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March of the Widebeams

cuthound

By cuthound
in General Boating

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Captain Pegg Veteran

Captain Pegg

Posted
Posted (edited)
9 minutes ago, noddyboater said:

My point was it was less than an hour to the marina, with no more locks and not difficult in the dark.

As they were marina staff involved in the move there wouldn't have been an issue in where to leave it etc. It's also well lit once inside the marina area.

With freezing conditions forecast I'd have got it there rather than abandoning it so near.


They must have had some reason to want to leave it there. One that you nor I know.

 

Perhaps they lived nearby, or had left a car nearby, or had pre-arranged a lift from someone from that location having not been sure as to whether they would make it in time back to the marina.

 

Or quite simply they may not have had unlimited time to complete the journey on that day because they had another engagement or a partner had to go to work or one of them had some childcare duties. You know, stuff that normal working folk have to accommodate in their schedule. Or maybe you don’t?
 

It doesn’t matter and if they’d gone 50m further we’d neither know nor care. Perhaps they had no mooring pins so they chose to leave it on the bollards.

Edited by Captain Pegg
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noddyboater Rising Star

noddyboater

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Captain Pegg said:


They must have had some reason to want to leave it there. One that you nor I know.

 

Perhaps they lived nearby, or had left a car nearby, or had pre-arranged a lift from someone from that location having not been sure as to whether they would make it in time back to the marina.

 

Or quite simply they may not have had unlimited time to complete the journey on that day because they had another engagement or a partner had to go to work or one of them had some childcare duties. You know, stuff that normal working folk have to accommodate in their schedule. Or maybe you don’t?
 

It doesn’t matter and if they’d gone 50m further we’d neither know nor care. Perhaps they had no mooring pins so they chose to leave it on the bollards.

Yes, of course I have things that I have to accommodate in my schedule.

But I, and I'm guessing nor you, would have left it on the lock landing restricting the canal.

You can suggest an array of scenarios but It's just lazy and ignorant.

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Captain Pegg Veteran

Captain Pegg

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, noddyboater said:

Yes, of course I have things that I have to accommodate in my schedule.

But I, and I'm guessing nor you, would have left it on the lock landing restricting the canal.

You can suggest an array of scenarios but It's just lazy and ignorant.

 

That's a different issue as to why it was left reasonably close to the final destination, which I think is far more rational than how they have moored it.

 

Given that it would have been so easy to put it on the piled length I wouldn't be surprised if they had no nappy pins or stakes. It happens sometimes. I picked up a boat this past week that had no pins and my client expressed surprise I didn't carry my own. Well I can't carry a full set of everything I might need and if you've got ropes you'll find a way to moor somehow. Ultimately though the skipper is responsible for the boat and it's equipment and should have just put the rope through the waling on the piling. That would be OK for one night. I had to do that with my own boat last week because of the design of piling and the lack of anywhere else to moor. That was on a length with no mooring signs too. Sometimes circumstance dictates.

 

1 hour ago, magnetman said:

They may have had negative feedback around moving through the ice and didn't fancy the row of boats. 

 

I spent Friday breaking ice. Another thing to add to my list of 'crimes'. I was greeted by three moored boaters. None of them was concerned by the potential damage to their blacking and all seemed interested to observe a boat breaking ice. Thankfully some people get that canals are there for boating. 

 

 

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IanD Veteran II

IanDDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

 

That's a different issue as to why it was left reasonably close to the final destination, which I think is far more rational than how they have moored it.

 

Given that it would have been so easy to put it on the piled length I wouldn't be surprised if they had no nappy pins or stakes. It happens sometimes. I picked up a boat this past week that had no pins and my client expressed surprise I didn't carry my own. Well I can't carry a full set of everything I might need and if you've got ropes you'll find a way to moor somehow. Ultimately though the skipper is responsible for the boat and it's equipment and should have just put the rope through the waling on the piling. That would be OK for one night. I had to do that with my own boat last week because of the design of piling and the lack of anywhere else to moor. That was on a length with no mooring signs too. Sometimes circumstance dictates.

 

I spent Friday breaking ice. Another thing to add to my list of 'crimes'. I was greeted by three moored boaters. None of them was concerned by the potential damage to their blacking and all seemed interested to observe a boat breaking ice. Thankfully some people get that canals are there for boating. 

 

 

If you do a *lot* of icebreaking in thick ice you can have problems. When we brought Baron back from Cosgrove to Broxbourne at Xmas 1986 we were breaking thick ice (about an inch or so?) for most of the way. By the time we got back the bilge pump was running regularly, it turned out the ice had worn off the rivet heads on the bows (rivetted iron hull). The boat was moored up at Easter waiting for repairs when the power went off and the boatyard didn't notice, it sank to the bottom -- roof underwater -- with all Kate and Snowy's possessions on board... 😞

 

This was an extreme case though, "normal" icebreaking is very unlikely to cause any real damage except maybe to blacking -- and mostly on the boat doing it, not moored ones it passes.

Edited by IanD
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Graham and Jo Proficient

Graham and JoDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, David Mack said:

And the Slough Arm has lengths that are successively wide and narrow?

On this map I think that means broad canal which is unnavigable perhaps? 

 

Let's throw this into the pot, a map from a BW guide of 1966.

 

GU north of Berkhamsted - narrow

 

Slough arm wide 

 

L&L - wide

 

Caldon missing 

 

Cheers Graham

IMG_20231211_171010.jpg

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Up-Side-Down Rising Star

Up-Side-DownDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
39 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

And in 1973 My Inland Cruising Guide for "Larger Craft" suggests that boats up to 14 feet beam can get all the way into Birmingham.

Produced by Stanfords with help from the IWA

 

20231211-173459-1.jpg

 

20231211-173909-1.jpg

 

image.png.461ca715627b648df9008534f0c40398.png

They perhaps hadn't visited Blue Lias Road Bridge 23 at the bottom of the Stockton Flight. Or else something has moved .........

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Alan de Enfield Veteran II

Alan de Enfield

Posted
Posted (edited)
26 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Someone has just had their widebeam surveyed to see if its VAT exempt compliant, it was, just. In water assessment, systems check & VAT... - Marsurv Marine Surveys | Notifications | Facebook

 

 

Just wondering why the owner would want / need a VAT dimensional check doing on a 4 year old boat, Presumably there was a declaration made at the time of the sale.

Being on Facebook I cannot see any backstory - is any thing mentioned as to why ?

 

 

Just for the clarification, for any one in doubt, there is a huge difference in the calculation of the "Gross Tonnage" for VAT purposes and the 'Weight in Tonnes" for crane lifting purposes.

 

The VAT 'Gross Tonnage' is a volume based calculation originally based on how many "Tuns" (a large cask containing 252 gallons of liquid) could fit into the hold.

 

Guide To VAT Free / Exempt Widebeams | Canal Boats | Narrowboats (thefitoutpontoon.co.uk)

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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ditchcrawler Veteran II

ditchcrawlerDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Being on Facebook I cannot see any backstory - is any thing mentioned as to why ?

 

 

No, only the surveyor agreeing with me the owner was very pleased it was OK. 

This post shows the facebook group for swapping moorings 

(1) Chris Bennett - And some people wonder why I think it’s all going... | Facebook

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Alan de Enfield Veteran II

Alan de Enfield

Posted
Posted (edited)
35 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

No, only the surveyor agreeing with me the owner was very pleased it was OK. 

This post shows the facebook group for swapping moorings 

(1) Chris Bennett - And some people wonder why I think it’s all going... | Facebook

 

And, for many years the 'mooring swap' arrangement has been denied, even on this forum.

 

I remember a post where someone was cruising into London, found an empty spot and 'pulled in', when a few minutes later a boater stopped and said they were in his mooring - he told the moored boat that he had arranged a swap with a friend at a certain time, and now he had taken it - it got very nasty.

 

A couple of respondees seem to have a good handle on these CMers :

 

Neil Fraser
That must be for when there not broken down

 

Ritchard Jukes

Well that's just silly. Far easier to just swap index numbers
Edited by Alan de Enfield
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Hudds Lad Influencer

Hudds LadDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

On the subject of widebeams, recently looking at boats on the Duck purely for fun and came across this unique specimen

https://narrowboats.apolloduck.com/boat/starline-60-widebeam-for-sale/745756

As you're such an esoteric lot, can anyone explain the mirror with the picture on it containing a playing card in an unusual place? :D 

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Jon57 Rising Star

Jon57Donate to Canal World

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

On the subject of widebeams, recently looking at boats on the Duck purely for fun and came across this unique specimen

https://narrowboats.apolloduck.com/boat/starline-60-widebeam-for-sale/745756

As you're such an esoteric lot, can anyone explain the mirror with the picture on it containing a playing card in an unusual place? :D 

Better if it was ace of spades. 😁

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