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Steering from inside


Heffalump

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15 hours ago, Chris Williams said:

Get those **** fenders off.  Looks like a Christmas tree. 

Please don't bring it onto the Thames.  We like civilised craft.

 

 

Bates.JPG

And pretty sure that’s the Trent not the Thames. Shermini moors at Sawley and is currently for sale on A/duck, unless some lucky bugger has bought her.

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8 hours ago, noddyboater said:

pretty sure that’s the Trent not the Thames.

You got it.  It is a proper river boat, though, and the asking price was less than for a working narrowboat on the same site. 

Mad or what?

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19 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

You simply pass a boat with a tiller at the back, but nobody visibly holding it.

That was me in the wet parts of Blisworth,  just go into the cabin, boat will look after itself.

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56 minutes ago, Chris Williams said:

You got it.  It is a proper river boat, though, and the asking price was less than for a working narrowboat on the same site. 

Mad or what?

Never mind a working narrowboat, have you seen what people are asking for old springers once they’ve been to IKEA and done a refit?!

 I’ve always admired shermini, if I could afford a 2nd boat to have based on the river it would definitely be her. In a line of pointy plastic things she stands out by a mile. 

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I built a 46 foot boat with tiller and internal wheel steering using a push/ pull cable. The suppliers of the steering gear supplied them to fishing boats and rated the cable at a third of a ton! Mine was not the longest stock cable and the suppliers said that cables for much longer boats were available to special order.

Ive also tested a boat with hydraulic steering and found it to be very poor in comparison, the cable allows you to feel the pressure on the rudder and has a self centring action. The hydraulic set cost more than five times as much but gave the steerer no feedback at all .

We had a lot of enjoyment from the wheel steering and boated in some terrible weather!

if I have another boat I will definitely have dual steering again.

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On 11/05/2019 at 19:29, Bee said:

Our boat steers by wheel steering from a wheelhouse slightly forward from the middle (its a replica harbour tug)  Its very simple, the wheel operates a pump, two hydraulic hoses go to a push / pull hydraulic ram that shoves the rudder to and fro and that's all there is to it. As Blackrose says, it takes a bit of getting used to, the boat still steers from the back even if the steerer sits in the front so its easy to clout things with the stern.

Same as mine except my wheelhouse is at the stern, I have seen a full size narrowboat with remote controls on our large waterways perhaps the mystery one had the same?

On 12/05/2019 at 10:06, bizzard said:

These all steer from the front, ex Broads, we have one here.  The GRP Trentcraft also steered from the front with either an outboard motor or inboard engine which was stuffed up under the foredeck with a long shaft to the reear.

img.jpg

I have one of those in Orange!!

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6 hours ago, Mike Jordan said:

I built a 46 foot boat with tiller and internal wheel steering using a push/ pull cable. The suppliers of the steering gear supplied them to fishing boats and rated the cable at a third of a ton! Mine was not the longest stock cable and the suppliers said that cables for much longer boats were available to special order.

Ive also tested a boat with hydraulic steering and found it to be very poor in comparison, the cable allows you to feel the pressure on the rudder and has a self centring action. The hydraulic set cost more than five times as much but gave the steerer no feedback at all .

We had a lot of enjoyment from the wheel steering and boated in some terrible weather!

if I have another boat I will definitely have dual steering again.

Ok when new but on my bathtub its got a bit of play in it not pleasant at all, My widebeam with wheelhouse has hydraulic and has no free play  but has only a little feel to it as you say

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I think people are missing the point here.

There have been several reports over the last few years of remotely controlled narrowboats , using glorified model radio-controllers.

Usually designed to make single-handing locking easier, but just as easily used to steer the boat from the inside.  No fancy cables or chains required!

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18 hours ago, peterboat said:

 

I have one of those in Orange!!

Has it spent any time in the Royalls hire fleet?

 

All of their boats were a rather garish shade of orange.

 

A few for sale now that are still orange!

 

https://www.watersidemarinesales.co.uk/boats-for-sale/alphacraft-42-bewitched.html

 

https://www.nya.co.uk/boats-for-sale/alpha-42-2/

 

 

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17 hours ago, dor said:

I think people are missing the point here.

There have been several reports over the last few years of remotely controlled narrowboats , using glorified model radio-controllers.

Usually designed to make single-handing locking easier, but just as easily used to steer the boat from the inside.  No fancy cables or chains required!

When the new Sealine F42 came out a fair few years ago now we had a test run on the Solent with it. It was quite a piece if kit with "sky hook" technology. No bow or stern thrusters and propulsion was via two independent rotating pods.

 

It was a brilliant bit of kit with joystick steering and the ability to tell it to stay in one exact location and it would do so taking account of wind and tide conditions.

 

It was highly manouverable and very intuative to use.

 

Not sure it would be much use on the canals though. The pods are sacraficial and will detach is knocked hard enough. That said the one we test drove ended up being bought by a friend in Norfolk who kept it at the bottom of his garden on Oulton Broad. It settled into the mud on his mooring without losing any pods!

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48 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

Has it spent any time in the Royalls hire fleet?

 

All of their boats were a rather garish shade of orange.

 

A few for sale now that are still orange!

 

https://www.watersidemarinesales.co.uk/boats-for-sale/alphacraft-42-bewitched.html

 

https://www.nya.co.uk/boats-for-sale/alpha-42-2/

 

 

Ho seasons I think, its much more gopping than those beauties

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4 hours ago, peterboat said:

Ho seasons I think, its much more gopping than those beauties

Hoseasons would just be the booking company. They don't own their own boats it would be from one of the hire yards and if it is orange my guess would be Royalls.

 

They were swallowed up by Barnes Brinkcraft a few years back but some of the boats are still in orange livery.

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Builder Peter Nicholls, long retired as far as I know, used to do a line in inspection saloons. These were fancy Narrowboats, replicas of the things some canal company directors used to be driven about their empires in.

For some reason, I assume so that the steerer was handy for directions from the directors, they had wheel steering from an internal position in the cabin front. The Nicholls replicas were the same.

I always felt they'd be very strange to steer 

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Forklift trucks and Combine Harvesters have rear wheel steering, which is much the same effect.  There are also many ships which have the bridge near the bows.  I guess you just get used to it.

A bit different to hiring a Carribean for a week.  I once hired a small motor boat which had a steering wheel mounted sideways.  It was interesting.

I will stick to standing on the counter with a proper tiller.

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14 hours ago, trackman said:

Builder Peter Nicholls, long retired as far as I know, used to do a line in inspection saloons. These were fancy Narrowboats, replicas of the things some canal company directors used to be driven about their empires in.

For some reason, I assume so that the steerer was handy for directions from the directors, they had wheel steering from an internal position in the cabin front. The Nicholls replicas were the same.

I always felt they'd be very strange to steer 

There is one for sale at Braunston Marina at the moment. It has front and rear steering.

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13 hours ago, Chris Williams said:

Forklift trucks and Combine Harvesters have rear wheel steering, which is much the same effect.  There are also many ships which have the bridge near the bows.  I guess you just get used to it.

A bit different to hiring a Carribean for a week.  I once hired a small motor boat which had a steering wheel mounted sideways.  It was interesting.

I will stick to standing on the counter with a proper tiller.

Many small steam launches have a side steering wheel, seem to be traditional with some.

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4 minutes ago, bizzard said:

Many small steam launches have a side steering wheel, seem to be traditional with some.

This one, hired from Salters, had a Stuart Turner petrol engine.  The gear handle doubled as starting handle.

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