Self driving boat?

[Ratkatcher]

On 04/12/2017 at 13:23, Peter X said:

 but the self-driving narrow boat will not find much of a market if it's limited to one pound

 

A self-driving boat for a pound?  I'll have a dozen gross, Peter

(ducks under table to hide... )

[zenataomm]

4 minutes ago, Ratkatcher said:

A self-driving boat for a pound?  I'll have a dozen gross, Peter

(ducks under table to hide... )

I think finding ducks hiding under your table is a sure sign the wildlife has decided if you can't beat driverless boats then join them.

[Dave_P]

23 hours ago, David Mack said:

Have you thought about swimming to work?

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170724-the-man-who-swims-to-work

 

This is a serious and sensible thread, please don't spoil it with outlandish and fanciful piffle.

[carlt]

A few years ago I observed the well known narrowboat "Granny Buttons" making its way along the North Oxford without a steerer...

It was quite clear to me that Mister Denny was trialling a top secret self steering system for a review in a future edition of Waterways World...

...either that or he'd taken advantage of a straight bit to sneak inside for a quick wee.

[Horace42]

How about a  jet-ski . Ignore speed limit. Dry off at work. 

[dor]

What you need is a cable laid on the canal bed, then you use your engine to drive a capstan-type thingy to pull you along the canal.  You could perhaps fix a small butty with a similar setup 50 yards ahead of you to push anything out of the way.

This could be refined with blocks on the cable that tripped various switches as they were passed to tip you out of bed, put on the kettle etc.

works for some railways so can't see why it wouldn't work for your boat.

I'll go halves on your millions for the idea.

[magpie patrick]

Will a self driving boat be able to get the boat pole off the roof when a strong wind has blown it against the bank?

[David Mack]

7 hours ago, carlt said:

A few years ago I observed the well known narrowboat "Granny Buttons" making its way along the North Oxford without a steerer...

It was quite clear to me that Mister Denny was trialling a top secret self steering system for a review in a future edition of Waterways World...

...either that or he'd taken advantage of a straight bit to sneak inside for a quick wee.

But looking at the tiller position, he will soon be heading for the towpath.

[Jess--]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

But looking at the tiller position, he will soon be heading for the towpath.

looking at the total lack of prop wash and the possible disturbance remaining from a good blast of reverse I would say the boat was moving extremely slowly if at all

[carlt]

1 hour ago, Jess-- said:

looking at the total lack of prop wash and the possible disturbance remaining from a good blast of reverse I would say the boat was moving extremely slowly if at all

It was making progress. 

It certainly wasn't in reverse. 

[MtB]

Unintended progress I'd say, given the total lack of prop wash.