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Experience/Training day


Pete1984

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Hi all, its my first post on the forum so forgive me if its in the wrong place. Im looking to get into narrow boat living and life ive always enjoyed and followed them over the years, but now it seems life has given me a push to look more into it then before. Ive been to marinas and had a good read up on the net and have many a time chatted down the cut however does anyone know of anyone in the Staffordshire area that does experience days, not your sort of have a break and be shown the basics but a real sort of day going through things on the boat, obviously learning the ins and outs of piloting and mooring and so forth? there are a lot of company's doing weekend breaks and holidays but im looking for more focused learning the ins an outs that you wouldnt know in the waterways unless someone told you.  Anyway any help or advice would be most appreciated. Cheers All

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Welcome to the forum.

Paul Smith does exactly this sort of training day. He is based at Calcutt Marina which isn't in Staffs but is in the Midlands, so probably not too far from you by car. He uses his own boat, so you don't need to provide one!

Put "Living On A Narrowboat" into your search engine to find his web site.

Edited by Athy
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I did a googl search for 'narrowboat training and got 400,000 hits in 0.5 seconds.

 

This one is Leicestershire :

 

Narrowboat Skills Centre Boat / Sailing Instructor in Leicester, UK (nbsc.org.uk)

 

Since its formation the Narrowboat Skills Centre has built a great reputation for delivering high quality narrowboating and helmsman courses.

Our friendly, approachable and experienced team, partnered with the ideal location and great facilities make us one of the premier inland waterways training centres in the UK.

At our 2017 review the RYA inspector described the Narrowboat Skills Centre (NBSC) as: “A first class training centre with an excellent training vessel”

 

From C&RTs webpage :

 

Boat handling courses | Boaters' Handbook | Canal & River Trust (canalrivertrust.org.uk)

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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Thanks for the quick responses, the reason i mentioned Staffordshire is will need to be out and back within a day to pick my children up from school, though they can go in 7.30 till 6pm if i choose but i still like to be not to far away in case of traffic and such also Staffordshire is  where i live and have the most interest of getting used to and exploring, if there is no one this way then i will look to see how i can get further afield but im hoping someone might chime in with someone closer. Thanks Athy i found him on a search paul smith and may have to go down that route if theres no one closer. cheers All  

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I don't think the OP is looking for one of the RYA franchised courses. More like 1/3 RYA type course and 2/3 about the travails and problems of living on an inland boat.

 

I know that my courses that were two days instead of an RYA typical one day because of the extra systems we covered would not fully meet the OP's needs. (Now RCR courses).

Edited by Tony Brooks
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7 minutes ago, Pete1984 said:

Thanks for the quick responses, the reason i mentioned Staffordshire is will need to be out and back within a day to pick my children up from school,   

They don't go on Saturdays or Sundays, do they? It's worth investigating whether such courses take place at weekends - I don't know, but I think it's likely.

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If you are serious about getting into boating then pay the extra and do a full 2 day inland waterways helmsman course rather than an "experience experience". You will learn a lot more, get to spend a night on a boat, and even get a formal qualification which just might knock a little bit off any future insurance.

 

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Yeah thats it Tony, especially just starting off steady and going from there. you know if someone said to me look  i got a boat, been doing it x amount of years and  know all the ins and outs and could show you the ropes for a day for a couple of hundred quid id go yeah spot on. any then if i want to do further training or a more "official" course then i can in due course. Although you can read up all you like on how to do things theres nothing like seeing and hearing off guys at it.

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Welcome to the forum.

 

Lots of good advice so far. But on the issue of school kids are you planning to continually cruise??

 

It can be a real challenge to meet the requirements of a being a CCer and get the kids to school.

 

(If you are planning to take up a mooring ignore this post.)

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Right just to clarify, i was trying not to put my life story on here but seems it might just be easier. Caught the wife with another fella at work been going on a year im now going to loose the house i owned for 15 years before i met her, dont want to rent and am sick of working as much as i do so want to work less see kids more on my time at the moment living in house its awquard  she has the kids days i work i have them when see works while we build up some funds, i cant do weekends because of the kids i cant  do over night because of the kids, i also cant let her know my plans because any problem she can cause she has so far. so just to clarify im not trying to be aquard and not search google, or not travel or not do the 2 day course which i would gladly do. im just stuck and want to come out of this with a year off resetting and trying to rebuild. Im sorry, thank you for help it is apppreciated. 

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3 minutes ago, Pete1984 said:

if someone said to me look  i got a boat, been doing it x amount of years and  know all the ins and outs and could show you the ropes for a day for a couple of hundred quid id go yeah spot on. any then if i want to do further training or a more "official" course then i can in due course.

 

Just because they've been doing it for 40 years doesn't necessarily mean they have been doing it right!

 

No private boat and most trade boats are not permitted to take money off you to teach you boating.  Anyone who took you up on this would automatically prove they didn't know all the ins and outs.

 

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26 minutes ago, dmr said:

If you are serious about getting into boating then pay the extra and do a full 2 day inland waterways helmsman course rather than an "experience experience". You will learn a lot more, get to spend a night on a boat, and even get a formal qualification which just might knock a little bit off any future insurance.

 

This... a 2 day RYA inland waterways helmsman course teaches a load of stuff in a structured way, with a night on board, and access to an instructor who will have a lot of experience and knowledge. 

 

Not everything that you want, but a good start.

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31 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

This... a 2 day RYA inland waterways helmsman course teaches a load of stuff in a structured way, with a night on board, and access to an instructor who will have a lot of experience and knowledge. 

 

Not everything that you want, but a good start.

 

The feedback I got from my course members told me that the quality of the RYA courses was variable to say the least and I am not convinced the RYA quality control is up to the job. So the OP will need personal recommendations to minimise the chances of getting a poor RYA course.

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2 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

This... a 2 day RYA inland waterways helmsman course teaches a load of stuff in a structured way, with a night on board, and access to an instructor who will have a lot of experience and knowledge.

Not all RYA helmsman courses include a night onboard. The one I did was 2 days, pretty much 10-4ish, turn up each morning.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thebiscuits - thanks for the tag.

 

I'm finsihed for the winter (barring a few short trips out here and there) so I've sent the chap a message.   

 

I'm NOT a trainer but I am licensed and insured to take paying customers (obviously) on my 'live-aboard experience" - which has of late been exactly that due to charging issues plaguing me for the last 5 weeks!  FINALLY resolved!

 

 

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On 30/09/2021 at 13:10, TheBiscuits said:

@Quaysider offers a "liveaboard experience" on his boat, but I don't know if he'd do a part day in a specific location.

 

 

Liveaboard experience? I wonder what the training day involves. 

 

"Right, grab that cassette put it on the trolley and wheel it to the elsan point. Remember to give it a good rinse after you've emptied out all my shit" 🤣

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10 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

Liveaboard experience? I wonder what the training day involves. 

 

"Right, grab that cassette put it on the trolley and wheel it to the elsan point. Remember to give it a good rinse after you've emptied out all my shit" 🤣

 

You may mock, but I know Mark has had guests help him with oil changes. 

 

He treats his customers as friends who have come to visit for a while rather than the usual full service hotel boats or self drive hire.  If they want to steer, they steer.  If they want to do locks, they do locks. 

 

I'm pretty sure he'd let them empty a cassette, but I think he's got a pumpout.  They would probably be welcome to do that when necessary though!

 

It's a very different offering to most other boat holidays, and it's much closer to what the OP was asking for than an RYA Inland Waterways Helmsman course.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

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