March of the Widebeams

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

You said ......" Buckingham Canal Society, especially if one of their number belted a boater as has been suggested".

 

there is a very big distance between what I said and you said.

It could have been the other way round and the Narrowboat owner panning the widebeam crew, who knows, or maybe some on just tripped over a mooring line

[Rob-M]

6 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Don't they train volunteers to move their work boats around now

 

Yes there is a CRT volunteer boat moving team that move work boats around.

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, Rob-M said:

Yes there is a CRT volunteer boat moving team that move work boats around.

That's what I thought

[matty40s]

7 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

It could have been the other way round and the Narrowboat owner panning the widebeam crew, who knows, or maybe some on just tripped over a mooring line

This is more what actually happened, the NB owner and his partner are very well known to the local police, having a history of domestic abuse attendances (50/50 apparently, she's as bad as he is).

However, the damage to the boat was caused by the inability of the pusher tug steerer to control his vessel and see ahead. The NB owner was in the correct place in the channel, and at the time of impact, there were no observers on the front of the workboat.

Edited July 23, 2020 by matty40s

[ditchcrawler]

Just wait until you meet this on the North Oxford https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/2020/collingwood-galactica-3697608/?utm_source=newsnow&utm_medium=paid-feed&utm_campaign=rubrikk_group

[Alan de Enfield]

32 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Just wait until you meet this on the North Oxford https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/2020/collingwood-galactica-3697608/?utm_source=newsnow&utm_medium=paid-feed&utm_campaign=rubrikk_group

They didn't last long as 'boaters'

 

This is the ultimate in wide beam luxury with no expense spared and is probably the most luxurious Wide Beam that we have seen to date with numerous extras that add to the creature comforts as well as making the boat non reliant upon shore power. This is the 8th boat built by these two talented designers and builders and this one is their own boat, which they have been living on since being launched in July 2020. 

 

Please note that the Boat is not Vat paid 

Edited July 30, 2020 by Alan de Enfield

[Athy]

That's a brave attempt to rethink the shape and design of canal boats (or "Whitefield Syndrome". It's not unpleasing to the eye and notb as technologically extreme as 'Whitefield', but I can foresee problems:

- with no front deck, tricky when coming in to moor (you'd have to jump off the roof I suppose).

- With a high electrical specification, I hope it has a massive bank of batteries to provide enough electricity.

 

I don't think you'll see it on the North Oxford, as it's currently in Manchester and couldn't get on to the Oxford without being craned out and transported (That said, I'm not sure that the description mentions the beam).

11 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

They didn't last long as 'boaters'

 

...... their own boat, which they have been living on since being launched in July 2020. 

Yes, I noticed that, and took it as an indication of how long the brokers thank they'll have to run the advert for before someone stumps up a quarter-million.

[Naughty Cal]

Also for sale via York Marina

 

https://www.yorkmarina.co.uk/boats-for-sale/boat/?Make=Custom&Model=58-x-12-6-Galactica-IN-BUILD&BoatID=7329221

 

I don't dislike it.

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, Athy said:

With a high electrical specification, I hope it has a massive bank of batteries to provide enough electricity.

 

Not quite sure how they can say ".......making the boat non reliant upon shore power" when it has neither Solar panels or a generator (according to the detailed specification)

[Naughty Cal]

2 minutes ago, Athy said:

That's a brave attempt to rethink the shape and design of canal boats (or "Whitefield Syndrome". It's not unpleasing to the eye and notb as technologically extreme as 'Whitefield', but I can foresee problems:

- with no front deck, tricky when coming in to moor (you'd have to jump off the roof I suppose).

- With a high electrical specification, I hope it has a massive bank of batteries to provide enough electricity.

 

I don't think you'll see it on the North Oxford, as it's currently in Manchester and couldn't get on to the Oxford without being craned out and transported (That said, I'm not sure that the description mentions the beam).

Or step off the stern to get the bow line which is what we do with our boat. The only time we moor from the bow is when mooring against a high wall.

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, Naughty Cal said:

Also for sale via York Marina

 

https://www.yorkmarina.co.uk/boats-for-sale/boat/?Make=Custom&Model=58-x-12-6-Galactica-IN-BUILD&BoatID=7329221

 

I don't dislike it.

Baby brother to the other one, this ones only 58 x 12

[Naughty Cal]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Baby brother to the other one, this ones only 58 x 12

Sister surely?

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, Naughty Cal said:

Sister surely?

Something that big and ugly could not be female !

[Athy]

2 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

Or step off the stern to get the bow line which is what we do with our boat. The only time we moor from the bow is when mooring against a high wall.

Yes, but yours is a different shape from mine, if you'll pardon the expression. Many people jump off at the bows when bringing a narrowboat in to the side. (Yes O.K., this isn't a narrowboat, but you get my drift).

 

I note that the one in your post is different from the one in Manchester: note window layout for example.

[Naughty Cal]

9 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Baby brother to the other one, this ones only 58 x 12

I don't mind it. It is certainly something a bit different and would be fine cruising the Midlands rivers.

7 minutes ago, Athy said:

Yes, but yours is a different shape from mine, if you'll pardon the expression. Many people jump off at the bows when bringing a narrowboat in to the side. (Yes O.K., this isn't a narrowboat, but you get my drift).

 

I note that the one in your post is different from the one in Manchester: note window layout for example.

Yes. Same builder different size.

[Athy]

5 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

 

Yes. Same builder different size.

Very slightly - there's only a foot difference in length. I was referring to one having a long lounge window and the other having portholes.

Looking again at the side views, perhaps one has a "reverse" layout and the other doesn't.

Edited July 30, 2020 by Athy

[haggis]

That's the boat we met in Sale a couple of weeks ago! Wonder how long the glass "hut" at the stern will last

 

haggis

[Alan de Enfield]

17 minutes ago, Athy said:

Very slightly - there's only a foot difference in length. I was referring to one having a long lounge window and the other having portholes.

Looking again at the side views, perhaps one has a "reverse" layout and the other doesn't.

2 feet shorter and 6" narrower.

There is a big difference in a 12 foot beam and a 12' 6" beam.

 

6" does matter !!

[Hudds Lad]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

Just wait until you meet this on the North Oxford https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/2020/collingwood-galactica-3697608/?utm_source=newsnow&utm_medium=paid-feed&utm_campaign=rubrikk_group

i'd often wondered what happened to the Disco Volante

[IanD]

It is a radical rethink, but some of the objections are basically "it's not a narrowboat" (can't jump off at the bows, glass wheelhouse, lots of electric/batteries...) -- it's not and isn't targeted at the same market or usage.

 

If you're going to have a big wideboat like this getting rid of the open bow space makes a lot of sense, since you don't then need gunwales it's got more space inside, having the enclosed stern also gives a lot more internal space, and if you want to sit outside for dinner do it on the roof where there's loads of space not in a cramped bow or stern. It all makes sense if you start from a clean sheet of paper instead of trying to stretch a narrowboat and keep the same ways of operating it.

 

Yes you could say it's basically a posh flat on the water (or an inland waterways mini-superyacht), but if you want the space I think it looks far better than the hideous fat "wide-narrowboats", as well as being more practical -- and presumably more seaworthy if you want to go out on the lumpy bits.

 

I think it's a brave attempt to do a 12' wideboat which is different and in many ways better, it'll be interesting to see if they're a commercial success or not...

Edited July 30, 2020 by IanD

[Mike Todd]

1 hour ago, Athy said:

Yes, but yours is a different shape from mine, if you'll pardon the expression. Many people jump off at the bows when bringing a narrowboat in to the side. (Yes O.K., this isn't a narrowboat, but you get my drift).

 

I note that the one in your post is different from the one in Manchester: note window layout for example.

Indeed. Mooring alongside a the towpath which is of certain depth it makes sense to bring the bow in before more gently easing in the stern. Even so, I have managed to write off a prop on a large edging stone that seemed to been tipped in by an annoyed neighbour (why buy a house next to a canal if you hate them so much?)

 

There have been plenty of times when we need to take whatever mooring offered itself and it was only possible to get the bow close enough to step off readily, mooring eventually with a gang plank.

[IanD]

36 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

Indeed. Mooring alongside a the towpath which is of certain depth it makes sense to bring the bow in before more gently easing in the stern. Even so, I have managed to write off a prop on a large edging stone that seemed to been tipped in by an annoyed neighbour (why buy a house next to a canal if you hate them so much?)

 

There have been plenty of times when we need to take whatever mooring offered itself and it was only possible to get the bow close enough to step off readily, mooring eventually with a gang plank.

Agreed completely -- but how often is a boat like that ever going to be trying to moor up on a shallow silted-up canal edge full of rocks? Many other boats (cruisers and yacht-style boats) don't have an open bow that you can jump off either and they seem to manage. It's not a narrowboat -- I wouldn't be surprised if it not only had a bow thruster but also a stern one, and I bet it hasn't got a weed hatch -- so don't apply narrowboat thinking to it ?

 

I imagine you'd get a similar reaction (oh dear, it's HIDEOUS!) if you want onto a forum for glassfibre canal/river cruisers and showed them something different that they'd never seen before, like an ugly flat-bottomed straight-sided 70' x 7' steel tube with all the hydrodynamics of a brick -- just imagine the objections...

Edited July 30, 2020 by IanD

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, IanD said:

I wouldn't be surprised if it not only had a bow thruster but also a stern one,

The description says that it does.

[Rob-M]

4 minutes ago, IanD said:

Agreed completely -- but how often is a boat like that ever going to be trying to moor up on a shallow silted-up canal edge full of rocks? Many other boats (cruisers and yacht-style boats) don't have an open bow that you can jump off either and they seem to manage. It's not a narrowboat -- I wouldn't be surprised if it not only had a bow thruster but also a stern one, and I bet it hasn't got a weed hatch -- so don't apply narrowboat thinking to it ?

 

I imagine you'd get a similar reaction (oh dear, it's HIDEOUS!) if you want onto a forum for glassfibre canal/river cruisers and showed them something different that they'd never seen before, like a flat-bottomed straight-sided 70' x 7' steel tube with all the hydrodynamics of a brick -- just imagine the objections...

The problem is though people buy these things and then expect to travel along a canal built 200 years ago for a 70' x 7' flat bottomed, straight sided boat.

[IanD]

Just now, Rob-M said:

The problem is though people buy these things and then expect to travel along a canal built 200 years ago for a 70' x 7' flat bottomed, straight sided boat.

Which is a generalised problem with some wideboat owners, certainly not all.

 

Doesn't change the fact that if you want a boat with more space (and have deep pockets), this is probably a better option than a "fatty-narrowboat".