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March of the Widebeams


cuthound

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We are on the Coventry Canal at the moment and the bridge holes are all quite wide, so I am wondering what the original gauge was from Coventry to the top of Atherstone and down the Ashby, I know the Ashby at Marston Junction is now narrow but I understand that in a modern change

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There's a massive grey boat being fitted out in Berko at the moment. I wish I'd taken a pic of it moored almost opposite the water point at the Shell garage. I ended up moving it north a couple of hundred feet as I wanted to wind in the wee feeder(?) channel there - which was completely impossible with the thing moored oppo.

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Since we last saw this behemoth ten days or so ago

, just onto the South Oxford,  it has reversed and is now heading towards Braunston. The canal is wider, but  it still illustrates just how unsuitable these craft are for most British canals, even those deigned to be wide.

IMG_20190911_121036.jpg

IMG_20190911_121130.jpg

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I think that's the one which passed us somewhere on the N. Oxford a week or so ago. I was down below as O.C. Kettle at the time so I only saw it receding into the distance. Mrs. Athy's comment was "How on earth does it get through the bridges and, thinking of the "interesting" angle of some of those bridges, I wonder how it does. Although modern it is surely not contactless.

On 04/09/2019 at 16:24, ditchcrawler said:

We are on the Coventry Canal at the moment and the bridge holes are all quite wide, so I am wondering what the original gauge was from Coventry to the top of Atherstone and down the Ashby, I know the Ashby at Marston Junction is now narrow but I understand that in a modern change

The bridge on the Cov main line immediately before Marston Junction is very narrow - probably the narrowest which we encountered on our recent Cropredy-Shackerstone trip. It doesn't look like a modern rebuild, so would all the Cov bridges originally have been as tight?

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14 hours ago, johnmck said:

Since we last saw this behemoth ten days or so ago

, just onto the South Oxford,  it has reversed and is now heading towards Braunston. The canal is wider, but  it still illustrates just how unsuitable these craft are for most British canals, even those deigned to be wide.

IMG_20190911_121036.jpg

IMG_20190911_121130.jpg

Still there yesterday loosely moored

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1 hour ago, Athy said:

I notice that it has wheel steering where I would have expected  a tiller. Is this usual on such craft?

Becoming increasingly so, unfortunately.

In my experience those steering one with a wheel tend to do a lot worse job than those with a tiller.

Not universally so, but if I see a wheel steered one I'm usually a lot more cautious, and it is very often right to be so.

The wider the wide beam, the greater the chance of the wheel, it seems to me as well.

 

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5 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

Becoming increasingly so, unfortunately.

In my experience those steering one with a wheel tend to do a lot worse job than those with a tiller.

Not universally so, but if I see a wheel steered one I'm usually a lot more cautious, and it is very often right to be so.

The wider the wide beam, the greater the chance of the wheel, it seems to me as well.

 

Thanks.

We hire a wheel-steered boat, a pénichette, for a week each year and it's lovely, but there is a delay in the response to the steering. Fortunately there is usually more room for error on French canals!

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31 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

Becoming increasingly so, unfortunately.

In my experience those steering one with a wheel tend to do a lot worse job than those with a tiller.

Not universally so, but if I see a wheel steered one I'm usually a lot more cautious, and it is very often right to be so.

The wider the wide beam, the greater the chance of the wheel, it seems to me as well.

 

Ah but they have bow thrusters to compensate - seen one steering principally with them!

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16 minutes ago, frangar said:

Agreed!! If we can get them all off unsuitable canals life will be better for all concerned. 

 

I left the canals 10 years ago of my own accord for far better places. Very happy to leave the stagnant ditches to you lot.

Edited by blackrose
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1 hour ago, blackrose said:

 

How is it illustrating that exactly? It looks like you've got plenty of room to get through. Have you not got the hang of steering yet? Even a pair of narrow boats brested up could get through that gap.

 

If someone had moored a pair of narrow boats there would you be complaining? I see plenty brested up boats moored in similar places. 

 

If widebeams don't move from their moorings you lot complain, if they do move you complain. In truth most people aren't inconvenienced by widebeams, they  just don't like them because they're not narrowboats! I used to get slagged off by narrow minded narrow boaters 15 years ago, not for getting in anyone's way, but just for having a widebeam. Back then there were far fewer widebeams, which indicates to me it's nothing to do with causing any obstruction. Some narrow boaters on this forum are just moaners and then the are others who feel encouraged to join in. It's a miserable mob mentality. Their favourite pastime isn't really boating, it's moaning. 

 

Carry on everyone! ? I'll stay on the rivers.

I think I said the same a while ago, I am happy to be on northern waters for proper boats shame that skis keep on visiting ?

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On 03/09/2019 at 02:45, billS said:

That boat has also an overhanging deck plate, which is high enough and wide enough to scratch a narrowboat cabin sides if one does come into contact with it.

Why is it only people with narrow boats complaining about difficulty passing widebeams? Do widebeams never pass each other? If so how do they manage it without having to post on forums? Asking for a friend ?

 

I agree some people are very inconsiderate when mooring but that is a separate subject. Perhaps some canal banks need to have narrow beam only mooring or only widebeam mooring sections? (widebeam sections only to not use up that space with narrow beams when there are other suitable sections close by) I'll get the popcorn ready.

Edited by jakk
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As someone who is about to open a new chapter in my life living and cruising in the northern waterways on a 57x12 Widebeam reading all the negativity towards such craft would put a lot of new to boating folk off the idea for sure. Now I’m sure there are those owners of Widebeam boats who give little or no consideration to others using the waterways but I’m sure equally there are as many narrowboat owners who likewise think ONLY of themselves with poor lock/bridge etiquette and morning in a way that does not leave enough room for another boat to get moored between them and the next boat. I follow many of the established YouTube narrowboat guys who are posting regular Vlogs documenting their narrowboat experiences on a weekly basis and to date not once has any of them expressed any issues with Widebeam boats but ALL have mentioned issues with fellow narrowboat owners. With all things in life there will always be inconsiderate people who think they own everything around them and to hell with anyone who dares to challenge that. 

I intend cruising the waterways my boat is designed for and I accept not being a narrowboat I’ll miss a lot of the beautiful canals this country has to offer. I am in no rush to get to anywhere so will be happy to allow others to go ahead of me if their in such a need to do so. There is a lot of beautiful waterways here in the U.K. we just need to educate boat owners Narrow and Wide that they are there to be enjoyed by us all and we should be considerate of others and embrace the call to the water we all obviously share. 

Its a very typical British thing that owners in one camp will cast their views against owners in another camp just look at car owners who say caravans shouldn’t be allowed on the roads yet caravan owners don’t say the opposite. I’m a shooter and admin on a large forum and even there we have the camp who say using technology on guns shouldn’t be allowed and old iron sights is the ONLY way we should shoot lol.

Despite the negative Widebeam comments I think this is a cracking forum and it gives so much help to ALL boaters I’ll look forward to meeting some of you whilst your queuing behind me whilst I ponder going under a bridge lol. Safe and happy boating to you all.

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I don't think any of us have an issue with widebeams on fat canals - after all, it's what they were built for. We just grumble at general inconsiderateness, although mostly in a slightly exasperated but amused fashion. Isn't that what the internet was invented for? 

Edited by Arthur Marshall
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