Navigating a 70" widebeam Kennet and Avon canal

[MtB]

Just now, rusty69 said:

Thankyou Alan. 

 

I thought it strange that you appeared not to have responded to my PM. 

 

Somebody mentioned to me in passing that your PMs are turned OFF, Rusty. Dunno it this is deliberate. You may not have realised and this might explain the missing PM from Alan.

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, rusty69 said:

Thankyou Alan. 

 

I thought it strange that you appeared not to have responded to my PM. 

I could never ignore someone with your good looks and figure (could I)

 

 

 

[MtB]

I prefer that motorbike gurl!!

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, Mike the Boilerman said:

I prefer that motorbike gurl!!

 

 

Rusty on her Bike ?

 

 

 

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I could never ignore someone with your good looks and figure (could I)

 

 

 

So you gonna, except that offer I made you then? 

[MtB]

Yeah, that's him!!!

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, rusty69 said:

So you gonna, except that offer I made you then? 

 

A couple of 'good nights' should cover it !!

[rusty69]

3 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Somebody mentioned to me in passing that your PMs are turned OFF, Rusty. Dunno it this is deliberate. You may not have realised and this might explain the missing PM from Alan.

Oh, yes. That appears to be the case. Not sure how that happened, or how to turn it back on. 

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, rusty69 said:

Oh, yes. That appears to be the case. Not sure how that happened, or how to turn it back on. 

PM me your email and we can discuss a deal - I could do with some room in the shed.

[rusty69]

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

PM me your email and we can discuss a deal - I could do with some room in the shed.

When I figure out how to turn the PM thingy on I will do that, though I haven't got any room, as I live in a tube. 

[Peter X]

We often go way off topic on here but this one has been spectacular.

In case anyone's interested, and to answer what I think the OP was trying to ask, a 70 foot long boat will fit quite happily in the K&A locks lengthwise. I'll qualify that by saying that last week I went from Reading to Newbury and back as one of the crew of a pair, and I think our butty Brighton is 71'6" or thereabouts. It fitted nicely. So west of Newbury might be different, but not that I know of.

But you'll struggle to get a widebeam through lock 86 at the moment because the towpath side top gate post is very loose in its collar. We just took the pair past the gate one boat at a time; any vessel much over 7' wide would have a problem.

[dmr]

I'm surprised if you went thru as a pair rather than going diagonal. K&A is a 70 foot canal and two locks between Reading and Newbury are very tight for us (70' 9"). Maybe your butty is a bit less than you think??

 

...............Dave

[Peter X]

Indeed, there are two locks which are tight for a full length pair, lock 103 springs to mind in particular (and I can't remember which the other one is). We've tried and failed before to get Nuneaton and Brighton through that together. What I didn't mention in my post is that on this occasion we were using a slightly shorter motor, so we fitted.

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, Peter X said:

Indeed, there are two locks which are tight for a full length pair, lock 103 springs to mind in particular (and I can't remember which the other one is). We've tried and failed before to get Nuneaton and Brighton through that together. What I didn't mention in my post is that on this occasion we were using a slightly shorter motor, so we fitted.

Yes. Fulbourne shared locks on much of the K&A with a 68ft boat, but going down in a few locks the other boat had to leave first so we could push Fulbourne across from behind a closed bottom gate. We wouldn't have done it with two full length GU boats.

A full length 14ft wide boat might be OK if it had a shapely rounded stern, but with the square stern one sees on some fatties, no chance!

Edited August 19, 2019 by David Mack

[fergyguy]

I’m buying a widebeam and yes there’s been a few jibes made but hey that’s exactly what I’d expect if we were all sat in the pub discussing wide vs narrow... it’s what makes forums work in my opinion... I may make a joke about you tube lovers but that’s all it would be.... I love narrowboats and follow 4 YouTube narrowboat vloggers weekly but the space is just not what’s right for me so yep mines going to be a fat boat and YES I’m restricted to going to lots of places and yes it will cost more to keep warm and Yes there will be countless advise/reasons given why I need to reconsider but hey as long as we are all talking/joking with each other the forum stays alive so beneficial to us all. 

[Alan de Enfield]

It is those that do not do the research and know where they can, and where they cannot go that, cause the problems.

 

There is nothing better than a widebeam when used in the proper environment

 

(I have 2 'fatties' - one at 14 foot beam and  one at 23 foot beam)

[mrsmelly]

1 hour ago, fergyguy said:

I’m buying a widebeam and yes there’s been a few jibes made but hey that’s exactly what I’d expect if we were all sat in the pub discussing wide vs narrow... it’s what makes forums work in my opinion... I may make a joke about you tube lovers but that’s all it would be.... I love narrowboats and follow 4 YouTube narrowboat vloggers weekly but the space is just not what’s right for me so yep mines going to be a fat boat and YES I’m restricted to going to lots of places and yes it will cost more to keep warm and Yes there will be countless advise/reasons given why I need to reconsider but hey as long as we are all talking/joking with each other the forum stays alive so beneficial to us all. 

Nail on head methinks. As someone who has lived on both wide and narrow, wide is a no brainer if you are happy to stay on big waterways. Narrow beam is a must to traverse north to south without a truck. The beauty of narrowboats is a nice one can be had in good nick for 30k whereas the same cannot be said of wide beam stuff in the main.

[Tim Lewis]

On 18/08/2019 at 22:18, Peter X said:

We often go way off topic on here but this one has been spectacular.

In case anyone's interested, and to answer what I think the OP was trying to ask, a 70 foot long boat will fit quite happily in the K&A locks lengthwise. I'll qualify that by saying that last week I went from Reading to Newbury and back as one of the crew of a pair, and I think our butty Brighton is 71'6" or thereabouts. It fitted nicely. So west of Newbury might be different, but not that I know of.

But you'll struggle to get a widebeam through lock 86 at the moment because the towpath side top gate post is very loose in its collar. We just took the pair past the gate one boat at a time; any vessel much over 7' wide would have a problem.

 

You will not pass a pair of 71'6" boats downhill  through many of the K & A locks together in the same lock. On Fulbourne we have to open the opposite gate and pull the bow of the boat across before we can open the gate on the side the he boat is on. This is greatly assisted by throwing the bow rope across to the other side before emptying the lock.