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How long is to long ?


Nigel Charman

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Hello all, a newby here.

Apologies if this has been asked before but I did a search and couldn't find an answer. 

We're currently looking to buy a boat for living aboard continuously cruising, looking on the CRT website it says that the locks on the Calder and Hebble and the Huddersfield Broad are 57ft 6ins.

My question is " could a 60ft boat sit diagonally in the locks or must we stay below the stated max ?? "

Thanks in advance    nige

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24 minutes ago, Nigel Charman said:

Hello all, a newby here.

Apologies if this has been asked before but I did a search and couldn't find an answer. 

We're currently looking to buy a boat for living aboard continuously cruising, looking on the CRT website it says that the locks on the Calder and Hebble and the Huddersfield Broad are 57ft 6ins.

My question is " could a 60ft boat sit diagonally in the locks or must we stay below the stated max ?? "

Thanks in advance    nige

 

If you are going to CC then buy a boat that will comfortably fit all the canals.

 

It will make for a more enjoyable and stress free boating experience.

 

With the right layout you wont notice the loss of 3ft.

 

Oh and welcom to the forum.

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Having lived aboard for over thirty years until last year, without doubt go as long as you can up to 70 feet, UNLESS you are restricted to the northern waterways. The space between living on 57 and 70 is immense, the comfort levels afforded by the xtra 13 feet are amazing. My last was 68 and very comfy. If you need to do such as the L and L etc then a full size is out, otherwise forget small boats. Its amazing how many people for instance buy " Go anywhere " size boats and stay in the midlands and the south. If you need to live and work oop norrf, then its different.

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The Huddersfield Broad needed my 57' boat at a bit of an angle and was a right faff to move the boat out the way to get a gate open, and then move it back across so the boat was pointing out the gate, so I really wouldn't fancy it on a 60'. Maybe slightly easier if you have two people so you can work enginers/ropes and gates together

Really only a short, mostly industrial connection to do round trips on Huddersfield Narrow (which you can still access from the other end) rather than a canal you'd cruise for fun anyway though

 

Quite a few of the Calder and Hebble locks have plenty of room, but the problem with boats at a diagonal on that particular canal is that there are overhanging platforms on the gate in the corners, so you'd need to be very careful. Just because you can fit in those locks doesn't mean you can necessarily fill them

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6 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

The space between living on 57 and 70 is immense, the comfort levels afforded by the xtra 13 feet are amazing. My last was 68 and very comfy.

 

Seconded, and I have boats of both these sizes. 

 

And paradoxically a 68ft boat fetches a much lower price than an equivalent 57ft, as there are 20 buyers wanting 57ft exactly for each buyer who realises 68ft is fine too, given they are unlikely to ever actually do the northern canals. 

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3 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Seconded, and I have boats of both these sizes. 

 

And paradoxically a 68ft boat fetches a much lower price than an equivalent 57ft, as there are 20 buyers wanting 57ft exactly for each buyer who realises 68ft is fine too, given they are unlikely to ever actually do the northern canals. 

 

If you are actually sure you never want to visit the Northern canals then yes.however if you do want to miss out on some of the best parts of the system then by all means buy a boat that wont fit them.

 

The OP was asking about 60ft, which is only 3ft. difference.

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Its cabin length that matters for living aboard.

 

No point in having a 60' with a cruiser stern and large open foredeck or worse a tug deck, better to have a 57' trad with a short cratch you can use. A 57' trad could have a cabin length around 47', a 60' cruiser could be much less!

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11 hours ago, enigmatic said:

The Huddersfield Broad needed my 57' boat at a bit of an angle and was a right faff to move the boat out the way to get a gate open, and then move it back across so the boat was pointing out the gate, so I really wouldn't fancy it on a 60'. Maybe slightly easier if you have two people so you can work enginers/ropes and gates together

Really only a short, mostly industrial connection to do round trips on Huddersfield Narrow (which you can still access from the other end) rather than a canal you'd cruise for fun anyway though

 

Quite a few of the Calder and Hebble locks have plenty of room, but the problem with boats at a diagonal on that particular canal is that there are overhanging platforms on the gate in the corners, so you'd need to be very careful. Just because you can fit in those locks doesn't mean you can necessarily fill them

 

Are you sure your 57 foot boat is actually that length?

 

Boatbuilding is an imprecise art and many boats are a couple of feet longer or shorter than their stated length.

Edited by cuthound
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37 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Are you sure your 57 foot boat is actually that length?

 

Boatbuilding is an imprecise art and many boats are a couple of feet longer or shorter than their stated length.

This is a good point and can be very valid when pushing the boundries. I have lived full time on 42, 50, 56, 57, 65, 68 and 70 foot steel boats. I have never measured any of them. The 70 footer for instance I took through Thorne lock, had it been literaly more than an inch longer it would not have gone through. The builder of that boat was Steve Hudson, now how accurate was he, or indeed anyone else when it comes to the crunch?

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2 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

Are you sure your 57 foot boat is actually that length?

 

Boatbuilding is an imprecise art and many boats are a couple of feet longer or shorter than their stated length.

I haven't measured it, and tbf the boatbuilders specified length is 57'6 rather than dead on 57'. Would be surprised if it was out by >2' though, and my fenders are if anything on the small side

 

Part of the issue was singlehanding, which meant I was having to try to drag the boat on a rope somewhere it would stay in the flow of water leaking from the gate before moving the gate then move it somewhere I could board and then steer out the lock with a rudder starting very close to the cill. But simply pulling it in against the wall and opening the nearside gate like I would on most double locks didn't work on the Huddersfield Broad because there wasn't enough clearance. Calder and Hebble was fine, though I did keep an eye on those footbridges on the gates in the shorter locks

 

IIRC cills on the Huddersfield Broad were curvy too, which I presume would be an issue for longer boats

Edited by enigmatic
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21 hours ago, Nigel Charman said:

Hello all, a newby here.

Apologies if this has been asked before but I did a search and couldn't find an answer. 

We're currently looking to buy a boat for living aboard continuously cruising, looking on the CRT website it says that the locks on the Calder and Hebble and the Huddersfield Broad are 57ft 6ins.

My question is " could a 60ft boat sit diagonally in the locks or must we stay below the stated max ?? "

Thanks in advance    nige

When we bought ours I was thinking along much the same lines, but went for a 60 footer anyway, and have been able to get pretty much everywhere on the system that I wanted with it (Dudley tunnel because of height being one exception), including one or two places that perhaps weren't such a good idea:unsure: (Reach Lode)

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