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Crossing the Wash


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Earlier this year I met a guy with a little 30 foot Springer who said he had done the trip in one go ie without beaching.  I thought that wasn't possible, all the accounts I've read/heard about the Wash involve crossing on two tides, but he said it was quite straightforward and anyway as the Springer has a V hull he didn't want it to dry out.   I didn't have time to go into detail so does anyone know how it can be done in one go?

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5 hours ago, Neil2 said:

Earlier this year I met a guy with a little 30 foot Springer who said he had done the trip in one go ie without beaching.  I thought that wasn't possible, all the accounts I've read/heard about the Wash involve crossing on two tides, but he said it was quite straightforward and anyway as the Springer has a V hull he didn't want it to dry out.   I didn't have time to go into detail so does anyone know how it can be done in one go?

If you have to wait for the tide why not go to anchor rather that beaching? personally, I would be very reluctant to deliberately beach a narrow boat unless it was essential. They are not designed to take the ground and if the boat did sit on something - a rock or a piece of debris - and puncture the bottom plating,  what started out as a  pleasant "jolly" could easily become a sinking. Why take unnecessary risks.

 

Howard 

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11 hours ago, Neil2 said:

Earlier this year I met a guy with a little 30 foot Springer who said he had done the trip in one go ie without beaching.  I thought that wasn't possible, all the accounts I've read/heard about the Wash involve crossing on two tides, but he said it was quite straightforward and anyway as the Springer has a V hull he didn't want it to dry out.   I didn't have time to go into detail so does anyone know how it can be done in one go?

We can do it in one tide. Pretty sure a narrowboat cant though. It just wont be quick enough. 

 

Did they perhaps just mooch around waiting for the next tide rather than anchoring or breaching?

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20 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

We can do it in one tide. Pretty sure a narrowboat cant though. It just wont be quick enough. 

 

Did they perhaps just mooch around waiting for the next tide rather than anchoring or breaching?

Yes that is what we did when crossing from Kings Lynn to Boston. The weather was a little rough and Daryl was not happy about beaching in those conditions. So we just drifted for an hour or so, cutting the engine for some of the time, and then took it very gently into Boston, arriving about 60 mins before the tide made a level.

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24 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

We can do it in one tide. Pretty sure a narrowboat cant though. It just wont be quick enough. 

 

Did they perhaps just mooch around waiting for the next tide rather than anchoring or breaching?

Maybe, I wish I had got more info but the impression was he did it on one tide but I agree I can't see how it could be done in a NB.

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On 20/05/2019 at 22:51, Ian on Leo said:

Last Saturday we took our narrowboat, Leo, across the Wash from Wisbech to Boston.  Anyone considering this journey may find it interesting to read our blog on this here: https://ianhelencanals.blogspot.com/2019/05/crossing-wash-from-wisbech-to-boston.html

Thank you. I enjoyed  that.

 

The sea conditions looked very calm . Its offen not like that. 

 

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On 21/05/2019 at 15:18, howardang said:

If you have to wait for the tide why not go to anchor rather that beaching? personally, I would be very reluctant to deliberately beach a narrow boat unless it was essential. They are not designed to take the ground and if the boat did sit on something - a rock or a piece of debris - and puncture the bottom plating,  what started out as a  pleasant "jolly" could easily become a sinking. Why take unnecessary risks.

 

Howard 

 

Surely flat bottomed boats are designed to take to ground? I've beached mine several times on the Thames tideway at isleworth where the ground is a lot rougher than the sand shown in the OP's blog. I've come down unevenly on rocks but I think it's going to take something pretty sharp to puncture a 10mm baseplate.

 

The greatest danger in taking to ground is coming down onto something really big like a sunken car that might tip the boat over. However the chance of that happening seems pretty unlikely. 

 

I've also heard about the possibility of "mud suction" preventing the boat from rising on the next tide but I'm not sure if this is a real or imagined risk? It would need to be very strong suction to overcome the boat's buoyancy.

 

Anyway, I would have no problem at all beaching my boat on the sand where the OP did it. Plenty of boats do it. I seem to remember seeing pictures of Julian (Loddon) beaching his barge, but that may have been in the Thames estuary or Medway.

Edited by blackrose
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56 minutes ago, MartynG said:

Thank you. I enjoyed  that.

 

The sea conditions looked very calm . Its offen not like that. 

 

We have had it flat calm in the Wash

 

 

And equally on the choppy side. 

 

 

5 minutes ago, MartynG said:

 

Newtons is capital N 

A unit of force. 

Indeed it is. 

 

Could be equally as likely a typo as you km though.

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8 minutes ago, blackrose said:

I can understand not wanting to take to ground on a GRP boat, but on the other hand anchoring is not entirely risk-free, especially on a big heavy steel boat.

Beaching them isn't a problem. Friends of ours did it on a regular basis to clean the bottom and check the drives.

 

Never had a problem. We just never fancied it.

 

FB-IMG-1558554218725.jpg

 

They have a bigger shaft drive boat now so dont think they will be so willing to beach that one :)

 

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