Narrow boat to cross Irish Sea

[Dav and Pen]

Whilst visiting the Nelson yesterday I picked up the March copy of towpath telegraph. An article inside was about a chap who has adapted a NB so that it is seaworthy. He has had a practice crossing the wash and intends to go to Liverpool wait for some nice weather and then go to Holyhead, after that he is going to wait for some more nice weather and cross to Dublin. It’s all for charity apparently.

I wonder if there is anything the coastguard can do to stop him. We took our NB to Ireland but on the back of a lorry and the crossings we did by normal ferry and the high speed one would put anyone off even thinking a NB could make it. 

Edited March 23, 2022 by Dav and Pen
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[TheBiscuits]

It's been done before.

 

http://www.tuesdaynightclub.co.uk/OP_Scot/OPSCOT1.html

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, Dav and Pen said:

I wonder if there is anything the coastguard can do to stop him

 

No.

Freedom to do what you want as long as it does not put any 3rd party at risk.

[LadyG]

I've sailed my salty water boat on those waters, and they can be calm, but even in light winds, I'd not take my own NB there. It would not be insured for a start, that notches the stress level straight away. 

No matter what mods you make, there is no keel stability, though lee boards could be fitted. 

A sailing boat usually faces in to the waves to a greater or lesser extent, they are designed to be seaworthy, some more than others, but NBs are definately not seaworthy, my  definition anyway. You would have to get every tidal gate correct, and this is not always easy. 

Interesting narrative, they were lucky with the weather, and good crew. I'm not sure if they had a liferaft, that would be my first adaptation! 

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by LadyG

[OldGoat]

A very nice Thames boater of pumpout fame  crossed the English Chanel some years ago - BUT his NB was specially designed for that sort of trip with any sort of drain, air intake placed well up on the cabin sides. He also had several escort vessels as well.

 

It's not an untertaking to be taken on lightly....

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Judging by the speed with which sinkings in locks occur, there might be very little time between the steerer noticing it is taking on water and it going down. Enough time to get out a mayday and deploy a life boat? Not so sure.

[Alan de Enfield]

5 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Judging by the speed with which sinkings in locks occur, there might be very little time between the steerer noticing it is taking on water and it going down. Enough time to get out a mayday and deploy a life boat? Not so sure.

 

The NB on the Thames that took on water and sank took just 10 seconds.

 

Shortly into their transit the crew noted a change in the engine note and opened the engine room hatch to find the engine half submerged. All persons quickly moved to the stern to try and bail out the engine room, but were unable to cope with the ingress of water into the vessel. The engine room continued to fill with water and flooded into the main cabin, submerging the aft coaming below the water, resulting in severe flooding of the vessel which sank within 10 seconds. All of the crew and the dog entered the water without lifejackets, but were rescued by a nearby RIB and Police Launch.

[Athy]

I think that Chris Coburn, probably the boater referred to by our caprine friend, has taken his NB 'Progress out to sea a few times, and those people with the whippet crossed the Channel in theirs, though I think they had a very frightening voyage.

My first priority would be a seaworthy escort vessel, and preferably two.

Edited March 23, 2022 by Athy

[LadyG]

Just now, Athy said:

I think that Chris Coburn, probably the boater referred to by Mr. Goat, has taken his NB 'Progress out to sea a few times, and those people with the whippet crossed the Channel in theirs, though I think they had a very frightening voyage.

My first priority would be a seaworthy escort vessel, and preferably two.

A nice big lorry would be my choice. 

[Athy]

4 minutes ago, LadyG said:

A nice big lorry would be my choice. 

Nah, not buoyant enough.

[Scholar Gypsy]

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/a-narrowboat-to-ireland?fbclid=IwAR2BWdDOFaNt1HvoFLuGorbFgbWYM0-cBD1_y0PUhJjkdktkvZY41fzkLWU 

I have sent him the article about IFRANCES, which crossed the Atlantic....

[Dav and Pen]

It’s about 110 Klms from Holyhead to Dublin so if the boat can make 10 kms per hour against the tidal flow it’s around 10 to 12 hours so you would need a very good weather window to even attempt it. When we were there the local advice was not to try and cross the big lakes if forecast was for more than force 4 but on one occasion we got caught out in lough Ree which is 21 miles across when the wind got up after a couple of hours. Bit hairy.  The other problem is visibility to the large ships that use the Irish Sea heading for Liverpool and Dublin, I know from my experience as deck officer on tankers is very hard to spot small vessels in any sort of swell. Good luck to him think he will need it.

 

[Alan de Enfield]

5 minutes ago, Dav and Pen said:

It’s about 110 Klms from Holyhead to Dublin

It used to be a regular trip for us - our boat mooring was in Holyhead and it was a 'Friday Evening"  3 hour trip (60 miles) to Dun laoghaire, Train into Dublin, then back to Holyhead Sunday afternoon and back home for work on Monday.

 

On alternate weekends we'd nip up to the Isle-of-Man (60 miles - 3 hours) for the weekend.

 

Diesel 28p litre in Holyhead Fish-Dock.

 

[doratheexplorer]

1 hour ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/a-narrowboat-to-ireland?fbclid=IwAR2BWdDOFaNt1HvoFLuGorbFgbWYM0-cBD1_y0PUhJjkdktkvZY41fzkLWU 

I have sent him the article about IFRANCES, which crossed the Atlantic....

Looks like they've raised £190.  I wonder how much it would cost the RNLI to rescue them?

[ditchcrawler]

Bumps and reading comes to mind

[Dav and Pen]

53 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

It used to be a regular trip for us - our boat mooring was in Holyhead and it was a 'Friday Evening"  3 hour trip (60 miles) to Dun laoghaire, Train into Dublin, then back to Holyhead Sunday afternoon and back home for work on Monday.

 

On alternate weekends we'd nip up to the Isle-of-Man (60 miles - 3 hours) for the weekend.

 

Diesel 28p litre in Holyhead Fish-Dock.

 

Don’t think a narrow boat will do 20 knots.
 

Best diesel price we ever had was from a bunker boat in Antwerp for our barge 11 euro cents liter. He booked it to a big ship which he had just fueled up and pocketed our cash.

[Alan de Enfield]

30 minutes ago, Dav and Pen said:

Don’t think a narrow boat will do 20 knots.
 

Best diesel price we ever had was from a bunker boat in Antwerp for our barge 11 euro cents liter. He booked it to a big ship which he had just fueled up and pocketed our cash.

 

And the other side of the coin :

 

We went to Turkey to look at a boat for sale and whilst talking to the  agent we commented on some of the big boats there, with helipads, built in submarines, garages for the Ribs etc etc and made a comment about the cost of fuel.

He told me that one day an owner had called him up to say he was coming the next day and asked him to take his boat across to the refueling dock and fill it up and he'd settle up with him on arrival.

 

He took it over and said to the fuel dock 'fill it up' but when it got to $10,000 he got a bit worried that it was going over his limit and so he had to call the guy and have it put onto his American Express card, it ended up at $20,000 for the fill-up, and, that was 7 years ago when fuel was quite a bit cheaper (especially in Turkey)

[Machpoint005]

51 minutes ago, Dav and Pen said:

Don’t think a narrow boat will do 20 knots.
 

Best diesel price we ever had was from a bunker boat in Antwerp for our barge 11 euro cents liter. He booked it to a big ship which he had just fueled up and pocketed our cash.

 

...when you stole it. Or, strictly speaking, when somebody stole it for you.

 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by Machpoint005

[AndrewIC]

Chap who used to make boat covers on the Bridgewater took his little Dutch barge across from Liverpool to Dublin, successfully, but frightened himself so much in the process that he never came back. Was in WW a few years ago.

[ditchcrawler]

28 minutes ago, AndrewIC said:

Chap who used to make boat covers on the Bridgewater took his little Dutch barge across from Liverpool to Dublin, successfully, but frightened himself so much in the process that he never came back. Was in WW a few years ago.

He didn't have a good time of it did he

[Tacet]

23 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

No.

Freedom to do what you want as long as it does not put any 3rd party at risk.

Who is the second party, in  this regard?

[Alan de Enfield]

1st party is the boat owner

2nd party is (normally) the insurer

3rd party is 'anyone else'.

 

 

[Tacet]

4 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

1st party is the boat owner

2nd party is (normally) the insurer

3rd party is 'anyone else'.

 

 

Oh - I didn't notice insurance creeping in to the subject.  I thought there was no requirement to be insured on the sea?

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, Tacet said:

Oh - I didn't notice insurance creeping in to the subject.  I thought there was no requirement to be insured on the sea?

 

 

 

There isn't, but there is to go into a marina.

 

It would be a very silly person who didn't take out insurance (irrespective of it not being a legal reqirement).

[ditchcrawler]

40 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

There isn't, but there is to go into a marina.

 

It would be a very silly person who didn't take out insurance (irrespective of it not being a legal reqirement).

Would you insure a Narrowboat to cross to Ireland