March of the Widebeams

[ditchcrawler]

Who needs tumblehome or taper the roof in at the bows on a widebeam

[frangar]

Just now, ditchcrawler said:

Who needs tumblehome or taper the roof in at the bows on a widebeam

What do you mean??....they do have tumblehome....it just goes the wrong way!!...out from the hull to a wider roof...who thought that was a good idea...not the many bridges and tunnels that are missing brickwork thats for sure!

[Sea Dog]

14 minutes ago, peterboat said:

It depends who makes the boat, some narrowboats really do look like sewer tubes! Some fat boats look like they are bricks! However some boats of both sizes have the correct proportions and shape to be things of beauty, as Johnathan Wilson says curves cost money so Johnathan made my fat boat curvy and she is lovely and very spacious inside 

You make a good point Peter, although even a good looking fatty can't help but be a nuisance on the "wrong" waterway. Clearly though, that works both ways and long but skinny narrowboats would be just as big a nuisance taking up inappropriate lengths of jetty on, say, the Norfolk Broads.

[johnmck]

There are several "Fat Boats" in North Kilworth marina!

The furthest they can ever travel is mooring to marina services and back.

[Sea Dog]

30 minutes ago, johnmck said:

There are several "Fat Boats" in North Kilworth marina!

The furthest they can ever travel is mooring to marina services and back.

On the other hand, they pay a licence and mooring fees yet don't cause wear and tear on the system or block the navigation. Sounds like a "win-win" to me!

[zenataomm]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

On the other hand, they pay a licence and mooring fees yet don't cause wear and tear on the system or block the navigation. Sounds like a "win-win" to me!

Unless of course, the powers that be decide it's the way forward ..... for all of us!

 

I remember when Waterways first tried to introduce the concept of there being a boating season!  We almost had riots in Braunston. 

Hoards marching on Willow Grange in Watford waving pitchforks, a Springer carried shoulder high to Downing Street to be sacrificed on the doorstep of number 10.

 

Waterways World headlines warned if this nonsense wasn't nipped in the bud  immediately we'd lose all year works & maintenance and all be accepting of only untying our boats between March and October ..... a totally unacceptable situation.

And now?

You hear it all the time everywhere.

Be warned.

[ditchcrawler]

11 minutes ago, zenataomm said:

 

 

Waterways World headlines warned if this nonsense wasn't nipped in the bud  immediately we'd lose all year works & maintenance and all be accepting of only untying our boats between March and October ..... a totally unacceptable situation.

And now?

 

Its getting more like October and March

[peterboat]

19 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Who needs tumblehome or taper the roof in at the bows on a widebeam

I have tumblehome  tapered in sides and wide gunwales on my boat looks right which matters to me

[matty40s]

How can this be fun..bowthruster to go round corners and wife having to dangle a large white fender all the way round to keep the boat off the piling.

Mooring up was even more or a chore.

[frangar]

2 minutes ago, matty40s said:

How can this be fun..bowthruster to go round corners and wife having to dangle a large white fender all the way round to keep the boat off the piling.

Mooring up was even more or a chore.

Are they trying to moor up ?? 

[matty40s]

3 minutes ago, frangar said:

Are they trying to moor up ?? 

They toddled round the corner and moored at the services ...getting off the boat was not in the mooring plan ,throw the rope to the staff and then reverse in hopefully.

[haggis]

It's not just wide beams who use bow thrusters. I saw one recently being used to get out of a lock. It was a narrow boat in a narrow lock! The sound is a bit of a giveaway. The whole boat was still in the lock when the whirring started. I had a wee smile!

 

haggis

[frangar]

15 minutes ago, matty40s said:

They toddled round the corner and moored at the services ...getting off the boat was not in the mooring plan ,throw the rope to the staff and then reverse in hopefully.

Perhaps a superyacht was their last boat & they had crew…would explain the fender dangling too…plastic boats love a bit of that!  

1 minute ago, haggis said:

It's not just wide beams who use bow thrusters. I saw one recently being used to get out of a lock. It was a narrow boat in a narrow lock! The sound is a bit of a giveaway. The whole boat was still in the lock when the whirring started. I had a wee smile!

 

haggis

To be fair my bowthruster can be noisy if I don’t lubricate it with enough tea…..she makes a grumbling sort of noise…..

[Alan de Enfield]

11 minutes ago, frangar said:

Perhaps a superyacht was their last boat & they had crew…would explain the fender dangling too…plastic boats love a bit of that!  

 

 

We do keep a large ball fender on the bow and use it to 'spring-off' the side.

Bring a bow line back to around the centre of the boat and bring it back on-board.

Drive against the line using the fender to 'roll around'

Steer the backend away from the side and you can simply reverse out of your mooring space

Slip the bow spring, recover it and away you go

 

Works on Anorexic or Obese boats, Engine or Sail, GRP or Steel.

 

 

 

[Rob-M]

31 minutes ago, haggis said:

It's not just wide beams who use bow thrusters. I saw one recently being used to get out of a lock. It was a narrow boat in a narrow lock! The sound is a bit of a giveaway. The whole boat was still in the lock when the whirring started. I had a wee smile!

 

haggis

I always have a bit of a smile to myself when I hear the distinctive whirr of a bow thruster.  I watched a boat a few weeks ago as they used the bow thruster to turn in to the marina entrance, then to turn once in the marina and then when reversing in to their mooring.

[peterboat]

35 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

We do keep a large ball fender on the bow and use it to 'spring-off' the side.

Bring a bow line back to around the centre of the boat and bring it back on-board.

Drive against the line using the fender to 'roll around'

Steer the backend away from the side and you can simply reverse out of your mooring space

Slip the bow spring, recover it and away you go

 

Works on Anorexic or Obese boats, Engine or Sail, GRP or Steel.

 

 

 

I sometimes use other boats as fenders especially gin palaces! The problem is owners complain don't know why especially when they have parked in stupid places!

[JamesWoolcock]

5 hours ago, haggis said:

It's not just wide beams who use bow thrusters. I saw one recently being used to get out of a lock. It was a narrow boat in a narrow lock! The sound is a bit of a giveaway. The whole boat was still in the lock when the whirring started. I had a wee smile!

 

haggis

And blowing the jointing put of the lock sides.

Same damage so often done when folks don't know how to leave the side without blasting water into the wash wall.

[blackrose]

5 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

We do keep a large ball fender on the bow and use it to 'spring-off' the side.

Bring a bow line back to around the centre of the boat and bring it back on-board.

Drive against the line using the fender to 'roll around'

Steer the backend away from the side and you can simply reverse out of your mooring space

Slip the bow spring, recover it and away you go

 

Works on Anorexic or Obese boats, Engine or Sail, GRP or Steel.

 

 

Not such a useful technique if you're single handed though. And before someone says it, of course it could still be done, but you'd have to be pretty nimble to control the helm and slip the bow spring by yourself. One mistake and the boat would be all over the shop - like a mad woman's breakfast.

 

6 hours ago, matty40s said:

How can this be fun..bowthruster to go round corners and wife having to dangle a large white fender all the way round to keep the boat off the piling.

Mooring up was even more or a chore.

 

 

But that's all about the lack of ability of the steerers rather than any intrinsic property of the boat.

 

I recently had a nice cruise down the Nene on my widebeam for a few days and it was great.

 

 

Edited June 19, 2021 by blackrose

[blackrose]

5 hours ago, haggis said:

It's not just wide beams who [don't know how to use] use bow thrusters. I saw one recently being used to get out of a lock. It was a narrow boat in a narrow lock! The sound is a bit of a giveaway. The whole boat was still in the lock when the whirring started. I had a wee smile!

 

haggis

 

[ditchcrawler]

5 hours ago, haggis said:

It's not just wide beams who use bow thrusters. I saw one recently being used to get out of a lock. It was a narrow boat in a narrow lock! The sound is a bit of a giveaway. The whole boat was still in the lock when the whirring started. I had a wee smile!

 

haggis

That was not unusual when we moored at the top of the Napton flight

[zenataomm]

5 hours ago, peterboat said:

I sometimes use other boats as fenders especially gin palaces! The problem is owners complain don't know why especially when they have parked in stupid places!

The only time I went on the Thames, I became very angry with the owner of such a boat in Teddington lock.  His big sausage shaped fender stole my fresh blacking and applied it to his hull.  He glared down at me from his flying bridge, pretending to be puzzled as to why I was wittering away at him and pointing at his hull some 12 feet beneath him.

[matty40s]

57 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

That was not unusual when we moored at the top of the Napton flight

Did you have problems mooring then.....??

[matty40s]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

 

But that's all about the lack of ability of the steerers rather than any intrinsic property of the boat.

 

I recently had a nice cruise down the Nene on my widebeam for a few days and it was great.

 

 

I'm glad you had a good trip down the Nene, a river very suited to large width craft like yours....we are hoping to be down there next month as we only have the 17 CRT locks is to worry about failing like everything else on the system.

Steering a 14ft wide monstrosity at less than 1mph is difficult even for an experienced skipper, never mind someone who has just retired to their ill thought out travel plan.

Edited June 19, 2021 by matty40s

[ditchcrawler]

7 hours ago, matty40s said:

How can this be fun..bowthruster to go round corners and wife having to dangle a large white fender all the way round to keep the boat off the piling.

Mooring up was even more or a chore.

The lady on the one I saw was hanging over the right hand side watching

[matty40s]

10 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

The lady on the one I saw was hanging over the right hand side watching

You mean like...