Winter mooring

[Tony1]

2 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

I'd say the average boat stays for about two weeks. Longest I've seen was for about nine months. There is occasionally a space available but its unusual. 

 

 

I've seen a similar thing happen in a few places. The locally based boaters get to know what day the CRT spotter visits.

So they arrive on the afternoon of the 'spotter day' (ie after the spotter has gone by), and they depart 6 days later, on the afternoon before the spotter returns. So they get almost 7 days on a 2 day mooring, without being spotted. 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

16 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

So is the K+A now more usable for visitors?

Up until recently its been near the bottom of my cruising destinations list. 

 

 

 

As I said - once the 'project' finished everything reverted back to normal (ie nothing done about the overstayers) I've not been down there for a few years but from reports and threads on here, it is now as bad as it ever was. Some (most ?) do move but only minimum distance and they just move into each others mooring spots so there is no more space that there would be if they didn't move.

[MtB]

32 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

As I said - once the 'project' finished everything reverted back to normal (ie nothing done about the overstayers) I've not been down there for a few years but from reports and threads on here, it is now as bad as it ever was. Some (most ?) do move but only minimum distance and they just move into each others mooring spots so there is no more space that there would be if they didn't move.

 

Except there is miles of free space here once you get accustomed to using decent-sized mooring stakes and a gangplank. 

 

[blackrose]

21 hours ago, Jerra said:

It may just be my strange view on life but, it seems to me that short term moorings seem to be mainly at popular places.  Their purpose would also seem to be to try to be fair to all boaters rather than let one boat hog a space when there could be others who wanted/needed to moor.

 

Surely it is in all our best interests to accept the short term moorings for the good of all.

 

Or am I being too reasonable?

 

Some people with sharp elbows will always insist on getting their money's worth and they'll argue the point out of self-interest or even simple bloody mindedness rather than just settling for something "unofficial" that works for the majority.

[Tony1]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Except there is miles of free space here once you get accustomed to using decent-sized mooring stakes and a gangplank. 

 

 

I'm heading generally southwards, so maybe in the Spring I'll give the K+A a look.

As a lazy bugger I do prefer the convenience of mooring on armco- but if there is plenty of bank space it'll be worth a visit, and maybe see how frustrating it gets.

 

[Poster girl]

Traders are some of the worst culprits when it comes to overstaying on 2 day moorings. We see it regularly near our marina and it is frustrating for boaters and local businesses alike. Of course not all abuse the license but several do. 

[MtB]

2 hours ago, Poster girl said:

Traders are some of the worst culprits when it comes to overstaying on 2 day moorings. We see it regularly near our marina and it is frustrating for boaters and local businesses alike. Of course not all abuse the license but several do. 

 

There seems to be a widespread belief amongst traders they are exempt from normal mooring limitations. 

 

Not all obviously, but I've been told this by overstaying traders several times.

 

 

[Lady M]

I seem to recall that they may be allowed to stay for 96 hours on a 48 hour mooring.

[Jerra]

1 hour ago, Lady M said:

I seem to recall that they may be allowed to stay for 96 hours on a 48 hour mooring.

The CRt website about starting a business says:

 

We cannot give any special dispensation from time limits because you are trading.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/business-and-trade/business-boating/starting-or-expanding-a-boating-business/roving-traders/trading-from-winter-and-visitor-moorings

[Rob-M]

8 hours ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/business-and-trade/business-boating/starting-or-expanding-a-boating-business/roving-traders/trading-from-winter-and-visitor-moorings

So not arrive Tuesday or Wednesday, trade for a couple of weeks and then maybe think of moving on to the next popular visitor mooring then return a few weeks later and do the same again which is the pattern I see at Great Haywood from a few traders.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

I thought only I did that 🤷‍♀️

[NarrowboatTor]

Personally been parked in Devizes for five years and finally got off the K&A to go exploring this year.

I checked the tracking status on the CRT website and find my NB tracked all the way along it, South Oxford canal not a hit once (so far).

Personally I will not return to the K&A in any hurry as I found it to be difficult solo with poor moorings ( full sized scaffold plank needed) and locks that took up to 3 people to open.

It was however very pretty with a few nice pubs to moor up outside 😊

 

Certainly worth a go if you've not done it in a while.

[MtB]

When I was on the K&A I just resigned myself to the fact that as a single hander in a full length boat it took typically 45 minutes to transit any lock I arrived at that was set against me.

 

Mooring was quite fun though once properly organised with the big K&A mooring stakes and a pair gangplanks which I could securely attach one each end to the boat. And at the bank end, I used to fix each to the bank with a big mooring stake through a hole in the end of plank. These two gangplanks would hold the boat a fixed distance from the bank and spring lines would stop it surging back and forth.

 

 

[NarrowboatTor]

36 minutes ago, MtB said:

When I was on the K&A I just resigned myself to the fact that as a single hander in a full length boat it took typically 45 minutes to transit any lock I arrived at that was set against me.

 

Mooring was quite fun though once properly organised with the big K&A mooring stakes and a pair gangplanks which I could securely attach one each end to the boat. And at the bank end, I used to fix each to the bank with a big mooring stake through a hole in the end of plank. These two gangplanks would hold the boat a fixed distance from the bank and spring lines would stop it surging back and forth.

 

 

Quite agree with that, the planks hold the boat pretty secure tho getting to the bank is sometimes interesting with occasional steel grinding noises coming from underneath the boat.

I found it very shallow at the edges in many spots that looked good but couldn't nose into.

Certainly a good test of your mooring experience 😵‍💫.

The locks as everywhere are worn, occasionally broken and sometimes down right ornery, but hey they still work and with help are passable.

I see I've finally had a sighting on the south Oxford come through 1 month after leaving the K&A, towards the north end up near Napton (watched the spotter at work tbh as he stopped next to the boat walking his dog).

 

[blackrose]

Things must have changed over the last 10 years or so since I took my 12ft widebeam single-handed along the K&A from Reading to Bristol in 2013. 

 

I never had a problem with any of the locks or swing bridges apart from one where you have to operate the swing bridge from one side of the canal while your boat is on the other. That was new to me. I never had a problem finding moorings either and never used the plank.