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Exactly. And purple boats too. I also have a theory that the licence fee for boats up to 35’ should be halved.

Do you not recognise that adding a ‘disppointed’ or ‘rolling the eyes’ emoji to the end of a post - particularly about someone else’s choices - is a horrible behaviour? As is starting a response with a <sigh>? It isn’t compatible with being tolerant of others’ points of view. I’m not so daft to think that there aren’t some issues but I will always defend the right of a craft meeting the navigational dimensions to be able to navigate the waterway in question. And I’ll always challenge anyone who claims that wide boats shouldn’t be on waterways that are legally required to be maintained to facilitate their navigation. I genuinely can’t think of a northern waterway that a wide beam can access that doesn’t fall into that category. I’ve done that many times on this forum; mostly in relation to the GU. It isn’t just you.

It’s because you continually cast aspersions on other boaters based on what I suspect may be fairly limited experience and knowledge. Which are the northern canals that aren’t wide that have problematic wide beams?

Are you suggesting that wide beams shouldn’t be on the northern canals where you’ve presumably experienced these problems first hand?

I doubt you’d start a response with an audible sigh in a face to face meeting with a group in the pub. The point was that a boat moored stupidly is a boat moored stupidly. Whether it’s a widebeam or not isn’t relevant to that fact. There are lots of circumstances where a particular shape or size of boat or the attitude or size of crew can be an impediment to others. In some circumstances a 70’ boat squeezed on the end of a mooring impeding a junction, a lock landing or a winding hole is more of a nuisance than a 50’ boat would be. But we don’t get excited about 70’ boats here because they conform to the collective notion of what a ‘proper boat’ might look like. Not only that the numerous pairs of 71’ 6” x 7’ 0.5” boats moored abreast on the GU are definitely OK despite the fact it’s only officially a 12’ 6” wide waterway north of Berkhamsted. If we’re worried about CRT’s funding issues surely we should be welcoming boaters to the waterways rather than tutting at the shape of their cabins. None of us have any claim to the waterways, and even less to be self appointed arbiters of what is right or wrong. It’s of ultimate benefit to us all to get boats onto the canal in the first place. Then comes the issue of how to manage the consequences.

Why are you so rude?

So it’s just boats that inconvenience you. No need to distinguish the type. And presumably if the boat is within the permitted dimensions all is good.

When boating where though? I’m on the GU between Berkhamsted and Birmingham every month, often more frequently, and I haven’t noticed any significant changes in the numbers of wide beams of the move. In a routine day I’d expect to encounter 0 or 1, with 0 being more likely than 1. I don’t doubt some people do get inconvenienced by them. I’ve had minor delays further south where they are more prevalent; a certain amount of which is because those on the move often seem under-crewed. It made me wonder if your experience was skewed by towpath observations around London.

Is your evidence of increasing levels of annoyance caused by widebeams gained from personal experience or from the comments of folk on CWDF or other social media?

If the chap had any sense he would have remarked that he had intended to ask if the crew ahead would be prepared to wait for him to join them in the next lock but seeing as that wasn’t possible would they kindly wind a bottom paddle back for him at subsequent locks. That’s something to consider anyway if boats are following you.

The unofficial county top of Warwickshire in the background there.

The replacement of the original wooden infill to the paddles with plastic is another reason to wind them down. The wood had a degree of give to it that the plastic doesn’t have and they are prone to cracking if the paddles drop sharply.

I too have pondered the parallel between the arguments about why boats without a home mooring should pay more and the council tax vs poll tax debate.

I haven’t read a word of that but the bit I was pondering was the ‘winner’ in a four horse vote was any horse getting more than 25%. You just can’t step back from ramming your point of view down folks’ throat can you?

I was pondering @Paul C’s maths in general rather than the outcome of the actual survey.

🤔

That right hand lock looks peculiar. The chamber wall seems to slope upward to a higher top gate which suggests it’s a staircase. However the left hand lock appears to be a conventional lock. As they are broad locks I was thinking London, maybe the Regents canal. Above Stanley dock, Liverpool is a possibility but not sure about FMC trade to Liverpool in the BW era. Can I have three guesses? Runcorn? I bet all three are wrong. ETA - I took too long to write that and JB beat me to it!

It’s either work to the services in the road or the need to remove the bridge that spans the disused arm/wharf entrance by the look of things. It was still closed at the end of November and didn’t look like reopening was imminent.

A recent customer of mine told me of his experience of communications with a supposed boatmover that on enquiry via FB he concluded to be a scammer. Hence I’d be grateful if @Journeyman36 could at least confirm if the scam they mentioned involved a boat mover?

The point of the procedure is to initially arrive at the place you wish to stop with the boat stationary and the bow in a position where a crew member can step to the bank safely with a line. Another feature of the training being that you never step on or off a moving boat. And @LadyG you most certainly don’t jump. If you coast in a boat when exactly is it going to stop? Most likely when it hits something or you have jumped off with a line and taken a turn around a bollard. Coasting into the side is also highly likely to result in collision with the bank if done at a steep angle or being pushed away from the bank if coming in at a shallow angle. There’s no hurry involved at all. Hurrying involves veering toward the bank a couple of hundred yards before a lock so the crew can take a flying leap on to the towpath and run up to prepare the lock. I was taught to use mooring rings to bring the boat to a final stand but the technique as published doesn’t assume any particular type of canalside equipment is present.