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canal holiday traffic!!! why dont holiday company,s put speed limiter

colin1325

By colin1325
in Living Afloat

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holiday traffic!!!

why dont holiday company,s put speed limiters on all their narrow boats as per 50 cc bikes to save loads of hassle

it should be law as it would protect our canals banksides colin

Well because if you go onto a river and need to give it a bit of welly you wont be able to.

 

But as a general point I wasn't aware that it was only hire boats that we had speeding issues with.

Edited by MJG
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colmac Proficient

colmac

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Wholeheartedly agree with the opinion that this is not the preserve of hire boats. Private boats are just as guilty which , in my view, is worse because as private owners I imagine we spend much more than 2 weeks a year on the cut and therefore should know better.

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johnnie1uk Collaborator

johnnie1uk

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I think its all down to planning, whether its a hirer or private boat if they plan a cruise which is unfeasible for the time they have, they end up having to speed to get back to base or marina for when their holiday ends.

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ditchcrawler Veteran II

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When you start boating with all good intention you throttle back to slow down to pass moored boats, although the engine note drops quite a bit the speed doesn't . I got shouted at for speeding passed moored boats when I started hiring.

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Jerra Veteran II

Jerra

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When you start boating with all good intention you throttle back to slow down to pass moored boats, although the engine note drops quite a bit the speed doesn't . I got shouted at for speeding passed moored boats when I started hiring.

I think some people shout at hire boats as a matter of course no matter what speed they are doing.

  • Greenie 1
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RLWP Veteran II

RLWP

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Aye, people trying to rush up locks too......

I always rush into locks. It's very satisfying going from four to zero mph in seventy feet

 

A bit messy if it goes wrong

 

Richard

I think some people shout at hire boats as a matter of course no matter what speed they are doing.

Yep

Dream of 4 mph...

It's true! There are very few places you can get up to 4 mph. We can do this on parts on the New and Old main lines on the BCN. On the rest of the cut? Pretty unlikely

 

Richard

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nicknorman Veteran II

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It's true! There are very few places you can get up to 4 mph. We can do this on parts on the New and Old main lines on the BCN. On the rest of the cut? Pretty unlikely

Richard

One of the fastest bits of cut we've been on is the main line between the soho/Icknield crossroads and the centre. Even in deep drafted Telemachus we can easily get 5mph at well under 1/2 power with not much wash. Don't tell the speed police though! I wonder how deep it is there.

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Paul C Veteran II

Paul C

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Yeah there's definitely sections of the BCN mainline where the speed comes easily, we were keeping an eye on the times at waypoints and proper backing off the power to avoid >4mph (I am thinking, the section from the staircase, turn left onto the mainline then towards netherton tunnel) so I think if we put the power down could have probably done 5 or 5.5mph. And I'd say nobody can sense the difference between 4mph and 5mph on a canal (of slightly varying depth/profile), when the power setting is the same, the waves/wash produced are the same etc

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Athy Veteran II

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. And I'd say nobody can sense the difference between 4mph and 5mph on a canal (of slightly varying depth/profile), when the power setting is the same, the waves/wash produced are the same etc

I've never yet seen a narrowboat with a speedo. I estimate my speed by imaging a man walking along the towpath beside the boat. If he's strolling, I reckon we're doing 3m.p.h. If he's stepping out briskly, that'll be 4 m.p.h. If he looks like Mo Farah, it's time to slow down.

Edited by Athy
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ditchcrawler Veteran II

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It's true! There are very few places you can get up to 4 mph. We can do this on parts on the New and Old main lines on the BCN. On the rest of the cut? Pretty unlikely

 

Richard

Yes I even caught you up running on the tow path clapping.gif

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Paul C Veteran II

Paul C

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I've never yet seen a narrowboat with a speedo.

 

It doesn't mean its impossible to measure it accurately - there's plenty of mobile phone apps which will do so (and I know that loads of speedo apps don't measure walking-pace speeds accurately - some do though).

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Wanderer Vagabond Influencer

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I'd be interested on what basis the OP was making his judgement of the speed of the hire boats (yes I agree that many non-hire boats go too fast as wellrolleyes.gif ). The reason that I ask is that having hired a variety of boats before buying one, a lot of the boats that I hired were under propped, presumably to make the engine run faster to power the alternator so that the holidaymakers could use their TV's, DVD players,Microwaves etc without flattening the batteries. This makes the boat sound as though it is speeding but it never was (I used to check it on a GPS walker's navigator). So did the OP see an excessive wash? or did he just hear an engine apparently running fast?

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Seti-Yeti Contributor

Seti-Yeti

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The Broads Authority are considering requiring boats on the Norfolk Broads to be fitted with them

 

That'll take some thought. Absolute speed relative to riverbed or relative to water (wake generation)? Arrive at Yarmouth yacht station against the tide and some boats will be going backwards at full throttle! I have hooned through there on tick-over to maintain steerage and nearly lost me'at in the slipstream; however, I've had to firewall my 6 cylinder diesel when in the opposite circumstances and barely made progress. It's nice to have the luxury of time to arrive at slack but holidaymakers don't have that so unless they forego the pleasures of either Bure or Yare/Waveney depending on hire location, they run the risk of arriving at a less than optimum time.

 

Education is the key. If you have a breaking wash, you're going too fast, if not, you're OK. (yes, passing moored boats noted!) Absolute speed limits are problematic. Do you, as a car driver, drive at 60 irrespective of conditions etc. on a country lane signed as such?

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That'll take some thought. Absolute speed relative to riverbed or relative to water (wake generation)? Arrive at Yarmouth yacht station against the tide and some boats will be going backwards at full throttle! I have hooned through there on tick-over to maintain steerage and nearly lost me'at in the slipstream; however, I've had to firewall my 6 cylinder diesel when in the opposite circumstances and barely made progress. It's nice to have the luxury of time to arrive at slack but holidaymakers don't have that so unless they forego the pleasures of either Bure or Yare/Waveney depending on hire location, they run the risk of arriving at a less than optimum time.

 

Education is the key. If you have a breaking wash, you're going too fast, if not, you're OK. (yes, passing moored boats noted!) Absolute speed limits are problematic. Do you, as a car driver, drive at 60 irrespective of conditions etc. on a country lane signed as such?

 

My guess would be that those considering such a daft idea have never actually boated on a tidal river, or probably never actually boated at all, period.

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