Shell Spec Approved

The specification for the steelwork has been approved and will soon go to the shell builder, Tim Tyler:

Spec for shell 60ft Tim Tyler Trad with :

Backdoors sliding hatch

1 ½ sterntube self lubricating vetus type

Stainless tank 150 gallon

Two sets of side doors as per drawing

Two Houdini hatch steel work as per drawing

Steel bow doors

Twin diesel tanks at rear

Fully watertight weedhatch access through rear deck

Comastic below gunwhales

Descaled steel for cabin,if not leave it in bare steel for us to do

Vetus bow thruster tube

Strangely enough Johnathan Wilson/Tim Tyler don't seem to have their own web site. On the engine front, we've decided to specify a Beta 43 in an acoustic cocoon with a 5kVA travelpower auxiliary generator attached.

Another Livery Half Address

Skinners Hall
8 1/2 Dowgate Lane
London

Image - a whole guild for people who skin things.

Syncopation Spec Check

Today we went for another visit to the boat builder in Blisworth. We took the latest version of the specification and plan for Syncopation.
He'll meet with the shell builder at the end of the week to order the hull for delivery at the end of May!
I've made some very minor changes to the spec - addition of a heater to blow warm air at the steerer from the engine cooling system in winter. This is probably the final version, on which the contract will be based.
We were given some bad news, though. Beta have stopped making the propgen! This engine driven generator was a central part of my gas free narrowboat design. Apparently the demand was not sufficient for this unit. Now we'll have to either reduce the size of the galley hob to a two ring version (not likely swmbo says) or seek an alternative way of generating 7.5kVa from the engine. There is a 7.5kVa travel power unit but Beta aren't keen on it so more research for a power unit is required. We may get away with a 3.5kVa Travelpower unit and use the inverter to "top up" when we have all the cooker rings on. It's pretty unusual to use all the rings on the cooker at once, so it may be enough.

London Livery Addresses

I've noticed a couple of the London Livery Companies have strange addresses:
Here's 68 1/2 Upper Thames Sreet, Vintners' Hall.
Skinners' Hall is 8 1/2 Dowgate Lane. I will have to investigate the rest to find more examples.













Here's a list of the London livery companies:
Actuaries, Air Pilots & Air Navigators, Apothecaries (medicine), Arbitrators, Armourers & Brasiers (armour-makers and workers in brass), Bakers, Barbers (also surgeons and dentists), Basketmakers, Blacksmiths, Bowyers (longbow makers), Brewers, Broderers (embroiderers), Builders Merchants, Butchers, Carmen, Carpenters, Chartered Accountants, Chartered Architects, Chartered Secretaries & Administrators, Chartered Surveyors, Clockmakers, Clothworkers, Coachmakers & Coach Harness Makers, Constructors, Cooks, Coopers (barrel makers), Cordwainers (workers in fine leather), Curriers (dressers of tanned leather), Cutlers, Distillers, Drapers, Dyers, Engineers, Environmental Cleaners, Fan Makers, Farmers, Farriers (shoers of horses / veterinary surgeons), Feltmakers (hats), Firefighters, Fishmongers, Fletchers (arrow makers), Founders, Framework Knitters, Fruiterers, Fuellers, Furniture Makers, Gardeners, Girdlers (girdles and belts as clothing), Glass Sellers, Glaziers, Glovers, Gold & Silver Wyre Drawers (gold and silver braid for uniforms), Goldsmiths, Grocers, Gunmakers, Haberdashers, Hackney Carriage Drivers, Horners, Information Technologists, Innholders, Insurers, International Bankers, Ironmongers, Joiners and Ceilers, Launderers, Leathersellers, Lightmongers, Loriners (stirrups and other harness for horses), Makers of Playing Cards, Management Consultants, Marketors, Masons, Master Mariners, Mercers (general merchants), Merchant Taylors (tailors), Musicians, Needlemakers, Painter Stainers, Pattenmakers (makers of wooden clog-style footwear), Paviors (paving, highways), Pewterers, Plaisterers (plasterers), Plumbers, Poulters, Saddlers, Salters, Scientific Instrument Makers, Scriveners (writers of court letters and legal documents), Shipwrights, Skinners, Solicitors, Spectaclemakers, Stationers & Newspaper Makers, Tallowchandlers, Tax Advisers, Tinplate Workers, Tobacco Pipe Makers & Tobacco Blenders, Turners, Tylers & Bricklayers, Upholders (upholsterers), Vintners, Water Conservators, Wax Chandlers, Weavers, Wheelwrights, Woolmen (winders and packers of wool), World Traders.

City companies without livery
Parish Clerks*, Watermen & Lightermen*, Security Professionals.

*Recognised as a City Company but without the grant of livery.

Guilds
Educators, Public Relations Practitioners, Guild of Art Scholars, Dealers & Collectors .

My Lunch Time

I noticed this:

a few days ago but didn't have time to read it so I went back this lunch time to read all of it. Captain Ralph Binney was murdered trying to prevent a violent robbery of a jeweler's shop on Birchin Lane in London in 1944. The surprising thing about it is that there's more information about the man on the web site of the Amiralante Padilla Naval School in Colombia. He helped found that august institution after retiring from the Royal Navy in 1934, returning to the Royal navy in 1939, eventually becoming chief of staff for the Port of London in 1944.

Other things I saw on my walk:
Entrance to Bengal Court
St Michaels church

Waterways Protest at Banbury

I took the boys to Banbury this afternoon. We went in search of the IWA funding cuts protest. Not quite as spectacular as the protest I missed entirely last month. There was a stall on the towpath opposite the Castle Quay shopping centre. I added my name to the petition. There were two narrowboats moored next to the stall. I assume the owners were manning the stall because when we went back that way to play in the waterlogged park before going home boats and stall had disappeared.
There was another stall inside the shopping centre, again manned by IWA members (I assume they were members, they were all wearing badges). I think the general public were slightly bemused by this activity. Most of them have no idea of the funding cuts. I wonder how many of them even know about British Waterways?
I was a little disappointed at the lack of stuff to see - was hoping to see more narrowboats protesting - like the blockade a month or so ago. Never mind: I cheered myself up by visiting the chandlery at Tooley's.
After a visit to the park during which I spent a lot of time trying to keep the boys from getting too muddy and wet we came home with the car roof down, beating the rain home by a couple of minutes!