March of the Widebeams

[GUMPY]

6 minutes ago, Steilsteven said:

It's about time that someone came up with a name for such craft

 

Fugley boats

 

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, Steilsteven said:

It's about time that someone came up with a name for such craft rather than wide beam,

Narrowboat 'type' where an elephant has sat on it and squashed it such that it has expanded sideways :

Ugly ?

Obese ?

Night soil barge with a lid on ?

 

Yet some 'widebeams' manage to have quite attractive lines and can be 'boat looking', I think it depends on the intention of the builder - if it is simply a 'floating flat' where space maximisation is critical it will be as 'ugly as sin'.

Where boat 'usage' is a consideration there is mor chance it will be more aesthetically pleasing.

 

[Steilsteven]

9 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Narrowboat 'type' where an elephant has sat on it and squashed it such that it has expanded sideways :

Ugly ?

Obese ?

Night soil barge with a lid on ?

 

Yet some 'widebeams' manage to have quite attractive lines and can be 'boat looking', I think it depends on the intention of the builder - if it is simply a 'floating flat' where space maximisation is critical it will be as 'ugly as sin'.

Where boat 'usage' is a consideration there is mor chance it will be more aesthetically pleasing.

 

And all narrow boats are pretty of course? I don't think they are, I've seen some awful designs over the years but the point isn't whether you like them or not.

 

Keith

[Mike Todd]

26 minutes ago, Steilsteven said:

No. just as you can't have a narrowbeam wideboat.

It's about time that someone came up with a name for such craft rather than wide beam, after all narrow boats are only called narrow boats because they appear slender when compared to other craft. Wide boat would be more appropriate as such vessels did ply the southern waterways in horse boating days and were similar in appearance  to narrow boats only wider.

 

Keith

the term 'narrowboat' is really a kind of brand name or technical term rather than especially descriptive. It defines a boat as having a specific set of characteristics such that it can navigate inland waterways (in UK really) - so long as you accept that there are variations arising from the fcat that some of the canals in the network were not built with narrowboats in mind (eg Calder and Hebble)

[tehmarks]

48 minutes ago, Steilsteven said:

No. just as you can't have a narrowbeam wideboat.

Sure you can: squared-off stern, made without recourse to aesthetics or often functionality, look just like the average widebeam but made to the correct dimensions. Guaranteed to be f'ugly.

 

?

Edited December 2, 2020 by tehmarks

[Steilsteven]

4 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

the term 'narrowboat' is really a kind of brand name or technical term rather than especially descriptive. It defines a boat as having a specific set of characteristics such that it can navigate inland waterways (in UK really) - so long as you accept that there are variations arising from the fcat that some of the canals in the network were not built with narrowboats in mind (eg Calder and Hebble)

The term narrowboat is a modern name for narrow boat and it irritates the Hell out of me because of the joining of two separate words for no apparent reason but, sadly, too much time has passed by and it now is part of the English language. Your definition doesn't really hold up because it can be applied to any inland craft ''so long as you accept that there are variations arising from the fact that some of the canals were not built with _____________in mind.''

 

What all that has to do with giving ''wide beams'' a more suitable name is beyond me but there you are.

 

Keith

1 minute ago, tehmarks said:

Sure you can: squared-off stern, made without recourse to aesthetics or often functionality, look just like the average widebeam but made to the correct dimensions. Guaranteed to be f'ugly.

 

?

Eh??

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, Steilsteven said:

The term narrowboat is a modern name for narrow boat and it irritates the Hell out of me because of the joining of two separate words for no apparent reason but, sadly, too much time has passed by and it now is part of the English language. Your definition doesn't really hold up because it can be applied to any inland craft ''so long as you accept that there are variations arising from the fact that some of the canals were not built with _____________in mind.''

 

What all that has to do with giving ''wide beams'' a more suitable name is beyond me but there you are.

 

Keith

Well, the legal definition of a narrowboat / narrow boat is :

 

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

 

maybe we could have a 

 

"wide canal boat" means a vessel having a beam seven feet six inches or greater

[tehmarks]

4 minutes ago, Steilsteven said:

Eh??

Some boats just have nice, aesthetic lines. They look nice, they handle nicely, all of the hardware is in useful places. They look like they're meant to be in the water.

 

Some boats look like someone has built a hut on top of a primitive gravel barge. They look awful. Widebeams remind me of this genre of boat quite often because of the square stern and straight lines you often see. They're f'ugly, and I'd say a narrow boat in this genre is a good candidate for being called a narrowbeam wideboat.

[Athy]

14 hours ago, Steilsteven said:

The term narrowboat is a modern name for narrow boat and it irritates the Hell out of me because of the joining of two separate words for no apparent reason.

In English, this tends to happen over time with pairs of words which are often used together: doorknob, fishcake, raincoat, foredeck and thousands of others. So "narrowboat" simply follows a linguistic trend.

The Germans are far better at creating compound nouns than we are.

[matty40s]

I don't know....poppycock and handjob are fairly descriptive.

[Tam & Di]

15 hours ago, Steilsteven said:

The term narrowboat is a modern name for narrow boat and it irritates the Hell out of me because of the joining of two separate words for no apparent reason but, sadly, too much time has passed by and it now is part of the English language.

Happens in other languages too - take the type of Dutch vessel 'Steilsteven' (Straight stem).  ?

[Up-Side-Down]

On 01/12/2020 at 17:26, ditchcrawler said:

Waterways World says this can get all the way to Birmingham, I think it could prove interesting http://www.denizenworks.com/floating-church

Neither under nor through Blue Lias Bridge methinks!

[Pluto]

16 hours ago, Steilsteven said:

No. just as you can't have a narrowbeam wideboat.

It's about time that someone came up with a name for such craft rather than wide beam, after all narrow boats are only called narrow boats because they appear slender when compared to other craft. Wide boat would be more appropriate as such vessels did ply the southern waterways in horse boating days and were similar in appearance  to narrow boats only wider.

 

Keith

On the MB&BC they were called Bastard boats.

[peterboat]

16 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Narrowboat 'type' where an elephant has sat on it and squashed it such that it has expanded sideways :

Ugly ?

Obese ?

Night soil barge with a lid on ?

 

Yet some 'widebeams' manage to have quite attractive lines and can be 'boat looking', I think it depends on the intention of the builder - if it is simply a 'floating flat' where space maximisation is critical it will be as 'ugly as sin'.

Where boat 'usage' is a consideration there is mor chance it will be more aesthetically pleasing.

 

As Johnathan Wilson says curves cost money so you can't expect to get a Rolls Royce for Mini money! Same for narrowboats I have seen some so ugly that they should be cut up for scrap so they stop offending the eyes ?

[Pluto]

15 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Well, the legal definition of a narrowboat / narrow boat is :

 

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

 

maybe we could have a 

 

"wide canal boat" means a vessel having a beam seven feet six inches or greater

Narrow boats were so called because narrow canals were unusual, and narrower than existing navigations. On those existing navigations, and the canals of similar size, the boats using them were just the local coastal vessels, so there was no need to call them wide. Using terms such as 'flat', 'keel' or 'wherry' would be of more use as that defines more exactly the waterways the boat is designed to use. As I noted before, historically you can call those like a narrow boat but wider, bastard boats.

[Tam & Di]

14 minutes ago, Pluto said:

 As I noted before, historically you can call those like a narrow boat but wider, bastard boats.

That happens with all boats on a day when everything keeps going wrong.  ?

 

Tam

[Steilsteven]

4 hours ago, Tam & Di said:

Happens in other languages too - take the type of Dutch vessel 'Steilsteven' (Straight stem).  ?

Ah but were they ever called steil stevens??

 

Keith

[Steilsteven]

19 hours ago, tehmarks said:

Some boats just have nice, aesthetic lines. They look nice, they handle nicely, all of the hardware is in useful places. They look like they're meant to be in the water.

 

Some boats look like someone has built a hut on top of a primitive gravel barge. They look awful. Widebeams remind me of this genre of boat quite often because of the square stern and straight lines you often see. They're f'ugly, and I'd say a narrow boat in this genre is a good candidate for being called a narrowbeam wideboat.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A narrow beam wide boat ( or more correctly boat ) is usually referred to as a narrow boat or narrowboat. 

 

Keith

[tehmarks]

I was jesting, of course ?

[Athy]

I see that, in their advert in the current 'Canal Boat' Aqualine call their latest widebeam as "unmissable". I'm sure that boaters on the North Oxford and parts of the Grand Union will see the irony in this description.

[Steilsteven]

5 hours ago, Athy said:

I see that, in their advert in the current 'Canal Boat' Aqualine call their latest widebeam as "unmissable". I'm sure that boaters on the North Oxford and parts of the Grand Union will see the irony in this description.

?????

[matty40s]

Well further down the GU, Gradton Regis and then Cosgrove, they almost aren't missable in order to get through the bridges.

Ridiculous mooring.

[peterboat]

6 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Well further down the GU, Gradton Regis and then Cosgrove, they almost aren't missable in order to get through the bridges.

Ridiculous mooring.

Room for a narrow one to get through 

[Jon johan]

21 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Room for a narrow one to get through 

Room for a pair I’d say. 

[frangar]

30 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Well further down the GU, Gradton Regis and then Cosgrove, they almost aren't missable in order to get through the bridges.

Ridiculous mooring.

Send it in to CRT as an example of poor mooring...they really need to get a grip on this...been far too much delaying and letting it occur....Ive no understanding of why fat boats seem drawn to bridgeholes and narrows but they are!