On apolloduck here

 

Got to be the oddest narrowboat I’ve ever seen! Where are the props? Sticking out the swim…?

20 minutes ago, cheesegas said:

 

Got to be the oddest narrowboat I’ve ever seen! Where are the props? Sticking out the swim…?

 

 

Probably explains the need for a square stern. Possibly with a P or Y bracket from the uxter plate to get the prop further back, away from the side of the swim, assuming it has a single swim and not twin swims.

2 hours ago, cheesegas said:

On apolloduck here

 

Got to be the oddest narrowboat I’ve ever seen! Where are the props? Sticking out the swim…?

Why is the price per vessel 

 

 

 

For an "anorexic boat" I think it's quite pleasant.

 

I would want to get the two rudders linked together - it currently looks like steering a wheelbarrow

Edited October 1, 20251 yr by Alan de Enfield

Why? Just why?

With a gate-lifting stempost, bridge-gouging cabin profile and unconventional steering, this must be a nightmare to navigate on narrow canals!

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I would want to get the two rudders linked together - it currently looks like steering a wheelbarrow

It looks like at the stern, there’s an engine control lever on either side of the boat too, so you can’t control both engines with one hand like with a normal twin engined boat. Doesn’t look fun to control!

1 minute ago, cheesegas said:

there’s an engine control lever on either side of the boat too, so you can’t control both engines with one hand like with a normal twin engined boat. Doesn’t look fun to control!

 

 

I have two seperate controls but, like on an aircraft, can be controlled single-handed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 20251 yr by Alan de Enfield

It does look like someone has come from the world of twin engined cruisers and had a 'Whitefield' moment and thought "those twin engined jobbies I'm used to are so much more advanced than these narrow steel tubes. I'll show them how to do things properly"

9 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

I have two seperate controls but, like on an aircraft, can be controlled single-handed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your are OK Alan it has something similar to that by the steering wheel

11 minutes ago, cheesegas said:

Doesn’t look fun to control!

Its actually the best boat I have ever steered in reverse. 

The OP isnt quite accurate, it is tiller steered, with the wheel steering optional( has to be connected under the rear deck....and yes, the wheel controls both tillers.

5 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Your are OK Alan it has something similar to that by the steering wheel

 

But not when you are in the stern using tiller-steering.

14 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I have two seperate controls but, like on an aircraft, can be controlled single-handed.

Yep, that's what I was expecting it to have. Instead, it has the levers around 3ft apart, one either side of the gangway.

 

4 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Your are OK Alan it has something similar to that by the steering wheel

It does next to the steering wheel, but at the stern controls it has this, which I put in my first post.

 

3 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Its actually the best boat I have ever steered in reverse. 

The OP isnt quite accurate, it is tiller steered, with the wheel steering optional( has to be connected under the rear deck....and yes, the wheel controls both tillers.

Still sounds...interesting to operate. If you steer from the wheel at the bow, you can't see what the back is doing, and if you steer from the stern, the two engine controls are 3' apart! It does probably steer rather well in reverse.

4 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Its actually the best boat I have ever steered in reverse. 

The OP isnt quite accurate, it is tiller steered, with the wheel steering optional( has to be connected under the rear deck....and yes, the wheel controls both tillers.

 

I did wonder if it had a slipper stern, and it seems it does.

There was a narrowboat with twin screws , hydraulic drive but a single engine  I think it was owned by the one time chairman of NABO Stuart, the boat was called  Sulaskar

5 hours ago, cheesegas said:

On apolloduck here

 

Got to be the oddest narrowboat I’ve ever seen! Where are the props? Sticking out the swim…?

Is it this one the link didn't work for me   

 

39 minutes ago, cheesegas said:

. If you steer from the wheel at the bow, you can't see what the back is doing, and if you steer from the stern, the two engine controls are 3' apart! It does probably steer rather well in reverse.

From the you have a pair of these...

 

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

Its actually the best boat I have ever steered in reverse. 

The OP isnt quite accurate, it is tiller steered, with the wheel steering optional( has to be connected under the rear deck....and yes, the wheel controls both tillers.

Great boat for the Tidal stretches too- always nice to have a spare engine 😀

Guessing that had something to do with the reason the boat was built like this.

An old extensive thread about this boat here.

4 hours ago, cheesegas said:

Yep, that's what I was expecting it to have. Instead, it has the levers around 3ft apart, one either side of the gangway.

 

It does next to the steering wheel, but at the stern controls it has this, which I put in my first post.

 

Still sounds...interesting to operate. If you steer from the wheel at the bow, you can't see what the back is doing, and if you steer from the stern, the two engine controls are 3' apart! It does probably steer rather well in reverse.

I guess that makes it much more difficult to keep the throttle at the same torque than the more conventional gear which can also be operated with one hand? Under normal operation is it more difficult since one hand needs to be on the tiller and thus the two levels cannot be operated simultaneously. I would not want to do a crash stop (like meeting a boat on a bend and bridge)

I guess if making your own boat,  you can do what you like.  Probably still more practical than a steam powered or horse drawn boat. 

 

The aft throttle arrangement does however appear a very odd way of doing it, practical to package,  but as said not at all handy to control. 

9 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

I did wonder if it had a slipper stern, and it seems it does.

 

Surely the term is a cutwater stern... 

 

A slipper stern is wot a slipper launch has! 

 

 

5 hours ago, DHutch said:

 

The aft throttle arrangement does however appear a very odd way of doing it, practical to package,  but as said not at all handy to control. 

Having steered it, I disagree....it is very easy, and both controls are within 2 feet of each other.

The boat was designed for 1 engine canal cruising and both engines on rivers.

Using both engines in reverse is a wonderful experience, you keep one in reverse at 1/4- 1/2 speed, and use the other control to blip large correcting thrusts for direction. 

I reversed out of a marina onto the canal, and then round a 30° bend with boats both sides the whole distance for 400 yards as it straightened out...the mooring up on the towpath was done virtually sideways blipping both throttles.

 

Isn't it good to hear some actual real experience of this unusual propulsion system.
Thank you Matty.

47 minutes ago, matty40s said:

I reversed out of a marina onto the canal, and then round a 30° bend with boats both sides the whole distance for 400 yards as it straightened out..

 

That is exactly what I do - on the cruiser the props are about 10 feet apart which allows turning on the spot - one in Fwd and the other in Rev and around it goes.

Come into moor, bow into the bank / pontoon and spin it in - exactly - into a space 'inches' bigger than the boat.

 

The cat is even better with props almost 18 feet apart.

I think the reason this boat hasnt sold is that it scares some people, who don't understand it, especially if they are coming to the boat world for a first time...where the whole thing is slightly scary anyway.

 

To my eyes, it is a fantastic buy for a young family with a kid or maybe 2. Well equipped, big windows, bunk beds for kids, mum and dad have lounge and bedroom separate.

I would rip out all the front controls and steering to create a proper saloon/ living area.

Ideal man cave at back or workshop for crafts...

Yes, it doesn't look conventional, but for that price it has more than everything you need.

 

16 hours ago, matty40s said:

Having steered it, I disagree....it is very easy, and both controls are within 2 feet of each other.

The boat was designed for 1 engine canal cruising and both engines on rivers.

Fair enough.

 

Just seems odd compared to arranging it so you can one-hand both throttles.

 

15 hours ago, matty40s said:

I think the reason this boat hasnt sold is that it scares some people, who don't understand it, especially if they are coming to the boat world for a first time...where the whole thing is slightly scary anyway.

 

To my eyes, it is a fantastic buy for a young family with a kid or maybe 2. Well equipped, big windows, bunk beds for kids, mum and dad have lounge and bedroom separate.

I would rip out all the front controls and steering to create a proper saloon/ living area.

Ideal man cave at back or workshop for crafts...

Yes, it doesn't look conventional, but for that price it has more than everything you need.

 

I am sure you are right.

 

And while I would be well up for having a go driving it as it is, from both helms, I expect I would also remove the forward helm.

 

https://www.steamboat.org.uk/user.php?id=61458

 

Steam launch Ictus is steered from just fwd of the cabin front, 2/5 back from the front of the boat, and by all accounts that takes more than enough getting used to when boating on the canals. They also have a small rear view mirror on the drivers side.