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Winding a butty


Chertsey

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Depends on the winding hole and how many bodies you have available.

What I would do if on my own is - start from well back from the winding hole. Pull the boat from the stern, get it moving and at the appropriate time, push the bows out towards the hole. Then you can encourage them to swing further by pulling from the stern, varying tension and angle to steer the bows into the widest point. If you get it right, just keep pulling round from the stern and eventually the boat will come right round and come away from the hole, facing in the new direction.

 

You might need to modify the method if it's windy, the wind can of course either help or hinder but with a strong wind you'll need to plan a methos where it helps.

 

Tim

 

Surely the wind always helps? Isn't that why its called a winding hole or am I wrong there. If the wind is coming towards you then presumably you put the bow in the winding hole and move the stern with a rope, if the wind is from behind then the stern goes in the hole and you pull the bow round the other way.

I can't say I have ever done it but I thought that was the theory ........ but as previous posts have suggested I guess it is easier to breast up first.

Nick

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Surely the wind always helps? Isn't that why its called a winding hole or am I wrong there. If the wind is coming towards you then presumably you put the bow in the winding hole and move the stern with a rope, if the wind is from behind then the stern goes in the hole and you pull the bow round the other way.

I can't say I have ever done it but I thought that was the theory ........ but as previous posts have suggested I guess it is easier to breast up first.

Nick

 

Depends on the boat and the winding hole. Of course you should always aim to use the wind to your advantage, it isn't always possible though - for instance depth and width of winding hole may well mean there is only one way round to do the job.

 

Tim

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On my own i found winding breasted up is easy(ish) but quite slow, the one time breasting was not an option, i just parked the butty on the mud, turned the motor, parked the motor on the mud got on the butty and just poled it along & around, wind was in my favour for getting the bow in place but against me for winding, but i managed it all from the stern of the butty just had a line from the mast to the butties stern so when I got back on Apache I had some control.

 

Only single handed winding once where they needed to be 'singled out' so I am a proper beginner, done a few locks single handed though where both boats won't fit in the same lock, that's interesting especially where there is one with a bridge just below. My rope throwing is getting better and what I call my 'horse outside a saloon' hitch works fine :lol:

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One way to do it,

 

 

 

 

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Don't need to be mob handed, you can do this on your own if the wind's not too much agin you.

 

If there's enough room astern not to risk grounding the rudder, then as the boat nears 90deg push her back away from towpath and with line round T stud use your horse / Martin / already winded motor, to whip the bows round and proceed on your way. If using horse or motor tow, the mast line usually pops off the fore end stud as the tow straightens up and resumes normal mast tow. Very slick when it works!

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  • 10 months later...

Depending on the hole, take the engined boat just beyond the hole, while aiming the butty's bow into the bulge, then hard the other way. This should get it to start to wind. If the bank allows, let the bow come to rest there. Someone on the bank should then be able to push the boat out a little then bow haul it, using the T, the rest of the way. Done correctly, it takes less than a minute. Mind you, that's using a horse!

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