ever looked out your window and...

[DeanS]

Ever looked out your window only to see a boat coming in to moor, passing you....at a distance of about 10cm

 

No harm done...it just gave me a helluva surpise when I peaked out the window and could see the paint strokes on their gunnels...and thought...crikey!

 

They didnt touch me though, which was nice of em.

 

 

 

ETA - my forum-speak has become very culturally influenced lately. I have no idea why

Edited June 14, 2013 by DeanS

[Guest]

Ever looked out your window only to see a boat coming in to moor, passing you....at a distance of about 10cm

 

No harm done...it just gave me a helluva surpise when I peaked out the window and could see the paint strokes on their gunnels...and thought...crikey!

 

They didnt touch me though, which was nice of em.

 

 

 

ETA - my forum-speak has become very culturally influenced lately. I have no idea why

 

 

Better that than the nugget who once passed us in the dark going like a bat out of hell clipping us in the process....

[DeanS]

 

 

Better that than the nugget who once passed us in the dark going like a bat out of hell clipping us in the process....

 

How did the bat see over the boat roof without letting go of the tiller?

[Athy]

Ever looked out your window only to see a boat coming in to moor, passing you....at a distance of about 10cm

 

Last time it happened to us it must have been a British boat, as it passed at a distance of about 4".

[Doorman]

Last time it happened to us it must have been a British boat, as it passed at a distance of about 4".

 

Aye, and a vintage one at that if it was in antiquated imperial measurements!

Edited June 14, 2013 by Doorman

[Athy]

Tee-hee. I trust you are joking. Narrowboats are generally measured in proper British units, not these odd furrin ones.

 

Come to think of it they, in common with model railways, use a mixture of measures. Model trains of 00 scale are described as "4mm to the inch" (or is it to the foot?); boats' lengths are usually expressed in feet but their steel thicknesses are cited in millimetres.

[Timleech]

Ever looked out your window only to see a boat coming in to moor, passing you....at a distance of about 10cm

 

Sounds perfectly normal to me

 

Tim

[Pen n Ink]

Tee-hee. I trust you are joking. Narrowboats are generally measured in proper British units, not these odd furrin ones.

 

Come to think of it they, in common with model railways, use a mixture of measures. Model trains of 00 scale are described as "4mm to the inch" (or is it to the foot?); boats' lengths are usually expressed in feet but their steel thicknesses are cited in millimetres.

 

I've been doing this for years... I regularly (mentally at least) measure things as "2124mm x 4 ft" or whatever! I also use Kilos for weights of objects - parcels, joinery I make, timber etc, but I have to use imperial weights for people because I haven't got a clue what a person weighs in kilos.

 

As I've said before - maybe it's me!

[Jerra]

 

I've been doing this for years... I regularly (mentally at least) measure things as "2124mm x 4 ft" or whatever! I also use Kilos for weights of objects - parcels, joinery I make, timber etc, but I have to use imperial weights for people because I haven't got a clue what a person weighs in kilos.

 

As I've said before - maybe it's me!

Maybe its the fact that the UK did n't bite the bullet and go fully metric back in the mid 70s!

[MHS]

Maybe its the fact that the UK did n't bite the bullet and go fully metric back in the mid 70s!

I worked in the hardwood timber trade a few years ago. It still uses imperial measurements. The softwood trade uses metric.

 

I spent most of my day converting enquiries from customers from metric to imperial. I became a human calculator

 

1800x100x25 = 6'x4"x1"

 

Good I haven't lost it yet!

[Doorman]

Tee-hee. I trust you are joking. Narrowboats are generally measured in proper British units, not these odd furrin ones.

 

 

Course I'm joking. I'm joking about the dinosaurs who still inhabit good old England and its daft measurements. :-)

 

Incidentally, our boat is listed as 18.28m x 2.060m in our Declaration of Conformity. Our apprentice school boss used to say that feet are for walking on and yards are to keep the bins in.

[Doorman]

Maybe its the fact that the UK did n't bite the bullet and go fully metric back in the mid 70s!

Steady on now!

 

That was almost forty years ago. One wouldn't wish to rush things now would one? :-)

[Dyertribe]

A mathematician talking on Radio 4 this week was explaining how poor the metric system is (mathematically). Napoleon is to blame apparently.

[steveiom]

a cows ass

Edited June 14, 2013 by steveiom

[Ange]

I worked in the hardwood timber trade a few years ago. It still uses imperial measurements. The softwood trade uses metric.

 

I spent most of my day converting enquiries from customers from metric to imperial. I became a human calculator

 

1800x100x25 = 6'x4"x1"

 

Good I haven't lost it yet!

My hubby was a fencer (not the type with the swords but the ones who put up fences) in a previous life and he's perfectly fluent in both languages. In fact he'll use one or t'other depending on which he feels is the more accurate when measuring stuff like ice thickness.

 

I was at primary school when we went metric and I still think in imperial - I can just about (with a bit of thought) convert oz to grams for cooking but have no idea how tall I am (5'10") or how much I weigh (classified) in metric.

[Maffi]

Aboat passed me Thursday right to left an inch or two from my boat at speed. Of course this means he was on the wrong side of the canal!

[Wanted]

The only thing I can convert is beer into shame

[Ange]

The only thing I can convert is beer into shame

My speciality too Mr Wanted.

 

Looking forward to claiming my bottle of Wrongbow in September and finding out if that has the same effect!

[Ray T]

With regards to Imperial vs Metric. Fuel is delivered in litres, yet I work out how many miles per gallon my car consumes.

 

Also a little while ago some dodo in government suggested a cheap way of converting the MPH road signs to metric - just use the existing signs but call them KPH,

so, eg 30mph would now read as 30kph. The added advantage was sited as massive fuel savings. So the Motorway speed limit would be 43.5 mph !

 

 

 

KPH MPH

30 19

50 31

60 37

80 50

100 62

120 75

Edited June 15, 2013 by Ray T

[blackrose]

Ever looked out your window only to see a boat coming in to moor, passing you....at a distance of about 10cm

 

Welcome to life onboard Dean. You'll get used to it.

[Doorman]

My hubby was a fencer (not the type with the swords but the ones who put up fences) in a previous life and he's perfectly fluent in both languages. In fact he'll use one or t'other depending on which he feels is the more accurate when measuring stuff like ice thickness.

 

What difference does ice thickness have to do with it?

 

It's either whiskey with ice or without it...... :-)

[comfortably numb]

I regard myself as a fairly experienced and competent boater, but occasionally when coming in to moor I have passed a moored boat as close as the one with Dean. Not necessarily out of choice but usually because of a strong wind which we all know plays havoc with the steering when you slow down. if you avoid crashing into the other boat then I can't see a problem with it and I'd have thought an experienced boater like Dean would be used to boats coming this close when passing in tight places or mooring, especially with his 'fat' boatwhich takes up half the cut

[Athy]

Surely, as it's a metric boat, it takes up 0.5 of the cut.

[Doorman]

I regard myself as a fairly experienced and competent boater, but occasionally when coming in to moor I have passed a moored boat as close as the one with Dean. Not necessarily out of choice but usually because of a strong wind which we all know plays havoc with the steering when you slow down.

The problem I have found when having to manoeuvre close to moored boats is what's termed as the 'Venturi effect'. Whereby as the flow of water increases between the two boats a pressure drop occurs, thus drawing the boats towards each other. This also happens if I pass through a bridge hole too close to one side.

 

It happened to us once whilst negotiating the infamous bend in Nantwich just after the aqueduct. An errant boater had moored too close to the aqueduct, making the bend a hazard with the added feature of an oncoming boat. As I tried to pass the static boat and avoid the other craft, our boat was drawn closer to the moored boat near colliding with it. Ironically, the daft bugger whom had moored it there came out shouting his silly head off.

[Doug Scullery]

I see this as completely standard, in fact I'll often be no more than an inch or two from boats I'm passing. I'm reminded of a cruise I went on a few months ago with a very enthusiastic friend of a friend (who I think was more used to being a passenger on less competently steered boats) keeping me company at the tiller. Every time I moved close enough to a boat, or the bank or whatever, for him to reach it with his foot he would start "fending" with his legs, this had the effect of course of pushing the stern out from the boat or bank therefore pointing the bow at it so I had to basically steer against him. It was incredibly hard to convince him that, no, I wasn't actually going to hit anything and really made me want a semi-trad where passengers are penned in in front of you where you can keep an eye on them.

 

I actually really enjoy making "precision" maneuvers on my boat, turning/mooring in tight spaces or swinging the stern into small gaps on lock landings etc. to pick up crew, and for me the only way someone can be too close is to actually be touching (and provided speed isn't involved that doesn't really bother me, either).