To thrust or not to thrust

[blackrose]

Is a BT necessary? Is a quiet Honda generator necessary? Were all those led lightbulbs that I spent over £100 on at Crick really necessary? Are the expensive stainless steel fittings and big aluminium cleats I've fitted on the boat necessary? Was that gas water heater really necessary in addition to the calorifier? Why did I fit a second battery charger - surely that wasn't necessary?

 

Come to think of it, is the bloody boat necessary?

[Naughty Cal]

Is a BT necessary? Is a quiet Honda generator necessary? Were all those led lightbulbs that I spent over £100 on at Crick really necessary? Are the expensive stainless steel fittings and big aluminium cleats I've fitted on the boat necessary? Was that gas water heater really necessary in addition to the calorifier? Why did I fit a second battery charger - surely that wasn't necessary?

 

Come to think of it, is the bloody boat necessary?

 

Depends if it is your house or not really

[ChrisPy]

So you cant possibly leave your mooring without the aid of your bow thuster?

 

I seriously hope it keeps breaking so that i and the rest of the boating community never have to come across you and your boat. Despite the fact that many narrowboat owners on here have also confirmed that there is no need for them, you still insist it is necessary for you to use your boat. It isnt just me, a point which you also seem to be ignoring.

.......................... ................ getting my coat

[Naughty Cal]

.......................... ................ getting my coat

 

My point exactly

[Guest]

This type of thread is getting incredibly tiresome.....

 

If somebody wants a BT fair enough, we are just buying a boat and as it happens it doesn't have one, as we were buying used it just as well could have.

 

I don't feel smug because our boat won't have one and at some point one windy day when I just can't spin the boat in a winding hole or nudge the bow into a lock entrance against the wind I might think I would have possibly been better getting a boat with one..... who knows?

 

But I've made my choice as has any body with a BT that now has additional maintenance/repair costs, they made theirs knowing that.

 

Whilst this is a discussion forum, sometimes it feels like a 'ridicule' forum....

Edited June 23, 2010 by NB No Deadlines

[DHutch]

It is much easier to include an item into the initial build stage of a project than to at a later date retro fit said item. The builder at build stage can work around the tube whereas fitting it at a later date is a time consuming and also expensive process. The painting of it is the least of the troubles.

I still dont really get why this is the case.

- Im sure it would cost more the have it retro fitted, just becuase things do, and its a aftermarket job, etc etc.

- However you still need to cut the same holes in the hull, cut the same tube to fit, and weld the same weld. done.

 

 

We fitted a BT but after a few months it gave up the ghost....

 

 

Must get around to repairing it.

Yeah, when the bottom fell out of ours and we could keep oil in (actually somewhat scarily close to taking on water as it turned out!) it was a good three years till we got around to slipping the boat and fixing it. Needed to replace the two batteries at the same time too. Total uses since, maybe two, in the last four years?

 

 

Im not going to stop anyone fitting one whos seriously considered it and feels its right for them, but its certainly not something like using good paint, where the additional cost/effort is only beneficial. there are drawbacks, risks, and maintenance commitments if you do go down that route.

 

Talking to a friend of ours who was on the mersey crossing a friend of theres had had a boat the developed a leak. They woke to the sound of there auto-inflate life jackets going off but finding no reason for this load bang they put it down to being another boat and went to bed. It was only when the water came over the floor boards and one of them got up to go to the bathroom that they realised they where the extent to which they where taking on water, as the bow tube had rusted through!

 

 

 

Daniel

[KeithL]

My boat is 51' x 13'6" and handles better than any narrowboat I've steered.

Thats cos its a proper boat, not a floating water tank . . . :-)

[paulcatchpole]

If I were building a new boat, I'd stick one in, 'cause the extra cost isn't exactly much on a new build. Somewhere down the line, a future purchaser may like the idea, and I guess (?) it wouldn't actually put too many people off buying, even if they didn't want to use it.

 

We considered adding one to our project boat, then thought it was a daft idea, 'cause it's so short and light anyway, and we had enough to get on with!

 

PC

[mrsmelly]

I can reverse my boat a mile or more and frequently do. I can do it with opr without a BT. Its nice to do it without but some days I just cant be arsed and so use the BT. It is not a sin. It is not a cop out. It is not girlie. It is simple logic. The electric boat pole is handy when you have had a long trip and just want to get the last bit over and done wth without too much hassle.

 

Funnily enough it would appear from what I have seen here at Thrupp on this 90 degree bend thro the bridge that people with tiddly little short boats ( say 60 foot or thereabouts ) have bowthrusters fitted, and those of us who bought the WHOLE boat do not need them. I can spin my boat here with ease and take it either way thro the bridge hole again with ease without any kind of thruster.......................perhaps I should buy a tiddly little sixty footer and see why they are so hard to handle..........

[RLWP]

 

Funnily enough it would appear from what I have seen here at Thrupp on this 90 degree bend thro the bridge that people with tiddly little short boats ( say 60 foot or thereabouts ) have bowthrusters fitted, and those of us who bought the WHOLE boat do not need them. I can spin my boat here with ease and take it either way thro the bridge hole again with ease without any kind of thruster.......................perhaps I should buy a tiddly little sixty footer and see why they are so hard to handle..........

 

You mean the turn by the lift bridge? Is there some problem there because I can't remember any difficulty in either direction

 

Richard

[Naughty Cal]

I don't feel smug because our boat won't have one and at some point one windy day when I just can't spin the boat in a winding hole or nudge the bow into a lock entrance against the wind I might think I would have possibly been better getting a boat with one..... who knows?

 

Use the wind to your advantage instead of trying to fight it and you will never have a problem winding/manouvering on a windy day (unless of course you choose to wind in a spot that is too small for your boat )

 

If the wind is pinning you to the bank, as it sometimes does, use a bow/stern rope to manouvre off the bank, much cheaper and easier to maintain than a bow thruster for the odd occasion this happens.

[Guest]

Use the wind to your advantage instead of trying to fight it and you will never have a problem winding/manouvering on a windy day (unless of course you choose to wind in a spot that is too small for your boat )

 

I'm afraid I feel as others have said before - on the issue of manouvering (a shallow drafted no keel) narrowboat - you have no idea what you are talking about..

 

sorry.

[RLWP]

I'm afraid I feel as others have said before - on the issue of manouvering (a shallow drafted no keel) narrowboat - you have no idea what you are talking about..

 

sorry.

 

Actually, this time she's right. They're not called winding holes for nothing

 

Richard

[Guest]

Actually, this time she's right. They're not called winding holes for nothing

 

Richard

 

I would go for 'Hot air' holes then rather than winding.

[Naughty Cal]

I'm afraid I feel as others have said before - on the issue of manouvering (a shallow drafted no keel) narrowboat - you have no idea what you are talking about..

 

sorry.

 

And why would that be?

 

The wind doesnt change, regardless of what type of boat you own (and for your information my boat is shallow drafted other than the sterndrive there is little in the water and has no keel). If you try to manouvre against the wind it will be much harder than if you use the wind to your advantage, i.e dont try to turn the bow into the wind if you must turn at this moment turn the bow out of the wind and let it take the bow around and in turn the stern.

 

Same goes for working the ropes. Regardless of the tyoe of boat you have the methods are much the same. If the boat is pinned against the mooring/bank by the wind take a bow rope wrap it around a bollard/fixed item backwards (i.e towards the stern of the boat) of the bow, place the boat gently into forwards gear and the stern will gently kick out into the canal/river, remove the rope, reverse away.

 

If the wind is blowing you off the mooring, if possible throw a rope to a person ashore or practice your cowboy skills and get a stern rope around a bollard. Again put the boat gently into forwards gear and the boat will gently pull the rope tight and swing into the mooring.

[mrsmelly]

You mean the turn by the lift bridge? Is there some problem there because I can't remember any difficulty in either direction

 

Richard

 

In total agreement with you there is no problem its a doddle to go thro either way but you would not beleive how many everyday we see approaching at the wrong angle with the tiller straight ahead and some screaming hairdryer at the pointy end trying to steer the boat, its as tho the thruster brigade fail to understand that the TILLER is for steering NOT the hairdryer...............

[Naughty Cal]

I would go for 'Hot air' holes then rather than winding.

 

Funny i was thinking Ass

 

Maybe you should try the technique instead of rubbishing it

[NB Alnwick]

 

In total agreement with you there is no problem its a doddle to go thro either way but you would not beleive how many everyday we see approaching at the wrong angle with the tiller straight ahead and some screaming hairdryer at the pointy end trying to steer the boat, its as tho the thruster brigade fail to understand that the TILLER is for steering NOT the hairdryer...............

 

Its just the same at Hawkesbury Junction - we always get round comfortably at slow speed (with a line ashore from the front 'T') without any fuss and without hitting anything but there are many boaters who seem incapable of getting round without using their BTs and many of those manage to hit the bank more than once . . .

Edited June 24, 2010 by NB Alnwick

[alan_fincher]

Its just the same at Hawkesbury Junction - we always get round comfortably at slow speed (with a line ashore from the front 'T') without any fuss and without hitting anything.....

Or the full 70 foot, without the line at the front, it is reported......

 

Chertsey Blog Post

 

 

For those not following closely: Sarah & Jim are well on track for arrival at the Braunston Show, when the boat only went back in the water on Saturday, and the engine was dropped in just 2 weeks ago.

 

What this pair have achieved is frankly amazing, in my view....

 

A fairytale story of boating!

[WotEver]

I've observed on here before that the 60-odd footers generally do the manouvre smoothly and faultlessly at Hawkesbury, whereas the 45 footers and smaller make a huge deal of winding with much application of smoke in reverse to get around.

 

Tony

[NB Alnwick]

Or the full 70 foot, without the line at the front, it is reported......

 

Chertsey Blog Post

 

 

>SNIP<

 

The line ashore just avoids the need to use reverse gear. We are able to get round all in one go at slow speed . . .

 

I've observed on here before that the 60-odd footers generally do the manouvre smoothly and faultlessly at Hawkesbury, whereas the 45 footers and smaller make a huge deal of winding with much application of smoke in reverse to get around.

 

Tony

 

Even 70 foot working boats sometimes make a hash of it last time we there we waited for one such to make their turn with much reversing and bumping (albeit gently) the bank in front of the Greyhound.

[Laurence Hogg]

If the boat you are having built is an oil tanker, a cruise liner or a large car ferry then go for it, otherwise don't bother. Boats managed to navigate the canals for 200+ years without them so there's no reason your boat can't do so quite happily as well.

 

(Please remember to let us know when you get to the point of considering what type of toilet to fit and wondering about your council tax liabilty. )

 

Well said Natalie and 100% true!

[Pluto]

Actually, this time she's right. They're not called winding holes for nothing

 

Richard

They're called 'wanning' holes on the L&LC, the origin probably coming from the German wenden, which translated means to turn. In German they are called Wendebecken, with Wendesaüle meaning a quoin.

[Guest]

Funny i was thinking Ass

 

Don't be so hard on yourself...

 

 

 

Given that I was thinking particularly about a scenario I was once in on the Ashby it just wouldn't have worked. It was the winding hole at the current limit of navigation and is very very exposed.

 

The wind was full square on to the side of the boat, no matter which way I had tried to turn the bow it was into the wind and it incessantly blew me square across the winding hole and into the narrow part of the cut, there was no way I could have used the wind to assist me as I simply couldn't have got the bow across the wind direction for it to have blown it in the right direction.

 

Had it been blowing at an angle to the boat maybe I could have spun it one way, the way it was, no way.

 

In the end I managed by 'pivoting' the mid port side of the boat on the corner of the entrance to the winding hole and forcing the boat to turn by putting the tiller hard over to port and just getting the bow around enough so that it was back around the other way with the wind then coming directly from ahead and down both sides of the boat.

Edited June 24, 2010 by NB No Deadlines

[Chagall]

Don't be so hard on yourself...

 

 

 

Given that I was thinking particularly about a scenario I was once in on the Ashby it just wouldn't have worked. It was the winding hole at the current limit of navigation and is very very exposed.

 

The wind was full square on to the side of the boat, no matter which way I had tried to turn the bow it was into the wind and it incessantly blew me square across the winding hole and into the narrow part of the cut, there was no way I could have used the wind to assist me as I simply couldn't have got the bow across the wind direction for it to have blown it in the right direction.

 

Had it been blowing at an angle to the boat maybe I could have spun it one way, the way it was, no way.

 

In the end I managed by 'pivoting' the mid port side of the boat on the corner of the entrance to the winding hole and forcing the boat to turn by putting the tiller hard over to port and just getting the bow around enough so that it was back around the other way with the wind then coming directly from ahead and down both sides of the boat.

or if you are fortunate to have one you just press the BT button...always supposing 1. its working, 2. hasn't flooded the boat due to corrosion in the tube, 3. there are no professional boaters watching who will scream with derision... and 4. that you don't give a damn about tradition!

 

oh and have deep pockets to be able to afford one.....

 

I got mine free, do I sound smug?