It's all new to us.

[Gerry underwood]

We are in the process of purchasing a 59x12 widebeam. Never owned a boat before never mind lived on one. What is the one piece of advice that you would give us. No negatives please as we are super excited. 

[howardang]

7 minutes ago, Gerry underwood said:

We are in the process of purchasing a 59x12 widebeam. Never owned a boat before never mind lived on one. What is the one piece of advice that you would give us. No negatives please as we are super excited. 

Good luck with your purchase and it would be a help if you could give a little more detail to help tailor any comments you may get. For example, more details of the boat, engine type etc, where are you planning to base the boat - which canal or river? Are you intending to cruise or is it a residential boat?  You ask for no negatives but I suspect that by saying that you may be aware that not everyone has a positive attitude towards wide beams, especially when they are on waterways that are not really suitable for them,. It is inevitable, therefore, that you may just get the odd acerbic comment but that is what happens on a forum like this one.

 

However, welcome to the forum and I look forward to hearing more about your new boat.

 

Howard

Edited August 29, 2019 by howardang

[Gerry underwood]

This is the boat. It is a cruiser style wide beam. We will be living on her on a permanent basis. Looking to move further north after a year or so. The boat was built in 2015 and has just been re blacked. 2 beds and plenty of room. We are aware of the restrictions due to the width but we have bedgeted for an overland trip. 

[mrsmelly]

An exellent choice. Vastly superior to live on than the usual narrow beamed boat. PLEESE take it somewhere with a sensible waterway size such as the Trent and north. Not on tiny canals such as the K and A, the GU and the North Oxford. You will love it once you get used to the vastly different lifestyle and its drawbacks ( which are outweighed by the positives ).

[Gerry underwood]

No intentions on going anywhere to small. There are enough wide waterways to explore. 

[sirweste]

You've not said if you plan to Cruise continuously or take a mooring.

 

If you are cruising, so moving at least 1 km every 2 weeks, then my advice would be to make sure you have a large potable water tank. Something like 1000 litres.

 

Secondary advice would be to fit solar and buy a genny (for winter)

5 minutes ago, Gerry underwood said:

No intentions on going anywhere to small. There are enough wide waterways to explore. 

 

It is this that creates some contention on here. While a waterway could be classed as wide due to it having wide locks, a lot would say that the waterway itself isn't wide, thus not suitable for a broad beam boat.

 

I would strongly suggest you try to keep this topic on point about living aboard rather than where you should or shouldn't take your boat!!

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

53 minutes ago, Gerry underwood said:

Never owned a boat before never mind lived on one.

Remember that unlike a car, a boat turns around its centre.

 

Take a pencil , lay it on a desk, hold the centre of the pencil and 'push' one end, as one end moves 'one way' the other end moves 'the other way.'

 

If you have a 60 foot boat - remember that when you turn 'right' only 30 foot of the boat turns tight, the other 30 foot turns left. Make sure you have sufficient space ALL AROUND you, not just in front.

 

Unlike a Narrowboat you are unable to see down the sides of a 'fatty', this makes handling harder for even more experienced boaters.

It would be advantageous to do a Helmsman's course on a fat-boat to learn the basics - remember, it is not only your boat that will get damaged if it goes wrong (you may even get discount on your insurance if you have a certificate).

Edited August 29, 2019 by Alan de Enfield

[Gerry underwood]

4 minutes ago, sirweste said:

You've not said if you plan to Cruise continuously or take a mooring.

 

If you are cruising, so moving at least 1 km every 2 weeks, then my advice would be to make sure you have a large potable water tank. Something like 1000 litres.

 

Secondary advice would be to fit solar and buy a genny (for winter)

 

It is this that creates some contention on here. While a waterway could be classed as wide due to it having wide locks, a lot would say that the waterway itself isn't wide, thus not suitable for a broad beam boat.

 

I would strongly suggest you try to keep this topic on point about living aboard rather than where you should or shouldn't take your boat!!

 

 

We will have a permanent mooring whilst we explore the local area. After a year or so we will be moving on into continuos cruising. 

[sirweste]

Navigate on the right hand side of the waterway and remember that "might has right" i.e. the bigger vessel has right of way

[Gerry underwood]

6 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Remember that unlike a car, a boat turns around its centre.

 

Take a pencil , lay it on a desk, hold the centre of the pencil and 'push' one end, as one end moves 'one way' the other end moves 'the other way.'

 

If you have a 60 foot boat - remember that when you turn 'right' only 30 foot of the boat turns tight, the other 30 foot turns left. Make sure you have sufficient space ALL AROUND you, not just in front.

 

Unlike a Narrowboat you are unable to see down the sides of a 'fatty', this makes handling harder for even more experienced boaters.

It would be advantageous to do a Helmsman's course on a fat-boat to learn the basics - remember, it is not only your boat that will get damaged if it goes wrong (you may even get discount on your insurance if you have a certificate).

Ta for that. I shall try to be aware. 

[Alan de Enfield]

8 minutes ago, sirweste said:

Navigate on the right hand side of the waterway and remember that "might has right" i.e. the bigger vessel has right of way

Remember that a vessel constrained by its draft has right of way - so - a 'old working narrowboat' (3 foot draft) may not be able to get out of the centre of the channel and you may have to give way irrespective of your 'size' (even if you are a fatty with a 2 foot draft)

 

It would be useful for the OP to read the Colregs.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Alan de Enfield

[sirweste]

3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

It would be useful for the OP to read the Colregs.

Would be useful for me too! 

[Gerry underwood]

3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Remember that a vessel constrained by its draft has right of way - so - a 'old working narrowboat' (3 foot draft) may not be able to get out of the centre of the channel and you may have to give way irrespective of your 'size' (even if you are a fatty with a 2 foot draft)

 

It would be useful for the OP to read the Colregs.

I shall be doing  Helmsmans course so hopefully all will be good. We really want to ebjoy a chilled out existence so learning all we can before we start cruising. 

[PD1964]

Start planning for winter, check the winter stoppage programme on the CaRT web site, so not to get stuck in the middle on nowhere, maybe look into a Marina mooring for a couple of months to-tied you over, if so book Asap, as more people are having the same idea as you.

[PaulD]

43 minutes ago, sirweste said:

Navigate on the right hand side of the waterway and remember that "might has right" i.e. the bigger vessel has right of way

Where does it say that ? What about giving way to sail boats etc.

[sirweste]

Dunno if or where it says that, try this:

 

https://lmgtfy.com/?q="might+has+right"+vessel

 

 

[PaulD]

4 minutes ago, sirweste said:

Dunno if or where it says that, try this:

 

https://lmgtfy.com/?q="might+has+right"+vessel

 

 

Colregs18a applies not

Donald Trump regs.

[sirweste]

9 minutes ago, PaulD said:

Colregs18a applies not

Donald Trump regs.

OK, I don't know what Donald Trump regs are to be honest.

 

Anyhow i think the general rule of thumb of "might has right" is correct for most canal vessels i.e. 18a(ii)

As Alan pointed out above a deep draft would have the most right though.

 

Basically, if you're in a 14 x 70 ft widebeam, you have right of way over most narrow boats. If you're in a breasted working pair I'd think you'd be hard pushed to find out you don't have right of way over

 

 

[TheBiscuits]

44 minutes ago, sirweste said:

Basically, if you're in a 14 x 70 ft widebeam, you have right of way over most narrow boats.

Hang on a minute  ... I'm just going to get some popcorn and settle down comfortably.   I think this one could run for a while. 

[mrsmelly]

1 hour ago, PaulD said:

Where does it say that ? What about giving way to sail boats etc.

This is mostly a myth and there is far more to col regs than this tiny piece. This is why people like myself and others who have had to show the MCA considerable boating knowledge and been tested for quite a considerable time get peed off with some hobby boaters who havnt a clue. The method of propulsion on occasion matters but on waterways such as say the Trent then the size of craft and its draught and air draught are of more importance. Something tiny like say a seventy foot narrowboat with a 30 inch draught and 7 feet air draught has far more manouverability than a boat with say a 16 feet air draught where trees are concerned and thats just one of many considerations. Power gives way to sail ( sometimes ).

[howardang]

9 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

This is mostly a myth and there is far more to col regs than this tiny piece. This is why people like myself and others who have had to show the MCA considerable boating knowledge and been tested for quite a considerable time get peed off with some hobby boaters who havnt a clue. The method of propulsion on occasion matters but on waterways such as say the Trent then the size of craft and its draught and air draught are of more importance. Something tiny like say a seventy foot narrowboat with a 30 inch draught and 7 feet air draught has far more manouverability than a boat with say a 16 feet air draught where trees are concerned and thats just one of many considerations. Power gives way to sail ( sometimes ).

And just to add confusion for some, sail can, on occasion, have to give way to power! It might also be worth mentioning that on most CRT waters the steering and sailing rules are set down in the Bye laws and they are similar to, but not always the same as,  the Collision Regulations, which may be applicable on some rivers.

In other words, read the rules!!

 

Howard

[Bod]

Batteries, batteries, and more batteries.  Learn how to look after them!

There is more to learn than you think, if you are not to wreck them in short order. 

Read all the battery threads on here. 

 

Bod

[howardang]

I know you are looking at a wide beam rather than a narrow boat but there is a post in todays Narrowboatworld which may interest you, with some of the pitfalls they discuss which may give you some food for thought and prevent you making the same mistakes as the poster.

 

 

https://narrowboatworld.com/11735-did-not-take-to-the-life

 

Howard

[PD1964]

Once again people have steered the topic off track with talk about right of way. Just enjoy it, take your time and treat other boaters how you want to be treated. Remember we all started boating once, at first you will be cautious and nervous but in a few weeks you will be ok, the more you move the more confidence and experience you will gain. Just do it and if you make a mistake, take it in and learn from it, as I say we all started at your start point. Good luck.

[PD1964]

3 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

It would be useful for the OP to read the Colregs.

I would say most people on this Forum don’t know what these are never mind read them and have boated safely for years not knowing about them, so obviously not the bee all and end all of boating the system.