Minimum butty length

[Helen 7]

Hi, does anyone know why or how BW and now CRT have a ruling that a butty is presumably not a butty unless it is at least 50' long! I can find no precedent for this and can come up with no logical reason whatsoever! A butty is an unpowered boat towed by another and unable to travel the waterways under its own power. 

[Chewbacka]

Under 3m it can be a tender, over 50ft (mixing units) it can be a butty, but in between it is just a boat.  

The reasons for this are probably lost in the lists of time.

[Helen 7]

Indeed! Thank you.

[Liam]

An unpowered boat under 5m gets a huge reduction in a license, the cost for a 12 month license with prompt payment discount is something like £51 if I remember rightly.

 

If you have a 30ft motor and 40ft butty it would be cheaper than a 70ft license so I guess that's why they have the 50ft limit.

[Ray T]

Would this set up be classed as a motor & butty? The are connected by a trailer tow ball hitch.

Genuine question.

[ditchcrawler]

How about one of these http://www.podboats.co.uk/index.html

[Alan de Enfield]

This 'trailer' was registered by C&RT as 'unpowered' but the licence fee was based on a Canoe as they couldn't find anything else where it would 'fit'.

 

 

Built by Unknown - Length : 3.66 metres ( 12 feet ) - Beam : 2.03 metres ( 6 feet 8 inches ) - Draft : 0.45 metres ( 1 foot 6 inches ). Metal hull N/A . Registered with Canal & River Trust number 507115 as an Unpowered Unpowered Craft.  ( Last updated on Wednesday 22nd May 2013 )

 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2019 by Alan de Enfield

[furnessvale]

12 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Would this set up be classed as a motor & butty? The are connected by a trailer tow ball hitch.

Genuine question.

 

To me, it certainly is a boat with a butty.

 

Of course, that is a totally different question as to how it is viewed by licencing authorities for taxation purposes.

[The Dreamer]

36 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Would this set up be classed as a motor & butty? The are connected by a trailer tow ball hitch.

Genuine question.

I am more interested in his “onboard coffee shop”, positioned forward of the saloon.  I thought that I was extravagant running my Nespresso machine off of the inverter!