A Rant

[captain caveman]

Me and the wife decided to spent a few days this mid week after the school holidays thinking the river (Avon) would be quieter.
Ha fat chance of that not problem in itself but why do barge owners always seem to moor so far apart and taking up all the over night moorings!
To be fair i see this problem a lot less with Cruisers.
I mean wouldn't it more considerate if owners of bigger boats double up rather than take up a whole over night moorings to them selves and help make room for others.

After 2 hours of traveling looking for a overnight mooring we had to go through a lock in the dark and travel the last mile in the dark finally finding a spot outside a pub at about 8.30.
Even more annoying was on the way back down the river 2 days later to see a lot of the same barges in still moored in the same over night moorings!

Rant over.


Ps no idea why the posts gone blue

Edited September 8, 2016 by wrigglefingers
Fixed it for you, I hope

[Phil Ambrose]

Strange, in my part of the world the complete opposite is the norm.

Phil

[Ray T]

Me and the wife decided to spent a few days this mid week after the school holidays thinking the river (Avon) would be quieter.

Ha fat chance of that not problem in itself but why do barge owners always seem to moor so far apart and taking up all the over night moorings!

To be fair i see this problem a lot less with Cruisers.

I mean wouldn't it more considerate if owners of bigger boats double up rather than take up a whole over night moorings to them selves and help make room for others.

 

After 2 hours of traveling looking for a overnight mooring we had to go through a lock in the dark and travel the last mile in the dark finally finding a spot outside a pub at about 8.30.

Even more annoying was on the way back down the river 2 days later to see a lot of the same barges in still moored in the same over night moorings!

 

Rant over.

 

Ps no idea why the posts gone blue

 

 

As it is a rant perhaps the air was blue when you typed it?

[patty-ann]

I hope you feel calmer now you've had a rant..there are always those who moor longer but they run the risk of being caught by those employed to observe mooring patterns.

Maybe you should consider mooring earlier as it takes so long to find somewhere.

[wrigglefingers]

Nah, that wasn't a proper rant, I've read some purlers in my time, that was quite restrained really.

 

I think you've accidentally hit one of the HTML coding buttons on your reply panel, I'll just have a dig around and see if I can work out which one for you.

Edited September 8, 2016 by wrigglefingers

[nicknorman]

We used to not boat during the school holidays because it would be really busy. However we have for the past couple of years and found it surprisingly quiet. But on our latest trip just after the English schools went back, it has been really really busy. Lots of people like you making assumptions that it will be quiet in fact make it at its busiest!

 

That said yes selfish mooring is very annoying but did you ask them to move up and/or if you could brest up?

[churchward]

I agree that it is frustrating when people spread out leaving gaps on popular mooring spots. People should make best use of the space and moor close together.

 

I have taken to ask people if they are willing to move up a bit if I see there is enough space for my boat if they did so. Most times I have had good and willing responses when I have asked and we have managed to fit in. It is of course possible that you get the odd person who refuses to move or gets a bit off about it but thankfully rare. I remember having a women on a Narrowboat on the Nene at Wellingborough object although the husband was OK about it. Then when doing the same once at Tixall wide a GRP cruiser owner got quite upset about it swearing at me as if I had insulted their mother. But as I say these are the exceptions and most people are willing to accommodate others and move up.

[Wanderer Vagabond]

Me and the wife decided to spent a few days this mid week after the school holidays thinking the river (Avon) would be quieter.

Ha fat chance of that not problem in itself but why do barge owners always seem to moor so far apart and taking up all the over night moorings!

To be fair i see this problem a lot less with Cruisers.

I mean wouldn't it more considerate if owners of bigger boats double up rather than take up a whole over night moorings to them selves and help make room for others.

 

After 2 hours of traveling looking for a overnight mooring we had to go through a lock in the dark and travel the last mile in the dark finally finding a spot outside a pub at about 8.30.

Even more annoying was on the way back down the river 2 days later to see a lot of the same barges in still moored in the same over night moorings!

 

Rant over.

 

 

Ps no idea why the posts gone blue

Whilst I agree that it is annoying when people spread themselves out across the Visitor Moorings but then sometimes it happens without them actually doing anything. Example:- I managed to squeeze in at Abingdon on Monday (a boat was moved about 5 feet to make space) and then the following morning the boat in front moved making more space so I moved up, immediately behind the cruiser that had been in front of him (making best use of space ). Left the boat whilst we had wander around Abingdon and yet when we return the boats around us have moved, others have moved in and I am now in the middle of a longer mooring space which, someone then coming along looking for a mooring would be thinking, "Look at that muppet, all that mooring space and he's gone and moored dead centre of it". This wasn't how I left it but it was how it was on my return .

 

Just out of curiosity when you say,"....owners of bigger boats double up....", did you actually ask anyone if you could double up with them? This was how I got a mooring in Paddington Basin and also when passing through Leicester. There is the chance they may refuse but then, if you don't ask, you don't get!

[PaulG]

Me and the wife decided to spent a few days this mid week after the school holidays thinking the river (Avon) would be quieter.

Ha fat chance of that not problem in itself but why do barge owners always seem to moor so far apart and taking up all the over night moorings!

To be fair i see this problem a lot less with Cruisers.

I mean wouldn't it more considerate if owners of bigger boats double up rather than take up a whole over night moorings to them selves and help make room for others.

 

After 2 hours of traveling looking for a overnight mooring we had to go through a lock in the dark and travel the last mile in the dark finally finding a spot outside a pub at about 8.30.

Even more annoying was on the way back down the river 2 days later to see a lot of the same barges in still moored in the same over night moorings!

 

Rant over.

 

 

Ps no idea why the posts gone blue

My mooring is on the Avon and I see no difference in the mooring habits of cruisers, barges, or even narrowboats for that matter.

Generally speaking, if you ask people to move up a bit so you can get in, they will do so - sometimes with good grace...

It's not a problem that's unique to the Avon, as other recent threads about central Birmingham have shown.

Edited September 9, 2016 by PaulG

[Top cat]

We used to not boat during the school holidays because it would be really busy. However we have for the past couple of years and found it surprisingly quiet. But on our latest trip just after the English schools went back, it has been really really busy. Lots of people like you making assumptions that it will be quiet in fact make it at its busiest!

That said yes selfish mooring is very annoying but did you ask them to move up and/or if you could brest up?

Yes we have found the same thing, we have just got back from a 3 week cruise and it was only on the last day we had to queue for locks. I think a lot of people wait for schools to go back then venture out.

 

Top Cat

[Dharl]

Slightly different point of view. Other week coming down the South Oxford and we looked for a place to moor up South of Banbury but before the Motorway bridge. Looking at the weather the following day was going to be heavy rain so we planned to stop for two nights with a secure mooring so we could use our nappy pins if possible. Came to one section which was long enough for about 6 60ft boats. There was already three there, one at the far end and two moored close together at the other. We came alongside first of all in the middle where ail could see there was a 40ft gap at one end and a 40ft gap at the other so decided to move up so that at least one more big boat could get in. The Single boat was occupied but the two other boats where locked up so moved up towards that end of the mooring.

 

Just as a I finished mooring (using both a fwd and aft spring as going to be there for while rather than a quick lunch break) the owners of both boats returned. We passed pleasantries then we had lunch. The first guy astern started playing some music...a little loud but not too much, but it was a nice day and music was ok! We took the dog for a walk and as we got back to the boat the guy saw us and then turned his music up louder!

 

As it was a nice afternoon we where sitting on the towpath, but at the other end of our boat so a good 60ft away but could clearly hear his music. Over the next hour he steadily turned it up, whilst at first I didn't mind the music, Mrs Dharl is a little less forgiving and just wanted a quite afternoon to read, but it got the stage that it was getting anti social so we 'up pinned' and moved round the courner where luckily there was a couple of spaces available. Neighbours much nicer!

 

Next morning (in the rain) walked down the towpath back towards Banbury, due to the weather all of the mooring spots had been taken and everyone was battened down for the day. Was pleasing to see that on our previous mooring, not only was all the spots filled up, but a Dutch Barge was moored where we had been which had a noisy gen' on the go. Poetic justice!

 

Moral of the story......life's too short to complain however if that other guy had just come up to chat and ask if we mind moving up that that would not have been a problem.

 

have to say that within 1hr of us mooring up (1pm) the space in front of us was taken up and several other boats passed by 'searching' for a mooring like we had been!

[MtB]

Slightly different point of view. Other week coming down the South Oxford and we looked for a place to moor up South of Banbury but before the Motorway bridge. Looking at the weather the following day was going to be heavy rain so we planned to stop for two nights with a secure mooring so we could use our nappy pins if possible. Came to one section which was long enough for about 6 60ft boats. There was already three there, one at the far end and two moored close together at the other. We came alongside first of all in the middle where ail could see there was a 40ft gap at one end and a 40ft gap at the other so decided to move up so that at least one more big boat could get in. The Single boat was occupied but the two other boats where locked up so moved up towards that end of the mooring.

 

Just as a I finished mooring (using both a fwd and aft spring as going to be there for while rather than a quick lunch break) the owners of both boats returned. We passed pleasantries then we had lunch. The first guy astern started playing some music...a little loud but not too much, but it was a nice day and music was ok! We took the dog for a walk and as we got back to the boat the guy saw us and then turned his music up louder!

 

As it was a nice afternoon we where sitting on the towpath, but at the other end of our boat so a good 60ft away but could clearly hear his music. Over the next hour he steadily turned it up, whilst at first I didn't mind the music, Mrs Dharl is a little less forgiving and just wanted a quite afternoon to read, but it got the stage that it was getting anti social so we 'up pinned' and moved round the courner where luckily there was a couple of spaces available. Neighbours much nicer!

 

Next morning (in the rain) walked down the towpath back towards Banbury, due to the weather all of the mooring spots had been taken and everyone was battened down for the day. Was pleasing to see that on our previous mooring, not only was all the spots filled up, but a Dutch Barge was moored where we had been which had a noisy gen' on the go. Poetic justice!

 

Moral of the story......life's too short to complain however if that other guy had just come up to chat and ask if we mind moving up that that would not have been a problem.

 

have to say that within 1hr of us mooring up (1pm) the space in front of us was taken up and several other boats passed by 'searching' for a mooring like we had been!

 

 

I've never seen a Dutch barge on the southern Oxford. How did it get there?!

[Dharl]

 

 

I've never seen a Dutch barge on the southern Oxford. How did it get there?!

 

.....Well a narrow beam version of a Dutch barge........ ;-)

 

thought most people would have second guessed that...was trying to save the typing with one finger hat I do... :-)

[Machpoint005]

The "problem" of boats not mooring so as to minimise gaps is not necessarily just selfishness.

 

At many recognised mooring spots there are mooring rings, and the position of any given boat depends on how the ring spacing corresponds with the boat length. Boats are not all the same length, in case you hadn't noticed.

There is also the real possibility that the second boat to arrive moored close up to the first, the first boat then left, and a third arrived that was shorter than the first ... you get the picture.

 

Yes, it can be frustrating, but it isn't necessarily anybody's fault. Just get over your sense of entitlement and worry about something that really matters.

[Detling]

You are correct about the distribution of rings never being right! but you do not need your own rings, you can share them. In a busy spot pass your bow rope through the ring the guy in front has his stern line on, leaving a 10 foot gap between you, if you use your own ring you may well have a 30 foot gap as the rings are 20 feet apart. Four boats all 30 ft apart are occupying the space 5 could fit in etc

[Machpoint005]

You are correct about the distribution of rings never being right! but you do not need your own rings, you can share them. In a busy spot pass your bow rope through the ring the guy in front has his stern line on, leaving a 10 foot gap between you, if you use your own ring you may well have a 30 foot gap as the rings are 20 feet apart. Four boats all 30 ft apart are occupying the space 5 could fit in etc

 

I agree that not sharing rings is a problem, but it doesn't alter the spacing between them, which could be useless for a given boat.

[MtB]

You are correct about the distribution of rings never being right! but you do not need your own rings, you can share them. In a busy spot pass your bow rope through the ring the guy in front has his stern line on, leaving a 10 foot gap between you, if you use your own ring you may well have a 30 foot gap as the rings are 20 feet apart. Four boats all 30 ft apart are occupying the space 5 could fit in etc

 

 

Yes at a shade over 20m, my boat is exactly the wrong length for rings spaced the usual 5m apart.

[Dharl]

never seem to find a VM which has mooring rings in the right spot for my 57ft...Usually end up either badly moored or using a selection of mooring rings, nappy pins and mooring steaks! If I can I prefer to use the nappy pins as know I can get a good sequre mooring which is hard for even a speeding boat to shift me from! (well most times anyway!)

[NilesMI]

When I first got my boat I was shown the nappy pins, so I started off using them.

 

Nowadays, whenever I spot a section of Armco I use mooring chains rather than nappy pins.

 

Apart from ring spacing, another consideration that affects boat spacing is the shape of the mooring site itself. I have often found that while a sufficient length is available and the mooring rings nicely spaced, mooring in that particular spot would have the boat either impossibly wedged into or balanced on a dog-legged portion of the bank. This kind of thing is more likely to affect longer boats so may be why the OP finds it's barges rather than shorter cruisers that appear to be spaced haphazardly.

[pig]

Usually end up either badly moored or using a selection of mooring rings, nappy pins and mooring steaks!

Well done?

[BruceinSanity]

never seem to find a VM which has mooring rings in the right spot for my 57ft...Usually end up either badly moored or using a selection of mooring rings, nappy pins and mooring steaks! If I can I prefer to use the nappy pins as know I can get a good sequre mooring which is hard for even a speeding boat to shift me from! (well most times anyway!)

Years of research have been undertaken in BWB/BW/CRT offices to find the ring spacing that no conceivable length of boat can use...

 

The final result can be seen at Gurnett Aqueduct by Macclesfield, complemented by the facts that 1) it's a plain concrete edge so no piling hooks or chains and 2) the concrete extends under the towpath preventing the effective use of stakes (unless you know just where to position them).

[Machpoint005]

If they put rings every couple of metres you might think there wouldn't be a problem, but many people still wouldn't bother to share rings and cuddle up to the next in line. I don't think we can win.

[captain caveman]

My point was if your moored up and a space appears between boats in the evening why not move up and close the gaps before you settle down?

Its not hard is it and something i always do if i find the mooring is full or filling up, You shouldn't have to ask is called good manners.

The other point was the boats i passed on the way up were still in the overnight moorings the following evening taking up space that they should have left earlier that day.

So that would have been 2 nights at least (may have been longer) where they should have only been there one night.

[mattlad]

Usually end up either badly moored or using a selection of mooring rings, nappy pins and mooring steaks!

 

 

Well done?

Rare.

[Dave_P]

Years of research have been undertaken in BWB/BW/CRT offices to find the ring spacing that no conceivable length of boat can use...

 

The final result can be seen at Gurnett Aqueduct by Macclesfield, complemented by the facts that 1) it's a plain concrete edge so no piling hooks or chains and 2) the concrete extends under the towpath preventing the effective use of stakes (unless you know just where to position them).

Similarly the towpath moorings at Bournville with no possibility of using hooks, chains or pins.