Suitable boat for reaching the further parts of the system

[stort_mark]

We are in the sloooooow process of identifying and then buying a boat ....probably next year rather than this..... but we really want to get something that is as at home on estuaries as the waterways.

 

Now I appreciate that coastal waters are not for the inexperienced, but I don't want to buy a boat then find a few years down the line that the type or functionality is totally inappropriate for where we want to go. I also appreciate that pretty much any boat will go pretty much anywhere in flat as a pond waters, but I want to have a margin of safety built in to be able to cope with choppier waters of the todal Thames, Humber, etc.

 

We want....for example...to be able to get down the tidal Nene and across the Wash....down the tidal Great Ouse.....use the whole length of the Trent and Severn in "comfort". Good examples would also be being able to make it to the Medway, the Chelmer & Blackwater, etc.

 

Any thoughts on type.....features.....etc that would be important or essential? A marine boat that can be used on canals....or vice versa?

Edited April 12, 2008 by stort_mark

[saltysplash]

We are in the sloooooow process of identifying and then buying a boat ....probably next year rather than this..... but we really want to get something that is as at home on estuaries as the waterways.

 

Now I appreciate that coastal waters are not for the inexperienced, but I don't want to buy a boat then find a few years down the line that the type or functionality is totally inappropriate for where we want to go. I also appreciate that pretty much any boat will go pretty much anywhere in flat as a pond waters, but I want to have a margin of safety built in to be able to cope with choppier waters of the todal Thames, Humber, etc.

 

We want....for example...to be able to get down the tidal Nene and across the Wash....down the tidal Great Ouse.....use the whole length of the Trent and Severn in "comfort". Good examples would also be being able to make it to the Medway, the Chelmer & Blackwater, etc.

 

Any thoughts on type.....features.....etc that would be important or essential? A marine boat that can be used on canals....or vice versa?

 

i think what you will need then is some kind of narrow/wide boat hybrid...one which contracts to 6'6"beam then extends to 10' beam and an extending keel with auto lee Boards and telescopic masts for sails.

 

In other words, Narrowboats are designed for a purpose and tidal work isnt really one of em despite all you hear of this person doing this crossing or that crossing. Horses for courses an all that. Ive crossed the channel/southern north sea in a 100yr old Dutch barge and been scared to death, and then crossed it in a 1940's wooden fishing boat and never felt more comfortable.

 

Ive come out of the Medway in lovely calm waters onto the Thames estuary and bounced all the way to Ramsgate with waves coming over the bow and hitting the wheel house and all hell breaking loose below decks....an thats with a decent weather report from thames coast guard.

 

I really dont think there is any happy medium. You makes ya choice and then wait for the best conditions making sure that safety is your first priority.

 

 

 

If your not bothered about narrow canals the some form of widebeam would be the best bet, plenty of room on deck for Nav Aids and shallow enough for english inland waters

Edited April 12, 2008 by saltysplash

[stort_mark]

I really dont think there is any happy medium. You makes ya choice and then wait for the best conditions making sure that safety is your first priority.

 

 

I did wonder about the 'converted lifeboat' style that seemed to be popular back in the 1950s.

 

I would be reluctant to take a narrowboat out on the lower reaches of the Thames. I have seen the videos and read the stories of mad dashes across the Channel or the Wash, and I am sure one day, someone will take a 58' semi-trad up the Alaskan glacier coast, but it's not what I would feel comfortable like.

 

What are those GRP cruisers like in estuaries? I know more about NBs than the white jobs, but as it is most likely that the boat will be based on the Nene-Ouse-Fens network somewhere, I suppose I ought to learn.

[carlt]

Did someone mention converted Lifeboats?

 

 

A folding wheelhouse would be handy but she'll go anywhere I want her to.

[saltysplash]

Did someone mention converted Lifeboats?

 

 

A folding wheelhouse would be handy but she'll go anywhere I want her to.

 

 

Shes a weatherly barky an no mistake.

 

I think thats the point i was trying to make.....id happily bounce around on an old tub in certain conditions but have had the fear of god put in me in other less suitable vessels in calmer conditions

 

 

 

ps......need any crew at any time?

Edited April 12, 2008 by saltysplash