March of the Widebeams

[David Mack]

48 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

The Rochdale and the Leeds Liverpool may very well be wide in theory,

Several of the locks on the Rochdale have come in since the canal was abandoned, and narrow boats cannot share them. So we are never going to see 14ft wide boats on the canal again. And anything over 7ft wide has to prebook the removal of the floating towpath under the M62.

Edited September 14 by David Mack

[TheBiscuits]

5 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Several of the locks on the Rochdale have come in since the canal was abandoned, and narrow boats cannot share them. So we are never going to see 14ft wide boats on the canal again. And anything over 7ft wide has to prebook the removal of the floating towpath under the M62.

 

Someone took a 12 footer across from Manchester last time we were there, which did cause a flurry of concern in the North West office, but they got through.  I agree you couldn't do it in a 14 footer and a 10'6 would be much easier.

 

There are a few fatties near Hebden but they don't go down the western side.

[peterboat]

5 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

 

I understand the point you are trying to make, but I disagree - there are plenty of modern widebeams using the north-west canals every day.  Admittedly I do recommend 57'x12'6" as being a much more sensible size for ease of navigation than 60'x14' but that's mainly due to lock gates not fully opening.

 

As I said above, a lot of modern widebeams actually draw less than narrowboats which can make them more suitable for shallow or poorly dredged canals.  There's a lot of them can and do get into moorings my narrow boat can't get near.

 

Conversely, I helped @DRP bringing L&L Short Boat Ribble up Wigan flight last week, and she still fits (mostly!)  It's a lot easier when she's not carrying 30 tons though! 

 

No dispute that there is more space on the big north-east waterways, but big boats up there are half as wide again as a widebeam, and three times as long!

 

What about the Rochdale? its wide as well but is it wide? I mean it was designed for wide boats and still takes wide boats but is it wide? 🤣

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, peterboat said:

What about the Rochdale? its wide as well but is it wide? I mean it was designed for wide boats and still takes wide boats but is it wide? 🤣

DeanS, formerly of this parish, took his wideboat from Manchester at least as far as Littleborough, but I can't remember now how fat it is.

I imagine the section through Newton Heath where funding restrictions meant they only dredged a narrow channel through the infill could be a problem in a fatty.

[dmr]

3 hours ago, David Mack said:

DeanS, formerly of this parish, took his wideboat from Manchester at least as far as Littleborough, but I can't remember now how fat it is.

I imagine the section through Newton Heath where funding restrictions meant they only dredged a narrow channel through the infill could be a problem in a fatty.

 

I believe the underground lock on the Rochdale 9 has narrowed the channel due to a concrete post? I don't know what the width is here but this is the absolute and imoveable restriction. At least one of the subsided locks are passable with paired narrowboats as long as one is less than full length. We've been through one of them  paired with a 50 footer.

"Hillberry" (aka the Hillbillies 😀) went up and down a couple of times last year and made it look easy but I think they are only ten foot or so,

[Jon57]

6 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

I believe the underground lock on the Rochdale 9 has narrowed the channel due to a concrete post? I don't know what the width is here but this is the absolute and imoveable restriction. At least one of the subsided locks are passable with paired narrowboats as long as one is less than full length. We've been through one of them  paired with a 50 footer.

"Hillberry" (aka the Hillbillies 😀) went up and down a couple of times last year and made it look easy but I think they are only ten foot or so,

No problem for them now they are in Ireland. Fed up with CRT so fancied a change 

[dmr]

16 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

No problem for them now they are in Ireland. Fed up with CRT so fancied a change 

 

Ireland and then Europe was the plan I believe, Ireland looks really good but they don't do 70 footers.

 

I think they went to Ireland because they had to leave the Calder Valley, getting involved with bad people and drinking too much 😀 (I half remember falling over in Todmorden after a little session).

[Jon57]

10 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

Ireland and then Europe was the plan I believe, Ireland looks really good but they don't do 70 footers.

 

I think they went to Ireland because they had to leave the Calder Valley, getting involved with bad people and drinking too much 😀 (I half remember falling over in Todmorden after a little session).

Sound about right. Taught him well.😜