Heavy lifting onboard

[David Mack]

7 minutes ago, Jerra said:

Not sure how you would use that to lower a full gas bottle into the typical bow deck gas locker.

[Jerra]

27 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Not sure how you would use that to lower a full gas bottle into the typical bow deck gas locker.

|Neither have I but somebody wanted a shot of a shoulder dolly.

[Hudds Lad]

33 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Not sure how you would use that to lower a full gas bottle into the typical bow deck gas locker.

Well no, that's a two-man dolly. The idea is to use your leg muscles for the lifting which are considerably bigger than your arms.

I did say i wasn't sure it would translate to boats.

[magnetman]

Sky Hooks could work for gas lockers. 

 

I think the best suggestion was using the coal boat steerer. 

 

 

[blackrose]

Personally my approach is to exercise regularly and keep myself physically fit so I'm still able to lift the things I need to. I use a wheelbarrow to get bags of coal and bottles of gas from the car to the boat and then it's good old brute force plus a bit of lifting technique. I'm 61 and I reckon I'm still 95% as strong as I was when I was 25. Obviously that's not going to last forever but I can still unload a tonne of coal from a pallet where it's been dropped off and stack 40 bags in the back of my container. Afterwards I'm knackered but it's like doing a good workout. 

 

People on this forum have scoffed at me for having exercise equipment onboard my boat. I know it's not really practical on a narrowboat but I get the feeling that fitness isn't really a priority for most boaters who seem to think that doing a few locks will keep them fit. Since this is a thread about the decline of physical strength and ability I'm surprised nobody has mentioned regular exercise as a way of retarding physical decline. Once you've reached a certain age and let it go it's quite difficult to get that strength and fitness back.

[IanD]

5 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Personally my approach is to exercise regularly and keep myself physically fit so I'm still able to lift the things I need to. I use a wheelbarrow to get bags of coal and bottles of gas from the car to the boat and then it's good old brute force plus a bit of lifting technique. I'm 61 and I reckon I'm still 95% as strong as I was when I was 25. Obviously that's not going to last forever but I can still unload a tonne of coal from a pallet where it's been dropped off and stack 40 bags in the back of my container. Afterwards I'm knackered but it's like doing a good workout. 

 

People on this forum have scoffed at me for having exercise equipment onboard my boat. I know it's not really practical on a narrowboat but I get the feeling that fitness isn't really a priority for most boaters who seem to think that doing a few locks will keep them fit. Since this is a thread about the decline of physical strength and ability I'm surprised nobody has mentioned regular exercise as a way of retarding physical decline. Once you've reached a certain age and let it go it's quite difficult to get that strength and fitness back.

 

You're lucky having enough space on your wideboat to fit exercise equipment in, as you say it's not really practical on a narrowboat.

 

If not for the fact it would probably result in abusive posts in response, I'd suggest that one of the easiest ways to preserve some fitness with ageing is to do what I did during lockdown and take up cycling (again) -- canals provide a ready-made facility for doing this, and there's no traffic to worry about... 😉

[magnetman]

Cycing on towpaths is a great idea.

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Go green and replace your engine with the bike. Either with some Heath Robinson set of pulleys to the prop shaft, or on the tow path and a rope to the boat. You'll need some very low gears and grippy tyres for towpath cycle boat towing.

Alternatively, why use a rowing machine on the boat, or at the gym when oars can get your boat about! With, or without some one at the stern beating a drum. 😀

 

[blackrose]

16 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

You're lucky having enough space on your wideboat to fit exercise equipment in, as you say it's not really practical on a narrowboat.

 

If not for the fact it would probably result in abusive posts in response, I'd suggest that one of the easiest ways to preserve some fitness with ageing is to do what I did during lockdown and take up cycling (again) -- canals provide a ready-made facility for doing this, and there's no traffic to worry about... 😉

 

I just meant is impractical to have exercise equipment on a narrowboat, but there's still stuff you can do to keep fit in a small space which doesn't require any equipment.

 

I'm away at the moment but I do planking for 2 minutes, 2 or 3 times a day in my hotel room. That's only 6 minutes exercise/day and you could do it in a narrowboat. I'm not so good at the wall squats but you can't really do them on a boat anyway.

 

https://www.realsimple.com/isometric-exercises-could-help-lower-your-blood-pressure-7594660

 

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by blackrose

[IanD]

5 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Go green and replace your engine with the bike. Either with some Heath Robinson set of pulleys to the prop shaft, or on the tow path and a rope to the boat. You'll need some very low gears and grippy tyres for towpath cycle boat towing.

Alternatively, why use a rowing machine on the boat, or at the gym when oars can get your boat about! With, or without some one at the stern beating a drum. 😀

 

 

[Sir Percy]

1 hour ago, Adam said:

Non electric version also available 

This is more like the swing jib that I was thinking of. It's no problem to lift a 13kg bottle with one hand and step up on to the gunwale; it gets awkward stepping down into the well deck then up again to lower the bottle into the gas locker in the bow (single-handedly).

[magnetman]

Key clamps and scaffolding tube can be useful to make a quickly dismantleable derrick crane for light loads.

 

EIther than or just a boat davit with a little block and tayckle on it.

 

Davits (pronounced like David) often sit in a base socket so it would not have to be there all the time.

 

 

 

[Slim]

14 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

if it really is a problem then a car engine hoist is a simple solution - just as an examaple (100s of variations available) this one folds up to be quite small

 

And it weighs   ??????

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, Slim said:

And it weighs   ??????

 

I presume so.

[truckcab79]

12 minutes ago, Slim said:

And it weighs   ??????

The wrong side of 110kg even for a 1 tonne version.  Not to mention that the legs are designed to go under vehicles so good luck getting one near enough to the boat.  

Edited November 28, 2023 by truckcab79

[IanD]

1 hour ago, truckcab79 said:

The wrong side of 110kg even for a 1 tonne version.  Not to mention that the legs are designed to go under vehicles so good luck getting one near enough to the boat.  

 Something like this weighs more than 110kg, but the legs are designed to go in lots of places, it packs away on a boat rather more easily, and has multiple uses. Fuel cost could be a problem though... 😉

 

 

[Paul C]

6 hours ago, truckcab79 said:

Have you ever owned or tried using an engine hoist?  They weigh a great deal more than a bag of coal, don’t move easily on their small wheels, are designed to lift vertically so no easy way of then moving the load to where you need it, and if you then try and wheel it while loaded, they fall over. Also they only like perfect flat ground.  I m couldn’t think of anything less suitable to be honest.  
 

Something like a wheelchair hoist, permanently fixed to the deck and designed to swing out and back safely would be a far safer and more practical solution.  

 

I am convinced Alan de E is an AI Bot. It copies and pastes a lot, and answers questions superficially accurately but on closer examination, they are a load of Balaerics. 

 

Engine crane is a spectacularly terrible suggestion for canal towpath use.

[truckcab79]

👍😂

18 hours ago, Sir Percy said:

Aside from simply putting your back into it (and hopefully not out), do you have any clever solutions/techniques for transferring a heavy object onboard?

I'm specifically thinking of sacks of coal and gas bottles, especially as I get older and creakier.

 

At the risk of suggesting anything sensible

what about just getting yourself a sack barrow, and a ramp to get from towpath / pontoon, to boat.  Wheel it on, tip it off. Realistically any solution on a boat is going to have you having to pick it up again to move it to its final destination, unless you store stuff on deck.  

[magnetman]

10kg bags of coal is a good option. 

 

For the gas bottles it is quite a dangerous activity if the locker is forward of a cratch. Not a nice place to be balancing with a gas bottle. 

 

Awkward to sort that problem. Perhaps a vertical pole well fixed centrally in front of the cratch with a lifting tackle connected to the top end. Standing on the bank you can haul the bottle up over the side of the boat with a carpet draped over the boat to prevent paint damage. That would be more simple than a crane arrangement. 

 

 

One could actually make a nice cotton duck tarpaulin with a cutout the size of the gas locker so once the lid is open the tarp will stay in position and prevent paint damage. 

 

With something not especially heavy it seems to me a lift and swing option is not strictly needed.

. 

A couple of these little blocks would probably work for light items. 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165971260728

 

Its not like you are trying to lift the engine out of the boat. 

[Slim]

The issue of loading/lifting gas bottles or coal was a significant factor in my deciding, at the age of 76, to call it a day as far as boating was concerned. As the old adage goes "time and tide wait for no man." 

[Sir Percy]

12 hours ago, Slim said:

The issue of loading/lifting gas bottles or coal was a significant factor in my deciding, at the age of 76, to call it a day as far as boating was concerned. As the old adage goes "time and tide wait for no man." 

Sorry to hear that. I was starting to doubt my original thought that it would have been a problem for some boaters facing older age until your reply. 

[IanD]

12 hours ago, Slim said:

The issue of loading/lifting gas bottles or coal was a significant factor in my deciding, at the age of 76, to call it a day as far as boating was concerned. As the old adage goes "time and tide wait for no man." 

It is of course possible to have a boat with neither gas bottles nor coal nowadays, though many traditionalists object to such new-fangled ideas... 😉

 

(and there are many other issues with doing this either on the cheap or on a diesel boat, see other posts...)

[Alan de Enfield]

20 minutes ago, Sir Percy said:

Sorry to hear that. I was starting to doubt my original thought that it would have been a problem for some boaters facing older age until your reply. 

 

I guess it depends on your definition of 'older age'.

I've reached the "3-score years and ten" bracket and the bones creak and groan but it surprising how you can adapt the way you do things, it may be a slower method, ie use a sack truck to carry your gas cylinder rather than sling it over your shoulder, but its easier on the body.

[IanD]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I guess it depends on your definition of 'older age'.

I've reached the "3-score years and ten" bracket and the bones creak and groan but it surprising how you can adapt the way you do things, it may be a slower method, ie use a sack truck to carry your gas cylinder rather than sling it over your shoulder, but its easier on the body.

 

Doesn't help with getting it onto the boat and into the gas locker though, which was the OPs problem... 😉

[mrsmelly]

23 hours ago, magnetman said:

Not a narrow boat but one of my boats has a derrick crane on each side. Up to about 100kg can be lifted. Hand winches .

 

The whole lot folds down leaving the boat with around 6ft air draft. 

 

Good for lifting the dinghy in and out of the enclosed back deck. 

 

A proper boat