Mac10 Posted May 29, 2018 Report Share Posted May 29, 2018 Hello I'm thinking of launching my 60ft x 12ft wide beam at Watford. Does anyone know if I can navigate from Watford into London - are the locks wide enough please? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer McM Posted May 29, 2018 Report Share Posted May 29, 2018 There's all wide on the Grand Union. Try https://canalplan.org.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi and set the size of your boat, and you'll get all the navigation info you could wish for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac10 Posted May 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2018 Great, thanks. Didn't find it easy to set up but I got there. What I don't want to do is launch then find out I'm stuck. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howardang Posted May 29, 2018 Report Share Posted May 29, 2018 1 hour ago, Mac10 said: Hello I'm thinking of launching my 60ft x 12ft wide beam at Watford. Does anyone know if I can navigate from Watford into London - are the locks wide enough please? Thanks Yet again here is a question from someone who has bought a boat seemingly without knowing anything about what he/she is getting into! I find it incredulous that such a basic question needs to be asked. I suppose I will now be accused of intolerance but really!!!!! Howard 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmr Posted May 29, 2018 Report Share Posted May 29, 2018 20 minutes ago, howardang said: Yet again here is a question from someone who has bought a boat seemingly without knowing anything about what he/she is getting into! I find it incredulous that such a basic question needs to be asked. I suppose I will now be accused of intolerance but really!!!!! Howard Times have changed, I now regret those hundreds of hours spent researching everything about the canals (including extensive towpath walking) before we got a boat ? Was there not a post a while ago asking why water had stopped coming out of the taps on the newly acquired boat ? In a few years time they will either be seasoned boaters or be gone, either way its probably good. ...............Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulJ Posted May 29, 2018 Report Share Posted May 29, 2018 34 minutes ago, howardang said: Yet again here is a question from someone who has bought a boat seemingly without knowing anything about what he/she is getting into! I find it incredulous that such a basic question needs to be asked. I suppose I will now be accused of intolerance but really!!!!! Howard Well you have to at least give them credit for asking before it got put in the water. Personally I knew even less when I got my first boat and have never looked back.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Hurley Posted May 29, 2018 Report Share Posted May 29, 2018 49 minutes ago, howardang said: Yet again here is a question from someone who has bought a boat seemingly without knowing anything about what he/she is getting into! I find it incredulous that such a basic question needs to be asked. I suppose I will now be accused of intolerance but really!!!!! Howard And they all seem to be around London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Mac10 Posted May 29, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted May 29, 2018 Excuse me. As I said I am 'thinking about launching at Watford', I am researching, I am just about to order a boat. I am a single mum and buying a boat on my own to live on is no small feat; it's exciting yes but also incrediby stressful owing to the hundreds of decisions to make. I absolutely want to make sure I am not going to be forking out twice for haulage. I came on here to double check as I thought the community would flag up a problem that I can not forsee from using the internet alone for research. It's a perfectly good question from someone not in the know who is about to embark on the biggest purchase on my life that will swallow all of my life savings in the hope I might just be able to pull off a nice home for my daughter and me to live. I didn't come on here to insulted thank you. Dicks! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchcrawler Posted May 29, 2018 Report Share Posted May 29, 2018 5 minutes ago, Mac10 said: Excuse me. As I said I am 'thinking about launching at Watford', I am researching, I am just about to order a boat. I am a single mum and buying a boat on my own to live on is no small feat; it's exciting yes but also incrediby stressful owing to the hundreds of decisions to make. I absolutely want to make sure I am not going to be forking out twice for haulage. I came on here to double check as I thought the community would flag up a problem that I can not forsee from using the internet alone for research. It's a perfectly good question from someone not in the know who is about to embark on the biggest purchase on my life that will swallow all of my life savings in the hope I might just be able to pull off a nice home for my daughter and me to live. I didn't come on here to insulted thank you. Dicks! If you are buying a wide beam to go CC ing in London with a small child and you have no boating experience please think very carefully and do a lot more research into what you are getting into. If I have read this wrong then sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicknorman Posted May 29, 2018 Report Share Posted May 29, 2018 17 minutes ago, Mac10 said: Excuse me. As I said I am 'thinking about launching at Watford', I am researching, I am just about to order a boat. I am a single mum and buying a boat on my own to live on is no small feat; it's exciting yes but also incrediby stressful owing to the hundreds of decisions to make. I absolutely want to make sure I am not going to be forking out twice for haulage. I came on here to double check as I thought the community would flag up a problem that I can not forsee from using the internet alone for research. It's a perfectly good question from someone not in the know who is about to embark on the biggest purchase on my life that will swallow all of my life savings in the hope I might just be able to pull off a nice home for my daughter and me to live. I didn't come on here to insulted thank you. Dicks! You probably aren’t still here, but if you are and by way of explanation as to why the responses were somewhat hostile, London has become pretty much a no-go area for leisure boating because it is full up with people living on boats because they represent a cheap way to live in a very expensive city. Wide beam boats are obviously more problematic because they take up more room. Some people feel almost as if the public facility of the canals in London have been taken over by squatters. if you had said you were taking the boat somewhere else I think you would have got a different reaction. Personally if “London” plays a big part in your decision to buy this boat, I would think very carefully about what the future might hold. The year on year increase in live-aboard boats in London is unsustainable and sooner or later steps will be taken to curtail it. Probably sooner. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac10 Posted May 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2018 Yes London - because the waterways are wider for a craft this size. You have no idea how much research I have done nor what experiences I have, what my situation is or my plan - none of you. As far as I am aware no one has any more rights than anyone else to the waterways; and experience does not always make a person wise, nor well mannered it seems on here. One thing I am certain of though is that as long as I am on the water I will always offer my help if it's asked for, however old I get. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post nicknorman Posted May 29, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted May 29, 2018 3 minutes ago, Mac10 said: Yes London - because the waterways are wider for a craft this size. You have no idea how much research I have done nor what experiences I have, what my situation is or my plan - none of you. As far as I am aware no one has any more rights than anyone else to the waterways; and experience does not always make a person wise, nor well mannered it seems on here. One thing I am certain of though is that as long as I am on the water I will always offer my help if it's asked for, however old I get. It seems you are one of those people who will only accept an answer that is the answer you want. Good luck with blowing your life savings on an unsustainable model. It will all end in tears when the authorities in London ban coal stoves and Diesel engines. I think we are not that far away from it. to be honest you seem a fairly unpleasant and ill tempered person, you will get on well in the ghettos of the London canals. For a while. Anyway, you came looking for advice. You got it. You don’t like it and no doubt you will ignore it because it doesn’t suit you. Bye bye. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 29, 2018 Report Share Posted May 29, 2018 16 minutes ago, Mac10 said: Yes London - because the waterways are wider for a craft this size. You have no idea how much research I have done nor what experiences I have, what my situation is or my plan - none of you. As far as I am aware no one has any more rights than anyone else to the waterways; and experience does not always make a person wise, nor well mannered it seems on here. One thing I am certain of though is that as long as I am on the water I will always offer my help if it's asked for, however old I get. I used to be a boater but I'm now a caravanner. Your post reminds me of people who come on caravanning forums and ask. "I have just bought x caravan" (which inevitibly is a bloody heavy one) "can i tow it with x car" (which inevitibly is too light to safely tow it). There then follows a short exchange where experienced folk advise but the OP ignores. If folk dont want advice why the bloody hell do people ask.? Just do it anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain_S Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 1 hour ago, nicknorman said: (Rant snipped) . Bye bye. Steady on, Nick. Some of us like women ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicknorman Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Iain_S said: Steady on, Nick. Some of us like women ... But not stupid rude ones! Anyway, do you think the reaction would have been different if she wasn’t a woman? Edited May 30, 2018 by nicknorman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain_S Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 Probably not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 5 hours ago, Iain_S said: Steady on, Nick. Some of us like women ... But she had not declared her sexual status until the answers had been received - maybe then hoping to pay the 'sympathy card' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmr Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 9 hours ago, Mac10 said: Yes London - because the waterways are wider for a craft this size. You have no idea how much research I have done nor what experiences I have, what my situation is or my plan - none of you. As far as I am aware no one has any more rights than anyone else to the waterways; and experience does not always make a person wise, nor well mannered it seems on here. One thing I am certain of though is that as long as I am on the water I will always offer my help if it's asked for, however old I get. But you don't sound very experienced in canal matters if you are uncertain about lock width on the GU. Also you infer you are getting a brand new widebeam built. Can I suggest that you get a second hand narrowboat and live on that in London for three months, maybe over winter, before spending a large sum on a widebeam. If however, you have secured a good long term mooring then maybe go ahead with the fat boat. I have seen a few people getting brand new fat boats on the K&A and giving up after a short time,and London is awhole lot harder. ...............Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machpoint005 Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 11 hours ago, howardang said: Yet again here is a question from someone who has bought a boat seemingly without knowing anything about what he/she is getting into! I find it incredulous that such a basic question needs to be asked. Beat me to it. 10 hours ago, Mac10 said: I am researching, I am just about to order a boat. I am a single mum and buying a boat on my own to live on is no small feat; it's exciting yes but also incrediby stressful owing to the hundreds of decisions to make. I absolutely want to make sure I am not going to be forking out twice for haulage. I came on here to double check as I thought the community would flag up a problem that I can not forsee from using the internet alone for research. It's a perfectly good question from someone not in the know who is about to embark on the biggest purchase on my life that will swallow all of my life savings in the hope I might just be able to pull off a nice home for my daughter and me to live. I didn't come on here to insulted thank you. Dicks! Why buy a boat that needs "haulage" anywhere?* Our boat has an engine and there is a network of waterways that enabled us to take the boat from dahn sarf to civilisation, more than 200 miles to the north. It was remarkably easy. * I'm not having a dig, Rachael! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WotEver Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 20 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said: Why buy a boat that needs "haulage" anywhere?* Our boat has an engine and there is a network of waterways that enabled us to take the boat from dahn sarf to civilisation, more than 200 miles to the north. It was remarkably easy. Because she doesn’t want a boat. She wants “a nice home for my daughter and me to live.” It just happens to be boat shaped. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post KevMc Posted May 30, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 Ah guys .. give the lady a break. What is wrong with wanting to give her daughter a nice boat shaped home? There are plenty of shows on TV telling her how wonderful it is (and we all now it can be) IMHO the only really helpful comment has been the one suggesting a narrow boat over winter before investing in a new wide beam .. just 'cos we're all jaded and bored with the same things coming up time and time again is no reason to scare off a potential long term boater. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard10002 Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 I would agree that the initial post wasn't well phrased, but where do you start with something like this. In the nicest way, she got the answer she wanted within a post or two. "All locks are wide, and canalplan is your friend." I would add that, unless she has a permanent residential mooring in London, she will probably not be able to comply with the continuous cruising requirements whilst bringing up a child and holding down a job. Given that the boat hasn't been bought yet, there is plenty of time for her to discover everything else that goes with owning a boat. Hopefully she stays around to find that many people here are very helpful, and a few are a bit short and obtuse, (whatever that means ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 3 minutes ago, Richard10002 said: Hopefully she stays around to find that many people here are very helpful, and a few are a bit short and obtuse, (whatever that means ). obtuse - an angle greater than 90° but less than 180° Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulJ Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 1 hour ago, Richard10002 said: Hopefully she stays around to find that many people here are very helpful, and a few are a bit short and obtuse, (whatever that means ). Well Im a bit short but I'd like to think Im still helpful ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WotEver Posted May 30, 2018 Report Share Posted May 30, 2018 1 hour ago, Richard10002 said: ... a few are a bit short and obtuse... Is that anything like short and obese? If so, count me in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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