have you ever had one of those heart stopping moments

[FORTUNATA]

This is unavoidable if there's something in the canal you hit. If it's reeds and you drift in (as I did on my fibreglass) I'd recommend cutting the engine immediately.

My main fear is either narrow bends or entering a bridge. I'm now putting skooter tyres around the front and am off soon to collect some more, drill them and rope them on.

 

We thought that but it turns out our most likely point of impact is the nav gear

[Naughty Cal]

This is unavoidable if there's something in the canal you hit. If it's reeds and you drift in (as I did on my fibreglass) I'd recommend cutting the engine immediately.

My main fear is either narrow bends or entering a bridge. I'm now putting skooter tyres around the front and am off soon to collect some more, drill them and rope them on.

 

Not hit the reeds yet. Maybe that can be this weekends task

[aquapykes]

Going upstream on the Nene in flood(I know but tell him that), friend could not get his narrow boat through the bridge hole so we threw him all of our ropes(can you see where this is going yet?), for him to grab and attach to the bow of his boat so we could pull him through. Except he calmly drives straight over the ropes and gets them stuck in his prop. So we have to cut the rope before he drags us back and drive on. We find a space to stop and in the time it takes us to moor up using two of our dogs leads(thank god they are strong ones), and walk back to check he is ok, the level drops and the boat is now leaning at a very interesting angle! We jump onboard and then the engine wont start as there is now rubbish in the filter.

At this point the boat is now being dragged sidewards towards the bridge hole and we cant start the engine. Now I know why I like tha canals ! Probably the only time I have seen normally unshaken O/H abit concerned, so much so that he jumped in with rope and dragged the boat to the other side where we managed to get going again.

In fact the whole of this trip was a bit like that, I was ready to step off at the pontton at Peterborough lock when I saw it sail past us FAST! Are you not stopping I asked rather naively, I am in reverse came the reply OPPPs. To his credit though we got in the lock and did not touch a thing, even the several people watching said how easy it looked. A stiff drink was the order of the day I can tell you. Never a dull moment, boating!

[MoominPapa]

In fact the whole of this trip was a bit like that, I was ready to step off at the pontton at Peterborough lock when I saw it sail past us FAST! Are you not stopping I asked rather naively, I am in reverse came the reply OPPPs. To his credit though we got in the lock and did not touch a thing, even the several people watching said how easy it looked. A stiff drink was the order of the day I can tell you. Never a dull moment, boating!

Was that going upstream, at Orton lock? (The first one you get to after Stanground.) There's a really nasty eddy there, but the idea that it could beat full reverse when going upstream is a bit scary!

 

MP.

[nb Innisfree]

Was that going upstream, at Orton lock? (The first one you get to after Stanground.) There's a really nasty eddy there, but the idea that it could beat full reverse when going upstream is a bit scary!

 

MP.

 

Orton lock looks scary in flood I wouldn't fancy leaving lock upstream in forward! only needs engine to cut out and you'd be swpt accross the weir entrance! Aaarrgh

[FadeToScarlet]

Was that going upstream, at Orton lock? (The first one you get to after Stanground.) There's a really nasty eddy there, but the idea that it could beat full reverse when going upstream is a bit scary!

 

MP.

 

Not sure if it's as bad as the eddy at Brownshill Staunch when the tide's out, I've seen a cruiser spun round and round helplessly!

[MoominPapa]

I've seen a cruiser spun round and round helplessly!

Best place for it. (sorry, Phylis)

 

MP.

[Tiny]

Apart from actually having my heart stopped for medical reasons I find the actions of others on canals often tend to give you pause. For example on the Ashby most people travel not too fast and keep near the middle as anywhere near the bank can be very shallow. Doing this we were approached by a private (very nice) boat which, moved over more the sort of distance you do on wide canals than the Ashby. Still he was at least 10' off the undamaged except for voleholes offside bank as he approached.

 

At this point the front of their started to go aground on the land side and, for want of a better description, the further the boat came onto the mud the more the angle increased and this at such a rate that we thought he was turning over. Meanwhile, while the steerer seemed to hear nothing, we could see and hear all the cubpoards flying open and the glasswear inside crashing out. A man in the front well asleep woke to find he was being bombarded with stuff coming from landside cupboards. We chopped out of gear to reduce our taking the boats water and finally, with a massive list, the boat stopped - stuck on the mud. But the crashes went on - the steerer still seemingly oblivious to all - until the man from the front came and screamed at him through the back doors. In over 30 years I have never seen a boat tip as far or as fast or heards so much breaking glass!

[RichardH]

Pulled out from Ferrybridge VM on the A&C without looking behind.

 

Loud horn sound and 300ton sand barge 10ft off my rear end.

[sociable_hermit]

Pulled out from Ferrybridge VM on the A&C without looking behind.

 

Loud horn sound and 300ton sand barge 10ft off my rear end.

 

[JonL]

Most heart stopping moments – all on hire boats.

 

1. A crew member falling in when half way through Tardebigge Tunnel with another boat following about 100 foot behind. Had one chance to grab the guy as he passed the stern of the boat – very scary.

 

2. Travelling upstream on the Severn, temperature gauge went quickly of the top of the scale, thick black smoke from the exhaust and a steam pouring from around the engine cover, swiftly followed by the engine stopping. Managed to get the boat into the bank and a crew member ashore with a line before the front of the boat turned back downstream ( was ready with the anchor) – turned out to be the biggest bit of rope you’ve ever seen round the prop.

 

3. Returned from an “extended” lunch to find the boat about 10 degrees stern down! Lifted the engine covers to find about a foot of water and the bilge pump not running! Water coming in from around the stuffing box (now semi-submerged) similar to a scene from Das Boat. (I always travel with an extensive tool kit when hiring a boat as I‘ve found the various rusty objects supplied with boats worse than useless.). The box must have been “re-stuffed “ at the last turn around however the lock-nuts were nowhere to be seen, pulled up the nuts that were on there (adjustable spanner supplied was rusted solid) , which stemmed the flow. Then set about sorting the bilge pump – blown fuse. Stopped at the next boatyard who kindly supplied a couple of lock nuts. Now we where half way round the four counties, I reckon if I hadn’t solved the problem by the time the boat engineer had got there a crane would have been the only solution.

[DHutch]

Worst collision ive ever had was at Fradley last year.

- Came down the locks and was turning right to go through the swing bridge.

- Only had one crew with me, who was away from the boat at the time so was alone.

- Then made the fatal mistake of geting talking to someone ourside the pub on another boat.

- 50ft from the junction im going at full crusing speed (3mph ish) and not really is the best place to make a turn.

- Then made the (later to be fatal) decission to go for the turn anyway. And didnt make it. And hit the boat who was moored on the off side bend with a bloody big clought.

 

Fortunatly as they where moored on the bend with the stern tied in tight and i hit them on the bow there was a 4ft water buffer between them and the bank which took a lot of energy out of the system. They however whernt so impressed i dont think as they where in the well deck with glasses of wine and a table off nibbles. Our bow was at about head height and clearly not stoping intime by the time they saw it!

 

 

 

Daniel

[KenK]

Has anyone, ever, actually crushed or holed a wooden or plastic boat with their steel (or iron!) one? I reckon I'm far more scared of them than they are of me.

 

(perhaps there should be a facility for anonymous replies in certain circumstances!)

 

Yes, sank a plastic cruiser with a full length ex working boat, first week of June 1970, cut it neatly in half.

 

 

Ken

[carlt]

In the wood vs plastic fight, wood won easily:

 

 

The tender was smashed to pieces, by the time I got back.

[WotEver]

In the wood vs plastic fight, wood won easily:

 

 

The tender was smashed to pieces, by the time I got back.

 

Wrong link?

[carlt]

Wrong link?

Nope, I tied the tender up to the side of the boat and the waves smashed it up.

[WotEver]

Nope, I tied the tender up to the side of the boat and the waves smashed it up.

 

Ouch!

[casper ghost]

Approaching a bridge, on a bend as usual, in a 66ft boat, a noddy boat decided to squeze through the bridge before us, our 20 ton 66ft boat only had a little SL2 engine and in full reverse it had hardly slowed down when we hit the noddy as it was leaving the bridge. An almighty crunching sound of smashing plastic was heard. The steerer of the noddy didn't even look round. I can only guess it must have sank later unless he was real lucky Suppose that's a heart stopping moment for him rather than me .

[Naughty Cal]

Approaching a bridge, on a bend as usual, in a 66ft boat, a noddy boat decided to squeze through the bridge before us, our 20 ton 66ft boat only had a little SL2 engine and in full reverse it had hardly slowed down when we hit the noddy as it was leaving the bridge. An almighty crunching sound of smashing plastic was heard. The steerer of the noddy didn't even look round. I can only guess it must have sank later unless he was real lucky Suppose that's a heart stopping moment for him rather than me .

 

It could be argued that your boat was dangerously underpowered if it was unable to take action to prevent a collision.

[bramley]

all this talk and mic taking of GRP boats on this forum is quite anoying really.

 

having just bought a grp boat, i was expecting to get some crap from fellow boaters. but reading things on here things are said without any regard as to why people have such boats, or things are said that make it sound that they have less of a right to be on the waterways?

 

me personally, being a family man on a tight budget i would of loved to buy a NB. but GRP is all i could afford? is it wrong to be on a budget?

[WotEver]

all this talk and mic taking of GRP boats on this forum is quite anoying really.

 

having just bought a grp boat, i was expecting to get some crap from fellow boaters. but reading things on here things are said without any regard as to why people have such boats, or things are said that make it sound that they have less of a right to be on the waterways?

 

me personally, being a family man on a tight budget i would of loved to buy a NB. but GRP is all i could afford? is it wrong to be on a budget?

 

Nothing wrong with having a GRP boat at all, if that's what you want/can afford

 

The mickey-taking is all in good natured fun. In the same way wooden ex-working boats take the mick out of modern trads who take the mick out of semi trads who take the mick out of cruisers. Or does everyone take the mick out of semi-trads? Personally, I couldn't care less - our next boat will almost certainly be a semi-trad and if folk want to take the mick that's their concern - they probably won't like my leather hat for when it's raining either

 

Two very good friends of ours have just bought themselves a 23ft Norman tupperware tub and it's a lovely boat. It's over 30 years old and they bought it because they couldn't (at present) afford a nb. Nothing whatsoever wrong with that - enjoy your boat

 

Tony.

 

It could be argued that your boat was dangerously underpowered if it was unable to take action to prevent a collision.

 

Most ex-working boats also take ages to stop - nothing to do with engines, it's down to hull design. If anyone doesn't understand that it's probably best that they don't get onto the canals.

 

Tony.

[casper ghost]

Nothing against noddy boats, our first boat was a Norman 23 in the 70's, but one thing you need to learn in a plastic boat is not to race a steel boat for a bridge that it's almost in unless you are sure you can get out the other side first.

Compared to today's jap engined boats it may seem underpowered but I would argue that most boats are over-powered for canal use nowadays.

[Ray]

Have you ever had one of those heart stopping moments?

 

Yes. I had a heart attack in London on 7 July 2005 about an hour before the first bomb went off. Luckily I was working in an office about five minutes from St. Thomas's hospital and had a stent fitted within an hour or so.

 

The first I knew of the carnage was when I came round in CCU and wondered why everyone was glued to the television.

 

Can't get much more heart stopping than that!

[Naughty Cal]

all this talk and mic taking of GRP boats on this forum is quite anoying really.

 

having just bought a grp boat, i was expecting to get some crap from fellow boaters. but reading things on here things are said without any regard as to why people have such boats, or things are said that make it sound that they have less of a right to be on the waterways?

 

me personally, being a family man on a tight budget i would of loved to buy a NB. but GRP is all i could afford? is it wrong to be on a budget?

 

Its only good natured fun.

 

Much the same as taking the mick out of the sewer tubes

 

(Another tip, dont tell the owners of GRP you only bought a tub because you couldnt afford a NB. Thats a cardinal sin. A lot of the bigger tubs are far more expensive than your average tin tube)

[mayalld]

Its only good natured fun.

 

Much the same as taking the mick out of the sewer tubes

 

(Another tip, dont tell the owners of GRP you only bought a tub because you couldnt afford a NB. Thats a cardinal sin. A lot of the bigger tubs are far more expensive than your average tin tube)

 

Yes, of course this wasn't your first post to the forum was it.