Get ready for the onslaught.

[Ray T]

[Captain Pegg]

Seems like not many folk are too concerned. Either that or hardly anyone looks at this section of the forum. The feature is for a booking site that covers the major hire companies so what is the reality of this?

I doubt there will be a significant increase in the number of hire boats but utilisation will be improved and maybe the peak season will be longer. Given that at least one long established hire company has ceased trading after last year this cannot be a bad thing if we want to sustain canal businesses and generate interest in canals.

Bring it on.

JP

[Guest]

I like seeing the holiday boaters, they are generally out to have a lovely holiday and enjoy a chat and some helpful advice when needed. They are a darn sight cheerier than some of the other miserable boaters you get out on the cut. Oh and I have seen some very good boating skills from some of the regular hirers.

[rgreg]

28 minutes ago, Meanderingviking said:

I like seeing the holiday boaters, they are generally out to have a lovely holiday and enjoy a chat and some helpful advice when needed. They are a darn sight cheerier than some of the other miserable boaters you get out on the cut. Oh and I have seen some very good boating skills from some of the regular hirers.

Absolutely. This is how many boat owners started out. I especially like to see families enjoying a hire-boat holiday; it brings back happy memories of my early boating days. 

[MtB]

Wusses the lot of 'em.

I first fancied a boat in 1977 so just bought one and lived on it directly. None of this messing about hiring one first...!

Ok it was because it was impossible to afford a house. Plus ça change, eh what? 

[Ray T]

10 hours ago, rgreg said:

Absolutely. This is how many boat owners started out. I especially like to see families enjoying a hire-boat holiday; it brings back happy memories of my early boating days. 

This is the route we took. The late Mrs T MK I didn't like sailing offshore.

[Naughty Cal]

11 hours ago, rgreg said:

Absolutely. This is how many boat owners started out. I especially like to see families enjoying a hire-boat holiday; it brings back happy memories of my early boating days. 

Exactly how we started. Hired for several years several times a year and then decided it was time to take the plunge and buy our own.

Not sure why so many people look down on hire boaters. We all had to start somewhere.

[Grassman]

25 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

Exactly how we started. Hired for several years several times a year and then decided it was time to take the plunge and buy our own.

Not sure why so many people look down on hire boaters. We all had to start somewhere.

Exactly the same as they look down on learner drivers.

We regularly hired boats for years before we bought our own 6 years ago.

We are hiring one for a fortnight in April because our Nb is too long for that canal, so it will be interesting to see how many boat owners look down their noses at us.

[Hudds Lad]

12 hours ago, Meanderingviking said:

I like seeing the holiday boaters, they are generally out to have a lovely holiday and enjoy a chat and some helpful advice when needed. They are a darn sight cheerier than some of the other miserable boaters you get out on the cut.

This.

I know not everyone likes the company of others, but a smile or a nod in response to a "good morning" costs nothing. Amazing how many will just act like you were invisible.

Perhaps its just my sunny Yorkshire disposition

Don't even get me started on that time I tried to talk to people on the Tube when visiting London...

 

[chubby]

3 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

This.

I know not everyone likes the company of others, but a smile or a nod in response to a "good morning" costs nothing. Amazing how many will just act like you were invisible.

Perhaps its just my sunny Yorkshire disposition

Don't even get me started on that time I tried to talk to people on the Tube when visiting London...

 

maybe the folk on the underground had had a long day , week , month working and didn t much feel like yapping with a tourist . 

i don t consider myself rude to people if i dont wanna talk to others when im commuting . 

[Naughty Cal]

3 hours ago, Grassman said:

Exactly the same as they look down on learner drivers.

We regularly hired boats for years before we bought our own 6 years ago.

We are hiring one for a fortnight in April because our Nb is too long for that canal, so it will be interesting to see how many boat owners look down their noses at us.

We hired last October on the Broads and some of the private boat owners were down right rude. Almost all of the hirers we met were pleasant and enjoying themselves. We had a brilliant time.

We are hiring again this year, so expect much the same response from the privateers. Only this time they will be French  

3 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

This.

I know not everyone likes the company of others, but a smile or a nod in response to a "good morning" costs nothing. Amazing how many will just act like you were invisible.

Perhaps its just my sunny Yorkshire disposition

Don't even get me started on that time I tried to talk to people on the Tube when visiting London...

 

We are going to take great delight in attempting to talk to the suvners this summer darn sarf.

[Quaysider]

we love hire boaters too...  once they've gotten over the 1st days panic of feeling like they need to go faster, more often than not they slow down and blend in well. 

I suppose my view might be different if we lived near a hire base and never moved our boat.

[MtB]

On 31/01/2018 at 13:16, Naughty Cal said:

We hired last October on the Broads and some of the private boat owners were down right rude.

 

I had a similar experience when I took a signwritten hire boat from Rugby down to Reading. A marked difference in a few people's attittude to me with one posh sounding woman on a shiny boat being bloody downright rude, bossing me about over how to work a lock.

[john6767]

5 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

This.

I know not everyone likes the company of others, but a smile or a nod in response to a "good morning" costs nothing. Amazing how many will just act like you were invisible.

Perhaps its just my sunny Yorkshire disposition

Don't even get me started on that time I tried to talk to people on the Tube when visiting London...

 

If you had to travel to work every day on the tube, you would be grumpy.

1 hour ago, Naughty Cal said:

We are going to take great delight in attempting to talk to the suvners this summer darn sarf.

You will be fine on the Thames, you have the right type of boat!  Actually we have found most on the Thames very pleasant even when the boat was scruffy.

On the general topic, I can't see that in the summer there is much additional capacity in the hire boat fleets, so perhaps if anything it will get more people out on hire boats early and late in the year which has to be a good thing for the hire industry.

[brassedoff]

Ramming season.

Dayboats with kids hanging off the roof and Ale Cans everywhere.

I saw a boat dented last year, all the chaps hanging off the back burst into laughter.

 

Some nice people about  also but it's a bit shocking at times.

 

 

[Ray T]

1 minute ago, brassedoff said:

Ramming season.

Dayboats with kids hanging off the roof and Ale Cans everywhere.

I saw a boat dented last year, all the chaps hanging off the back burst into laughter.

 

Some nice people about  also but it's a bit shocking at times.

 

 

Not cans but bottles.

[alan_fincher]

6 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

A marked difference in a few people's attittude to me with one posh sounding woman on a shiny boat being bloody downright rude, bossing me about over how to work a lock.

But did she tell you which side of the canal you are supposed to pass on?  That could have been useful!

[brassedoff]

4 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Not cans but bottles.

Chimay Ale, that's a bit strong in it. Lol

 

[MtB]

5 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

But did she tell you which side of the canal you are supposed to pass on?  That could have been useful!

 

No but she did give me one piece of advice. If I see a boat giving confusing hand signals, ignore it, it will get out of my way.

She was wrong about that too!

Edited January 31, 2018 by Mike the Boilerman

[brassedoff]

2 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

No but she did give me one piece of advice. If I see a boat giving confusing hand signals, ignore it, it will get out of my way.

She was wrong about that too!

I got that wrong one day.

I thought they were saying move over. Lol

[mrsmelly]

11 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

This.

I know not everyone likes the company of others, but a smile or a nod in response to a "good morning" costs nothing. Amazing how many will just act like you were invisible.

Perhaps its just my sunny Yorkshire disposition

Don't even get me started on that time I tried to talk to people on the Tube when visiting London...

 

If you had to live and work in a sheeite hole like London you wouldn't be of such a sunny disposition 

[Guest]

Hire boaters also pay a lot of money to be amongst you lot.

Add in school hols. to the mix and it becomes stupidly expensive. Not that it gives them the right to behave as arses on the cut, but they do bring a lot of money to the waterways of the UK.

Edited February 1, 2018 by MJG

[brassedoff]

Their are some very nice boat hirers.

Most people look at me with worry when i say hello on the street.

Two worlds colliding maybe I've lost touch with reality of suspicion and fear.

 

[alan_fincher]

7 hours ago, MJG said:

Hire boaters also pay a lot of money to be amongst you lot.

Add in school hols. to the mix and it becomes stupidly expensive. Not that it gives them the right to behave as arses on the cut, but they do bring a lot of money to the waterways of the UK.

:devils_advocate_mode_on:

Well being strictly accurate, they bring a lot of money to the operators of the hire fleet.

Obviously those companies pay hire boat rate licence fees to CRT, but the fact there are now not that many hire boats doesn't actually contribute that big an income to CRT.  If you measured income for every lock full of water used, for example, you could argue CRT are not charging enough for intensively used hire boats, versus private ones, generally not covering the same mileages in a year.

As an aside, I have been interested by canal-side pub owners & landlords telling me they get little trade from hire boats, because many choose to stock up at Tescos, and "party" at the boat, rather than go repeatedly to pubs, (also expensive, of course, if you have spent a fortune hiring the boat).  As the majority hirings are now no more than half a week, hirers often turn up with enough supplies for most of their hiring, and hence do not spend a lot in the areas they pass through.
 

I accept these are generalisations, and that many hirers with enough money in their pocket will have elaborate meals out every day, but it has been suggested to me that this is not the hire boat norm.

[Naughty Cal]

32 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

:devils_advocate_mode_on:

Well being strictly accurate, they bring a lot of money to the operators of the hire fleet.

Obviously those companies pay hire boat rate licence fees to CRT, but the fact there are now not that many hire boats doesn't actually contribute that big an income to CRT.  If you measured income for every lock full of water used, for example, you could argue CRT are not charging enough for intensively used hire boats, versus private ones, generally not covering the same mileages in a year.

As an aside, I have been interested by canal-side pub owners & landlords telling me they get little trade from hire boats, because many choose to stock up at Tescos, and "party" at the boat, rather than go repeatedly to pubs, (also expensive, of course, if you have spent a fortune hiring the boat).  As the majority hirings are now no more than half a week, hirers often turn up with enough supplies for most of their hiring, and hence do not spend a lot in the areas they pass through.
 

I accept these are generalisations, and that many hirers with enough money in their pocket will have elaborate meals out every day, but it has been suggested to me that this is not the hire boat norm.

Oh. I think we did the hire boat thing wrong last time then