Going it alone ...

[huami]

Well .... I just saved 5 pounds!

 

Neil

[doratheexplorer]

Some thoughts:

 

Single handers are in the minority.  Female single handers are an especially rare species, but we do exist.  No sure about gay single handers, but trailblazing is always a good thing.

 

If you get to a narrow bit, you can just power through with your fingers crossed and a clean pair of underwear at the ready, or if you have time, you can wait for another boat and follow them through.  This approach is good for wide locks, which you can share with another boat, and swing/lift bridge where you can sneak through behind.

 

Many other boaters and gongoozlers will offer help to single handers at locks, which is nice, and can be a real help, but remember it's your boat and you're in charge.  If people aren't helping in a way you're comfortable with - tell them.

 

I quite like travelling very early in the morning or late in the evening when there are fewer people about, I can take my time and do things my own way.

[roland elsdon]

Dont let people behind you hassle you, especially in locks. The perception is they can go faster than you, and may pressure you. In reality with marginal help from them you are only slightly slower. If we encounter a single hander in a lock flight ie napton, in front of us, one of us goes and works in front of them, to assist, rather than behind. Takes the pressure off because the following boat is not then catching them up at every lock.

working solo on my own its dreadful when a following boat expects you to do everything, setting  ahead and closing gates behind you, because they are always waiting. The other way you both keep going only slightly delayed.

remember when boats were working many were single handed motors , particularly at the end when the money was not sufficient for a family.

[Mad Harold]

2 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

I agree. I bought it hoping to learn some new, possibly better techniques and was disappointed. The book is a collection of "statements of the bleeding obvious".

Yes it is,to experienced boaters,but to newbies I think it is very useful.

My copy came with my first boat and I found some of the techniques (but not all) invaluable.

[huami]

25 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Some thoughts:

 

Single handers are in the minority.  Female single handers are an especially rare species, but we do exist.  No sure about gay single handers, but trailblazing is always a good thing.

 

If you get to a narrow bit, you can just power through with your fingers crossed and a clean pair of underwear at the ready, or if you have time, you can wait for another boat and follow them through.  This approach is good for wide locks, which you can share with another boat, and swing/lift bridge where you can sneak through behind.

 

Many other boaters and gongoozlers will offer help to single handers at locks, which is nice, and can be a real help, but remember it's your boat and you're in charge.  If people aren't helping in a way you're comfortable with - tell them.

 

I quite like travelling very early in the morning or late in the evening when there are fewer people about, I can take my time and do things my own way.

Hi Doratheexplorer,
Thanks for your reply which made very interesting reading. So you yourself are a single hander. I found it very interesting when you said "I quite like travelling very early in the morning or late in the evening when there are fewer people about, I can take my time and do things my own way". I am an early bird and love waking up early, but late evenings I am usually curled up in bed!

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your very valuable experience.

Have a lovely day

Neil

[huami]

14 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

Dont let people behind you hassle you, especially in locks. The perception is they can go faster than you, and may pressure you. In reality with marginal help from them you are only slightly slower. If we encounter a single hander in a lock flight ie napton, in front of us, one of us goes and works in front of them, to assist, rather than behind. Takes the pressure off because the following boat is not then catching them up at every lock.

working solo on my own its dreadful when a following boat expects you to do everything, setting  ahead and closing gates behind you, because they are always waiting. The other way you both keep going only slightly delayed.

remember when boats were working many were single handed motors , particularly at the end when the money was not sufficient for a family.

Hi Roland,

Thanks for your reply which was very interesting reading.

In general British people are a lot more relaxed in a boating / canal environment in comparison to British road users. 

 

Thanks again and I hope you have a lovely day,

Neil

[doratheexplorer]

14 minutes ago, Gayzingalone said:

Hi Roland,

Thanks for your reply which was very interesting reading.

In general British people are a lot more relaxed in a boating / canal environment in comparison to British road users. 

 

Thanks again and I hope you have a lovely day,

Neil

Don't be fooled by the media/tv programme image of canal life as being all gentle and dreamy.  There's unfortunately a fair contingent of miserable old buggers on the canals who try to inflict their grumpyness on everyone else.

[tree monkey]

24 minutes ago, Gayzingalone said:

Hi Roland,

Thanks for your reply which was very interesting reading.

In general British people are a lot more relaxed in a boating / canal environment in comparison to British road users. 

 

Thanks again and I hope you have a lovely day,

Neil

I knew absolutely nothing about how to handle a boat when I bought mine, I mean really nothing.

 

 made loads of mistakes, almost certainly annoyed loads of boaters, first lock was the big lock in middlewich, got told off by maureen at the middlewich branch, grounded solid and had to towed off by a very patient chap, jumped a queue and made many more mistakes 

 

All single handed and bloody great fun, unfortunately I hardly boat anymore, which is why I look forward to the BCN so much

 

Take it gentle, laugh at yourself and your mistakes, ignore the grumpy sods, most of all enjoy it

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, doratheexplorer said:

Don't be fooled by the media/tv programme image of canal life as being all gentle and dreamy.  There's unfortunately a fair contingent of miserable old buggers on the canals who try to inflict their grumpyness on everyone else.

 

Not to mention Zombies ?

 

https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/zomboat/videos/18619/trailed/

[WotEver]

5 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

Don't be fooled by the media/tv programme image of canal life as being all gentle and dreamy.  There's unfortunately a fair contingent of miserable old buggers on the canals who try to inflict their grumpyness on everyone else.

Cue Sam...

[Boater Sam]

You rang?

 

Not miserable at all, just curmudgeonly. But cuddly too.

 

You have never met me on a canal, if you had you would know that I am the best friend to all I meet in boats. ( Except one guy, used to be two but one died )

 

I know what being told off by Maureen could be like but she too was lovely, just liked things done properly. We spent many days together working Wardle lock, they were precious times. I was allowed to use Jack's windlass, a thing of beauty hand crafted in steel.

[The Welsh Cruiser]

When you start doing locks on your own, listen to what others suggest but don't take it as gospel. There are many ways to skin a cat. My own little speciality, single handed, is to haul the boat out of locks by hand, slowly. As soon as the boat is clear quickly close the gate/s then attempt to hop back on the boat without slowing its progress. Good time saver this one, saves mooring up and walking back to close the gates but it's tricky, not much margin for error, and wind can play havoc with the plan.    

[ditchcrawler]

12 minutes ago, The Welsh Cruiser said:

When you start doing locks on your own, listen to what others suggest but don't take it as gospel. There are many ways to skin a cat. My own little speciality, single handed, is to haul the boat out of locks by hand, slowly. As soon as the boat is clear quickly close the gate/s then attempt to hop back on the boat without slowing its progress. Good time saver this one, saves mooring up and walking back to close the gates but it's tricky, not much margin for error, and wind can play havoc with the plan.    

I lost the boat this week doing that, it slowly drifted away. I had to draw the lock again to make it come over from mid channel, it was the second lock up on the Curdworth flight

[Keeping Up]

My technique going uphill is to have the boat come out on it's own, under engine power which it does because it was in forward gear while the lock was filling, and change it from ahead to astern as it passes me at the gate. It travels about a length forward before it stops and comes back to me, by which time I have closed the gate and I'm ready to step back on board. My triumph was the time I persuaded a fisherman that I'd trained the boat to come back to me when I whistle; as it started back I whistled and he looked up, the look on his face was priceless.

 

Going down I often shut the bottom gates by standing tall (on the roof if necessary) and passing the stern line through both handrails and holding the end until it pulls the gates shut, then letting go and pulling it through from the other end (putting the boat in neutral after the loose end has fallen in the water, until I've hauled it all in)

[huami]

40 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

My technique going uphill is to have the boat come out on it's own, under engine power which it does because it was in forward gear while the lock was filling, and change it from ahead to astern as it passes me at the gate. It travels about a length forward before it stops and comes back to me, by which time I have closed the gate and I'm ready to step back on board. My triumph was the time I persuaded a fisherman that I'd trained the boat to come back to me when I whistle; as it started back I whistled and he looked up, the look on his face was priceless.

 

Going down I often shut the bottom gates by standing tall (on the roof if necessary) and passing the stern line through both handrails and holding the end until it pulls the gates shut, then letting go and pulling it through from the other end (putting the boat in neutral after the loose end has fallen in the water, until I've hauled it all in)

Hi Allan,

I had to read your post a few times to fully understand it but it sounds quite interesting! I also spent quite a time on your website "Visit the Keeping-Up website to see where we've been" which I found very informative and I have made a book mark so that I can check it out again.

 

Have a great day

Neil

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, Keeping Up said:

 

Going down I often shut the bottom gates by standing tall (on the roof if necessary) and passing the stern line through both handrails and holding the end until it pulls the gates shut, then letting go and pulling it through from the other end (putting the boat in neutral after the loose end has fallen in the water, until I've hauled it all in)

On narrow locks, not too deep and with twin bottom gates I stop the boat just clear of the gates then use the short shaft to push on the balance beams to shut the gates.