Grp Boats

[psv driver]

Hi everyone.

Could somebody tell me what has happend to the canals in the last 9 years. I used to own a cabin cruiser years ago, and we had some great times and meeting some very nice boat people. When my wife died 9 years ago, i sold my boat because of work commitments. Now i have had to retire due to health reasons, i have bought another boat.Problem is trying to find moorings in my local area. One place i contacted said even thou my boat is 32ft in length i would be charged for a 50ft boat,as soon as i said it was a plastic boat. I was told they are not taking any fibreglass boats anymore.

Could someone tell me what is going on ?,

Yours psv driver

[Guest]

Hi everyone.

Could somebody tell me what has happend to the canals in the last 9 years. I used to own a cabin cruiser years ago, and we had some great times and meeting some very nice boat people. When my wife died 9 years ago, i sold my boat because of work commitments. Now i have had to retire due to health reasons, i have bought another boat.Problem is trying to find moorings in my local area. One place i contacted said even thou my boat is 32ft in length i would be charged for a 50ft boat,as soon as i said it was a plastic boat. I was told they are not taking any fibreglass boats anymore.

Could someone tell me what is going on ?,

Yours psv driver

 

One mooring site no longer taking GRP cruisers doth not mean anything is going on..

[leeco]

I have seen loads of marinas with GRP boats. I have a GRp boat moored next to us.

[GoodGurl]

Hi everyone.

Could somebody tell me what has happend to the canals in the last 9 years. I used to own a cabin cruiser years ago, and we had some great times and meeting some very nice boat people. When my wife died 9 years ago, i sold my boat because of work commitments. Now i have had to retire due to health reasons, i have bought another boat.Problem is trying to find moorings in my local area. One place i contacted said even thou my boat is 32ft in length i would be charged for a 50ft boat,as soon as i said it was a plastic boat. I was told they are not taking any fibreglass boats anymore.

Could someone tell me what is going on ?,

Yours psv driver

i suspect that particular marina is fitted out for NB's and can make more money from them than GRP boats.

[Guest]

I have seen loads of marinas with GRP boats. I have a GRp boat moored next to us.

 

Our last marina (lemonroyd) had loads of them.

 

A marina near our current mooring is virtually 100% GRP due to max length and access restrictions.

[benfordboy]

Hi everyone.

Could somebody tell me what has happend to the canals in the last 9 years. I used to own a cabin cruiser years ago, and we had some great times and meeting some very nice boat people. When my wife died 9 years ago, i sold my boat because of work commitments. Now i have had to retire due to health reasons, i have bought another boat.Problem is trying to find moorings in my local area. One place i contacted said even thou my boat is 32ft in length i would be charged for a 50ft boat,as soon as i said it was a plastic boat. I was told they are not taking any fibreglass boats anymore.

Could someone tell me what is going on ?,

Yours psv driver

 

There are a few marinas that either dont want GRP craft or as said elsewhere can make more money out of NB's - a 50ft mooring is worth more with a 50ft NB in it than a 22 ft Cruiser !

 

Are there any spaces at Calf Heath ? Used to be loads of cruisers there & close to Walsall too !

[Guest]

Being dumb edit//

Edited October 23, 2012 by The Dog House

[alan_fincher]

If it is a marina, with pontoons that can all take (say) at least a 50 foot boat, they will want to be making a minimum amount "per pontoon".

 

Many marinas with such a restriction presumably wouldn't want to charge a 30 foot boat for only 30 feet, if 50 foot will fit, irrespective of whether the 30 foot boat is steel or GRP ?

 

Charging for 30 feet may be 20 feet worth of lost income for them ?

[JDR]

Most marinas physically seperate GRP and steel for the obvious reason that if a narrowboat makes contact with another narrowboat the end result is at worst dented pride and a bit of paint missing.Eighteen tons of steel hitting a GRP boat is obviously not good but equally a cruiser with a raised pulpit and rails at the front above the height of an NBs gunwales could also be messy.The marina in question may have allocated space for GRPs but there is simply no space or as stated above just economics.

Edited October 23, 2012 by JDR

[Tiggers]

Great Haywood takes GRPs, there are a few in there. Plus, although you get a 40' jetty, you get a discounted price (£1200 pa I believe)

[OldGoldy]

 

........

Problem is trying to find moorings in my local area.

.......

 

Sadly, CaRTs website information for Private and Club Moorings is very poor (or I can't find the page I want!) but have you tried Longwood BC, in Aldridge, Ash Tree BC in Rugeley, Wolverhampton BC, Codsall etc?

OR AWCC affiliated Clubs HERE

OR CaRTs mooring sites HERE

[Jerra]

Great Haywood takes GRPs, there are a few in there. Plus, although you get a 40' jetty, you get a discounted price (£1200 pa I believe)

 

I am given to understand that Great Haywood has vacancies for smaller craft at the moment.

[Ray]

Some BWB agreements with marinas are based on a standard boat length for the area with BW taking a percentage of the mooring fee charged to moorers as a connection charge.

 

A marina in an area where BW set the average boat length at say 50ft will be paying BW X% of the money they'd charge a moorer with a 50ft boat regardless of whether the boat is 10ft or 70ft long.

 

The marina the OP refers to may not feel it financially viable to pay double the normal percentage connection charge to accommodate short boats.

[comfortably numb]

Fradley isn't too far form you and has some small berths where GRP's are moored and there always seems to be room there, but I'm not sure if they are long enough for a 32 footer.

[psv driver]

Many thanks to everybody who responded to my problem. I have now got a mooring with very helpful and friendly owner's. Also i would like to say sorry to anyone that i may of offended with my topic. It's just that in the time i have been away from the canals a lot of things seem to have changed.

Once again many thanks and happy boating

[Don't tell him Pike!]

I was refused a mooring at Victoria Quays (Sheffield canal basin) due to boat being GRP. He said it'll get bashed by a steel boat and split open, but there's almost no traffic up there, and the permenant moorings are behind a swing bridge so the only boats using the water are residents. It just seemed like an excuse to me, especially given there are three GRP boats already moored there (who I'm told they inherited from BW's ownership, but still...).

 

Must admit it annoys me that the basin was sold off at all, it's a listed peice of history at the end of a lenghy canal with a big old lock flight, visitors should be able to stay for more than a couple of nights without having to hand money to a private firm.

[Midnight Rider]

Fradley isn't too far form you and has some small berths where GRP's are moored and there always seems to be room there, but I'm not sure if they are long enough for a 32 footer.

Not now. They have just ripped them out --- most of them haven't been used for years. It will be interesting to see what the space will be used for now.

[John V]

I am afraid there is prejudice against GRP boats out there. It's mostly "under the radar" but it exists and most owners of GRP boats have come across it in one form or another.

 

The worst example I have experienced was 3 years ago when I was planning a tour across the Pennines. I phoned BW about the Standedge tunnel and was told bluntly "we don't let plastic boats in there". My immediate reaction was to ask for the justification and I was told "You might get stuck". my reaction was, How? my draft and my airdraft is less than nearly all narrowboats. The reply to that was "well you might break down". My answer was that my boat was fitted with an almost new Vetus diesel engine with about 60 hours on the clock with a conventional shaft and prop and was no more likely to break down than any narrowboat. All that this achieved was a return to the original "We don't let plastic boats in there"

 

My cruiser is heavily built with 3 full length teak rubbing strips capped with steel on each side, although elderly she is tough enough to handle most abuse, With the OH at the wheel she charged headlong into some granite walling (She doesn't take the helm anymore). From the noise it made I expected to see real damage but was amazed that there was nothing at all visible. I puzzled over this for some time before I realised that the winching ring in the stem had disappeared, sheared off completely flush (13mm steel bar)

 

Needless to say I came off the phone fuming, promising myself that I was going to take it further. I never did, probably should have but still. Ended up with having less time than I wanted for my trip and had to leave out the Rochdale/Huddersfield bit and just go over once on the L&L.

When talking to another boater about this he suggested it might have been underwater obstructions, but as I said to him with smaller draft I was less likely to hit them and anyway what speed would you have to be doing to risk puncturing your hull?

 

I like boats, all types of boats, be they canvas, steel, wood, GRP or concrete and I have never understood how people can be prejudiced against one type (with the possible exception of the bad conversion that looks like a chicken shed on a raft).

I have never understood this narrowboat/cruiser divide, you can find a***holes steering either type. (and more of them in offices too)

 

Sorry rant over

[Roxy]

well said john!!

[PhilR]

well said john!!

 

Agreed

[lydfordcastle]

I am afraid there is prejudice against GRP boats out there. It's mostly "under the radar" but it exists and most owners of GRP boats have come across it in one form or another.

 

The worst example I have experienced was 3 years ago when I was planning a tour across the Pennines. I phoned BW about the Standedge tunnel and was told bluntly "we don't let plastic boats in there".

 

Surely at that time all passages through the tunnel were by towed "boat train". I don't think my own Dawncraft Rover would have stood up very well to having possibly 70 tonnes of metal tugging on her stern for three hours and I suspect that was probably the reason you were refused passage. Breaking down wouldn't have entered into the equation as no boats in the train were under power except the tug. I suppose they could have got over that problem by putting you at the tail end of the train but being light would have made your boat very difficult to steer with no power (and possibly no rudder?) and I shudder to think what state your boat would have been in by the time it reached t'other end.

 

Perhaps you should try again as I understand boat owners will soon be allowed to drive their own craft through and personally I don't see any justifiable reason to preclude GRP craft if you are prepared to accept the damage risk.

[John V]

Surely at that time all passages through the tunnel were by towed "boat train". I don't think my own Dawncraft Rover would have stood up very well to having possibly 70 tonnes of metal tugging on her stern for three hours and I suspect that was probably the reason you were refused passage. Breaking down wouldn't have entered into the equation as no boats in the train were under power except the tug. I suppose they could have got over that problem by putting you at the tail end of the train but being light would have made your boat very difficult to steer with no power (and possibly no rudder?) and I shudder to think what state your boat would have been in by the time it reached t'other end.

 

Perhaps you should try again as I understand boat owners will soon be allowed to drive their own craft through and personally I don't see any justifiable reason to preclude GRP craft if you are prepared to accept the damage risk.

 

I don't think that could have been the case otherwise there wouldn't have been the comment about breaking down, anyway as I said my cruiser has conventional shaft and prop so it has a perfectly good rudder. Your other point about being at the front of a tow, if you have doubts about the structural integrity of the first hull in a tow, you simply use a double bridle down either side of the hull to take the rest of the weight.....I don't think there was any technical reason, just bloody mindedness

[Don't tell him Pike!]

I wanted to go through a year or so ago, had to go up the rochdale canal. At the time you had to go in with one of their guys on board, who would navigate the awkward bits themselfs. I wonder if their insurance has a clause stopping them from taking GRP boats through due to the expense of recovery should the hull rupture at one of these awkward bits whilst their guy is at the helm...

[fuzzyduck]

Being a somewhat militant GRP owner if I ever decide to take a plastic boat through a tunnel I will simply book a slot and turn up. CART can swim along behind moaning if they wish. Towed is another matter however. the potential for severe damage is immense.

 

The diesel only exception makes a bit more sense. Due to the more inflammable nature of petrol. I would however expect to be allowed to use electric power.

[John V]

Hi Fuzzyduck, have come across your entries in other places, If I tell you that my cruiser is an Ormelite with a diesel engine you will appreciate why I was so pissed.