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16 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.

 

 

 

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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.

The only problem I've had with PETRA on the K&A has been the rocks that end up in the concreted section near Bath, if the level was where it should be there wouldn't be any problem at all.

She draws 2'8'' + 3'3'' at the skeg but she has curved chines with a 12'' radius which tends to help a lot.

 

Keith

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17 hours ago, blackrose said:

I feel exactly the same. I love my widebeam,

I saw a black widebeam called BLACK ROSE on the duck the other day and I did a right double take because for a second my first very surprised thought was that it was yours. But it was a different boat all together. 

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3 hours ago, Tumshie said:

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. 

 

 

Then they may as well just be tied together with ropes surely? What's the point of the steel and wooden bracing exactly?

Edited by blackrose
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1 minute ago, blackrose said:

Then they may as well just be tied together with ropes surely? What's the point of the steel and wooden bracing exactly?

To be honest I don't know, other than it was a little more permanent but it would give you the option to separate them ones in the blue moon that you needed to, but it was more of a question than a statement really. The whole set up looks interesting but confusing to me. Maybe it makes better sense if seen in real life. 

 

 

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14 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Then they may as well just be tied together with ropes surely? What's the point of the steel and wooden bracing exactly?

 

The point of welding the two boats together is that only one licence is needed. CRT had until recently the policy of charging for length only, so two 7ft wide boats cost twice the price to licence as one 14ft wide boat.

 

To stop people taking the pish and just claiming their pair of NBs lashed together with rope was a single boat, CRT declared two boats had to be securely and permanently welded together to benefit from only paying one licence.

 

 

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10 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

The point of welding the two boats together is that only one licence is needed. CRT had until recently the policy of charging for length only, so two 7ft wide boats cost twice the price to licence as one 14ft wide boat.

 

To stop people taking the pish and just claiming their pair of NBs lashed together with rope was a single boat, CRT declared two boats had to be securely and permanently welded together to benefit from only paying one licence.

 

 

 

Ok, so if they are welded together then I go back to my original post about not being able to get between the two hulls to prep and repaint. Where they meet is just a rust trap that you can't do anything about.

Edited by blackrose
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19 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

The point of welding the two boats together is that only one licence is needed. CRT had until recently the policy of charging for length only, so two 7ft wide boats cost twice the price to licence as one 14ft wide boat.

 

To stop people taking the pish and just claiming their pair of NBs lashed together with rope was a single boat, CRT declared two boats had to be securely and permanently welded together to benefit from only paying one licence.

 

 

Except that this boat/these boats has existed for many years, long before CRT was even an idea.

 

 

Keith

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  • 1 month later...
On 18/03/2019 at 22:11, Alan de Enfield said:

Painting, licence, insurance, mooring are all MORE expensive than a sewer-tube.

As C&RT try and reduce the numbers of 'fat-boats' coming onto the system they have introduced a sliding scale of increases over the next few years.

From memory a 12' wide boat will be 50% higher licence fee than a 'same-length' skinny-boat.

 

Mooring fees tend to be 30%-50%-100% more than a NB.

I wonder if the effect of this be evident at the forthcoming Crick Show?

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4 hours ago, GRLMK38 said:

I wonder if the effect of this be evident at the forthcoming Crick Show?

Its 20% higher than a narrowboat for a 12 foot wide and 10% for over 10 foot wide introduced over the next four ish years so in reality I dont think it will bother many buyers

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On 23/03/2019 at 15:38, Steilsteven said:

 

The worst of both worlds IMHO.

 

Keith

This boat has been hovering around on the river Lea for many many years, I think this photo is at Springfield opposite the marina, south of Tottenham locks.

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7 hours ago, peterboat said:

Its 20% higher than a narrowboat for a 12 foot wide and 10% for over 10 foot wide introduced over the next four ish years so in reality I dont think it will bother many buyers

Summary of changes

  • Changes will be phased over five years, with no changes before April 2019.
  • Current length bands remain the same, and three width bands will be introduced: Band 1 being 2.16m (7ft 1") and below; Band 2 being over 2.16 to 3.24m (7ft 1" to 10ft 7¾"); Band 3 being over 3.24m width (10ft 7¾").  The two wider bands will attract surcharges rising to 10% and 20% respectively, phased in over four years from April 2020.
  • The prompt payment discount will be reduced to 5% in April 2019.  From April 2020 the structure of the discount will be changed so that a 2.5% discount will be offered for prompt payment in full, and a 2.5% discount for those using automated payment methods (including monthly direct debits).
  • All other current discounts remain unchanged, with a planned review of the criteria for the electric boat discount.
  • One-day licences will be withdrawn while all other short-term licences will be retained.
  • No link between mooring status and licence fees, but a further review is planned to establish how the significant growth in some popular locations can be addressed.
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53 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Summary of changes

  • Changes will be phased over five years, with no changes before April 2019.
  • Current length bands remain the same, and three width bands will be introduced: Band 1 being 2.16m (7ft 1") and below; Band 2 being over 2.16 to 3.24m (7ft 1" to 10ft 7¾"); Band 3 being over 3.24m width (10ft 7¾").  The two wider bands will attract surcharges rising to 10% and 20% respectively, phased in over four years from April 2020.
  • The prompt payment discount will be reduced to 5% in April 2019.  From April 2020 the structure of the discount will be changed so that a 2.5% discount will be offered for prompt payment in full, and a 2.5% discount for those using automated payment methods (including monthly direct debits).
  • All other current discounts remain unchanged, with a planned review of the criteria for the electric boat discount.
  • One-day licences will be withdrawn while all other short-term licences will be retained.
  • No link between mooring status and licence fees, but a further review is planned to establish how the significant growth in some popular locations can be addressed.

 

 

So the bottom line is, it remains a load cheaper to licence your pair of narrowboats if you weld them together :)

 

 

  • Greenie 1
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1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 

So the bottom line is, it remains a load cheaper to licence your pair of narrowboats if you weld them together :)

 

 

Yup - 40% cheaper, &, just use them on the river and save another 40%, get your 'vintage discount' and an electric motor and get the 'Electric drive' discount  and C&RT will pay you to keep them on the water !!

 

(Smiley face)

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  • 1 month later...
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.

Hi mate not sure if you can remember me you invited us to view your boat a couple of years ago as we were considering a widebeam. Things have changed and looks like I will soon be buying a widebeam for me and my dog so might be after some help and advice in future if that’s ok? Kind regards Martin 

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2 hours ago, fergyguy said:

Hi mate not sure if you can remember me you invited us to view your boat a couple of years ago as we were considering a widebeam. Things have changed and looks like I will soon be buying a widebeam for me and my dog so might be after some help and advice in future if that’s ok? Kind regards Martin 

PM sent Martin

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  • 2 years later...
29 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Strange 1st post - posts but says nothing in a two and a half year dormant thread ?

 

Do you need help ?

 

curious profile too. Hovering one's curser over it does not cause a pop-up giving some basic details, like all the other profiles on here.

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25 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

curious profile too. Hovering one's curser over it does not cause a pop-up giving some basic details, like all the other profiles on here.

 

Following a forum 'improvement' you now don't need to be registered to post, he / she / it / them have signed in on the "guest" tab so nothing is known about them , not even their IP address.

Doesn't seem to be much of an improvement to me.

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