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1 hour ago, TheBiscuits said:

Which ones are you thinking of?  I can only think of one ...

He is partly correct, I think many people would regard the Rochdale as a narrow Pennine crossing and the Eastern end as a wide cul de sac. A widebeam would require support from CRT and I have been told that one did go through a couple of years ago and the CRT people involved hope they are never asked to do it again ?.

 

..............Dave 

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1 hour ago, TheBiscuits said:

Which ones are you thinking of?  I can only think of one ...

 HNC - your right, there is only one narrow cross Pennine canal.

 

However given the lock numbering it seems like two ?

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Thanks all for your views.

 

I'm not looking for a live aboard (far from it!). I'm looking at a weekender now and again, lazy day trips, good scenery and off the beaten track pub lunches!

I am 'almost' decided on type of boat but it would be foolish to rule out "the other option" (WB) once the subject was raised by a colleague of mine.

Due dilligence (and all that) suggests various issues be considered, including - moorings, distance from house to boat, scenery, running costs, maintenance etc etc.

Some of you have now helped me with some of those issues - thank you.

I'm almost there with my choice but every time I see the inside of a WB - I 'wobble' - there is so much space and light and freedom compared to a "sewer tube" (horrible connotation!).

Having looked at a lot of NB's now, there is so much sameness (dark and dingy spaces/shiney brown varnished plywood/tacky bathrooms) below say £45k....choices are extremely limited.

As mentioned above - you get what you pay for. (Frankly this 'sameness' doesn't seem to manifest itself in the WB world, so much (if at all).

 

Having poured over Northern and NW canals for widebeams this weekend it is becoming apparent there are restrictions in my operating area and that WB's may not meet most of my criteria (above)...shame really....I'd love one in theory.

 

Thanks again.

 

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15 minutes ago, Fly Navy said:

Having looked at a lot of NB's now, there is so much sameness (dark and dingy spaces/shiney brown varnished plywood/tacky bathrooms) below say £45k....choices are extremely limited.

That is the origin of the "London Whiteout" look - paint everything with white paint so it looks like a flat on a property development programme.  

 

I detest the look, but do understand why people go for it.

 

I use magnolia ... :icecream:

 

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9 hours ago, Fly Navy said:

Having poured over Northern and NW canals for widebeams this weekend it is becoming apparent there are restrictions in my operating area and that WB's may not meet most of my criteria (above)...shame really....I'd love one in theory.

 

Thanks again.

 

 

Wouldn't we all ?

 

Still once the patent runs out on the TARDIS (not sure when because the Doctor keeps going back and forth in time changing the start date), the problem of a narrow boat with a wide interior will be solved.

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If I wanted a widebeam I would look seriously at the various dutch barges that come up from time to time, I've taken my 11` beam shallow draughted  roundish bottomed dutch boat up the GU and K&A and Wey and its quite hard work. It would be much harder in a square sectioned deeper draughted English fat boat.

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The reason the narrowness of a narrowboat doesn't matter much for a leisure user is because most of the time you're not in it. You're either standing on the back driving, or sitting outside in the sun with a book and a beer. 

You're only really inside if it rains, or you're cooking or sleeping. If it's just a weekender, you won't be there unless the weather's good anyway. 

It's different for a liveaboard, not that I found it a problem. I was either at work, or sitting on the back with a book... 

There's so much space outside, you don't notice the width inside. 

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10 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

The reason the narrowness of a narrowboat doesn't matter much for a leisure user is because most of the time you're not in it. You're either standing on the back driving, or sitting outside in the sun with a book and a beer. 

You're only really inside if it rains, or you're cooking or sleeping. If it's just a weekender, you won't be there unless the weather's good anyway. 

It's different for a liveaboard, not that I found it a problem. I was either at work, or sitting on the back with a book... 

There's so much space outside, you don't notice the width inside. 

I think I'm a leisure user, spending 3, sometimes 4, nights on board each week. However, I dont go far, if anywhere, and spend most of my time inside the boat, rather than outside.

 

I would love a widebeam, on The Bridgewater Canal, but the cost would be too much, as against the £25k or so that our 45ft NB is probably worth.

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On 19/03/2019 at 11:35, peterboat said:

My moorings are the same wide or narrow, I don't think I could go back to a narrowboat but am glad I started with one. Most of the north is widebeam country I would not go down south in one.


I feel exactly the same. I love my widebeam, it's been a fantastic home over the last 14 years and a great boat too and I'd never go back to a narrow boat. To be honest I just don't like them very much at all. I've taken my boat all over the place, right around London on the Paddington arm, up and down the tidal Thames, from Reading to Bristol, even down ditches like the Slough arm. I've never had any problem. It's 12ft wife but it only draws 2ft which is a lot less than many narrow boats so I've never found myself scraping along the bottom of canals. I've been on rivers for the last 8 years. If I can handle this 30 tonne boat on my own I guess it must handle well. Maybe I'll cross the Wash one day and come up north.

 

 

 

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On 20/03/2019 at 09:41, Bee said:

If I wanted a widebeam I would look seriously at the various dutch barges that come up from time to time, I've taken my 11` beam shallow draughted  roundish bottomed dutch boat up the GU and K&A and Wey and its quite hard work. It would be much harder in a square sectioned deeper draughted English fat boat.

 

That's not my experience. Every narrowboat I've steered including the one I owned was deeper draughted than my English fat boat. Most Dutch and Dutch style barges are deeper still.

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On 19/03/2019 at 23:45, Fly Navy said:

Thanks all for your views.

 

I'm not looking for a live aboard (far from it!). I'm looking at a weekender now and again, lazy day trips, good scenery and off the beaten track pub lunches!

 

Get a NB. Unless you're living on it a WB doesn't really make sense.

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7 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

You have been talking to @Alan de Enfield again, haven't you!  He has two boats stuck together .... (picture please Alan!)

 

Each Hull is 6' 6" wide with a total beam of 23 feet - a real 'fatty'

The Tender is 10 feet long (3.1mts) and sits between the hulls.

 

51948861gallery_wm.jpg

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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12 hours ago, blackrose said:


I feel exactly the same. I love my widebeam, it's been a fantastic home over the last 14 years and a great boat too and I'd never go back to a narrow boat. To be honest I just don't like them very much at all. I've taken my boat all over the place, right around London on the Paddington arm, up and down the tidal Thames, from Reading to Bristol, even down ditches like the Slough arm. I've never had any problem. It's 12ft wife but it only draws 2ft which is a lot less than many narrow boats so I've never found myself scraping along the bottom of canals. I've been on rivers for the last 8 years. If I can handle this 30 tonne boat on my own I guess it must handle well. Maybe I'll cross the Wash one day and come up north.

 

 

 

1466964366801.jpg

Bath and North East Somerset-20130505-00283.jpg

IMG_20170409_175944.jpg

IMG_20170512_203649.jpg

DSC_2949-1.jpg

 

That's not my experience. Every narrowboat I've steered including the one I owned was deeper draughted than my English fat boat. Most Dutch and Dutch style barges are deeper still.

I get you I would go down south in mine I suppose if there was a connection, and for my 2 hours cruising a day I dont think I would cause any problems. Like you my draught is only just 2 feet but I have had issues on the Leeds Liverpool in the past. I would only borrow a narrowboat to do the system again, I would not buy one unless it was ceep and at the end it would make a profit on sale

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2 hours ago, Ray T said:

 

BoatAndrina1.jpg

BoatAndrina2.jpg

How would one prep and paint the areas on each side of the hulls that face each other? Is there enough of a gap? If the hulls are welded directly together then it's just one long rust trap that you can't paint. On the other hand I suppose there could be a 1ft gap between the two hulls like a catarmaran, but then the whole thing's going to be too wide to get through most double locks on canals. Bad idea either way I think 

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8 minutes ago, blackrose said:

How would one prep and paint the areas on each side of the hulls that face each other? Is there enough of a gap? If the hulls are welded directly together then it's just one long rust trap that you can't paint. On the other hand I suppose there could be a 1ft gap between the two hulls like a catarmaran, but then the whole thing's going to be too wide to get through most double locks on canals. Bad idea either way I think 

Are they actually welded or are they just braced - the metal strip at the stern look like it could be removable and the strip at the bows looks wooden, a bit like a scaffolding plank. 

 

 

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