"Spent thirty years dreaming of this" welcome to reality - wet coal, bad moorings, flooded towpaths. I remember when I went through Berko, finding somewhere with any sun was impossible - it was around the same time of year too. Ended up right down the bottom end where you can moor on the sunny side but outside someones house who doesn't like boats... unsurprisingly I became mysteriously "unmoored" one afternoon. Then there is being too close to the train lines :( (is that before or after, I forget now?). It's great down at Cassiobury park, again if you can get a sunny bit.
@@TheNarrowboatThatJamesBuilt hi James If you go in any pet shop you can buy one of those twisty pegs with a long leash to tether your dog on a lawn, I bought one for my Dogue de Bordeaux (French Mastiff). And he nearly ripped it out of the ground and he is only 9.5 stone so not a lot of good for a 11 Ton canal boat. Suggest you mention to Carol about her comment 👍
James we’ve loved watching your journey but something that might make your life a little easier, shorten your tiller extension by at least half. You’ll find it easier to put on full lock whilst standing in the position that you need to be in to control your acceleration, you won’t get trapped behind it in future when trying to turn in a winding hole or worst case something catches your rudder and snaps the tiller round with you or the littluns the wrong side of it.
Heads-up: there's 10kgs bags of smokeless coal at Aldi for £3.99. I've bought 6 bags and it's perfect so will be buying a load more. It works out very cheap even compared to a 1000kgs delivered from a merchant at around 33pence/kg. Great channel and love the vlogs: keep them coming James. All the best.
Oh and I also wonder if it may be an idea to cover the tiller extension. Bare metal in freezing conditions will not be nice to touch and could cause injury. Sorry heads in overdrive. Need to slow it down
Nice to see you properly boating my friend. Warms my heart. And as always my love and best wishes to Carole. The wood railing, have you thought of perhaps covering it in a waterproof padded material? Rather than paint which will always chip. It will also be much more comfy on the old posterior when cruising. Only a mad idea. Oh, think I said before but memory is shot just now, kiln dried logs. Much more heat, last longer and much less soot. Win all round mate. Also, I'm a Christmas nut and would dearly like to send you a card, I'm one of the few who still sends hand written cards. Where would I sent it mate? Big love
Oh the joys of being a liveaboard bridge hopping narrowboater in autumn. Perhaps there are some crt winter towpath moorings that would suit you? Cheaper than a marina.
Great to see your living the dream James was such a surprise to see you and the boat at Gayton when out with my dog I apologize for my terrible social anxiety or I'd have chatted longer 😕👍
Hi James. We’ve discovered that we needed to join on the laptop rather than the phone, but that might just be us being dense! Anyway, we’re members now. So glad to hear that Carol’s doing well - very good news indeed x
Long spirals are great! I use them when I can when mooring maybe 50% of time (subject to ground conditions). Much more difficult then pins for "yobs" to pull out! But, get the ring right down into the ground (and I mean right down, level with or down into the soil) and use a mooring pin to put them in ..... you get better leverage. Oh and yes, get yourself a lump hammer for putting pins in 😁
Re Equipment ... You can get bigger spiral mooring pins which have a square top that the windlass fits in for turning ... also a proper boat pole is great to get next time you pass a boat yard. Also I hope you have a spare windlass ... They have a habit of being left behind or deep diving in a lock :-)
turning small gage rope around on your tiller handle will aid more in colder weather giving an insulated effect on the hands as well as comfort for your handles ...... something you can do yourself ....... love the vlog ....... S
What a beautiful setting. Great VLOG. I admire your decision to take the boat up the locks to a better turning point! I feel like I’m learning from, as much as enjoying your VLOGS. I was wondering about winter moorings before; don’t know how those work, but would like to know how I could help (feel I’ve missed something). Thanks James!
I made the mistake of drying my coal out. It then was an absolute bugger to light. I find that a good layer of kindling with a small log surrounded by coal gets the coal burning great. Re the Marina thingy, we were on one but it wasn’t for us. You loose the variety of differing views and also everyone knows you business. It might be good for you but I thinks getting out into the countryside and commuting in to work is a much nicer lifestyle.
James, just a bit of constructive criticism.....your boat motor is very loud and makes it very hard to hear you talking over your motor. Is it possible for you to change that? We enjoy watching your videos but would love to be able to hear you rather than your boat motor. Your videos are very entertaining. Thanks and keep the videos coming!!
Yo dude, first time encountering your channel, thoroughly enjoyed it, especially some of the comedic and well timed comments.......(@10:34). Keep it up man!
I think you mean 0.2km travelled at 14:12. Nice area to float around in. I think you're one of the few boaters that tell it like it is, you don't flower it up. I would think having to move regularlarly and not being able to keep the car close would get old pretty quickly. My money would be on you being in a marina quite soon.
Had many a happy hour trying to reverse planks, I usually found it easier to change direction going forward then just praying that it stayed on the right heading in reverse. 3 point turns are not on the cards 33 point turns maybe. Put the rudder about mid travel with it pointing in the direction you want to go - it might help.
James would it be possible to tie one end of the boat to the bank and barge-pole the other end round against the bottom using brute force, swear words, water currant, prayers and wind to turn the boat around?
Hi James, I'm interested in whether you've used the coffee logs yet. I'd like to know how good/bad they are, how long they burn, etc, as we too have considered buying them for our boat stove.
evidently, i missed your explanations already--and the fact remains i can't imagine how you keep your boat and your car within close range of each other, etc., and are there parking fees, etc.?
Now then Young James. How many "Rizla's" in that roll up ? I found that 6 was adequate. Top Rizla Rolling, Oh and try researching "Prop Wash". Can help when reversing :-)
You got more experience with locks which look like you are doing them easier and confidently as a singlehander, and you got to wind for the 1st time, must outweigh wet coal and little solar.
If you are signed into TH-cam go to the channel page either on the website or on the app. Next to the community tab, there should be a membership tab. On that, all the videos are in order. I hope that helps and works for you. Also check your email, there could be a link in there. I don’t think it works if you watch through a TV
No I don’t have those….sorry. If you’d like to support the channel, then you could become a member. It’s 99p a month and there’s quite a few extra vids on there.
Suspect you know this already but steer in reverse by brief forward bursts for steering ... Then back to reverse etc .... I feel you could have made it to the wide bit for turning.
@@soomay9855 on a windows PC in a browser it is top right by the subscribe button when on the home page for the channel. On android (phones and tablets) it only seems to appear on the youTube app not the browser though my browser is duckduckgo.
@@theotherstevesteve A low quality video they produce which is mainly to feed their ego and appease their narcissism, which lets be honest most TH-cam video is. (not just having a go at James there)Yes should be free and that's what adverts are for. Do them earlier for members if people want to contribute. But even the 99p one, if did that for each youtuber I watch would be more expensive than Netflix. His channel will just stagnate as new people aren't seeing everything won't be able to follow whole story etc and will just stop following.
@@claire4486 why do you follow these narrowboaters, if all you can do is make unnecessary and hurtful comments? I also read one of your comments on well deck diaries yesterday which was very nasty and uncalled for. I know we're all entitled to our opinions, but when they cause upset, it's no more than bullying or trolling. I suggest you unfollow and find a different hobby
@@claire4486 for 99p you get the whole back catalogue without adverts. You could then cancel that having watched them if you thought that fair. Then 6 months from now, do the same. It's upto your sense of value and conscience Claire.
"Spent thirty years dreaming of this" welcome to reality - wet coal, bad moorings, flooded towpaths. I remember when I went through Berko, finding somewhere with any sun was impossible - it was around the same time of year too. Ended up right down the bottom end where you can moor on the sunny side but outside someones house who doesn't like boats... unsurprisingly I became mysteriously "unmoored" one afternoon. Then there is being too close to the train lines :( (is that before or after, I forget now?). It's great down at Cassiobury park, again if you can get a sunny bit.
Yes I’m looking forward to cassiobury - it’s tricky alright to get a decent spot in the sun round here as you say. Nice paint job by the way 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Hi James
That spirally thing as you call it is for tethering your dog up 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Ah I see that now - that’s why it was flimsy before I put the stake through it. No harm done luckily given the boat weighs more than a dog 😂
“Bloody dogs!”
@@TheNarrowboatThatJamesBuilt Tell that to the company that advertised them as being suitable for narrowboats
@@TheNarrowboatThatJamesBuilt hi James
If you go in any pet shop you can buy one of those twisty pegs with a long leash to tether your dog on a lawn, I bought one for my Dogue de Bordeaux (French Mastiff). And he nearly ripped it out of the ground and he is only 9.5 stone so not a lot of good for a 11 Ton canal boat. Suggest you mention to Carol about her comment 👍
Mooring pins should be hammered in with the top facing away from the boat. That helps prevent them being pulled out by passing boats.
Same principle as tent pegs 👍
James we’ve loved watching your journey but something that might make your life a little easier, shorten your tiller extension by at least half. You’ll find it easier to put on full lock whilst standing in the position that you need to be in to control your acceleration, you won’t get trapped behind it in future when trying to turn in a winding hole or worst case something catches your rudder and snaps the tiller round with you or the littluns the wrong side of it.
Top quality three point turning there, James.
All the best, mate.
Cheers fella
Heads-up: there's 10kgs bags of smokeless coal at Aldi for £3.99. I've bought 6 bags and it's perfect so will be buying a load more. It works out very cheap even compared to a 1000kgs delivered from a merchant at around 33pence/kg. Great channel and love the vlogs: keep them coming James. All the best.
Good on ya Neil - I’ll hunt some of that out mate
Oh and I also wonder if it may be an idea to cover the tiller extension. Bare metal in freezing conditions will not be nice to touch and could cause injury. Sorry heads in overdrive. Need to slow it down
16:58 love the sound of a Lister at tick over. Cheers.
That was slowed down audio to lower the tone
When we are camping I use curly pins to tether the dogs, and they soon pull them out!! Take care.
And that is why it’s nice to have a smaller narrowboat! So more maneuverable in tighter spaces.
Very true - although a pair of hands would have been useful
Enjoyable vlog James thanks very much.Sad news about the mooring situation in Berkhamsted,as it's a very pleasant town generally.
Looks like your enjoying yourself, she sounds lovely on low tick over, locks are always a challenge when your on your own.
Cheers Lee - hope you’re doing well my friend
Nice to see you living onboard now cheers from Australia
Cheers Murray - it feels lovely
Hurray! LIke you have done it many times! Congrats!
Thanks - it felt pretty good - sadly no-one saw…..well you and 8000 others on here !!
Nice to see you properly boating my friend. Warms my heart.
And as always my love and best wishes to Carole.
The wood railing, have you thought of perhaps covering it in a waterproof padded material? Rather than paint which will always chip.
It will also be much more comfy on the old posterior when cruising. Only a mad idea.
Oh, think I said before but memory is shot just now, kiln dried logs. Much more heat, last longer and much less soot. Win all round mate.
Also, I'm a Christmas nut and would dearly like to send you a card, I'm one of the few who still sends hand written cards. Where would I sent it mate?
Big love
Oh the joys of being a liveaboard bridge hopping narrowboater in autumn. Perhaps there are some crt winter towpath moorings that would suit you? Cheaper than a marina.
Point your tiller in the direction you want to go when reversing
Great to see your living the dream James was such a surprise to see you and the boat at Gayton when out with my dog I apologize for my terrible social anxiety or I'd have chatted longer 😕👍
Thanks and was great to see you 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Hi you could have tied your dog to his twisty mooring pin whilst you were there. As that’s what it’s for 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Will you be selling Sloe Patrol T-shirts anytime soon? I'd definitely would buy one. In similar colors as the boat maybe?
I finally looked up the price of one of these canal side homes. The one next to the pub is only £725,000.
Bargain, put me down for 2 then
Good to see the detail as to how things are done, precisely.
Hi James. We’ve discovered that we needed to join on the laptop rather than the phone, but that might just be us being dense! Anyway, we’re members now.
So glad to hear that Carol’s doing well - very good news indeed x
James Question, do you want me to make a wooden handle for your Tiller arm? if so let me know
Long spirals are great! I use them when I can when mooring maybe 50% of time (subject to ground conditions). Much more difficult then pins for "yobs" to pull out! But, get the ring right down into the ground (and I mean right down, level with or down into the soil) and use a mooring pin to put them in ..... you get better leverage. Oh and yes, get yourself a lump hammer for putting pins in 😁
Re Equipment ... You can get bigger spiral mooring pins which have a square top that the windlass fits in for turning ... also a proper boat pole is great to get next time you pass a boat yard. Also I hope you have a spare windlass ... They have a habit of being left behind or deep diving in a lock :-)
If you don't lose one windlass a year, you're not really narrowboating
turning small gage rope around on your tiller handle will aid more in colder weather giving an insulated effect on the hands as well as comfort for your handles ...... something you can do yourself ....... love the vlog ....... S
What a beautiful setting. Great VLOG. I admire your decision to take the boat up the locks to a better turning point! I feel like I’m learning from, as much as enjoying your VLOGS. I was wondering about winter moorings before; don’t know how those work, but would like to know how I could help (feel I’ve missed something). Thanks James!
Top video thank you 😊
I made the mistake of drying my coal out. It then was an absolute bugger to light. I find that a good layer of kindling with a small log surrounded by coal gets the coal burning great. Re the Marina thingy, we were on one but it wasn’t for us. You loose the variety of differing views and also everyone knows you business. It might be good for you but I thinks getting out into the countryside and commuting in to work is a much nicer lifestyle.
Well done pal 👍😎🇨🇦
James, just a bit of constructive criticism.....your boat motor is very loud and makes it very hard to hear you talking over your motor. Is it possible for you to change that? We enjoy watching your videos but would love to be able to hear you rather than your boat motor. Your videos are very entertaining. Thanks and keep the videos coming!!
Dam you beat me to it was just about to say next on the shopping list a lump hammer 😂
Yo dude, first time encountering your channel, thoroughly enjoyed it, especially some of the comedic and well timed comments.......(@10:34). Keep it up man!
I think you mean 0.2km travelled at 14:12. Nice area to float around in. I think you're one of the few boaters that tell it like it is, you don't flower it up. I would think having to move regularlarly and not being able to keep the car close would get old pretty quickly. My money would be on you being in a marina quite soon.
No mate I meant 0.02 still - I spent an hour getting back to where I started 🤣
@@TheNarrowboatThatJamesBuilt I see what you mean. Next time I'll pay more attention...
I use one of those giant corkscrews to tether my Yorkie when we go camping so it should have no problem holding your little boat 😂
A pub at every other lock? THAT could take some serious time!
Tell me about it
I would be using a short handle 6 to 8 lbs or 3 to 4.5 kilos to do the heavy pounding
Had many a happy hour trying to reverse planks, I usually found it easier to change direction going forward then just praying that it stayed on the right heading in reverse. 3 point turns are not on the cards 33 point turns maybe. Put the rudder about mid travel with it pointing in the direction you want to go - it might help.
I am missing the music James when you are cursing and she is a amazing
James would it be possible to tie one end of the boat to the bank and barge-pole the other end round against the bottom using brute force, swear words, water currant, prayers and wind to turn the boat around?
The thought crossed my mind
How does someone sign up for your members videos?
Hot the join button. It’s 99p a month and there’s around 30 vids on there
With the spiral thing - the boat will pull it sideways not up and down - the worst that could happen you wake up in the Thames lol
Hi James, I'm interested in whether you've used the coffee logs yet. I'd like to know how good/bad they are, how long they burn, etc, as we too have considered buying them for our boat stove.
Yes I have and they burn really well. They belt out some heat too and I went through 3 in an hour. I’m looking for a cheaper place to find them
@@TheNarrowboatThatJamesBuilt thanks James
11:10 I was afraid for your prop! It looked as though the bumper was higher than the canal side.
I was on it like a hawk
Textbookturn💪
Yes 👍🏼
evidently, i missed your explanations already--and the fact remains i can't imagine how you keep your boat and your car within close range of each other, etc., and are there parking fees, etc.?
Get busier with boats further south you get I guess. Lots of Narrowboats in London.
17:10 decimal point in the right place James? I'm pretty sure you went more than 40 Metres 😁
Now then Young James. How many "Rizla's" in that roll up ? I found that 6 was adequate. Top Rizla Rolling, Oh and try researching "Prop Wash". Can help when reversing :-)
I have no idea what you are talking about James 😜
Enough to make him forget where the boat key is again. 🚬 🗝 💦.
@@garychamley3095 and it’s on a bright yellow key float 😂
You got more experience with locks which look like you are doing them easier and confidently as a singlehander, and you got to wind for the 1st time, must outweigh wet coal and little solar.
Half the boat in the shade, maybe the third solarpannel could be stil an option? 🤔
Just what I was thinking!
good vid on the cut keep up the good vids
Hello, can anybody help me, I have joined as a member but I cannot find the videos. thank you Christine
If you are signed into TH-cam go to the channel page either on the website or on the app. Next to the community tab, there should be a membership tab. On that, all the videos are in order.
I hope that helps and works for you. Also check your email, there could be a link in there. I don’t think it works if you watch through a TV
@@TheNarrowboatThatJamesBuilt thank you James, very kind to get back to me. Best wishes. Christine (not Ray Walker) ha ha. C x
Do you have a Patreon account, or, a buy me a coffee, type of thing, James?
No I don’t have those….sorry. If you’d like to support the channel, then you could become a member. It’s 99p a month and there’s quite a few extra vids on there.
How do I become a member?
@@sarahobes2758 on the app or on the computer you can click the join button. On the app a members feed will appear and you can watch them all
Thanks!
Suspect you know this already but steer in reverse by brief forward bursts for steering ... Then back to reverse etc .... I feel you could have made it to the wide bit for turning.
As others have asked, how does one become a member of the club? Is that solely for those who contributed to the crowd funding?
Up next to where it says "subscribed" you will see the word "join"; click on that. It's from only 99 pence for the whole back catalogue.
It’s for anyone mate. Click the join button. There’s about 30ish videos on there
@@theotherstevesteve thank you. Don’t seem to have the button 🤔🤔
@@soomay9855 on a windows PC in a browser it is top right by the subscribe button when on the home page for the channel. On android (phones and tablets) it only seems to appear on the youTube app not the browser though my browser is duckduckgo.
@@theotherstevesteve ah! Thank you for taking the time to explain (I’m on an iPad!) 🙏🏻
Pesky teenagers 🙄. I was one once ... try saying “hello lads” you may be surprised by their reaction.
I was one too. I know mate, they’re all pretty sound tbh
Not a lot of inside work being done. Have you set up your only fans website yet. Keep cranking out the content. 🙄
your in my last spot 👍
👍👌🇨🇦❤,
I’m out of here, too much winging!! You’ve got what you wanted and you’re still not happy.
You've heard of idiot mittens, James? Idiot keys. Just saying. ;-)
you def need a small lump hammer my friend the axe is no good
On order.
So your content you normally do, is now behind a paywall and don't see it unless we pay....? Nice to see you value yourself that much.
Is everything anyone does due to you for free Claire? Who thinks a lot of themselves?
@@theotherstevesteve A low quality video they produce which is mainly to feed their ego and appease their narcissism, which lets be honest most TH-cam video is. (not just having a go at James there)Yes should be free and that's what adverts are for. Do them earlier for members if people want to contribute. But even the 99p one, if did that for each youtuber I watch would be more expensive than Netflix. His channel will just stagnate as new people aren't seeing everything won't be able to follow whole story etc and will just stop following.
What pay wall? The adverts? I've never "paid" to view. Are you in UK?
@@claire4486 why do you follow these narrowboaters, if all you can do is make unnecessary and hurtful comments? I also read one of your comments on well deck diaries yesterday which was very nasty and uncalled for. I know we're all entitled to our opinions, but when they cause upset, it's no more than bullying or trolling. I suggest you unfollow and find a different hobby
@@claire4486 for 99p you get the whole back catalogue without adverts. You could then cancel that having watched them if you thought that fair. Then 6 months from now, do the same. It's upto your sense of value and conscience Claire.