Boat hire for big people

[IanD]

1 hour ago, Loddon said:

Depleted uranium ?😱

DU good, osmium better... 😉

[PeterF]

I used to work for Johnson Matthey, one of their businesses was refining precious metals, gold bullion bars are much heavier than you expect with a density 2.5 times steel, the same as uranium or tungsten. The joke ueed to be to ask a new start to pick up one of the larger bars, you look at it and think 5kg, try to pick it up and find it is 12.5kg.I

 

Not suggesting it is a viable ballast.

[GUMPY]

1 hour ago, PeterF said:

I used to work for Johnson Matthey, one of their businesses was refining precious metals, gold bullion bars are much heavier than you expect with a density 2.5 times steel, the same as uranium or tungsten. The joke ueed to be to ask a new start to pick up one of the larger bars, you look at it and think 5kg, try to pick it up and find it is 12.5kg.I

 

Not suggesting it is a viable ballast.

Good way of storing your savings and I believe it goes up in value😎

[Ronaldo47]

I did wonder how the Minis coped with all that weight in "The Italian Job". 

[cuthound]

Didn't @nicknorman specify his boat with a slightly taller than normal cabin and a thicker than normal baseplate?

 

If specified at the build stage it shouldn't add much to the build cost.

[IanD]

2 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Didn't @nicknorman specify his boat with a slightly taller than normal cabin and a thicker than normal baseplate?

 

If specified at the build stage it shouldn't add much to the build cost.

If you want to ballast the boat so it sits 6" deeper in the water (=extra internal headroom needed) to avoid possible clearance problems with a taller cabin you need about 6 tons extra, which would need roughly an *extra* 1"/25mm on the baseplate allowing for the swims at bow and stern...

 

I suspect if you asked a boatbuilder to use a 35mm baseplate you might get an interesting answer -- and an even more interesting bill if they agreed 😉

 

If this is done with scrap steel/pig iron ballast, then on top of what is normally needed you'd need more than 1" extra because it's not 100% solid like a baseplate, so maybe 1.5" -- so extra headroom is down to 4.5".

 

If you use engineering bricks or dense paving blocks these are about 1/4 the density of steel, so you'd need an extra 4" depth over normal, which now means only 2" extra headroom.

 

Getting all the extra headroom by just sitting deeper in the water isn't as easy as it seems at first... 😞

[cuthound]

12 minutes ago, IanD said:

If you want to ballast the boat so it sits 6" deeper in the water (=extra internal headroom needed) to avoid possible clearance problems with a taller cabin you need about 6 tons extra, which would need roughly an *extra* 1"/25mm on the baseplate allowing for the swims at bow and stern...

 

I suspect if you asked a boatbuilder to use a 35mm baseplate you might get an interesting answer -- and an even more interesting bill if they agreed 😉

 

If this is done with scrap steel/pig iron ballast, then on top of what is normally needed you'd need more than 1" extra because it's not 100% solid like a baseplate, so maybe 1.5" -- so extra headroom is down to 4.5".

 

If you use engineering bricks or dense paving blocks these are about 1/4 the density of steel, so you'd need an extra 4" depth over normal, which now means only 2" extra headroom.

 

Getting all the extra headroom by just sitting deeper in the water isn't as easy as it seems at first... 😞

 

Which is why Nick specified the taller cabin sides as well as a thicker than normal baseplate.

[IanD]

1 minute ago, cuthound said:

 

Which is why Nick specified the taller cabin sides as well as a thicker than normal baseplate.

Understood, but is Nick as tall as the OP? Too much extra height will place (some) restrictions on where the boat can go, and the OP said that he wanted to travel widely on the system.

 

Surgery might be cheaper and easier... 😉

[Tracy D'arth]

8 hours ago, Loddon said:

Depleted uranium ?😱

DU is very heavy.  Anyone with a contact at Sellafield?  Also used in antitank shells, it melts its way through armour plate on impact.

[cuthound]

14 hours ago, IanD said:

Understood, but is Nick as tall as the OP? Too much extra height will place (some) restrictions on where the boat can go, and the OP said that he wanted to travel widely on the system.

 

Surgery might be cheaper and easier... 😉

 

Yes I think the OP is a bit taller than Nick.

 

To the eye Nick's boat doesn't seem taller than average. If I hadn't read about it being taller I would never have known. Also Nick has travelled extensively in it, so in his case the extra height doesnt seem to be an impediment.

 

Surgery seems a bit drastic. Given the choice I would choose a handful of cruising limitations to surgery! 🤣😂

 

 

 

 

14 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

DU is very heavy.  Anyone with a contact at Sellafield?  Also used in antitank shells, it melts its way through armour plate on impact.

 

So it seems that when used as ballast the DU may not stay in place for long! 🤣😂

Edited August 18, 2021 by cuthound
To insert spaces between merged posts

[Arthur Marshall]

Most of the time it doesn't matter - you're either outside steering or locking where there's no height limit, or you're sitting or lying down so that doesn't matter either.

Walking about, I just have to dodge the light fittings. You get used to it.

[IanD]

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

Yes I think the OP is a bit taller than Nick.

 

To the eye Nick's boat doesn't seem taller than average. If I hadn't read about it being taller I would never have known. Also Nick has travelled extensively in it, so in his case the extra height doesnt seem to be an impediment.

 

Surgery seems a bit drastic. Given the choice I would choose a handful of cruising limitations to surgery! 🤣😂

 

So it seems that when used as ballast the DU may not stay in place for long! 🤣😂

 

I guess it depends where they are. If one of them was Standedge then this blocks travel on one of the best canals in the system. IMHO... 😉

[cuthound]

29 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

I guess it depends where they are. If one of them was Standedge then this blocks travel on one of the best canals in the system. IMHO... 😉

 

I know Nick's boat has been through Standedge, so it is possible in a taller boat.

[IanD]

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

I know Nick's boat has been through Standedge, so it is possible in a taller boat.

Good news for the OP then, a slightly deeper hull ballasted a bit deeper plus a slightly taller cabin should solve his problems. Still needs a new custom build though, unless Nick (or another beanpole) wants to sell his... 😉