Does being a driver make you a better boat handler?

[Chris J W]

Having a conversation recently about a handling issue I've got with the boat. Reversing. A Catch-22 of because I've not done it enough I'm not confident, but because I'm not confident I've not done it enough.

 

But that's by the by (and not the topic of this thread), and the conversation got into general handling but suddenly hit a brick wall when this sentence was dropped into the conversation ...

 

"Of course, because you can't drive (a car) there's really no point talking about it as you'll never really handle a boat if you can't drive."

 

WHAT???

 

Considering we're talking two completely different modes of transport with widely different handling methods in widely different conditions the statement above surely has to be complete, erm, twaddle.

 

The chap is adamant, but I can't see the connection.

 

So, open to the floor.

[tomsk]

Your friend is a nit-wit

[StoneHenge]

Two different things as far as I am concerned. Driving is a whole different set of responses, reactions and procedures to boating.

 

I don't think anyone who doesn't drive would autmatically make a bad boat handler. I can see where he thinks he's coming from, but does your mate boat?

 

I've driven for over 10 years, never had one accident. I've handled a boat on and off for nearly four but I've still bumped and banged around in that time. I'm no expert, but it's all practice, practice, practice.

 

I wouldn't take any notice. I wasn't great at reversing either, so I just kept doing it until I felt better.

[Chris J W]

Yep, he is a boater. Has a 70ft-er with an ... don't laugh ... an outboard.

[tomsk]

Yep, he is a boater. Has a 70ft-er with an ... don't laugh ... an outboard.

 

What size outy? He sounds like an independent thinker.

[Chris J W]

What size outy? He sounds like an independent thinker.

 

Can't remember the engine size, but the prop is only about 12" across. Apparently this makes it OK for going forward, but bloody useless for turning and reversing. He's planning to put a proper engine and prop in at some point. He did tell me what make the boat was, but it was originally designed for an outboard.

[magpie patrick]

Your friend is a nit-wit

 

seconded

 

 

If someone is incapable of driving, that is, their hand eye coordination just isn't up to it, they probably won't be good steering a boat either, but simply not being a driver is irrelevant

[Chris Pink]

I have always struggled with my inclinations against regulation and the need for qualifaction to steer a boat, but I do think that being able to drive a car is dangerously close to a 'a little learning' when starting to steer a boat.

 

A car has completely different steering geometry, the way that a boat interacts with the water (roads rarely in my experience move sideways whilst you're going over them) the wind and, of course, no brakes.

 

For instance, the way to leave a mooring is to reverse off into enough water to swing the stern, i see so many people try and leave forward, often with success if the bows are pushed off enough but more often digging the stern into mud.

 

The most worrying aspect is when something unexpected happens and instinct kicks in.

 

I do think that canal boating must be intrinsically very safe given the thankfully few serious accidents, contrasted with the statistical danger of road use.

 

Chris

[carlt]

Ican pretty confidently reverse any boat but am useless at reversing the car. Then again I learnt to steer a boat a lot earlier.

[Supermalc]

It all depends on the individual.

 

Operating any moving machine has similarities, you have to steer aeroplanes on the ground, so any practise at steering must be beneficial.

 

I have driven and slid cars around for most of my life, and this definately helped when it came to boating, as far a mooring etc. was concerned.

 

But I still zig-zagged for a week or two when going forwards, as it's a bit like 2 dimentional flying, and of course takes practise.

 

Surprisingly it is youngish non drivers who did not have this trouble when I had my Norman 18, which tended to be a bit 'lively' but that's the way I liked it.

 

So being a driver may help, as long as you can 'drive' if you understand what I mean. However if you struggle with driving, as many I know do, then you may also struggle with boating.

 

But from another past experience, someone I knew years ago was a terrible driver, yet he flew an aeroplane, and when I asked someone who went flying with him if he was ever worried, he surprised me by saying the chap was in fact an excellent pilot.

[Denis R]

Your friend is a nit-wit

Yep, sure is!

Then again I learnt to steer a boat a lot earlier.

My 14 year old son is too young to drive a car but is a pretty competent boat handler - weekends casual working trips on the local coal delivery boat may have more to do with that than anything to do with cars.....

[Liam]

As most of you already know, I'm 22 and have never been behind a wheel before.

 

I have though, driven, if that's the right word, a stack of boats ranging from a 17ft cruiser to a Leeds Liverpool longboat. Without sounding to be big headed I have the ability to show up middle aged people, who have been boating longer than me and have been driving a car before I was born.

 

Yer mate's a nit wit

[Barry]

I think the guy who made that statement Chris, is talking out of his hat

 

How many times do you see boaters, particularly new ones, trying to drive the boat as though it were a car - leaving a mooring, turn the wheel that way, stick it in forward, scrape the rear quarter along the bank until the boat finally moves away

 

Some people never seem to grasp that to change the way the front is pointing you have to move the back first - nor that you need to balance the forces of wind and water

 

The closest wheeled comparison would be driving a fork lift truck - That might help you steer a boat but even it has brakes

 

I think the two skills are totally removed from each other so being good at one is NOT a requirement for the other

[Machpoint005]

Like the majority here, I don't really see a correlation between driving a car and steering a boat, although you can be taught to do either reasonably well. In my experience of leading family members gently into steering a nb, I find they need to forget about how a car handles first: otherwise they'll never get the idea of 'steering from the back'. Reversing a nb is a completely different exercise, and there's nothing in common with reversing a car. However, if you can reverse a car (and if you can't, why not learn?) you can quickly adapt to pushing the tiller the 'wrong' way.

 

No brakes on a boat, though...

 

What I would suggest is that a few days of steering a boat makes me a much better car driver - laid back, uncompetitive, considerate - as well as making me feel better!

 

Ian

[Gnome K Gnome]

I used to regularly steer a 12 seat trip boat. We would offer the passengers the chance to steer if they wanted a go. Most didn't take up the offer, but from those that did I made the following observations.....

 

As a general rule, the kids were far better at it than the grown ups and the girls picked it up quicker than the lads.

[Keeping Up]

Observations from the times when I used to show hirers out on Saturday afternoons:

 

Someone who has repeatedly and continually demonstrated a total inability to drive a car, may also be unable to drive a boat - or anything else.

 

Someone who has never learned to drive a car, or who can drive but chooses not to do so, will probably steer a boat better than most regular car drivers.

 

Anyone who has mastered the art of steering a loaded shopping trolley around the supermarket without hitting anyone or demolishing the aisles, will almost certainly be able to steer a boat really well (forwards at least).

 

Someone who has just spent 2 weeks steering a boat for the first time will probably make a right mess of getting their car out of the car park, and will then proceed up the main road at 4mph and slowing down for parked cars.

 

Allan

[starman]

I road tested cars for 30 years for magazines - from Lamborghinis to Ladas but have only 'driven' narrowboats for 30 months. I reckon that if I had another 30 years practice I might get ok. They are way, way different but some of the things that make a good car driver make a good boat handler too -- thinking ahead, being observant, understanding how and why your vehicle/craft behaves as it does, judging gaps and distances, hand-eye co-ordination.

The thing I found hardest to get used to is that boats pivot so readily around the centre so as the nose goes one way, the tail goes the other. Clipped a few banks before I got the hang of that. You have to be lpretty un-subtle with the controls at times, too.

Boats don't stop as quickly either!

 

But other canal boaters aren't hanging six inches off your stern fender, flashing their lights and talking on a mobile.

[Denis R]

But other canal boaters aren't hanging six inches off your stern fender, flashing their lights and talking on a mobile.

Not been down our stretch of the GU then

[chris w]

Someone who has just spent 2 weeks steering a boat for the first time will probably make a right mess of getting their car out of the car park, and will then proceed up the main road at 4mph and slowing down for parked cars.

 

Allan

 

.................... and maybe drive on the right

[zenataomm]

Your friend is a nit-wit

 

Ask your mate if it's his inability to fly that has hindered his prowess at breathing under water?

[David Schweizer]

......Surprisingly it is youngish non drivers who did not have this trouble .....

That is exactly my experience. Many years ago I was involved in training both adults and young people to work a 72ft ex GUCC Working boat. Almost without exception it was the girls who learnt the basics fastest, with the fewest erors of judgement. At the time we put it down to the fact that most of the adults could drive cars, and most of the lads drove motorbikes, and consequently had to learn a completely new concept of steering and control, wheras the Girls came with no preconceived ideas.

 

On reflection we also realised that the girls had fewer hangups about their percieved ability, and seemed more willing to listen and learn rather than just plunge in and make a mess of things, so maybe it's also a macho thing.

 

In my own family we had the same thing, My daughter learnt to steer our boat very competently at the age of eleven (albeit standing on a box to see over the cabin roof) wheras my son aged fifteen at the time initially struggled to reverse the steering practice he had aquired from riding a mountain Bike.

Edited November 21, 2007 by David Schweizer

[Dr Bradley]

I used to manouvre trailers, with a land rover, daily and when out and about was often challenged (by macho blokes who thought they could do better ) to reverse a trailer around an obstacle course - easy. Still can't reverse a boat well though. I vote nit wit.

[Christine]

Of course, all the old boatmen of yore were really crap at steering beacuse they hadn't driven a car

[Chris J W]

Phew! Glad I'm not alone, then, in considering that his words were, in the words of Stephen Fry, so much arse-water.

 

Ta!

 

[edit for grammer]

Edited November 21, 2007 by Chris J W

[JohnOnTheWey]

[snip ... but I agree with all of it]

 

What I would suggest is that a few days of steering a boat makes me a much better car driver - laid back, uncompetitive, considerate - as well as making me feel better!

 

Ian

Couldn't agree more. I think it's the anticipation aspect of steering a boat that has made me a better car driver. When tootling down a canal or river, I find myself trying to imagine how I'm going to negotiate that piece of water, make this manœuvre or avoid those idiots over there. When this type of driving is applied to road traffic the benefits are self evident as far as I can see. Car drivers making better boat steerers? - can't see the logic really.

 

JOTW