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Request for a narrowboat measurement: Gunnel to Ceiling Edge


tribejodhpurs

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3 hours ago, Mike Tee said:

1 m

This is one thing I also like to know when looking at a possible purchase - or to be more precise, the height of the tiller arm, which is to some extent dependent on this measurement. Too high, and it can become really uncomfortable after a long day steering.

 

Regarding tiller arms, there's a few variations (on a trad stern, or I guess a semi trad stern too) 1) "swing over the top of the bodywork" 2) "don't". #2 might be because the boat is more generously dimensioned with a more spacey stern design, so the tiller can be a reasonable length and not encounter the bodywork at all, or even be near it, thus rendering its height a non-issue.

 

The other decision you need to make is, "long enough to catch a lock wall at full deflection" - which is an important consideration if you're single handing a boat thru a lock and it goes backwards and hits something during that locking. Because a tiller catching (the brickwork of) the lock wall while going up, could be very messy.

 

Of course, having a tiller arm deliberately short to avoid that, means the steering might be (very) heavy if other aspects of the boat have been designed thoughtlessly.

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7 hours ago, tribejodhpurs said:

In order to commission a painted sign for my narrowboat, I need one approximate dimension: The height of the flat exterior bulkhead, from the gunnel to the ceiling edge. 

 

 

As others have said, why not just measure it?

 

Not that it matters a toss, as no-one ever signwrites from gunwale (correct speeling) to the top of the handrail.

 

Well almost no-one, in order to head off a long stream of photos of gunwale-to-handrail signwriting!

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19 hours ago, tribejodhpurs said:

In order to commission a painted sign for my narrowboat, I need one approximate dimension: The height of the flat exterior bulkhead, from the gunnel to the ceiling edge. 

 

I assume this is fairly standard across most narrowboats, so could someone please tell me this approximate figure?

 

I've tried without success to make sense of this question. Do you mean you are having a board painted and lettered that you will attach in some manner to the cabin side (of some boat you presumably don't have yet)?

 

Tam

Edited by Tam & Di
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1 hour ago, Tam & Di said:

 

I've tried without success to make sense of this question. Do you mean you are having a board painted and lettered that you will attach in some manner to the cabin side (of some boat you presumably don't have yet)?

 

Tam

OP is buying a boat "in the future" and wants to name it and design the lettering etc himself in advance. So the actual boat is irrelevant hence asking for a rough dimension. TBH as he/she can scale whatever design they come up with to fit anything it's a bit of a pointless question but perhaps nice to have a vague idea of how big the letters etc will be.

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5 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Why doesn't the OP just go down to his nearest canal, armed with a tape measure, and measure a few boats to get an idea of the range of cabin heights out there?

 

Judging by some of the newbie questions we get here I fear the answer is "because that takes more effort than typing a question and ex[ecting others t do the work". I  note the OP was unable to give a clue as to the type of boat and also seemed to ignore the advice that they should consider all narow boats to be one different.

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9 minutes ago, PaulJ said:

Perhaps the OP is just planning ahead and trying to get some idea of cost for some sign writing or more probable vinyl.

In which case the max size will suit as it should give the max cost..

 

Or perhaps it is a wind up?

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49 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Or perhaps it is a wind up?

Maybe. I'll admit Im a sucker for taking things at face value😀

I think alot of us old gits forget how exciting it is getting your first boat and planning what you want to do etc. Maybe a little illogical sometimes but then buying a boat often is too 😀

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When we ran a barge handling school people arrived the evening before the course and we ate together to get to know each other a bit. One guy got quite excited when I said we had a Gardner 6LW on Friesland and said he had one too. He went on quite extensively about it. Next day, when it got to be his turn to steer for a bit, he was a disaster about to happen, and I couldn't understand all this talk about his 6LW. It turned out that it was in his shed - he had no boat and had never been on a boat. His fantasy had somehow taken him as far as buying the engine, and now it had taken him to learning how to steer a barge - but that was it. A far as I know it never did go any further, and judging by his steering ability at the end of the course that was probably just as well.

 

Tam

Edited by Tam & Di
tidiness
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18 minutes ago, Slow and Steady said:

He asked for an approximate dimension, it really wasn't difficult to say "1m". I didn't even get up and measure, I guessed. :D

Advising he takes a tape measure to the canal and measure boats himself? That's a wind up!

 

 

That is fine until he gets a boat that is not "about 1m". As I said some tugs have taller cabin sides and so do some inspection launces and by the looks of it, icebreakers. He needs to grasp PDQ that "standard" boats are still probably in the minority. Once again a newby asks an ill formed question with multiple potential answers and declines to elucidate so the answer given has a better chance of being correct. .

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21 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

That is fine until he gets a boat that is not "about 1m". As I said some tugs have taller cabin sides and so do some inspection launces and by the looks of it, icebreakers. He needs to grasp PDQ that "standard" boats are still probably in the minority. Once again a newby asks an ill formed question with multiple potential answers and declines to elucidate so the answer given has a better chance of being correct. .

I got the strong impression that he totally understood that which is why he asked for approx dimension as he had no idea and hasn't even got a boat. No boat = no possibility of an accurate answer so why bother asking him for details? If his design doesn't fit it's no skin off our noses is it? :)

Edited by Slow and Steady
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23 hours ago, tribejodhpurs said:

 

Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately I'm not currently in possession of the boat. Otherwise your very practical and helpful solution would have been perfect. 

Signwriters are different guys to boat painters, and while its lovely to have your own boat signwritten,  the boat needs to be prepared for this.

As an example, I had a signwriter paint my boat name  x 2,  and the reg number x 2 for well under £100, single colour,  I am in the North where everything is cheaper! and I think quite a lot depends on availability and complexity. The same would apply to having panels done. If multicoloured, it might require three or more days and of course this means you have to hire a painting tunnel for that additional time.

A professional paint job with signwriting can cost £10k to £15k, maybe more. I'm no expert.

I don't think the cost depends on area so much as complexity.

Edited by LadyG
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18 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

That is fine until he gets a boat that is not "about 1m". As I said some tugs have taller cabin sides and so do some inspection launces and by the looks of it, icebreakers. He needs to grasp PDQ that "standard" boats are still probably in the minority. Once again a newby asks an ill formed question with multiple potential answers and declines to elucidate so the answer given has a better chance of being correct. .

 

I got the strong impression that your dog just died.

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I hope that this hasn’t been covered already....also bear in mind that many boats have the cabin side bordered, creating panels. Often the handrail is painted in a different colour, then, say, a 4” border and a 1” coach line. All of these will affect the available space for any signwritten work.

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On 25/06/2022 at 13:25, Tony Brooks said:

 

That is fine until he gets a boat that is not "about 1m". As I said some tugs have taller cabin sides and so do some inspection launches and by the looks of it, icebreakers. He needs to grasp PDQ that "standard" boats are still probably in the minority. Once again a newby asks an ill formed question with multiple potential answers and declines to elucidate so the answer given has a better chance of being correct. .

 

Many Stow Hill boats have very low freeboard and "tall" cabin sides.

 

 

See the source image

 

Edited by Ray T
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 24/06/2022 at 15:20, tribejodhpurs said:

 

No problem, I just need someone to please measure the side of their narrowboat, from the gunnel up to the roof edge, and tell me what it is. 

Just to give me a rough figure. 

Many thanks in advance to anyone who would be able to do that. 🙂

There is no point in anyone measuring there boat as its not yours and depending who built it there could easily be 500mm difference between mine and yours.

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