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How are you supposed to come in to moor ?


Justin Smith

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We`ve been hiring boats for about 12 years now. I think I`m reasonable at handling a canal boat (I managed to get it to spin round more or less in its own length whilst turning the other week) but I`ve never been able to master coming in to moor ! I find it much easier on a river, with a current you can come in parallel by using that, but how do you do that if there`s no current (assuming you haven't got a bow thruster) ?

Bear in mind that hirers only have a boat for a week so never get to learn its particular handling intricacies.

 

At present we come in at an angle, a crew member then jumps off at the front with the centre line and pulls it in. Is there a better way ?

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There is no one answer to fit all situations.

It will depend on any or all of the following: -

1) Wind (Meteorological as well as Personal)

b) Underwater profile of the canal and obstacles therein

- The direction of propeller rotation contra to which side the towpath is

  • How long your ropes are and where they are attached

However the most effecting issue will always be the number of people watching you.

 

I too try to put crew off from the back, and have centre ropes that reach from the steering point (without reaching the propeller if dropped in).  That also works when I am single boating.

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18 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Substitute 'step' for 'jump' is one

 

I prefer to put crew off from the back

 

Richard

Yes,step,not jump.You are pushing the boat away (evey action having an opposite reaction)

I,like you come in at an angle,and when the bow is a couple of feet from the side,full rudder to swing the stern in with a dribble of power.0

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3 minutes ago, zenataomm said:

 Wind (Meteorological as well as Personal)

For example, I brought a boat in to the side last week, neatly ended parallel to the bank and didn't have to touch it for five minutes even though it wasn't secured at all. There was a gentle wind blowing across the cut that moved and held the boat in place

 

Richard

Edited by RLWP
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I've been boating for years and I can't do it. I just come in at an angle and then when the boat is nearly stopped just bring the stern in. Sometimes it works but wind, current, shallow bits and a dog turd on the towpath just where you want to jump off means that I often end up travelling 50 yards at 45 degrees to the bank before I have another go. There is one thing though, coming in parallel and then engaging reverse will send water down the side of the boat and shove you away from the edge or the lock wall in big locks. Best thing is if it all goes badly wrong just shout at the crew.

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Depends whether Port or Starboard side to.

 

The 'blast' on the astern can, and does on Nightwatch, send the arssyender out into the middle of the channel. Bring it back in the bow goes out. If there's a bollard or ring get the crew member to secure the centre line and then just go forward slowly and this will bring in the boat nicely.

31 minutes ago, RLWP said:

For example, I brought a boat in to the side last week, neatly ended parallel to the bank and didn't have to touch it for five minutes even though it wasn't secured at all. There was a gentle wind blowing across the cut that moved and held the boat in place

 

Richard

Show off!!!?

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12 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

.

Show off!!!?

I was pleased. 

 

It doesn't always work like that,  I'm still trying to work out how to deal with the 'boat going forward and the stern out no matter what you do' conundrum 

 

Richard 

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18 minutes ago, RLWP said:

I was pleased. 

 

It doesn't always work like that,  I'm still trying to work out how to deal with the 'boat going forward and the stern out no matter what you do' conundrum 

 

Richard 

 

I get this all the time with my deep-ish drafted boats. 

 

It seems intuitively that a skilled boater ought to be able to bring a boat to a stop right up close to the bank and parallel to it, but not in my experience. Like you I find the instant astern is engaged to stop, the prop sends water forwards up both sides of the boat, and on the bank side, into the gap between boat and bank pushing the stern out so it is not possible to get close and parallel to the bank AND stationary at the same time, using the engine. 

 

Nowadays if I think of it, I stop the boat parallel to the bank 6 feet out, let the boat start going backwards then engage ahead with full rudder to push the stern into the bank just as the boat comes to a stop again. The bow swings out across the cut but I can now step off the stern onto the bank with centre line and pull the boat in. 

 

If that doesn't work, with the bow now pointing across the cut the stern is therefore pointing at the bank so just engaging astern again motors the stern into the bank anyway. Then step off as before. None of this mucking about is necessary when you have crew!

 

All goes to the wall when there is offshore wind.... 

Edited by Mike the Boilerman
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There are many differing ways to do it depending on boat/wind/ability. I never make any mistakes and always come straight alongside parallel to the bank and stop without any wash and step off and secure the boat precisely at the location I intended within one inch every time ?

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I bring the bow angled in ..almost up to the boat in front...and my wife hops off with the bow line. She then comes back so the line is at quite a steep angle to the boat.

I then say..."pull back"...but she doesn't do this hard and allows a little slack. I then point the tiller/ slight forward burst only.. so that the bow is trying to head away from the bank...at this point I may allow her to slack it slightly. Because the bow cannot actually head back out...the trigonometry/angle of the dangle. .means that the stern will come in. I then get off and using bow and stern lines we gently pull it in. Using this technique, I have parallel parked a sixty footer in a space about a foot longer than the boat. Quite impressive.

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1 hour ago, Bee said:

I've been boating for years and I can't do it. I just come in at an angle and then when the boat is nearly stopped just bring the stern in. Sometimes it works but wind, current, shallow bits and a dog turd on the towpath just where you want to jump off means that I often end up travelling 50 yards at 45 degrees to the bank before I have another go. There is one thing though, coming in parallel and then engaging reverse will send water down the side of the boat and shove you away from the edge or the lock wall in big locks. Best thing is if it all goes badly wrong just shout at the crew.

How do you do that without sending the bow (and in fact the whole boat if you`re unlucky ! ) out ?

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4 minutes ago, Justin Smith said:

How do you do that without sending the bow (and in fact the whole boat if you`re unlucky ! ) out ?

Usually, I encourage the crew to let the bow go out. When the stern is against the side I can step off with the stern line and both people pull the boat in

 

Holding onto the bow line like grim death can stop the stern going in

 

Richard

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18 minutes ago, Bobbybass said:

I bring the bow angled in ..almost up to the boat in front...and my wife hops off with the bow line. She then comes back so the line is at quite a steep angle to the boat.

I then say..."pull back"...but she doesn't do this hard and allows a little slack. I then point the tiller/ slight forward burst only.. .........

I have an old wooden speed boat with an inboard engine. It behaves much like a NB but being much shorter and lighter it react much quicker. But we will bow it in and then pull a bow line back toward the middle of boat and tie it off. Put the boat in forward it will tighten up the line and the stern will swing in.

 

In reverse it want to pull the stern to the Starboard so I use that sometimes to my advantage to pull the boats stern toward the dock. 

 

Lot of tricks like that just come from experience.

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Just now, Kudzucraft said:

Lot of tricks like that just come from experience.

And as a hirer, you end up with a different boat each year so you don't learn to live with each boats idiosyncrasies

 

Richard

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I get the stern close enough to step off then strap the centre line round a bollard to bring the boat in.  This is fine if not trying to fit between two boats, if doing that I stop parallel to the space and give a blast of forward with tiller hard over to bring the stern in and then pull the boat in to the gap.

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2 hours ago, Justin Smith said:

I find it much easier on a river, with a current you can come in parallel by using that, but how do you do that if there`s no current (assuming you haven't got a bow thruster) ?

 

So, the consensus seems to be you can't.

 

You have to pick one end or the other of the boat to bring in close so one person can step off with a line, then bring the boat in with line or lines.

 

Either a centre line, or two lines, bow and stern. 

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2 hours ago, RLWP said:

For example, I brought a boat in to the side last week, neatly ended parallel to the bank and didn't have to touch it for five minutes even though it wasn't secured at all. There was a gentle wind blowing across the cut that moved and held the boat in place

 

Richard

 

I find the opposite at my home mooring. There is always a wind blowing across the canal. This combined with the shallowness of the canal and the direction the prop rotates, combine to push the boat back out into the canal.

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Just now, cuthound said:

 

I find the opposite at my home mooring. There is always a wind blowing across the canal. This combined with the shallowness of the canal and the direction the prop rotates, combine to push the boat back out into the canal.

Your boat is afraid of the sheep on the lawn

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1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

There are many differing ways to do it depending on boat/wind/ability. I never make any mistakes and always come straight alongside parallel to the bank and stop without any wash and step off and secure the boat precisely at the location I intended within one inch every time ?

 

So do I (about once every decade on average) ?

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12 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

So, the consensus seems to be you can't [bring the boat in parallel on a waterway with no current].

 

You have to pick one end or the other of the boat to bring in close so one person can step off with a line, then bring the boat in with line or lines.

 

Either a centre line, or two lines, bow and stern. 

That`s a relief, I thought we were showing ourselves up as rank amateurs !

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Just now, cuthound said:

 

So do I (about once every decade on average) ?

Also...

 

The wind across the cut will strike the side of your house, get diverted down, across the ground and against the side of your boat. As the house is up in the wind and your boat is sheltered, it's going to get blown out

 

Richard

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