Boat mover

[Tony Custard]

Hi all

Quite new to the forum, and the world of narrowboating. I intend to spend more time on here to pick some brains, do some deals etc...

 

Anyhow, me and the Mrs have bought a 50ft boat and are planning to take the plunge (hopefully not literally) to liveaboard. 

Unfortunately I'm working full time and don't have the holidays left, or possibly the courage, to take the boat from Nantwich, down - or up - to Adlington. I did a rough canal route planner and it's coming up with 50 miles, 20 locks and 24 hrs of travel time, so 4 or 5 days?

Anyway, I'm looking for someone to move it. It's already on the water.

I could also do with a rough price.

Does anybody know anyone they would recommend?

 

Thanks in advance.

[TheBiscuits]

Nantwich to Adlington is a lovely run.  I would very strongly advise you to do it yourself if you are based in Manchester.  You don't need to do it as a single trip - you could do it one day a week assuming you don't work 7 days a week.

 

Alternatively it's daylight at 6AM and doesn't go dark until 8PM so you could do it in 3 days ...

 

You have got a route planning thing wrong though - there are 21 locks on Wigan Flight and 2 at Poolstock, plus Dutton Stop Lock. Where in Nantwich is the boat?  

Edited August 30, 2019 by TheBiscuits
Because I was thinking of Northwich!

[TheBiscuits]

https://canalplan.org.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi?quickroute=yes&where=Nantwich Aqueduct,White Bear (Adlington) Marina

 

This is a trip of 76.54 miles and 32 locks from Nantwich Aqueduct to White Bear (Adlington) Marina.

This will take 29 hours and 22 minutes which is 4 days, 1 hour and 22 minutes at 7 hours per day.

[TheBiscuits]

 

We did Northwich to Wigan bottom in 3 long days a few weeks ago, so 4 or 5 days to Adlington would be fairly easy to do.

[rusty69]

I recommend @TheBiscuits he sounds like an expert, with experience. 

[Tony Custard]

Hi all.

Thanks for the comments and feedback.

I'm not sure which part of the canal it is to be honest. I'm going up to it tomorrow, I'll find out.

The main reason I can't do it is work commitments, and I don't fancy leaving it unattended for too long.

It is going near Whitebear in Adlington, and I know it's near the chemical plant in Nantwich. 

A friend of mine had his boat burned out, and it's made me a little more paranoid than most when it comes to security. So I think I'd bite the bullet and pay someone to move it, peace of mind and all that.

 

[rusty69]

Try @matty40s

Or @Peter X

[Tony Custard]

3 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Try @matty40s

Or @Peter X

Cheers, will do. 

 

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

It could be done in two, or three weekends. See if there is a marina near the end of each weekend along the route where you could leave the boat till you can come back and complete the journey. This would get over the security risk. The marina will charge you for the time the boat is there, but not much more than they would for a longer term mooring. A look at the CanalPlan AC route that @TheBiscuits linked too gives day 2 as near Dutton Stop Lock. This is quite a rural area and I can't remember any marinas near there. Seemed a pretty safe place to me to leave a boat. There is Preston Brook Marina a short distance away on the Bridgewater canal, but I know nothing about the place. Could be worth a call.

 

Jen

Edited August 30, 2019 by Jen-in-Wellies

[MtB]

37 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

https://canalplan.org.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi?quickroute=yes&where=Nantwich Aqueduct,White Bear (Adlington) Marina

 

This is a trip of 76.54 miles and 32 locks from Nantwich Aqueduct to White Bear (Adlington) Marina.

This will take 29 hours and 22 minutes which is 4 days, 1 hour and 22 minutes at 7 hours per day.

 

Plus the long walk, bicycle ride or public transport journey back to get the car from where you started each leg of the journey.

 

 

[Tony Custard]

2 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

It could be done in two weekends. See if there is a marina roughly half way in time along the route where you could leave the boat till you can come back and complete the journey. This would get over the security risk. The marina will charge you for the time the boat is there, but not much more than they would for a longer term mooring. A look at the CanalPlan AC route that @TheBiscuits linked too gives day 2 as near Dutton Stop Lock. This is quite a rural area and I can't remember any marinas near there. Seemed a pretty safe place to me to leave a boat. There is Preston Brook Marina a short distance away on the Bridgewater canal, but I know nothing about the place. Could be worth a call.

 

Jen

Hi.

Didn't think about leaving it in a marina. Good call. Sorry, forgot to thank @TheBiscuits for your help as well. New to the forum layout as well. And a bit of a luddite to boot. 

 

[Tumshie]

You could try rummaging about on the crew swap section - https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/forum/49-crew-swap/

 

There's @RosieP she has an post on there saying she I'll do boat moving.

 

 

 

 

[Sea Dog]

18 minutes ago, Tony Custard said:

...and I know it's near the chemical plant in Nantwich. 

Erm, forgive me, but I'm gonna ask 'cos I can't be the only one wondering: you've bought a boat, and yet you don't know exactly where it is? 

[Tony Custard]

1 minute ago, Sea Dog said:

Erm, forgive me, but I'm gonna ask 'cos I can't be the only one wondering: you've bought a boat, and yet you don't know exactly where it is? 

In a way. I know how to drive there. Just not sure which bridge or lock it's near to do a full route planner. 

[TheBiscuits]

5 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

It could be done in two, or three weekends weekends. See if there is a marina near the end of each weekend along the route where you could leave the boat till you can come back and complete the journey. This would get over the security risk. The marina will charge you for the time the boat is there, but not much more than they would for a longer term mooring. A look at the CanalPlan AC route that @TheBiscuits linked too gives day 2 as near Dutton Stop Lock. This is quite a rural area and I can't remember any marinas near there. Seemed a pretty safe place to me to leave a boat. There is Preston Brook Marina a short distance away on the Bridgewater canal, but I know nothing about the place. Could be worth a call.

 

Jen

Good thoughts.

 

If money isn't an issue but you are concerned about leaving it unattended for a week, leave the boat in marinas on the way round.

 

Nantwich, Venetian or Aqueduct, Orchard or Park Farm, Uplands or Anderton, Preston Brook, Lymm, Stretford, Boothstown, Pennington.

 

I'm sure there are others en route that I have missed, but you get the idea.  Most of them will charge £10-£20 per night, slightly less pro-rata for a week.

[TheBiscuits]

9 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Plus the long walk, bicycle ride or public transport journey back to get the car from where you started each leg of the journey.

Not really on that run Mike.  There are a lot of good transport stops on that particular route, but they don't tend to be next to the best pubs ...

[TheBiscuits]

43 minutes ago, Tony Custard said:

I know it's near the chemical plant in Nantwich.

Are you sure you don't mean Northwich, at Wincham Wharf?

 

That would be 56 miles and 24 locks ...

[Tony Custard]

1 minute ago, TheBiscuits said:

Are you sure you don't mean Northwich, at Wincham Wharf?

 

That would be 56 miles and 24 locks ...

Yeah, Norwich not Nantwich. All wich's are a blur after visiting them all looking at boats. 

Cheers.

[Sea Dog]

25 minutes ago, Tony Custard said:

In a way. I know how to drive there. Just not sure which bridge or lock it's near to do a full route planner. 

Ah! Now I understand! 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

26 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

Good thoughts.

 

If money isn't an issue but you are concerned about leaving it unattended for a week, leave the boat in marinas on the way round.

 

Nantwich, Venetian or Aqueduct, Orchard or Park Farm, Uplands or Anderton, Preston Brook, Lymm, Stretford, Boothstown, Pennington.

 

I'm sure there are others en route that I have missed, but you get the idea.  Most of them will charge £10-£20 per night, slightly less pro-rata for a week.

That’s a good idea. 

 

The canals will soon be much quieter with the holidays over. 

 

Once the boat is up North it may be a long time before it comes south again, so I’d suggest you take it up and enjoy some lovely bits of canal on the way. There are long stretches lock free. 

The majority of locks come at Wigan otherwise you’ve only 8 (?) easy locks around Middlewitch (including the Middlewitch Branch). 

 

If I were in the area I‘d have gladly helped you out by joining you on your first day to help out. 

6 minutes ago, Tony Custard said:

Yeah, Norwich not Nantwich. All wich's are a blur after visiting them all looking at boats. 

Cheers.

Right, so no locks around Middlewich to do then. 

 

And you mean Northwich ?

not Norwich

 

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by Goliath
Correct spelling of moddlewich

[Tony Custard]

3 minutes ago, Goliath said:

That’s a good idea. 

 

The canals will soon be much quieter with the holidays over. 

 

Once the boat is up North it may be a long time before it comes south again, so I’d suggest you take it up and enjoy some lovely bits of canal on the way. There are long stretches lock free. 

The majority of locks come at Wigan otherwise you’ve only 8 (?) easy locks around Middlewitch (including the Middlewitch Branch). 

 

If I were in the area I‘d have gladly helped you out by joining you on your first day to help out. 

Right, so no locks around Middlewitch to do then. 

It's more about time, and lack of it etc. If it's relatively inexpensive to get someone to move it, it's going to be my first option. If it's too expensive, or I can't find anyone, i'd definitely take you up on the offer of an assist. 

I make a mean brew. 

8 minutes ago, Goliath said:

That’s a good idea. 

 

The canals will soon be much quieter with the holidays over. 

 

Once the boat is up North it may be a long time before it comes south again, so I’d suggest you take it up and enjoy some lovely bits of canal on the way. There are long stretches lock free. 

The majority of locks come at Wigan otherwise you’ve only 8 (?) easy locks around Middlewitch (including the Middlewitch Branch). 

 

If I were in the area I‘d have gladly helped you out by joining you on your first day to help out. 

Right, so no locks around Middlewich to do then. 

 

And you mean Northwich ?

not Norwich

 

 

Yeah, spell check strikes again. Norwich must be more popular than Northwich - ah ha.

[MtB]

Tony I had the exact same problem when I bought a boat in Loughborough. I asked about getting it transported as I had no time to DIY and everyone said, DIY!

 

I had it lifted at Nottingham and brought done to Reading on a lorry and put back in at Caversham. ISTR it cost about £2k.

 

 

[Tony Custard]

1 minute ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Tony I had the exact same problem when I bought a boat in Loughborough. I asked about getting it transported as I had no time to DIY and everyone said, DIY!

 

I had it lifted at Nottingham and brought done to Reading on a lorry and put back in at Caversham. ISTR it cost about £2k.

 

 

I think if it came down to it I'd have to take some time off work, as it would be a bit counterintuitive to pay more than I earn in the time frame of moving it at weekends and the midweek mooring fees. I've had a few names put to me so far, so fingers crossed. 

Thanks for the idea of costing, though. 

It's a pity as it had just been craned into the water or Lorry would have been an option, as there is an easy access to the part of canal it's going on. 

 

Cheers

 

[TheBiscuits]

8 minutes ago, Tony Custard said:

I think if it came down to it I'd have to take some time off work, as it would be a bit counterintuitive to pay more than I earn in the time frame of moving it at weekends and the midweek mooring fees. I've had a few names put to me so far, so fingers crossed. 

If you are paying a professional,  insured boat mover for 4 days you won't be doing it for a tenner a day!

 

If you only need a more experienced boater to show you the ropes for a day that's usually "charged" at a couple of pints and a lift back or a trainfare home.

 

I understand your concern if your mate's boat got burnt out, but thousands of boaters leave their boats unattended on the towpath for days, weeks or even months (on an online mooring) without any problems.

 

The delivery trip back is one of the real joys of buying a new boat, and you could do yours in 3 days leaving it on the towpath for 6 days each time, or take a day off work and do it in one long weekend if you wanted to.

 

You could even do it in 10 days by moving a couple of hours a day after work and take the bus/metro home...

[ditchcrawler]

Sounds like Wincham, thats the only place I can think of for boatsales near a chemical works.