Cycle Towing of Boats

[Jen-in-Wellies]

This mornings mountain bike ride included a steep bit of bridleway, ridden in bottom gear. A thought occured. Has anyone tried to tow a narrowboat using a bike? Would this be more efficient and easier than bow hauling with a human? Bow hauling a boat any distance is very hard work. The reason why horses and other related quadropeds were used in preference. The Chesterfield Canal Societies human powered bow hauling of their Cuckoo boat needs frequent change overs of people. Generally speaking, bikes can cover more ground, faster, with less energy use than walking. Does this hold true at very slow speeds, while towing something through the water? Could a cycle bring a human closer to the ability of a horse when boat towing? I've tried Googling explanations of why cycles are a more efficient way of getting around than walking, but the arguments are very varied, even on the dedicated Physics forums. I've not yet seen a convincing explanation that I'm happy with.

 

Gearing would need to be very low. Generally, cyclists spin their legs at somewhere between 60 and 90 rpm, known as their cadence. There are lots of arguments as to wether spinning at the high end of 90 is better, or not. Non racing, leisure cyclists tend to be at the low end of 60rpm, so this is the number I'll use. My mountain bike has its lowest granny gear of 28 teeth on the small chain ring and 32 teeth on the biggest cassette sprocket on the wheel. At a cadence of 60, this gives a speed of 4.3mph. Too fast! We would be speeding. To get that speed down to say 3.5mph would need a sprocket on the wheel of 40 teeth. Easily achieved with readily available gearing. A dedicated towing cycle would need two, or three gears around this point, a lower one for getting a stationary boat started and maybe a higher one for deeper canals where we can maintain 4mph.

 

You may have noticed that so far I've been saying cycle, not bike, or bicycle. This is because I think that three wheels will be required. Firstly, two driven wheels at the back will give more traction on the tow path to help start a heavy boat moving. Secondly, the slow speed will require lots of steering input to keep a bike rider balanced at such slow speeds. In other words, a bike rider, going so slowly is more likely to wobble a lot. For these reasons, a trike would be better than a bike. Some very wide, 3, 4 and more inch wide tyres are now available for "fat" bikes, made for soft sand. These could be ideal for getting towing traction on the ground, especially so on a muddy, unimproved tow path, with two of them doing the work. Such a trike would only really work for towing. The gearing would make it impossibly frustating and slow for anything else.

 

A quick release attachment for the tow rope would be needed so the rider can quickly dump the tow line if they are at risk of being dragged in by the boats momentum. Lifting a tow line over a moored boat would need them to dismount and push the cycle while lifting the line high enough. An extending pole carried on the cycle could help here.

Has anyone ever tried anything like this? A bike, or trike would need to be especially adapted to give the extra low gears required, but it would be an easy thing to experiment with. If it worked, then towing boats by bike could be a thing on canals where towing has not been made impossible by non-historic changes to the infrastructure.

 

Those who have seen my battery towing tractor idea thread will recognise a lot of this. One thing it doesn't rely on is a need for electrical charging by either solar panels, or not yet existing electric bollards. A cyclist can be recharged in only fifteen minutes  with just a slap up feed! Humans are cheaper to keep than horses as you can get them repaired on the NHS for free, rather than needing expensive vets.

Jenny

[LadyG]

Are you on 'something'?

Just asking , lol

PS i' m at DN22and have a bike and a stopwatch. It's 10 miles to W. Stockwith waterpoint, towpath a bit muddy today, you need big knobbly tyres.

Edited November 29, 2020 by LadyG

[Murflynn]

1 minute ago, LadyG said:

Are you on 'something'?

Just asking , lol

on a bike presumably.

[Alan de Enfield]

Norman Tebbit - Get on your bike .........................

 

 

Norman Tebbit's on your bike speech - YouTube

[enigmatic]

I'm happy to test this theory with a lasso, but most of the passing cyclists only have two wheels

[Jen-in-Wellies]

I'm just thinking that all the money spent on upgrading towpaths to cycle tracks should benefit boaters more. It would also slow the cyclists down to a walking pace, as speeding biles are the big complaint by other towpath users.

Jen ?

[Athy]

3 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

I'm happy to test this theory with a lasso, 

Won't you let a laddo have a go as well?

[noone]

2 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I'm just thinking that all the money spent on upgrading towpaths to cycle tracks should benefit boaters more. It would also slow the cyclists down to a walking pace, as speeding biles are the big complaint by other towpath users.

Jen ?

Spewing biles is my biggest complaint!.?

[system 4-50]

I offer a £5 reward for a video of somebody on a non-motorised trike towing a narrowboat using a turnover bridge. ( I know £5 is a bit mean but I'm hoping others will chip in.)

[Mad Harold]

If this is serious,then I don't think it is practical.The towpaths are too rough,soft and muddy in the wet mainly too narrow.

I think it would be better to simply make a suitable harness and pull by human power.The hard bit is to initially get the boat moving.

This may be the future of canal boating,for when we are all electric,and run out of juice miles from a charging point,then we have to either sit tight and wait for the sun to recharge the batteries,or pick up thy harness and walk.

[Hudds Lad]

i’d imagine the width footprint of a trike would not be suitable for a lot of towpath pinch points.

 

you could try a track cyclist like Sir Chris Hoy who is used to turning a huge gear from a standing start on two wheels, so a lesser gear with weight to pull might be comparable.

perhaps Robert Förstemann could be employed more cheaply, he certainly has the legs for it  

[mrsmelly]

There is a much easier option. It would be a bit warm in summer but ideal in winter. Light multi fuel stove and place eco fan on top blades facing to stern of boat with rear boat doors open. The massive thrust developed could be reduced by opening and closing gap between doors at arse end of boat and an anchor could be rigged to throw over the back to stop the boat.

[Hudds Lad]

1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

There is a much easier option. It would be a bit warm in summer but ideal in winter. Light multi fuel stove and place eco fan on top blades facing to stern of boat with rear boat doors open. The massive thrust developed could be reduced by opening and closing gap between doors at arse end of boat and an anchor could be rigged to throw over the back to stop the boat.

surely you'd then have to fit hydrofoils to the boat?

[mrsmelly]

2 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

surely you'd then have to fit hydrofoils to the boat?

Good thinking!! They could be on hydraulics so not to dig into the canal bed but as the boat got onto the plane they could lower to lift the hull out for greater speed ?

[noone]

Just now, mrsmelly said:

Good thinking!! They could be on hydraulics so not to dig into the canal bed but as the boat got onto the plane they could lower to lift the hull out for greater speed ?

Just use the soliton wave.

[mrsmelly]

5 minutes ago, Leggers do it lying down said:

Just use the soliton wave.

I didnt need to google that honest.......

[Jen-in-Wellies]

31 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

I don't think it is practical.The towpaths are too rough,soft and muddy in the wet

This is why you have fat bike tyres!

 

[Ewan123]

1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Lifting a tow line over a moored boat would need them to dismount and push the cycle while lifting the line high enough. An extending pole carried on the cycle could help here.

I think this might be one of the more problematic elements - one would probably need a seconday propulsion source for passing anything much more than a single boat. Having the line high enough to get over a normal boat (let alone some with things stacked on top... or even extended antennas!), I think it would be difficult to exert any useful pull on it.

Maybe the pilot can punt it for a stretch!?

[Murflynn]

32 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

There is a much easier option. It would be a bit warm in summer but ideal in winter. Light multi fuel stove and place eco fan on top blades facing to stern of boat with rear boat doors open. The massive thrust developed could be reduced by opening and closing gap between doors at arse end of boat and an anchor could be rigged to throw over the back to stop the boat.

Bizzard's glove puppet.    doesn't really surprise me 

[mrsmelly]

3 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

Bizzard's glove puppet.    doesn't really surprise me 

Whats up sour puss? eco fans have always been my sport 

[Athy]

31 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

I didnt need to google that honest.......

Neither did I - it's on my 'Carpenters' Greatest Hits' L.P.

[TheBiscuits]

38 minutes ago, Leggers do it lying down said:

Just use the soliton wave.

 

32 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

I didnt need to google that honest.......

 

Were most of the hits canalworld posts?  It's a recurring topic on here.

[magpie patrick]

30 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

This is why you have fat bike tyres!

 

Well that's one big problem solved - the towing bike doesn't use the towpath but cycles down the middle of the cut

[Cheshire cat]

Why complicate things by using the towpath? Use a Pedalo, you might need different gearing because of the fluid mechanics but it would save messing about with all the towrope business and you wouldn't have to cycle up hill when you come to a lock.

[system 4-50]

The diesel/electric debate is missing the important bit - there are too many people.  Since the electric people will be more obsessed with saving electricity, they will obviously spend more evenings in the dark and we know what that will produce - more children.  People of child-bearing age shoud be banned from using electric boats.