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How are you supposed to come in to moor ?


Justin Smith

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On 03/06/2019 at 19:05, Chris Williams said:

I honestly can't remember how I did it.  Perhaps being a Josher it just stayed wherever I put it.  

All very well using the current on a river, but if your boat is longer than the river is wide, it becomes much more interesting when going downstream.  Somehow you have to get the stern into the bank while frantically going astern.  Strong ropes help if there is anything to get them onto.

The trick when travelling down stream is to point the bow away from the bank as you approach and thereby bringing the stern towards the bank, apply reverse bringing the stern against the bank, step off nonchalantly with stern line in hand along with hammer and mooring pin with boat ticking over in reverse, fix mooring pin and take a turn around it and return the end of the line back to the boat and tie off. By this time the current will have brought the bow to the bank and you will be able to casually walk to that end and tie off in the same manner.

 

Keith 

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25 minutes ago, Steilsteven said:

The trick when travelling down stream is to point the bow away from the bank as you approach and thereby bringing the stern towards the bank, apply reverse bringing the stern against the bank, step off nonchalantly with stern line in hand along with hammer and mooring pin with boat ticking over in reverse, fix mooring pin and take a turn around it and return the end of the line back to the boat and tie off. By this time the current will have brought the bow to the bank and you will be able to casually walk to that end and tie off in the same manner.

 

Keith 

Try that at Abingdon in a strong flood stream.  You will need more than tick-over in astern.  Of course, you should not be navigating in those conditions, but working boats have to earn their keep.

I saw a tug and barges coming downstream at Osney, in a very strong stream.  The tugmaster put her into astern, wound her up, and the whole lot just stopped.  A bit more horse-power than I had.

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1 hour ago, Steilsteven said:

The trick when travelling down stream is to point the bow away from the bank as you approach and thereby bringing the stern towards the bank, apply reverse bringing the stern against the bank, step off nonchalantly with stern line in hand along with hammer and mooring pin with boat ticking over in reverse, fix mooring pin and take a turn around it and return the end of the line back to the boat and tie off. By this time the current will have brought the bow to the bank and you will be able to casually walk to that end and tie off in the same manner.

 

Keith 

Ferry gliding in reverse but don't drop the stern line in the water while hammering the pin - it will be round the propeller and rudder quicker than a rat up a drain pipe!

 

Howard

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1 hour ago, Steilsteven said:

The trick when travelling down stream is to point the bow away from the bank as you approach and thereby bringing the stern towards the bank, apply reverse bringing the stern against the bank, step off nonchalantly with stern line in hand along with hammer and mooring pin with boat ticking over in reverse, fix mooring pin and take a turn around it and return the end of the line back to the boat and tie off. By this time the current will have brought the bow to the bank and you will be able to casually walk to that end and tie off in the same manner.

 

Keith 

From my own experience...I would never attempt to get off the stern and leave the prop spinning. When I did my PBL2 with stern drive..this was an accepted practice..but having fallen off twice over the years I wouldn't do that. No criticism.. personal preference.

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23 hours ago, Chris Williams said:

Try that at Abingdon in a strong flood stream.  You will need more than tick-over in astern.  Of course, you should not be navigating in those conditions, but working boats have to earn their keep.

I saw a tug and barges coming downstream at Osney, in a very strong stream.  The tugmaster put her into astern, wound her up, and the whole lot just stopped.  A bit more horse-power than I had.

Well at Abingdon there is enough room to turn and face upstream which is what you should do if possible.

Keith

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22 hours ago, Bobbybass said:

From my own experience...I would never attempt to get off the stern and leave the prop spinning. When I did my PBL2 with stern drive..this was an accepted practice..but having fallen off twice over the years I wouldn't do that. No criticism.. personal preference.

Well if it's a gentle stream it might be possible to select neutral just before stepping off but it means that your actions have to be much quicker in fixing the mooring pin before the boat gets carried away by the stream. I'm talking single handed here and should only be done if one is confident of their actions of course. There are always risks and the riskiest ways of of bringing a boat into the bank when travelling downstream to my mind, are bringing the bow in first to drop off crew with the bow line or getting off with just a centre line. The first scenario usually results in the boat stuck across the river and the second has the danger of the boat pulling you into the water because you are trying to control it from the worst possible place.

 

Keith

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51 minutes ago, Steilsteven said:

Well at Abingdon there is enough room to turn and face upstream which is what you should do if possible.

Keith

You could well end up going broadside at several knots until you get stemmed up on something.  Not a pleasant experience - I have been there.  I need 75 foot minimum to turn round and no shoals.  3 foot 6  under the boat, loaded.

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8 minutes ago, Chris Williams said:

You could well end up going broadside at several knots until you get stemmed up on something.  Not a pleasant experience - I have been there.  I need 75 foot minimum to turn round and no shoals.  3 foot 6  under the boat, loaded.

So have I,with a loaded pair on ''red boards'', turning mid steam was the only way to come alongside a moored boat to make their delivery.

You will go broadside for a while but it's just a matter of picking your spot and holding your nerve. 

 

Keith

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33 minutes ago, Steilsteven said:

So have I,with a loaded pair on ''red boards'', turning mid steam was the only way to come alongside a moored boat to make their delivery.

You will go broadside for a while but it's just a matter of picking your spot and holding your nerve. 

 

Keith

I noticed a lot of people forget to wind on some extra power to make the turn, although we're only a short 45 footer we surprised a cruiser owner on the thames at abingdon with how quickly we span the boat round.

we had just trickled past him on tickover, given a wriggle to get a bit of momentum turning and then wound the power on to spin quickly and face the flow before dropping power and sliding sideways perfectly in a mooring spot that was about 18 inches longer then the boat. he commented that he had no idea narrowboats could turn like that and that we had turned in less space than he would need.

from my point of view it was one of those times when knowing your boat and a little bit of gut instinct worked out perfectly.

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1 hour ago, Steilsteven said:

So have I,with a loaded pair on ''red boards'', turning mid steam was the only way to come alongside a moored boat to make their delivery.

You will go broadside for a while but it's just a matter of picking your spot and holding your nerve. 

 

Keith

I usually enjoyed having the Red Boards out - a bit more challenging, and no other boats around.  Came through Reading on the Kennet, downstream in a flood, the boat was facing upstream and I found that I had full control by having the engine in ahead, on tick-over. Any problem, just wind her up a bit and you stop.  Came out of Kennet Mouth going backwards.  Then had to turn to go downstream on the Thames.  Interesting.    Canals ? - boring.

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5 hours ago, Steilsteven said:

Well at Abingdon there is enough room to turn and face upstream which is what you should do if possible.

Keith

 

Well as a solo narrow boater I find it a whole load easier and less risky to moor going downstream. In fact I'm even tempted to turn to face downstream sometimes to moor when going up.

 

Engage astern and ferry-glide into the bank. Step off with the stern line and secure to ring or bollard. If you do it going upstream there is a risk the current will catch the bow and it will swing out into the stream unless I run a 70ft line from bow all the way to stern to step off with. And then I have to walk 70ft to the bow to secure it first, instead of the stern which is right where I step off. 

 

 

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Best tips......... don't come into or glide into the bank at too shallow an angle.... the canal is often very shallow just before the lock landing this will throw you all over the place but the nearside!.

 

Don't use too much reverse for too long for the reasons quoted above (bulge of water).

 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Well as a solo narrow boater I find it a whole load easier and less risky to moor going downstream. In fact I'm even tempted to turn to face downstream sometimes to moor when going up.

 

Engage astern and ferry-glide into the bank. Step off with the stern line and secure to ring or bollard. If you do it going upstream there is a risk the current will catch the bow and it will swing out into the stream unless I run a 70ft line from bow all the way to stern to step off with. And then I have to walk 70ft to the bow to secure it first, instead of the stern which is right where I step off. 

 

 

I see your point.  Maybe I never had to single-hand upstream, except in lock-cuts.  The missus was usually up the sharp end. 

Memory going.

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14 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Well as a solo narrow boater I find it a whole load easier and less risky to moor going downstream. In fact I'm even tempted to turn to face downstream sometimes to moor when going up.

 

Engage astern and ferry-glide into the bank. Step off with the stern line and secure to ring or bollard. If you do it going upstream there is a risk the current will catch the bow and it will swing out into the stream unless I run a 70ft line from bow all the way to stern to step off with. And then I have to walk 70ft to the bow to secure it first, instead of the stern which is right where I step off. 

 

 

Which is pretty much as I described earlier.

 

Keith 

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19 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Well as a solo narrow boater I find it a whole load easier and less risky to moor going downstream. In fact I'm even tempted to turn to face downstream sometimes to moor when going up.

 

Engage astern and ferry-glide into the bank. Step off with the stern line and secure to ring or bollard. If you do it going upstream there is a risk the current will catch the bow and it will swing out into the stream unless I run a 70ft line from bow all the way to stern to step off with. And then I have to walk 70ft to the bow to secure it first, instead of the stern which is right where I step off. 

 

 

 

When we`ve hired on the Broads, where there is a current, I find it much easier to moor. You want to be moving against the current then you can literally come in parallel, more or less. But the main point is you can still steer and manoeuvre the boat whilst it`s stationary relative to the bank. I find it much harder in a canal where there`s no current because if you need to stay in the same position, relative to the bank, then by definition you have no gear which equals no steer

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  • 1 month later...

I come in at a sharp angle bow away from bank and reverse in this way due to depth I can get off easy if I get stuck almost diagonally across the cut, i then reverse the back to the bank and if deep enough middle line and pull the bow in again I can the still get off if the middle gets stuck

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On 03/06/2019 at 23:38, 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.. 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.

I generally aimed to get the boat stopped bow in first to let the crew off with the bow line and get them to take a half turn around a bollard or ring back towards the stern and then take the boat forward under minimum power using the bow line as a spring whilst turning the stern in and calling for the bowline to be adjusted for length to suit the gap or ring placement. Once along side centre line or stern line next and finally reset the bow line forward. But many times wind and current and other excuses would mean plan A would be replaced by plan B just before Val could get ashore  so Val would be summonsed to the stern to take the centre line ashore and mooring would follow the stern first regime. The advantage of plan A  is that with a spring in place you can use engine power to overcome the fiercest of winds and plan B is still available  for a missed approach  but the orders are not easily reversible.

Edited by DandV
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On 10/06/2019 at 18:57, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Well as a solo narrow boater I find it a whole load easier and less risky to moor going downstream. In fact I'm even tempted to turn to face downstream sometimes to moor when going up.

 

Engage astern and ferry-glide into the bank. Step off with the stern line and secure to ring or bollard. If you do it going upstream there is a risk the current will catch the bow and it will swing out into the stream unless I run a 70ft line from bow all the way to stern to step off with. And then I have to walk 70ft to the bow to secure it first, instead of the stern which is right where I step off. 

 

 

I agree 100% with this. Earlier this year coming upriver at Upton when the Severn was flowing very hard I did turn around so I could come in downstream in this way, and had no problems at all. A boater who tried to come in facing upstream a little later on, lost the bow into the current before he could secure his long bow line and would probably have lost the boat altogether if 3 of us hadn't rushed to his aid. 

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On 10/06/2019 at 18:57, Mike the Boilerman said:

In fact I'm even tempted to turn to face downstream sometimes to moor when going up.

On the Upper Thames, it is so narrow that you ain't got no choice.  

I found out the hard way that it is less than 70ft wide.

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On ‎07‎/‎08‎/‎2019 at 06:57, DandV said:

I generally aimed to get the boat stopped bow in first to let the crew off with the bow line and get them to take a half turn around a bollard or ring back towards the stern and then take the boat forward under minimum power using the bow line as a spring whilst turning the stern in and calling for the bowline to be adjusted for length to suit the gap or ring placement. Once along side centre line or stern line next and finally reset the bow line forward. But many times wind and current and other excuses would mean plan A would be replaced by plan B just before Val could get ashore  so Val would be summonsed to the stern to take the centre line ashore and mooring would follow the stern first regime. The advantage of plan A  is that with a spring in place you can use engine power to overcome the fiercest of winds and plan B is still available  for a missed approach  but the orders are not easily reversible.

But how would the above method work if there are no bollards or mooring rings ? A situation common on the cut......

On ‎07‎/‎08‎/‎2019 at 09:18, Keeping Up said:

I agree 100% with this. Earlier this year coming upriver at Upton when the Severn was flowing very hard I did turn around so I could come in downstream in this way, and had no problems at all. A boater who tried to come in facing upstream a little later on, lost the bow into the current before he could secure his long bow line and would probably have lost the boat altogether if 3 of us hadn't rushed to his aid. 

When we go on the Broads, the only boating we do in rivers with a current I find it very much easier to moor going upstream, you can usually come in almost parallel if you get it right.

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1 hour ago, Justin Smith said:

But how would the above method work if there are no bollards or mooring rings ? A situation common on the cut......

When we go on the Broads, the only boating we do in rivers with a current I find it very much easier to moor going upstream, you can usually come in almost parallel if you get it right.

I agree with you, for the Norfolk Broads, where the boats are shorter and a different shape; but not with a 70ft narrow boat.

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On 03/06/2019 at 10:28, Justin Smith said:

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 ?

Cruise up to the mooring about 4 mph, after sinking a few bottles of Chardonnay, bang it into reverse at the last moment and use the boat moored up in front to come to an abrupt halt. Step off your boat, light your pipe and admire your handywork.

Edited by NB Caelmiri
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11 minutes ago, NB Caelmiri said:

Cruise up to the mooring about 4 mph, after sinking a few bottles of Chardonnay, bang it into reverse at the last moment and use the boat moored up in front to come to an abrupt halt. Step off your boat, light your pipe and admire your handywork.

Have you been spying on me?

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