New instructions to hire boaters ?

[furnessvale]

 

you realize he meant other people doing it in front of him 10 times a day right.. not him self slewing across the cut!

Oh! I don't know. Damned nuisance these coal boats you know! Stopping wherever they want, blocking the cut!

 

George ex nb Alton retired

[Jay4424]

Oh! I don't know. Damned nuisance these coal boats you know! Stopping wherever they want, blocking the cut!

 

George ex nb Alton retired

 

and they always demand the "deep" part of the cut, its asif the canals arnt profiled correctly to allow a loaded boat to actually boat!! :-/

[Jerra]

In May we hired a cruiser from Caley Cruisers on the Caledonean Canal. Before you were allowed on the boat you had to sit in a room and watch a half hour instructional video followed by a Q&A session. I think all hire companies should do this.

 

It was only after this that we were shown around the boat and then allowed to leave the marina.

So even if it is your 105th Hire and 50 of those were from the same firm they would still bore you to death telling you things they had done 49 times before?

[Athy]

So even if it is your 105th Hire and 50 of those were from the same firm they would still bore you to death telling you things they had done 49 times before?

The safety demonstration on airliners is not given just to first-time flyers.

[Tam & Di]

I wouldn't do all of that. You don't need a 6 ft clearance between boats. I pass with less than a foot when I believe that the other guy knows what he is doing. F

 

Perhaps my screed below is too complex to be of use to new hirers, but the topic does seem to have widened a little

 

Our barge handling courses are in France on small commercial waterways perhaps 20m wide, where we often meet 40m x 5.10m loaded barges. I tell our trainees that if they ease right off they will effectively be a bit of uncontrolled flotsam; the water pressure created by the loaded boat will push them right off to the side and they won't have the power to correct for it if they are on tickover. They need to be close enough to shake hands with the boatman going the other way, otherwise if they have already pulled right over they will simply hit the bottom on the edge as they get pushed further, and it can easily be rocks. Obviously with two smaller craft the interaction will be far less but it is still there, and basically "a miss is as good as a mile". Why put your craft into danger? Overtaking creates a different problem, as then the two boats will tend to be drawn together.

 

One possibly useful way of thinking about it is to picture the cross section of the canal you are on, and then superimpose the cross section of your boat and one you might meet/overtake onto it. If the two boat segments take up most of the canal cross section the two boats will be competing strongly with each other for the available water. If they only take up a small proportion of it then the interaction will be far less, and maybe negligible.

 

Tam

[hvdb]

If you have an hour to spare this is one companies training video, make your own minds up.

 

Just curious:

What 'special license and additional equipment' is the man talking about? In the video at 21:05.

 

Helen

[colmac]

We had one coming through Tardebigge tunnel 2 weeks ago. As we entered the tunnel from the Tardebigge end ( two way working ) a boat coming the other way started sounding his horn and shouting. He then flapped, went hard astern and ended up across the tunnel. We stayed where we were at a safe distance until he sorted himself out. As we passed it transpired he was on a hire boat from Alvechurch. He made a comment about us entering the tunnel at the same time s him ! I pointed out that there is a sign at the entrance telling you all about the tunnel which he would do well to read next time, ( patiently )

[furnessvale]

We had one coming through Tardebigge tunnel 2 weeks ago. As we entered the tunnel from the Tardebigge end ( two way working ) a boat coming the other way started sounding his horn and shouting. He then flapped, went hard astern and ended up across the tunnel. We stayed where we were at a safe distance until he sorted himself out. As we passed it transpired he was on a hire boat from Alvechurch. He made a comment about us entering the tunnel at the same time s him ! I pointed out that there is a sign at the entrance telling you all about the tunnel which he would do well to read next time, ( patiently )

Mind you, better not take any notice of the signs at the tunnels on the Lower Peak, unless they have changed them recently, which happily advise all and sundry that the tunnels are fit for two way working!

 

George ex nb Alton retired

Edited November 6, 2015 by furnessvale

[Iain_S]

It does depend on the definition of "two way working", which seems to cover everything except traffic light or time control!

 

Edited November 6, 2015 by Iain_S

[furnessvale]

It does depend on the definition of "two way working", which seems to cover everything except traffic light or time control!

 

Yes, it could be interpreted that boats ARE allowed to go round the Cheshire ring anticlockwise as well as clockwise!

 

George ex nb Alton retired

[pomkitanner]

The safety demonstration on airliners is not given just to first-time flyers.

I sometimes wonder why tourists are not given a driving crash course when first hiring on the opposite road side. The usual practise is " Here are your keys, off you go !

[Bettie Boo]

Even more fun when they meet a wide beam..

 

Funny enough - we've only encountered 1 hire boat coming toward us reacting by trying to stop and slew across the cut in front of us. We have noticed most of them do tend to move over far more than needed and slow down to a crawl - but that's never caused us any issue so no problem and just think they are trying to be cautious which we take as being a good thing.

[Top cat]

We had one coming through Tardebigge tunnel 2 weeks ago. As we entered the tunnel from the Tardebigge end ( two way working ) a boat coming the other way started sounding his horn and shouting. He then flapped, went hard astern and ended up across the tunnel. We stayed where we were at a safe distance until he sorted himself out. As we passed it transpired he was on a hire boat from Alvechurch. He made a comment about us entering the tunnel at the same time s him ! I pointed out that there is a sign at the entrance telling you all about the tunnel which he would do well to read next time, ( patiently )

Yeah we had someone do that in the Newbold tunnel, again posted as two way working. It's such a short tunnel I tend to hold back if someone is coming through the other way and wait for them to emerge ,not that I couldn't pass in there it just saves the hooting shouting and arm waving.

 

T C

[Athy]

I sometimes wonder why tourists are not given a driving crash course when first hiring on the opposite road side.

What an apt turn of phrase you have.

[Jerra]

The safety demonstration on airliners is not given just to first-time flyers.

Sorry for being so long in replying but I have been away. True they don't just give the demo to first time flyers but it doesn't go on for half and hour and include a Q & A session. I suspect there would be some protests from the frequent flyers if it did.

[Athy]

Sorry for being so long in replying but I have been away. True they don't just give the demo to first time flyers but it doesn't go on for half and hour and include a Q & A session. I suspect there would be some protests from the frequent flyers if it did.

Blimey, I can just imagine the Ryanair hostesses conducting a seminar with the passengers, with frequent interruptions for pre-recorded adverts for J2O fruit drinks and the like.

[comfortably numb]

So even if it is your 105th Hire and 50 of those were from the same firm they would still bore you to death telling you things they had done 49 times before?

 

No of course not! We are experienced narrowboaters but it was our first time on the Caledonean Canal and with this type of boat so it was essential and useful for us. However I doubt they would make returning customers go through it all again each time. Common sense would prevail.