Boat hire for big people

[IanD]

21 hours ago, pomkitanner said:

Thanks , Napton boats are one of the few that do meet our needs , Unfortunately , they are already booked for next September , our preferred dates . I suspect this might be a common problem , with everyone taking staycation holidays .

Pretty much all the desirable hire boats have been solidly booked through 2021 since summer this year, your choice might be limited to less attractive ones or cancellations ?

[OldGoat]

On 09/12/2020 at 09:18, nicknorman said:

Being over 6’4 myself, I would say that a cross bed is out of the question.

In the days before we built our boat, we hired one from Napton NBs - with a cross bed. The gentlleman of the pair complained that his feet were cold... There was a radiator at the foot of the extended bed, and being summer the heating was not on and  his feet more than touched the cold metal.

 

Sadly neither he nor the boat are still with us.

 

Edited December 11, 2020 by OldGoat
sperring mistook

[Peter X]

OldGoat: Help, I'm confused!

So this Napton boat you hired came with a cross bed, which when extended had its own food supply and a radiator to keep the food warm?  Wouldn't you just heat the food in the galley and consume it there? But I can see the attraction of having warm food available during the night...

[OldGoat]

43 minutes ago, Peter X said:

OldGoat: Help, I'm confused!

So this Napton boat you hired came with a cross bed, which when extended had its own food supply and a radiator to keep the food warm?  Wouldn't you just heat the food in the galley and consume it there? But I can see the attraction of having warm food available during the night...

Ha ha - now corrected

 

[Richard T]

Why not book a boat with more berths than you need and allocate the large people to a double on their own so they can sleep diagonally. As you are experienced a 70ft boat for only four or five would be fine.Suggest that for 4 counties you look at Black Prince - 2 bases to pick from, Andersen at Middlewich, Canal Cruising at Stone, Countrywide at Brewood, Anglo Welsh -two bases, Chas Hardern. There are probably other I've missed.

[IanD]

1 minute ago, Richard T said:

Why not book a boat with more berths than you need and allocate the large people to a double on their own so they can sleep diagonally. As you are experienced a 70ft boat for only four or five would be fine.Suggest that for 4 counties you look at Black Prince - 2 bases to pick from, Andersen at Middlewich, Canal Cruising at Stone, Countrywide at Brewood, Anglo Welsh -two bases, Chas Hardern. There are probably other I've missed.

Maybe they don't want to be cold and lonely in bed? ?

[RS2021]

How about Beacon Park Boats on the Mon & Brec? Some with cross beds on 7'6" and 8'6" boats. Also wide beam Dutch Barge style boats.

[MikeGT]

Hi all, 

very new to this forum.

I have been researching options for living on a boat, I love the practicality of a wide beam but hate the travel restrictions.

I hate the practicality of a narrow boat but love the unlimited travel options.

I am looking for a live aboard that will generally be in a marina because of work and travel, however I would love to cruise during my holidays.

 

now here is my issue, I unlike many of you short 6ft 4-6ft6 people am genuinely tall at 6ft 10 and 150kg. I am trying to gain information on the true interior height of a narrow beam.

Liverpool boats seem to be the tallest that you can get due to the shape of the roof.

i have also looked at the 12mm base plate and laying the flooring straight on the steel cross members. I’m not sure how much height I could realistically add to the roof by trimming away the thickness of insulation and battening.

I know I would get the height in a wide beam but I don’t want the travel restrictions and I also don’t want the grief from narrowboat cruisers for being in their way.

 

not entirely sure what I am hoping to get from this thread but if anyone has any information that could help me with my enquiries I would love to hear from you.

 

I would like a 57ft boat, I have considered a sail away and I have considered and older boat for rebuild. I am not scared of a project as I quite enjoy practical challenges.

[Tony Brooks]

5 hours ago, MikeGT said:

Hi all, 

very new to this forum.

I have been researching options for living on a boat, I love the practicality of a wide beam but hate the travel restrictions.

I hate the practicality of a narrow boat but love the unlimited travel options.

I am looking for a live aboard that will generally be in a marina because of work and travel, however I would love to cruise during my holidays.

 

now here is my issue, I unlike many of you short 6ft 4-6ft6 people am genuinely tall at 6ft 10 and 150kg. I am trying to gain information on the true interior height of a narrow beam.

Liverpool boats seem to be the tallest that you can get due to the shape of the roof.

i have also looked at the 12mm base plate and laying the flooring straight on the steel cross members. I’m not sure how much height I could realistically add to the roof by trimming away the thickness of insulation and battening.

I know I would get the height in a wide beam but I don’t want the travel restrictions and I also don’t want the grief from narrowboat cruisers for being in their way.

 

not entirely sure what I am hoping to get from this thread but if anyone has any information that could help me with my enquiries I would love to hear from you.

 

I would like a 57ft boat, I have considered a sail away and I have considered and older boat for rebuild. I am not scared of a project as I quite enjoy practical challenges.

 

I suspect you will either have to learn to stoop or have a boat built for you. I doubt many boats have any berths that will suit and their length is usally constrained by bulkheads. I suspect to get the headroom you would need a 20mm+ baseplate so you needed less ballast and then the floor could be lowered by perhaps 3". I could see you having fun in a typical NB shower, many f which are set to the side wherre the headroom is lower.

[Tracy D'arth]

The Queen Elizabeth is back cruising, would that accommodate you satisfactorily? 

 

I would forget the canals, they are not deep enough to accommodate you.

[MikeGT]

Very constructive, thanks ever so much 

[IanD]

Most modern narrowboats are built and ballasted to draw about 2 feet at the stern, there's nothing stopping you getting one built which draws maybe 6" more than this, you'll still be able to go most places. Add another couple of inches of cabin height and you should be fine. This is probably better than doing it all with a taller cabin which would cause more access problems with low bridges and tunnels. With no space under the floor ballasting for correct trim becomes more difficult.

 

But you'll have to get a new boat specially built, so did deep into your pockets...

[David Mack]

13 hours ago, MikeGT said:

 

I unlike many of you short 6ft 4-6ft6 people am genuinely tall at 6ft 10 and 150kg. I am trying to gain information on the true interior height of a narrow beam.

Liverpool boats seem to be the tallest that you can get due to the shape of the roof.

 

Buy a Town Class Grand Union ex working boat, either a Big Woolwich (built by Harland and Wolff) or a Big Northwich (Yarwoods). With a 4 ft 9 in deep hull, and conventional cabin on top you will have far more headroom (back cabin excepted) than any standard modern leisure narrow boat.

 

Or get one of the specialist historic boatbuilders to build you a replica. But expect to have to wait quite a while and pay more than for a bog standard boat.

Edited August 15, 2021 by David Mack

[Tracy D'arth]

7 hours ago, David Mack said:

 

Buy a Town Class Grand Union ex working boat, either a Big Woolwich (built by Harland and Wolff) or a Big Northwich (Yarwoods). With a 4 ft 9 in deep hull, and conventional cabin on top you will have far more headroom (back cabin excepted) than any standard modern leisure narrow boat.

 

Or get one of the specialist historic boatbuilders to build you a replica. But expect to have to wait quite a while and pay more than for a bog standard boat.

But you will have problems cruising most canals because they need dredging to that depth !

[doratheexplorer]

8 hours ago, David Mack said:

 

Buy a Town Class Grand Union ex working boat, either a Big Woolwich (built by Harland and Wolff) or a Big Northwich (Yarwoods). With a 4 ft 9 in deep hull, and conventional cabin on top you will have far more headroom (back cabin excepted) than any standard modern leisure narrow boat.

 

Or get one of the specialist historic boatbuilders to build you a replica. But expect to have to wait quite a while and pay more than for a bog standard boat.

This is quite unhelpful to a newbie.  He might think you're being serious.  A Town Class fully loaded is more likely to be max 4'3" in the water, the other 6" is the all important freeboard. But in any case, the key word is "loaded", which wouldn't apply to Mike.  And also, there's the small problem of being permanently stuck on the bottom, and that a replica Big Woolwich still wouldn't have enough headroom.

 

My boat has 6'6"ish cabin height in the middle.  There's probably another 3" under the floor which could be clawed back if the baseplate was 20mm thick so I didn't need ballast.  That would have a cabin height of 6'9".  But if touch the roof of a tunnel or bridge, it's at the front, due the the trim of the boat.  This is worse when the water tank is empty.  So I'd look at some kind of clever system which fills the water tank with an expanding bag of grey water as the clean water is used.  That way the water tank is always effectively 'full'.  Then you could add some more inches to the height of the cabin top to make sufficient headroom inside. 

 

The other thing to look at would be a 'stepped' roof which is higher down the middle of the boat.  Curved tunnel and bridge roofs could still be easily avoided and Mike would have lots of headroom down the middle, which is where he'd be standing/walking.

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

But you will have problems cruising most canals because they need dredging to that depth !

 

1 hour ago, doratheexplorer said:

This is quite unhelpful to a newbie.  He might think you're being serious.  A Town Class fully loaded is more likely to be max 4'3" in the water, the other 6" is the all important freeboard.

 

I am being serious. But who said anything about being loaded? A converted big GU boat will draw about 3 feet at the stern, and at the bow the draft will depend on the amount of ballast.

Yes you will touch the bottom from time to time, and occasionally get stuck, but boats drawing 3 feet navigate over the whole system all of the time. 

We have already established that standard leisure narrowboats don't provide sufficient headroom for @MikeGT. So he needs to think 'outside the box'.

Edited August 16, 2021 by David Mack

[doratheexplorer]

2 hours ago, David Mack said:

 

 

I am being serious. But who said anything about being loaded? A converted big GU boat will draw about 3 feet at the stern, and at the bow the draft will depend on the amount of ballast.

Yes you will touch the bottom from time to time, and occasionally get stuck, but boats drawing 3 feet navigate over the whole system all of the time. 

We have already established that standard leisure narrowboats don't provide sufficient headroom for @MikeGT. So he needs to think 'outside the box'.

The converted GU boats I've been in, have no more headroom inside than mine.  Less actually.  So what you're recommending is doing a GU conversion with an extra high roof (which would look awful by the way).  If you're going to do that, you might as well look at any old hull, it makes no difference.  Or better still get a new hull fabricated, but with loads of ballast put in.

[Tony Brooks]

4 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

The converted GU boats I've been in, have no more headroom inside than mine.  Less actually.  So what you're recommending is doing a GU conversion with an extra high roof (which would look awful by the way).  If you're going to do that, you might as well look at any old hull, it makes no difference.  Or better still get a new hull fabricated, but with loads of ballast put in.

 

High density ballast, so the floor can be lower than typical.

[BlueStringPudding]

Corridors and the bathroom might be more tricky to negotiate for someone particularly tall and broad. Personally, I would consider those things rather than the beds as priority for accessibility for taller or broader people.

A person can sleep with their knees bent if need be, but it's hard to curl up in a shower because it's not centrally positioned to be in the tallest part of the boat, or to sit on a loo that's positioned a couple of inches from a bulkhead or sink, so that shoulders and hips don't fit into the space above the toilet seat.

As someone suggested above, a holiday on a widebeam canal boat  might be sensible.  It would be more likely to have a spacious bathroom, double doors or wider internal walkways (an accessible boat will have a wet room which would overcome the problem of trying to find a taller shower cubicle), and room to manoeuvre around the living space and kitchen without the difficulty of others trying to pass by, which can already be logistically tricky even for the skinniest or shortest people new to being on a narrowboat. As soon as you need to be standing or walking to the far side of the cabin or corridor, the ceiling curves downwards reducing head room. So a widebeam ought to give more comfortable options to your taller and broader friends. 

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

The converted GU boats I've been in, have no more headroom inside than mine.  Less actually.  So what you're recommending is doing a GU conversion with an extra high roof (which would look awful by the way).  If you're going to do that, you might as well look at any old hull, it makes no difference.  Or better still get a new hull fabricated, but with loads of ballast put in.

In that case I suspect the GU conversions you've been in have plenty of space under the floor.  Sometimes done deliberately so the windows are at seeing-out level for people of average height.

A big GU hull is 4 ft 9 in deep, a modern leisure narrowboat hull is perhaps 3 ft 6 in deep?  Put the same cabin on both and you have several inches more headroom potentially available in the GU. A small Woolwich/Northwich or Josher hull is still a bit deeper than many modern hulls, but wouldn't give the same height benefit as the big boats.

Edited August 16, 2021 by David Mack

[IanD]

3 hours ago, David Mack said:

In that case I suspect the GU conversions you've been in have plenty of space under the floor.  Sometimes done deliberately so the windows are at seeing-out level for people of average height.

A big GU hull is 4 ft 9 in deep, a modern leisure narrowboat hull is perhaps 3 ft 6 in deep?  Put the same cabin on both and you have several inches more headroom potentially available in the GU. A small Woolwich/Northwich or Josher hull is still a bit deeper than many modern hulls, but wouldn't give the same height benefit as the big boats.

The OP is not 7'6" tall, no need to go to these extremes which will greatly restrict where the boat can go (which the OP says is important) -- about 6" extra draught is all he needs, no need for a taller cabin on top. IIRC 1100mm (3'6") is the standard depth of a modern hull (gunwale to baseplate) and also the cabin height, which gives about 6'4" max headroom (yes I know I'm mixing units).

 

A normal height cabin top with a 6" deeper hull will keep the boat looking the same as normal above water with the same clearance for bridges/tunnels, but it will need ballasting down in the water by about 6 tons extra (18 tons typical ==> 24 tons at 1" per ton) which will need more than just a thick baseplate, it'll need a *lot* more ballast which means space under the floor like a normal boat. As a free bonus the height of the swim would go up from 550mm (typical 18" prop) to 700mm, so you could fit in a nice big 24" prop turning more slowly.

 

It would be a custom build but doesn't have to be a historic/replica one which tends to put the cost up, my guess is it might add £5k to the hull cost assuming this uses mainly extra ballast not an expensive super-thick baseplate -- any boatbuilder should be able to give a quote for this, assuming they're willing to make the design changes to do it (not all will be). Part of the extra cost would be to compensate for the extra work (design and build) in doing a non-standard hull with different plate cutouts and bends and frames, this doesn't come for free -- I know, this is where the £5k figure comes from...

 

Still means coughing up for a custom new-build boat though, which means £100k absolute minimum, maybe up to £150k or more depending on supplier/quality/fittings/extras...

Edited August 16, 2021 by IanD

[PeterF]

Steel ballast rather than brick or concrete, it is about 3 to 4 times as dense. That should allow a 6" deeper hull to sit down in the water without increased ballast space.

 

Tony did mention high density ballast above, depleted uranium came to mind when I saw that.

[Tony Brooks]

2 hours ago, PeterF said:

Steel ballast rather than brick or concrete, it is about 3 to 4 times as dense. That should allow a 6" deeper hull to sit down in the water without increased ballast space.

 

Tony did mention high density ballast above, depleted uranium came to mind when I saw that.

 

I was thinking steel because I fear lead would be even more expensive.

[IanD]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

I was thinking steel because I fear lead would be even more expensive.

Recycled pig iron ballast is much cheaper than new steel, unless the boatbuilder has a lot of scrap steel lying around. Lead is denser but a *lot* more expensive. Depleted uranium would be better still, I got to lift a bar of it up once and was astounded at how heavy it was, but availability may be a problem...

[GUMPY]

19 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

High density ballast, so the floor can be lower than typical.

Depleted uranium ?😱