Ettequite for passing moored boats.

[Ian Mac]

We have had yet another fellow boater shouting and screaming at us for going pass their moored boat too fast. Over 100 yrds before said boat we had taken all the power off and we were passing him on tick over, but still in gear. As we pass him the total lack of water under his boat causes his boat to tip over alarmingly as it sat on the rubble underneath it at the edge of the canal. This bit of canal is know for being shallow all over, never mind the off side. Some one else who watched it all happen and understands a thing or two about the cut, thinks that the fact you can moor up anywhere isn't always the best of ideas which is why BW provided marked moorings, so that people knew they would have water under their hulls, and passing boats would have space to push many tons of water down each side of their hull, without beach the moored boats, he reckons one should check with a shaft for the depth before mooring, but I don't know anyone who does this, and I suspect he doesn't
So my question is simple how does one get past a boat moored, especially as you can't tell how much water is under their hull?
It only takes one underwater obstruction to cause a boat to tip over to a silly angle, when most other boats pass it never mind a working boat with a draft of over 3'4". Who is at fault?

[mykaskin]

We have had yet another fellow boater shouting and screaming at us for going pass their moored boat too fast. Over 100 yrs before said boat we had taken all the power off and we were passing him on tick over, but still in gear. As we pass him the total lack of water under his boat causes his boat to tip over alarmingly as it sat on the rubble underneath it at the edge of the canal. This bit of canal is know for being shallow all over, never mind the off side. Some one else who watched it all happen and understands a thing or two about the cut, thinks that the fact you can moor up anywhere isn't always the best of ideas which is why BW provided marked moorings, so that people knew they would have water under their hulls, and passing boats would have space to push many tons of water down each side of their hull, without beach the moored boats, he reckons one should check with a shaft for the depth before mooring, but I don't know anyone who does this, and I suspect he doesn't

So my question is simple how does one get past a boat moored, especially as you can't tell how much water is under their hull?

It only takes one underwater obstruction to cause a boat to tip over to a silly angle, when most other boats pass it never mind a working boat with a draft of over 3'4". Who is at fault?

 

He is, tell him to moor in a sensible location or shut up!

 

Mike

[alan_fincher]

Over 100 yrs before said boat we had taken all the power off and we were passing him on tick over, but still in gear.

100 years before ?

 

Sounds more than enough time for your speed to have died down to me!

[Guest]

Who is at fault?

 

Well given you couldn't have gone any slower I think the answer is pretty self evident.

[Grace and Favour]

OP - the guy's obviously an idiot, or fool, or new, or cussed, (or all) - he's also rude.

 

You have but one consolation...........

 

If he's moored so incredibly badly - you have the knowledge that every boat that passes him will also upset his peace and calm

 

(so, probably, will canoes, kayaks, and ducks)

 

Keep calm, OP, you have peace - - he doesn't!

 

[luctor et emergo]

It is not the passing boat's responsibility, to tie a boat up. As long as you have slowed down to a sensible speed, there is no more you can do, short of turning off the engine, and poling past. I see many boats, tied with slack ropes, often at right angles to the bank.

[cobaltcodd]

I also had a similar example when I was going past a boat, again at tickover. This time they were using those metal hooks that go over the protective (armco?) type barrier, and admittedly they made a hell of a noise when they clattered first this way and then the other. But again, nothing I could do.

[matty40s]

I have just been shoited at on the coventry coming through hopwas. I was on tickover through the whole village and as i approached one little boat (orange and yellow waterbug) he was shouting and waving for me to slow down as his boat tipped from side to side,he then banged on his side windows. None of the other boats moved at all,i think he must have moored on a shopping trolley.

[Grace and Favour]

I have just been shoited at on the coventry coming through hopwas. I was on tickover through the whole village and as i approached one little boat (orange and yellow waterbug) he was shouting and waving for me to slow down as his boat tipped from side to side,he then banged on his side windows. None of the other boats moved at all,i think he must have moored on a shopping trolley.

 

 

Well - - - his banging on the window isn't going to move the trolley is it?

[Kwacker]

I have just been shoited at on the coventry coming through hopwas. I was on tickover through the whole village and as i approached one little boat (orange and yellow waterbug) he was shouting and waving for me to slow down as his boat tipped from side to side,he then banged on his side windows. None of the other boats moved at all,i think he must have moored on a shopping trolley.

 

Was he Irish

[alan_fincher]

Well given you couldn't have gone any slower I think the answer is pretty self evident.

The problem with a working boat with a big engine and a big set of blades is that it can actually have quite a high minimum speed if kept in gear in a reasonable depth of water, even if, as OP has done here, it has been in tick-over for a while.

 

The kinds of speeds I am talking about would have been considered "normal" in the past, and it would have been accepted that you went past at that speed, (or probably higher, to be honest, as I'm not sure "tick-over" was a speed working boaters made a great deal of use of between the locks!).

 

Nowadays there is a whole breed of people who choose to have boats, but find people passing at even those moderate speeds unacceptable. Often, as has been said, this is because of poor tying up, tying up in a poor place, and regularly a combination both.

 

The only other defense that a steerer of the passing working boat has is to actually keep dropping it in and out of gear as they attempt to pass boats where there is a risk they will get shouted at if they stay in gear, (even if firmly at tick-over). This can be fairly tedious if your box has a heavy mechanical gear change on it, which is fairly normal on such boats, and doing so on a very regular basis is undoubtedly is less good for the gearbox than just pressing ahead in tick-over.

 

We sometimes do this with "Sickle", just to keep the peace, wherever possible, but really I would argue that if it is necessary to actually have to keep disengaging drive when going past, probably the fault is with the complainant, not the passing steerer.

 

I have recently been told I am going past people tool fast because "you should not be making ripples on the water". Yes, honestly "ripples" was the word used, and that is exactly what they were. No question of any wave, (breaking or otherwise), and the boat the complainant was on didn't even move enough to take up a significant amount of the slack he had left in his dangling mooring ropes.

[Zayna]

Surely, if you're respecting the moored boats and going as slowly as you can, it's not your fault?

 

We were once hollered at by some guy, and we were barely moving. It turned out that it's his favourite pastime, popping out of his side doors like a bloody cuckoo clock, shouting at anyone who looked like they were on holiday/ new to boating/ having a good time.

[Athy]

I don't like people passing me too fast but I have never complained to the steerer of a working boat - firstly because I realise that they find it hard to go very slowly, but secondly and principally because I am too busy admiring the boat and gawping into its engine 'ole.

[bowten]

Surely, if you're respecting the moored boats and going as slowly as you can, it's not your fault?

 

We were once hollered at by some guy, and we were barely moving. It turned out that it's his favourite pastime, popping out of his side doors like a bloody cuckoo clock, shouting at anyone who looked like they were on holiday/ new to boating/ having a good time.

Woz it me?

[Zayna]

Woz it me?

 

Nope, he was in a tatty, filthy old vessel, not a veritable floating palace, love.

 

[churchward]

If you have slowed down in time and on tick-over there is not much else one can do.

 

It does sound odd though if the water level has dropped significantly as you are passing. It is not the speed of passing a boat that causes the issues but the amount of water the hull and prop are moving from the front and sides of the hull to the back. At tick over this movement of water should be minimal.

 

Without being there to see it or indeed knowing the area this example seems odd to me. A narrow channel with shallow sides will of course exaggerate the problem of course.

[mrsmelly]

We have had yet another fellow boater shouting and screaming at us for going pass their moored boat too fast. Over 100 yrs before said boat we had taken all the power off and we were passing him on tick over, but still in gear. As we pass him the total lack of water under his boat causes his boat to tip over alarmingly as it sat on the rubble underneath it at the edge of the canal. This bit of canal is know for being shallow all over, never mind the off side. Some one else who watched it all happen and understands a thing or two about the cut, thinks that the fact you can moor up anywhere isn't always the best of ideas which is why BW provided marked moorings, so that people knew they would have water under their hulls, and passing boats would have space to push many tons of water down each side of their hull, without beach the moored boats, he reckons one should check with a shaft for the depth before mooring, but I don't know anyone who does this, and I suspect he doesn't

So my question is simple how does one get past a boat moored, especially as you can't tell how much water is under their hull?

It only takes one underwater obstruction to cause a boat to tip over to a silly angle, when most other boats pass it never mind a working boat with a draft of over 3'4". Who is at fault?

 

 

Water moves....boars sat in water move.....You were obviously going as slow as possible, the blokes a prick

 

Tim

[BargeeSpud]

 

 

I have recently been told I am going past people tool fast because "you should not be making ripples on the water". Yes, honestly "ripples" was the word used, and that is exactly what they were. No question of any wave, (breaking or otherwise), and the boat the complainant was on didn't even move enough to take up a significant amount of the slack he had left in his dangling mooring ropes.

Point already made by others, proved me thinks. Ignorance personified shown by the moorer.

Edited October 15, 2012 by Spuds

[mark99]

Best practise? slow to tickover unless there is a blunt sign "ordering" you to slow down - then it is your duty to speed up as fast as possible.

[ditchcrawler]

100 years before ?

 

Sounds more than enough time for your speed to have died down to me!

That is how I read it first time.

(but I know what you mean)

 

Best practise? slow to tickover unless there is a blunt sign "ordering" you to slow down - then it is your duty to speed up as fast as possible.

I only speed up when I see they are moored up running their engine in gear, then I go back to normal cruising speed.

 

Best practise? slow to tickover unless there is a blunt sign "ordering" you to slow down - then it is your duty to speed up as fast as possible.

I only speed up when I see they are moored up running their engine in gear, then I go back to normal cruising speed.

[Penelope]

When we were buying our boat someone from the marina drove it out of the marina past a line of moored boats and a chappie came out on deck screaming and shouting at him to slow down.... marina chappies response?

 

"And a very good morning to you you sir!"

 

Have filed it away for use if we ever feel wrongly accused

[luctor et emergo]

As a rule of thumb, if you are a customer, I slow down....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

onky kidding,

[Keeping Up]

I only speed up when I see they are moored up running their engine in gear, then I go back to normal cruising speed.

 

Sometimes you have to do that, it's the only way to avoid the pull from their prop dragging you onto the side of their boat which, surprisingly, doesn't seem to cheer them up either.

[tarboat]

I find that when idiots start screaming at me about going too fast when I'm running at tickover, I suddenly find the sound of the bolinder such that I can't hear what they are saying. Once you have said 'pardon' and 'could you repeat that because I can't hear you' they are usually either incandescent (which is quite entertaining) or give up and go back to their badly moored/tied up vessel.

[Ian Mac]

I only speed up when I see they are moored up running their engine in gear, then I go back to normal cruising speed.

There are two really worrying examples of what running your engine in gear does at Portland Basin at Ashton, where to CM'ers stayed for several months, and ran in gear each evening so they had power to watch their tellys. The wash wall has totally collapsed into the cut, at each mooring point, and a large 2yrs sorry 2yds hole has appeared. Given this is right next to the river Tame high up on an embankment with a history of failure, it is not a good thing, and will be really hard to repair. In fact I'm not sure how they will repair it.