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just a silly question i need to ask


Dave Potter

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It's not a silly question as such, but you don't really give enough information to get focussed answers  - are you looking to have a boat (narrow boat? wide beamed boat?) built for wheelcair use? What cruising range are you thinking of? You do have a couple of pointers here and the best thing would be to try to contact those people/groups that already offer craft with wheelchair access as they can tell you the pros and cons.

 

Tam

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7 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

We were once moored on a bit of river that was tidal. My lovely better half said, in all seriousness, that’s good when the tides goes out we can black the waterline. Oh! how we giggled.

 

Our mooring is tidal and we can have as much as 10 or 12 feet difference twice a day, go to bed 'looking out at a wall', and wake up in the morning with a lovely view of the hills.

 

 

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2 hours ago, LadyG said:

I don't assume everyone knows about Canal boats just cos they are using this forum

I'm not to sure anyone an answer this, as plastic cruisers tend to sit high, and steel narowboats sit low. 

I thought The Rule on this forum is that there are no stupid questions? 

 

The only silly question is the one you are too stupid to ask.

 

As engineering drawings always used to say: 

 

I F    I N    D O U B T    A S K

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14 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

 

The only silly question is the one you are too stupid to ask.

 

As engineering drawings always used to say: 

 

I F    I N    D O U B T    A S K

 

Agreed, but when it seems there is a good chance the OP has not done any research themselves? An afternoon walking any poplar stretch of canal would have show the futility of the question as asked.

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4 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Good to know that these boats are available and can give a much wider experience of the waterways. I was going by the ones with disabled access that I was more familiar with.

 

We took Magpie the Elder on what was (almost certainly) his last canal holiday on one - 59 years after his first - In 1959 mum and dad (before they were parents) had a week holiday on going from Manchester to Nantwich and back - in 2018 we (his then 55 and 52 year old sons plus Mrs @1st ade and Olly the dog) took him from Great Bedwyn to Devizes and back with the Bruce Trust - dad was more or less wheelchair bound and is now in a care home, mum went to on a one way trip to explore the celestial waterways some years earlier. 

 

The previous week the boat had been to Bradford on Avon and back - apparently for fortnight trips Bristol Floating Harbour in one direction and Oxford in the other are not unknown destinations

Somewhere me or 1st Ade will have pictures....

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The issue isn’t just access on/off the towpath but also at the home mooring where most jetties are too narrow for a wheelchair- hence the steel ramp on the bank. The rails at the stern are hinged to allow access. There are two aluminium checker plate ramps that slide out to allow access to the towpath. The only place we have found to be impossible to get off is anywhere like Westport Lake with a high or stepped concrete edge. All thanks to Mel Davis and Streethay Wharf 

1C0E4F93-DF21-4FDB-9E1A-C0A9D7413CDB.jpeg

  • Greenie 3
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5 hours ago, Tam & Di said:

It's not a silly question as such, but you don't really give enough information to get focussed answers  - are you looking to have a boat (narrow boat? wide beamed boat?) built for wheelcair use? What cruising range are you thinking of? You do have a couple of pointers here and the best thing would be to try to contact those people/groups that already offer craft with wheelchair access as they can tell you the pros and cons.

 

Tam

me to 29 22 and 03120 and Devon tq12

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31 minutes ago, Beo said:

The issue isn’t just access on/off the towpath but also at the home mooring where most jetties are too narrow for a wheelchair- hence the steel ramp on the bank. The rails at the stern are hinged to allow access. There are two aluminium checker plate ramps that slide out to allow access to the towpath. The only place we have found to be impossible to get off is anywhere like Westport Lake with a high or stepped concrete edge. All thanks to Mel Davis and Streethay Wharf 

1C0E4F93-DF21-4FDB-9E1A-C0A9D7413CDB.jpeg

thanks for the image i am thinking along the same lines but using a limited access chair to transfer from boat to wheel chair on towpath and thanks to every one for there input good design come from lessening to ever ones view.

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There are quite a number of disabled adapted hire boats on the canal network. It would be worth looking at their websites to see what adaptations they have done. Obviously being hire boats they are adapted to facilitate a wide range of disabilities. Here's a list of most of them:-

 

Accessible Boating Association (Basingstoke)
Baldwin Trust (Leicester)
Bruce Trust (Wilts & Berks)
CanalAbility (Essex / Hertfordshire)
Ethel Trust (Doncaster)
Chesterfield Canal Trust (Chesterfield)
Hargreaves Narrowboat Trust (Coventry)
Heulwen Trust (North Wales)
Lyneal Trust (Shropshire / North Wales)
Mary Sunley Canal Boat Trust (Cheshire)
Nottingham Narrowboat Project (Nottinghamshire)
Pamela May Trust (Worcestershire)
Peter Le Marchant Trust (Leicestershire)
River Thames Boat Project (South-West London)
Rivertime Boat Trust (Thames Valley)
SCAD (North Yorkshire)
Seagull Trust (Scotland)
Somerset Boat Centre (Somerset)
South Staffordshire Narrowboat Co (Wolverhampton)
Stockport Canalboat Trust (Greater Manchester)
Swansea Community Boat Trust (South Wales)
Truman Enterprise Narrowboat Trust (Staffordshire)
Vale of Llangollen Canal Boat Trust (North Wales)
Waterways Experiences (Hertfordshire)
WCNT (Cheshire)
Wildside Activity Centre (Wolverhampton)
Willow Trust (Gloucestershire)

Edited by booke23
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6 hours ago, Nightwatch said:

We were once moored on a bit of river that was tidal. My lovely better half said, in all seriousness, that’s good when the tides goes out we can black the waterline. Oh! how we giggled.

Quite normal to dry a boat out and antifoul it between tides. Did it several times in Portsmouth harbour.

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18 hours ago, Tonka said:

But surely we will get another stupid question asking us how wide is the towpath at the mooring as this could hinder a long plank being used.

 

Remember, there's no such thing as a stupid question - apart from that one possibly. 😋

Edited by blackrose
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11 hours ago, Slim said:

Quite normal to dry a boat out and antifoul it between tides. Did it several times in Portsmouth harbour.

 

Antifouling might dry between tides but Nightwatch was talking about blacking which needs 24 hours to dry before re-immersion. I've painted over a rusty patch on the grid at Chiswick using quick drying underwater primer, but I've seen people trying to fully black their boats on the tidal Thames and I think they're wasting their time. Apart from the fact that they couldn't clean or prep the hull, if bitumen doesn't dry properly it just comes off in sheets once it hits the water.

Edited by blackrose
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There is the Willow Trust locally who have ramps, would be worth contacting them perhaps. https://www.willowtrust.org/
 

Theirs are individual designed widebeam boats now but I seem to recall narrowboats at one time years ago. As Jen-in-wellies stated most of these boats use regular moorings so know the lie of the land well.  Long pounds don’t tend to alter much in height 

 

“no such thing as a stupid question. Only stupid answers” well trodden phrase. 

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On 03/03/2022 at 13:10, magpie patrick said:

There are existing disabled access boats that have ramps - some of them are holiday hire such as the Bruce Trust https://www.brucetrust.org.uk/ and thus have to deal with a range of towpath heights and conditions - might be worth having a look at them. 

 

Indeed.

 

I hired The Shropshire Lass from the Lyneal Trust  to take a disabled friend in a canal holiday. 

 

https://www.lyneal-trust.org.uk/the-lass/

 

It had a short but broad ramp to facilitate wheelchair access which had pegs which engaged in holes on the gunwales and proved suitable for everywhere we moored on the Llangollen Canal.

 

The video shows the ramp in situ for a few seconds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by cuthound
To add the last paragraph
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