk wheel was first commissioned, all the local BWW office and lads (including Pam) went up for a tour ... the bar stewards forgot to invite me
William127
Well-known member
View attachment 68342
it eventually ended up, up north at the Falkirk Wheel, where it was 're-commissioned' after a bit of a refit (and some proper-ish windows) and inaugurated by QEII herself, who then went for a cruise on her ...
one day I'll go have a look at it, 'fore it rots out. I doubt it comes off the water very often for a proper maintenance regime
View attachment 68343View attachment 68344
when Falkirk wheel was first commissioned, all the local BWW office and lads (including Pam) went up for a tour ... the bar stewards forgot to invite me
[/QUOTE]
Very interesting stuff as always
I've got some pictures on my 'proper' cameras memory card at the Falkirk Wheel a couple of years ago, I'll have a look through, see if your boats in any
it eventually ended up, up north at the Falkirk Wheel, where it was 're-commissioned' after a bit of a refit (and some proper-ish windows) and inaugurated by QEII herself, who then went for a cruise on her
...one day I'll go have a look at it, 'fore it rots out. I doubt it comes off the water very often for a proper maintenance regime
View attachment 68343View attachment 68344
when Falkirk wheel was first commissioned, all the local BWW office and lads (including Pam) went up for a tour ... the bar stewards forgot to invite me
[/QUOTE]
Very interesting stuff as always
I've got some pictures on my 'proper' cameras memory card at the Falkirk Wheel a couple of years ago, I'll have a look through, see if your boats in any
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
View attachment 68342
it eventually ended up, up north at the Falkirk Wheel, where it was 're-commissioned' after a bit of a refit (and some proper-ish windows) and inaugurated by QEII herself, who then went for a cruise on her
one day I'll go have a look at it, 'fore it rots out. I doubt it comes off the water very often for a proper maintenance regime
View attachment 68343View attachment 68344
when Falkirk wheel was first commissioned, all the local BWW office and lads (including Pam) went up for a tour ... the bar stewards forgot to invite me
Very interesting stuff as always
I've got some pictures on my 'proper' cameras memory card at the Falkirk Wheel a couple of years ago, I'll have a look through, see if your boats in any
[/QUOTE]
thanks William.
would've loved a behind the scenes tour of it - I didn't let 'em forget they forgot me
.. Pam did bring me a mug back ... 's sat on my desk ATM with odds an' sods an' pens in it
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
so following on from the above ... there were quite a few pix in the bundle of getting it out of the shop - loading it at the yard and then 'launching it ....had to build it where it is, to get it out the doors after
the usual 'launch site' for craning boats in/out of the canal had a purpose built stand, good access and room to turn vehicles, etc. ..... sadly due to her size we couldn't launch it there and had to come up with some out of the box thinking to get it on the water - as said the damned thing was waaaaaaay too big for the Mon. & Brec. so ....................
firstly though .... getting it out was fun .. 12t of boat needed to exit .... and didn't have my boat bogie then - hadn't made it at that time
lump of UB under the keel and an end each on the FLTs -- made the Rapier sit up on her toes - had to lock the front pendle axle ... could've done with the S150A Hyster then to take the bow
got the boom up once out the door for a better 'capacity' .. still on her toes now and again though
yes she's on her toes -- 'doing a stoppy'
Demag in the background
.. waiting her turn for a bite at the cherry Sorry they're all a bit dark - I wasn't taking 'em - was in the Rapier
R
Rob65
Well-known member
Keep going Druid…………..so following on from the above ... there were quite a few pix in the bundle of getting it out of the shop - loading it at the yard and then 'launching it ....
the usual 'launch site' for craning boats in/out of the canal had a purpose built stand, good access and room to turn vehicles, etc. ..... sadly due to her size we couldn't launch it there and had to come up with some out of the box thinking to get it on the water - as said the damned thing was waaaaaaay too big for the Mon. & Brec. so ....................
firstly though .... getting it out was fun .. 12t of boat needed to exit .... and didn't have my boat bogie then - hadn't made it at that time
View attachment 68371
lump of UB under the keel and an end each on the FLTs -- made the Rapier sit up on her toes - had to lock the front pendle axle ... could've done with the S150A Hyster then to take the bow
View attachment 68370
View attachment 68369
got the boom up once out the door for a better 'capacity' .. still on her toes now and again though
View attachment 68368View attachment 68367
View attachment 68366View attachment 68365View attachment 68364View attachment 68363View attachment 68362View attachment 68361
yes she's on her toes -- 'doing a stoppy'
View attachment 68360View attachment 68359
Demag in the background
Sorry they're all a bit dark - I wasn't taking 'em - was in the Rapier
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
LOL Rob ......
now where was I ?........... oh yeh - cherry chewing ...
get it in the air and ....
back a 'trombone' trailer under it .. with plenty of straw bales to sit it on -- best thing going to sit a Vee bottom on
" get them slings off Dai " .......
then get her spun around while we wrap the crane down
" who said movement order ???
.... we're only going 4 miles " up a seriously narrow, tight road, with an horrific turn in (hence the trailer only stretched 10 ft
) ........was literally the only place we could get it in, plus the crane AND get it on the water -- sort of
take the bite and ...
now .. this area was a bit of a 'marina' (I use the term loosely) ... basically a load of jetties with boats moored either side of 'em - Govilon Boat Club - and it had a slip way - not a very big one - or wide - but ..... was the only way this was gonna end up wet and that the Demag had enough reach to actually get it on the water - 'cos that was as close as we could get to it and have space to land it in the watter ..
put the stern end in so it was 'wet' and afloat
then dropped the 8t webs on the deck and picked the front on the tow/lift point in the bow plate and quietly 'fed' it down/along the slip - 'til it was all wet
- on the outside that is - no leaks - never ever had one in 28 builds ... trickiest launch ever Waterways Guys were impressed - had been fretting for weeks that they'd dropped a bol**ck and wouldn't be able to get it in ...on the only stretch of canal that it could actually navigate (see previous comments
) She was a BIG hullby the time it'd been fitted out and it was decided it was completely impractical to continue to try and run it on the Mon. & Brec., (they'd run out of idiots to lease it to
) it was going 20t .... and required a 150 tonner to get it back off (where it'd gone in - no where else was feasible) and I had sod all to do with that little exercise ...was 'eventful' by all accounts and the bank needed some repair afterwards
... we never marked the place or the hull putting it in Attachments
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V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
this was the site we'd normally 'launch/recover from .... purpose built crane stand .. plenty of space and good access .....
My 825 Supertruck dropping a work boat in for BWW
and a few years later ...
had Russ's 60 tonner in the yard to load some 40 ft boxes onto transport, that I'd been filling with equipment, for a local firm I did a lot of machine movement for, for shipping to the States -- so had him whip a repair out onto transport, then drop this in for me as well, before coming to the yard to load the boxes - paying for the day anyway
can see clearly the prepped area for craning and the bank is solid concrete, 'bout 3 ft in from the water's edge -- not as you'd need to get too close with a 60
repair coming in and getting offed with the S150 Hyster and 6 ft forks
carried out the way
so this one could get tandem-ed onto the truck
with one of the Hysters 'bringing up the rear' (of the boat - literally)
then it was a busy day loading out the boxes
usual story .... waiting for the bloody transport to turn up
second one on .... waiting on No. 3
and here he is ........ at last
boats lying about everywhere
and this is what we packed in the boxes having removed them from site and brought them to the yard for 'crating up'
My 825 Supertruck dropping a work boat in for BWW
and a few years later ...
had Russ's 60 tonner in the yard to load some 40 ft boxes onto transport, that I'd been filling with equipment, for a local firm I did a lot of machine movement for, for shipping to the States -- so had him whip a repair out onto transport, then drop this in for me as well, before coming to the yard to load the boxes - paying for the day anyway
can see clearly the prepped area for craning and the bank is solid concrete, 'bout 3 ft in from the water's edge -- not as you'd need to get too close with a 60
repair coming in and getting offed with the S150 Hyster and 6 ft forks
carried out the way
so this one could get tandem-ed onto the truck
with one of the Hysters 'bringing up the rear' (of the boat - literally)
then it was a busy day loading out the boxes
usual story .... waiting for the bloody transport to turn up
second one on .... waiting on No. 3
and here he is ........ at last
boats lying about everywhere
and this is what we packed in the boxes having removed them from site and brought them to the yard for 'crating up'
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V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
oops .. ran out of pix S150 doing what it did - with ease
and a swift 90 right to get it half in the box -- drop it onto block/rollers and shove it all the way in .... easy in a twenty .. the forties were more fun to get 'em all the way in - two to a box
and where they came from -- skated out and craned onto trucks and down to my yard .. reasoning being, took quite some time to secure these and sheet them down in the boxes - was way easier at mine, than where they came out of and more secure ...
was 4 around 7+-ish tonnes and a big mother running at circa 14t - injection moulders
if it paid, we'd do it ..... and this customer paid very well, on the nail - did a lot of machine moving for them - A LOT
and a swift 90 right to get it half in the box -- drop it onto block/rollers and shove it all the way in .... easy in a twenty .. the forties were more fun to get 'em all the way in - two to a box
and where they came from -- skated out and craned onto trucks and down to my yard .. reasoning being, took quite some time to secure these and sheet them down in the boxes - was way easier at mine, than where they came out of and more secure ...
was 4 around 7+-ish tonnes and a big mother running at circa 14t - injection moulders
if it paid, we'd do it ..... and this customer paid very well, on the nail - did a lot of machine moving for them - A LOT
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V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
are we ready for some more then ???????
R
Rob65
Well-known member
Lancs Lad
Well-known member
Bring it on...Reggie's hosting bill is gonna be on the upare we ready for some more then ???????
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