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How many?


TheGrifter

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Probably about that. The number of boats licenced by CRT is about 32000 to 34000 I think, but some of those are not narrow, and some narrow boats won't have a CRT licence, either because they're evading it or are on other waters where they don't need one. So 30000 sounds about right.

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54 minutes ago, TheGrifter said:

Anyone any idea how many narrowboats there are in the UK or how to get a reasonable estimate? 

Try the obvious google 'number of canal boats'. . . 

However, you will struggle to get the answer to your actual question as these numbers include boats of all widths (and lengths) which, on CaRT waters will include quite a few wide beam boats (ie not narrowboats) whilst on other navigations an even higher proportion will be cruisers that are wider than narrowboats.

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1 hour ago, Peter X said:

Probably about that. The number of boats licenced by CRT is about 32000 to 34000 I think, but some of those are not narrow, and some narrow boats won't have a CRT licence, either because they're evading it or are on other waters where they don't need one. So 30000 sounds about right.

And a fair percentage of boats licenced by CRT won't be either narrowboats or fat narrowboats.

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As the OP specifically said 'narrowboats in the UK', and not on C&RT waters, all of the Navigation Authorities need to be considered.

There were 88,267* (in the 2008 survey by AINA) boats registered on the Inland Waterways, of which

72331 were 'powered'

15024 were 'unpowered'

Balance of 'others'

No breakdown is provided by 'type'.

 

* BW accounted for 32,604 in total

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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Any answer to the OP's question has to be an educated guess based upon the limited statistics available and a knowledge of the types of craft commonly seen on the waters of the various Navigation Authorities. My estimate of 30000 was based upon narrow boats being the great majority of the boats registered by CRT but very much a minority of the other 55,000 or so. For example there must be many thousands of powered boats on the Thames which are not CRT registered, but the overwhelming majority of those will be either widebeams or GRP boats wider than 7 feet. A [very] few of those 'unpowered' boats could be narrow boats. Also the definition of "Inland Waterways" probably includes the Norfolk Broads and various miscellaneous rivers not connected to the canals, where there will be very few narrow boats.

For the above reasons I should add that the 30000 comes with quite a margin of error; I think the true figure might be a few thousand either side of that.

This might not be the question the OP meant to ask, but we've answered the question as it stands.

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1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

So are you going to send the corrections in?

Amazing growth 

In 2006 BW had 27,000 boats registered (Wikipedia) but just 12 months later they had 32,604 (Association Of Inland Navigation Authorities - Boat Statistics)

 

The information on Wikipedia is only as good as the person providing it wants it to be

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This came up recently in CRT meetings I attend.

CRT do not actually know the split between narrow boats and those of a wider beam.

This is because until recently although their system could record the width of a boat, there has been no requirement for people licensing the boats to provide it, or for it to be accurate if they do.

They are now trying to record correct information on renewals, but are not far enough through that cycle to yet have accurate data.

I'm sure if you exclude boats over 7 foot nominal beam, and  also all boats that are not of (usully steel) narrow boat style the total number on CRT waterways will be a lot less than the 30,000 guess already made.  My hunch (nothing more!) is 20,000 to 25,000 actual "narrow" boats with CRT licences.

I also suspect, as the CRT licensing review looks set to possibly produce licensing charges based on length times width, rather than just length (as currently), that some owners with wider boats may be "economical with the truth" when CRT ask them to tell them the width!

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1 hour ago, alan_fincher said:

 

I also suspect, as the CRT licensing review looks set to possibly produce licensing charges based on length times width, rather than just length (as currently), that some owners with wider boats may be "economical with the truth" when CRT ask them to tell them the width!

Depends on how clever they are with banding (if any). People may be economical with the truth regarding length but if the bands are set astutely, it takes quite a bit of negative exaggeration to gain a benefit. (Must be one of the few places when people brag about how small they are rather than how large!)

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I wouldn't disagree with Alan Fincher's estimate, because (1) he specifies CRT licensed boats only and (2) in estimating 30000 on all waters, I wasn't sure whether I was including boats of 7 foot beam or less but not generally considered to be a narrow boat, particularly anything with a plastic hull. Probably I was. CRT's efforts to collect information to classify boats will perhaps need to rely on some clear questions. The beam is clear enough, either the boat can get across the north/south divide or it can't, but people might not agree on an exact definition of what is a "narrow boat". They could get seriously bogged down in debate if they try to classify boats in a more detailed way; I can just picture a bunch of CRT people in a meeting in a Milton Keynes office debating what constitutes a "barge".

If owners of wide beam boats start claiming to be narrow, maybe a sceptical CRT will try to impose a new movement restriction on them, that the boat must have turned up at a canal side office in Birmingham to be licensed. This could tick a heritage box, they could restore one of the toll island huts on the New Main Line for the purpose. OK, I know, it might be more practical to send out an inspector to measure the boat's beam, but a toll island hut would be more fun.

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4 minutes ago, Peter X said:

but people might not agree on an exact definition of what is a "narrow boat".

Why not just use the 'legal' definition from the 1965 Bye-Laws

Definition of Terms
2. In these Bye-laws, except so far as the context otherwise
requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby
respectively assigned to them, that is to say –

......................

........................

“narrow canal boat” means a vessel having a beam of less than seven feet six inches.

........................

 

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