A polite plea to dawdlers.

[Guest]

The problem if they wont look back is how you attract their attention.

 

If you toot the horn they will no doubt brand you an 'aggressive canal rage' type.

 

A bit like some motorists do even when you use your horn to make your presence known, it seems to trigger some people.

[Captain Pegg]

1 hour ago, M_JG said:

 

Do you get away with being recognised though? By virtue of being on somebody else's boat.

 

I'm not recognisable and I move boats incognito. No bright yellow jacket or 'JP Boatmover' sticker on the side. Vulpes gets recognised at least once a day and by association some folk know my name. Most know one of the former owners or have some recollection of the boat from years ago.

 

In this particular instance I didn't do anything that was wrong. I just operated the locks the way that suited me best irrespective of the other boat and my account is not sanitised. There was very little actually said.

[Hudds Lad]

6 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

What does drive me mad is when I catch up with someone travelling at a speed that my boat wont travel at, meaning that I'm constantly putting it into neutral/putting it into drive/putting it into neutral/putting it into drive, it becomes like sawing wood and probably isn't doing my drive plate much good. If someone feels the need to go that slowly then they need to let everyone go past them, or speed up.

Had this problem stuck behind the trip boat from Boot Wharf all the way to Hawkesbury, at which point they moored up and gave me filthy looks. They’d occasionally look behind and speed up a bit, but then after the next bend or bridge slow right down again. I never said anything other than hello (they just blanked me) when we passed by as they had a boatfull of happy faces and to be honest i was just glad to be away from the miserable gits.

[magnetman]

I have these for such circumstances

 

 

These switches are for the warmup phase. 

 

Red buttons to let them go. 

[ditchcrawler]

Anyone got behind President and Kildare over the years

[Captain Pegg]

1 hour ago, Hudds Lad said:

Had this problem stuck behind the trip boat from Boot Wharf all the way to Hawkesbury, at which point they moored up and gave me filthy looks. They’d occasionally look behind and speed up a bit, but then after the next bend or bridge slow right down again. I never said anything other than hello (they just blanked me) when we passed by as they had a boatfull of happy faces and to be honest i was just glad to be away from the miserable gits.

 

The Hargreaves boat is big so it will naturally slow down on bends and bridges. That's hydrodynamics. They weren't doing it on purpose. I've encountered that boat - and it's predecessor - a number of times and they always seem pretty cheerful.

 

A few years back I got caught up by a boat on the straight alongside the railway at Bournville on the Wuss & Brum. On the first occasion it was getting within passing range a bridge and a boat going the other way caused it to fall back and I ended up going through the first of the Selly Oak railway bridges still ahead which I hadn't intended to do because Vulpes does not like narrow channels. In the process the following boat caught up with me but on the following straight I had decent enough speed and kept my distance ahead, so when I got down by the winding hole on the approach to the next series of bridges I slowed and waved the following boat through to which the steerer said "no point now". He then proceeded to practically push me through the second railway bridge and immediately upon exiting forced his way past saying "don't mean to be funny mate but you keep speeding up and then slowing down".

Edited May 23, 2023 by Captain Pegg

[Rebotco]

The other consequence of being forced to oscillate between tickover and neutral is that the batteries are getting next to no charging.

[nicknorman]

3 hours ago, Tonka said:

Leave earlier or go by road springs to mind

Or, people who want to go unreasonably slow, Don’t force your whim onto other people.
Or, to people who want to hold other people up, you are nasty and controlling.

[magnetman]

Maybe if more wide beans turn up eventually canals will be enlarged and there will be more opportunities to overtake. 

 

With modern robot excavators we might even get some bypasses put in to avoid awful places where boats are moored. 

 

 

[Captain Pegg]

13 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Or, people who want to go unreasonably slow, Don’t force your whim onto other people.
Or, to people who want to hold other people up, you are nasty and controlling.

 

It's not difficult is it?

 

Folk can go whatever speed they want providing they don't make a breaking wash (or exceed 4mph if they have a way of knowing) and boat with due care.

 

I can't understand why anybody would want to keep a boat behind them anyway, being followed is almost worse than having to follow.

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by Captain Pegg

[Tonka]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

Maybe if more wide beans turn up eventually canals will be enlarged and there will be more opportunities to overtake. 

 

With modern robot excavators we might even get some bypasses put in to avoid awful places where boats are moored. 

 

 

What about a smart canal where the towpath has been taken away and every 500 yards a refuge area

[Captain Pegg]

Just now, Tonka said:

What about a smart canal where the towpath has been taken away and every 500 yards a refuge area

 

Good idea, then moored boats couldn't spread out one every 100m or 200m expecting you to do tickover for half a mile to pass the number of boats that would fit on 100m of visitor mooring.

 

[blackrose]

4 hours ago, noddyboater said:

It's definitely getting worse by the year.

Inefficient locking is frustrating,  

 

It certainly is. When I'm working locks single handed and can get my widebeam through the locks faster than a couple or narrow boats with crew then something is wrong.

 

On the other hand if I see a couple working efficiently and I'm in danger of holding them up then at some point I'll let them take the next lock. Likewise if a boat is coming up from behind and gaining on me I'll try to pull over and let them past.

Edited May 23, 2023 by blackrose

[magnetman]

15 minutes ago, Tonka said:

What about a smart canal where the towpath has been taken away and every 500 yards a refuge area

I think elevated sections might be quite cool. Extra long aqueducts with inclined planes at each end. 

[nicknorman]

18 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

 

It's not difficult is it?

 

Folk can go whatever speed they want providing they don't make a breaking wash (or exceed 4mph if they have a way of knowing) and boat with due care.

 

I can't understand why anybody would want to keep a boat behind them anyway, being followed is almost worse than having to follow.

I dislike holding people up. Why would you want to? Telemachus is deep drafted and thus fairly slow on shallow canals, so if anyone is approaching from behind my first thought is “when can I pull over to let them pass?”. I just can’t understand why it would be any other way unless one enjoyed exercising control over other people. Plenty of it about though, it seems!

 

On the overtaking point, when I was 18 we took my friend’s dad’s narrowboat to Ely for the IWA rally. Cruising along one of the ML (dead straight for miles) drains, a working boat came up behind fast. I was driving and reduced the 3 pot air cooled lister to idle. He came blasting past but picked us up on his wave and we surfed along at about 4mph, engine still at idle, riding his wave and stopping him overtaking. After a minute or so he grumped at me (sterns were neck and neck) “Aren’t you going to let me past?” To which I, as an annoying 18 year old, said “we’re at tickover, you need to go faster”. After receiving “the glare” I put it into idle reverse and he went off into the distance.

 

Funny, that is one of the few things I remember about that trip. That and Ely cathedral coming into view.

Edited May 23, 2023 by nicknorman

[magnetman]

Maybe we need to reduce road traffic speed to 4mph and encourage more enthusiasts to take up motoring. 

 

You can pass others without them rocking about too much. 

 

Wouldn't it be nice to stop for the night on the M42 and not be disturbed by traffic other than the occasional early riser doing 5mph. 

[Lily Rose]

21 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

 

I can't understand why anybody would want to keep a boat behind them anyway, being followed is almost worse than having to follow.

 

 

I think I'd leave out the word almost. I hate being followed and unsure if the boat behind wants to overtake or not. If they make it clear they want to pass I'm relieved and happily let them do so. On the other hand I sometimes wave a following boat past, even though I'm unsure that's what they want, only to find they then don't pull away from me. Even worse when they end up mooring in the last remaining spot at my intended destination. 

[David Mack]

Or when they are following you for ages and there just isn't anywhere you can pull over to let them pass, then finally they pass you, only to pull in and moor up about 300 yards further on!

[MtB]

14 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

 

I think I'd leave out the word almost. I hate being followed and unsure if the boat behind wants to overtake or not. If they make it clear they want to pass I'm relieved and happily let them do so. On the other hand I sometimes wave a following boat past, even though I'm unsure that's what they want, only to find they then don't pull away from me. Even worse when they end up mooring in the last remaining spot at my intended destination. 

 

I too loathe being followed so any boat following me doesn't get invited to pass, they are forced to.

 

I'll pull into the bank at the first opportunity, step ashore and hold the boat on the centre line as if planning to moor up until they go past, or moor up too. 

[Captain Pegg]

6 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

I too loathe being followed so any boat following me doesn't get invited to pass, they are forced to.

 

I'll pull into the bank at the first opportunity, step ashore and hold the boat on the centre line as if planning to moor up until they go past, or moor up too. 

 

That's also my preference for letting other boats past. A lot of canal users don't appreciate that it isn't easy to overtake.

[Little Else]

Wrong thread

Edited May 23, 2023 by Little Else

[Captain Pegg]

Deleted - no longer relevant

Edited May 23, 2023 by Captain Pegg

[magnetman]

One could always consider ramming the blighters from astern to wake them up. 

 

[Ronaldo47]

1 hour ago, Tonka said:

What about a smart canal where the towpath has been taken away and every 500 yards a refuge area

Parts of the Southern Oxford were like that in 1976! 

Edited May 23, 2023 by Ronaldo47

[Higgs]

I'll move over, if there's room. If not, they'll have to wait. Where's the fire? Not everywhere is easy to pull over to the towpath or opposite, where it might be clogged with reeds. 

 

I have a BMC 1.5 on a solid bed. It is happiest at certain revs, which is where I normally keep it at. 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by Higgs