55ft narrowboat - odd length?

[RichM]

Evening all,

 

We have a 55ft narrowboat. Does anyone know why the original owner may have specified for it to be that length rather than let's say 58ft? What advantages does it have by being 55ft long compared to a more common 57-58ft boat?

I guess I may never know for sure but it will be interesting to hear of the possibilities. It's something that I've been curious about as I'm sure it's not some arbitrary value.

 

Cheers

 

Arm

[Guest]

Evening all,

 

We have a 55ft narrowboat. Does anyone know why the original owner may have specified for it to be that length rather than let's say 58ft? What advantages does it have by being 55ft long compared to a more common 57-58ft boat?

I guess I may never know for sure but it will be interesting to hear of the possibilities. It's something that I've been curious about as I'm sure it's not some arbitrary value.

 

Cheers

 

Arm

We once hired a 55ft boat and appreciated the extra safety margin in the locks versus not much loss of living space.

 

Ed I should add though we were novices at the time.

Edited January 9, 2016 by MJG

[Rob-M]

Perhaps that was all their budget would stretch to.

[trackman]

It was a common enough length in the past I believe.

 

Why 57 or 58 ft? Our current boat is nominally 57' but many others are said to be 58'. They are all pretty nominal anyway in my experience given how inaccurate shell builders seem to be.

 

And don't even start on whether the length includes fenders or only the actual shell!

[Dave_P]

Mine's 55'. I am odd though. Why is 55' any more odd than 52'?

[b0atman]

My previous boat was 54ft cheaper on licence ,Peace is 55ft and seems to fit into the spaces between moored boats where any longer would not.

[zenataomm]

Because 85ft wouldn't work.

[David Mack]

55 is odd. 54 or 56 would be even.

[Ally]

Probably to save 3ft of cost, or perhaps to fit an already owned mooring? End of garden or the like? We once built a 47 ft for someone, to fit a mooring.

[MtB]

55ft will be cheaper than 58ft.

(Cheaper to build, cheaper to licence, cheaper to moor. Why pay for 58ft when 55ft is enough?)

((Although I find myself asking the same question about my current 68ft boat. Why did they build at 68ft instead of 70?!!!!))

[David Mack]

55 is odd. 54 or 56 would be even.

55 is odd. 54 or 56 would be even.

[mrsmelly]

55ft will be cheaper than 58ft.

(Cheaper to build, cheaper to licence, cheaper to moor. Why pay for 58ft when 55ft is enough?)

((Although I find myself asking the same question about my current 68ft boat. Why did they build at 68ft instead of 70?!!!!))

 

My current boat is also 68 feet and I think its daft but probably some people think its safer in a shortish lock with which I would disagree. It does however have considerably more room inside where we live than a previous 70 footer we owned.

 

Tim

[Keeping Up]

Our contract with the boat builder was £1000 per foot. Maybe he had a similar contract.

[cobaltcodd]

If you cill and then sink your 58ft boat in a "57" ft lock I'm sure it would give the insurers a great reason to avoid paying out a claim, so I don't understand the 58-59ft boats available.

 

It's also boat design as well - a 55ft boat with a small foredeck may well give more internal space than a 57ft with "wasted" space there and then you get cheaper moorings, licence as mentioned before

Edited January 9, 2016 by cobaltcodd

[The Bearwood Boster]

Our boat is 55ft & have never thought it was a strange length.Have I been missing something for the last 12 years ?

[Sea Dog]

I think it might be because 55 is the same forwards or backwards. The proof of the pudding is: does it reverse well?

[Arthur Marshall]

When I got mine, it was generally thought that if you wanted to live on, 55 foot was the minimum length you should go for, giving you enough living and sleeping room and still being easy enough to handle. And, of course, cheaper than anything bigger.

[Emerald Fox]

((Although I find myself asking the same question about my current 68ft boat. Why did they build at 68ft instead of 70?!!!!))

 

Because they wanted to tempt you to try the Calder & Hebble 58' locks - I mean, what if you went in diagonally and also could lift the nose of the boat up by 45 degrees - you might just make it.... it might just be possible... go for it???

[Maffi]

Could be to do with the size of steel sheets. I was told it would be easier to leave the sheet 2 foot longer at 60 feet rather than cut it.

[bag 'o' bones]

Our boat was built to 48 foot to fit the mooring that was available at the time.

 

No idea if that is an 'odd' size.

[john6767]

Ours is 50ft, there are lots of 50ft boats but there seems no real logical reason why other than it seems a reasonably length to just fit in the common layout of bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, sitting area.

[Phil Ambrose]

Could be to do with the size of steel sheets. I was told it would be easier to leave the sheet 2 foot longer at 60 feet rather than cut it.

That's just laziness on the part of the builder.

Phil

[Neil Smith]

Do licence fees go up per foot or is there a scale of say 50-55 foot etc.

 

Neil

[MtB]

They go up per metre IIRC

But the length of a boat varies, naturally, according to whether you are licencing it it or selling it lol

[alan_fincher]

They go up per metre IIRC

 

Tediously low level of detail alert!....

 

The cross over points are at half metres, (eg. 15.5 metres, 16.5 metres, 17.5 metres., etc....)

 

55 feet will not offer any saving over 57 feet, as both fall into the band 16.5 to 17.49 metres (54' 2" to 57' 4")

 

The next band (17.5 metres to 18.49 metres) includes 58', 59' and 60'.

 

From our foray over the Northern Waterways with their regularly 10 foot deep locks, and often very leaky top gates, I would judge 55 feet to be an excellent length for those canals if you want plenty of accommodation, without constantly filling your engine room or back cabin with water. Probably the length I would choose to have built if a regular user of canals like the Calder and Hebble.