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Hire Boats!


Jennifer McM

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On 28/05/2019 at 00:00, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I get this too, even in my own boats. Once in a while never mind the "half past two" response, I bang the boat into full astern and reverse back up to them intending say "Sorry. what was that you were calling? Couldn't hear you over my engine noise". But oddly, they tend to have disappeared back inside before I get there. 

 

 

I also like the Alan Fincher response "Fast? You think this is fast? This is tickover! I'll show you what fast is" whilst winding on some revs... 

I got shouted at the other day as I passed a permanently moored boat on tickover.  The guy said he could see my rev counter which was showing nearly a thousand revs, while he knew that tickover on a Diesel engine was 750.  I thought about asking how he could generalise about Diesel engines, or whether he realised that my rev counter is all over the place, and tickover can show as anything from 500 to 1500 depending on how it feels — but thought better of it.  Apparently they’re new to the site and have already upset some of the other locals.

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1 hour ago, Mike Todd said:

 Wonder if continental canals have the same problem.

 

 

In my experience (limited to a few French canals), no - if only because 90% at least of boats moving on a canal will be hire boats. There just isn't the volume of private canal craft which we are accustomed to over here. They do tend to moor in clusters at what the French rather grandiosely call "ports de plaisance" (which may offer no facilities beyond a lay-by, a mown strip of grass and a few bollards), but whereas in England you'd expect any attractive stretch of canal to have a few boats moored along it, in France there just aren't any.

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9 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I'm sure it always will, as lots of owners feel mildly superior as they have bought their own boats. 

 

I once took a hire boat from Rugby down to Reading and was totally staggered by the condescending attitude to me from perhaps 10% of privateers. One ghastly woman kept trying to instruct me how to do a lock while she was waiting to come up while I descended. I eventually stopped being polite and had to tell her to butt out and stop interfering, it was my lock. Bliss that she took offence!

 

 

What do you mean mildly superior...?  I feel totally and utterly superior to hire boaters.   I have to get something in return for all the worry, expense and occasional periods of deep depression...

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1 minute ago, Neil2 said:

What do you mean mildly superior...?  I feel totally and utterly superior to hire boaters.   I have to get something in return for all the worry, expense and occasional periods of deep depression...

 

Good point. 

 

Being blunt about it, privateers commonly assume that hirers hire boats because they cannot afford to buy one, so look down on them in the style of the Harry Enfield character declaring (in broad brummy accent) "I am considerably richer than yow"...

 

 

 

 

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Do you not find that a small minority enjoy demonstrating a sense of superiority, whatever the issue?

I think it's just part of life's rich tapestry, and to be more a source of amusement than concern.

A friend of mine who is a continous cruiser (single handed) and very widely travelled, cautioned me against the 'type' of gentleman who has a cap and jacket covered in badges reflecting every waterway navigable ... but rarely goes further than the service block at his marina.

Appearances can be very deceptive, as I'm sure our resident 'hire boater' can demonstrate much more eloquently than I :)

Rog

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27 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Good point. 

 

Being blunt about it, privateers commonly assume that hirers hire boats because they cannot afford to buy one, so look down on them in the style of the Harry Enfield character declaring (in broad brummy accent) "I am considerably richer than yow"...

I bought a boat because I am too much of a cheapskate to pay 2 grand a week to hire one!

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2 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

I bought a boat because I am too much of a cheapskate to pay 2 grand a week to hire one!

 

Another good point!!!!

 

My reason for having them is as receptacles for my lovely vintage diesels. A hire boat with a proper big vintage diesel (not one of yer semi-vintage Gardners or Listers) is (probably) unheard of! 

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12 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

I bought a boat because I am too much of a cheapskate to pay 2 grand a week to hire one!

We own a boat, but last week we paid over a grand to hire one fpr a week. Are we somehow getting it wrong?

9 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

a proper big vintage diesel (not one of yer semi-vintage Gardners.

Ahem. The LW range was introduced in 1931. Not vintage enough?

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14 minutes ago, Athy said:

We own a boat, but last week we paid over a grand to hire one fpr a week. Are we somehow getting it wrong?

Ahem. The LW range was introduced in 1931. Not vintage enough?

 

If you can't see nothing going round (e.g. a flywheel), it doesn't count as 'vintage'.... obvs!

 

 

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We used to hire an unmarked boat from Preston Brook. It was interesting having discussions at locks where the other person would start the conversation by moaning about hirers and then not know what to say when I told them we were on a hire boat.

Mooring near an Anglo Welsh base I find most hirers are excited about their holiday and want to have a good time. I'm always happy to answer their questions and if I think they are doing something wrong offer them some advice on how they may consider doing it differently, always explaining the reason why. Equally if I see an owner or shared owner doing something that could cause injury or a sinking I would give them my opinion.

 

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Funnily enough I was talking to an Australian couple at Sutton's this morning. They hire in the UK for six months of the year, our summer, then spent their summer months in Aus. I bet they have much more experience of boat handling than some boat owners.  

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2 hours ago, Athy said:

We own a boat, but last week we paid over a grand to hire one fpr a week. Are we somehow getting it wrong?

 

If you find out how you are getting it wrong let us know because we are in the same (hire) boat so to speak :)

 

4 hours ago, Athy said:

In my experience (limited to a few French canals), no - if only because 90% at least of boats moving on a canal will be hire boats. There just isn't the volume of private canal craft which we are accustomed to over here. They do tend to moor in clusters at what the French rather grandiosely call "ports de plaisance" (which may offer no facilities beyond a lay-by, a mown strip of grass and a few bollards), but whereas in England you'd expect any attractive stretch of canal to have a few boats moored along it, in France there just aren't any.

You have to find another boat moving in France first!

 

Well in Brittany anyway. 

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1 hour ago, Rob-M said:

We used to hire an unmarked boat from Preston Brook. It was interesting having discussions at locks where the other person would start the conversation by moaning about hirers and then not know what to say when I told them we were on a hire boat.

Mooring near an Anglo Welsh base I find most hirers are excited about their holiday and want to have a good time. I'm always happy to answer their questions and if I think they are doing something wrong offer them some advice on how they may consider doing it differently, always explaining the reason why. Equally if I see an owner or shared owner doing something that could cause injury or a sinking I would give them my opinion.

 

I was moored at fenny wharf last back end and a shiney boat with a couple came and moored next to me. An hour or so later I was meandering off for a beer and they were sat on the pointy end of theirs and engaged me in conversation. Nice couple and we were yapping away when it became apparent I am a full time liveaboard. They looked bemused and whilst still talkative their mood changed somewhat and they said Oh we hadnt realised you live aboard!! ? I suppose cos my boat isnt purple with a chicken coop and 2 pallets and a tarpaulin on the roof I took them by suprise . I suppose not owning a house anymore and renting it out to keep rental costs high for people just isnt the done thing, and not owning property to leave behind when I die is just disgusting ?

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I guess that over the years I've spent more than a thousand hours actually travelling (as opposed to being moored up) on hired boats, which probably is more than many people who live aboard. I could afford to buy a boat but then I'd have to find somewhere to moor it, and while I'm working it would only get a few weeks use per year, so for the moment I much prefer to hire from different bases each year. And I take pride in knowing about the canals and how to control a boat and being able to slide into a lock without touching the sides, and getting through a dozen locks in an hour smoothly and efficiently, and sitting in a pub (or this forum...) chatting about the canals and their history with somebody of like mind. All of which I'd say makes me more of a boater than somebody who happens to live onboard mainly for the cheap accommodation and who rarely moves except to stick their head out and shout "slow down" to every boat that passes, even though I live in a house.

 

I have seen some terrible hirers on boats, but the vast majority are just out to enjoy themselves and are happy to talk and accept advice if they don't seem to know what they're doing -- and most of them do seem to have been told to slow down past moored boats, even of they haven't always cottoned on to the fact you have to do this a couple of boat lengths before passing them.

 

I've also found that the most intolerant boaters -- the "slow down"-ers when you're already at tickover, the ones who don't slow down themselves -- do tend to be owners, maybe because they think they're superior to mere hire boaters and hold them in contempt. They don't do this to the same extent when I've been travelling on private boats, it's the same syndrome as people who will let a Ford out at a junction but not a BMW. Not saying at all (or even the majority) of owners are like this, but the boaters who are like this tend to be owners -- is that clear?

 

Of course there are lots of lovely and knowledgeable people -- both hire boaters and owners -- on the canals, and luckily these seem to greatly outnumber the twats ?

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16 minutes ago, IanD said:

I guess that over the years I've spent more than a thousand hours actually travelling (as opposed to being moored up) on hired boats, which probably is more than many people who live aboard. I could afford to buy a boat but then I'd have to find somewhere to moor it, and while I'm working it would only get a few weeks use per year, so for the moment I much prefer to hire from different bases each year. And I take pride in knowing about the canals and how to control a boat and being able to slide into a lock without touching the sides, and getting through a dozen locks in an hour smoothly and efficiently, and sitting in a pub (or this forum...) chatting about the canals and their history with somebody of like mind. All of which I'd say makes me more of a boater than somebody who happens to live onboard mainly for the cheap accommodation and who rarely moves except to stick their head out and shout "slow down" to every boat that passes, even though I live in a house.

 

I have seen some terrible hirers on boats, but the vast majority are just out to enjoy themselves and are happy to talk and accept advice if they don't seem to know what they're doing -- and most of them do seem to have been told to slow down past moored boats, even of they haven't always cottoned on to the fact you have to do this a couple of boat lengths before passing them.

 

I've also found that the most intolerant boaters -- the "slow down"-ers when you're already at tickover, the ones who don't slow down themselves -- do tend to be owners, maybe because they think they're superior to mere hire boaters and hold them in contempt. They don't do this to the same extent when I've been travelling on private boats, it's the same syndrome as people who will let a Ford out at a junction but not a BMW. Not saying at all (or even the majority) of owners are like this, but the boaters who are like this tend to be owners -- is that clear?

 

Of course there are lots of lovely and knowledgeable people -- both hire boaters and owners -- on the canals, and luckily these seem to greatly outnumber the twats ?

Your last sentence sums it up beautifully. There are some hirers who are far more knowledgeable and capable than some so called experienced private boaters and there is no obvious way of making an instantaneous judgement about which camp a boater falls into! There are some private owners I wouldn't sail across the dock with and there are equally some hirers who I would be happy to go anywhere with. Much better to treat all boaters equally and try to avoid instant judgements which are often wrong. It is often noticeable that the ones who make the most complaints are quite often the ones who are the most obnoxious, but thankfully there are none of them on this forum.:icecream:

 

Howard

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39 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

I was moored at fenny wharf last back end and a shiney boat with a couple came and moored next to me. An hour or so later I was meandering off for a beer and they were sat on the pointy end of theirs and engaged me in conversation. Nice couple and we were yapping away when it became apparent I am a full time liveaboard. They looked bemused and whilst still talkative their mood changed somewhat and they said Oh we hadnt realised you live aboard!! ? I suppose cos my boat isnt purple with a chicken coop and 2 pallets and a tarpaulin on the roof I took them by suprise . I suppose not owning a house anymore and renting it out to keep rental costs high for people just isnt the done thing, and not owning property to leave behind when I die is just disgusting ?

That's just reminded me,  I can't recall exactly where we were, but somewhere on the GU a few years ago we got in a lock queue with one of those Wyvern Shipping boats in front.  It was a busy day so there was a bit of a wait and we had quite a long conversation with the skipper.  Eventually we went in the lock together and I made some smart remark about him not scratching my boat with his hire boat "oh so that's your own boat then..? " he replied.   I was quite taken aback - does this look like a hire boat? I asked "I dunno" he says, "how can you tell?"   

 

On another occasion I was coming down Stockton locks in a howling gale, got careless and before I knew it the wind had taken the boat and spun it round 180 degrees.  To my horror I noticed one of those Kate boats had started down the locks behind us and seen the whole thing.  We had to wait for the crew to catch us up and the skipper then proceeded to treat me like a complete novice for the rest of the flight.  

 

You can't ever make assumptions about other folk on boats,  - and you can't stop them making assumptions about you.

 

 

Edited by Neil2
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4 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Good point. 

 

Being blunt about it, privateers commonly assume that hirers hire boats because they cannot afford to buy one, so look down on them in the style of the Harry Enfield character declaring (in broad brummy accent) "I am considerably richer than yow"...

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, IanD said:

I've also found that the most intolerant boaters -- the "slow down"-ers when you're already at tickover, the ones who don't slow down themselves -- do tend to be owners, maybe because they think they're superior to mere hire boaters and hold them in contempt.

We were discussing why the worst offenders always seem to have the big "Slow Down - Tick Over" signs on the cabin bulkhead, and came to the conclusion that somebody else stuck them on their boat to try and remind them to do it!

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58 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

We were discussing why the worst offenders always seem to have the big "Slow Down - Tick Over" signs on the cabin bulkhead, and came to the conclusion that somebody else stuck them on their boat to try and remind them to do it!

The ones that really get up  my nose are the ones who display the sign "What part of slow down don't you understand?". They assume everyone is speeding, apart from them of course. It must be nice to be perfect!:cheers:

 

Howard

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We are currently on the Bridgewater and my fellow traveller has just encountered a similar divide between Bridgewater and CaRT registered boats! It seems that the latter are perceived as just rushing through so that they are not charged for exceeding the 7 day limit!

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3 hours ago, Mike Todd said:

We are currently on the Bridgewater and my fellow traveller has just encountered a similar divide between Bridgewater and CaRT registered boats! It seems that the latter are perceived as just rushing through so that they are not charged for exceeding the 7 day limit!

You should be on he end of the T&M when the Bridgewater boats come out to play, slow down, what to 4 MPH you mean?

 

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2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

You should be on he end of the T&M when the Bridgewater boats come out to play, slow down, what to 4 MPH you mean?

 

Yeah, they don't call it the Bridgewater expressway for nothing, warp speed Mr Sulu...................

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4 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

Yeah, they don't call it the Bridgewater expressway for nothing, warp speed Mr Scott...................

I would have agreed with you until we did the BCN Challenge last week.  If you have never witnessed all the boats heading for the finish on the BCN mainline with 10 minutes to go, you have never seen boats "making motorway" (It's like "making road", but much faster!)

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