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Remote control / fly by wire - I know it can be done!


jimxtc

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I have been looking to find a skipper for my own boat or someone with a bout looking for crew without success for quite a while.   I have decided that the only way Iam going to get on the canal network is to do it all my self.  I would like to hear from boatyards, aircraft engineers, universities/engineering students who would be interested in converting my narrowboat  to remote control operation so that I can control it from the bow where I can see where I am going! I know this is possible to do, if it can be done on a Jumbo jet then it can be done on a narrowboat!   I have limited vision which stops me from skippering from the rear of the boat so another solution has to be found.

I really don’t want to hear from the nay-sayers  about how it is too difficult or I shouldn’t do it thank you.  Please e-mail me with any ideas or suggestions you have with regard to remote control.  My e-mail is rhoda1@sky.com

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it can be / has been done but I am under the impression that quite a few of them struggle with insurance where they are remotely (as in nobody on the boat) controlled

 

from a technical view it wouldn't take much to have hydraulics on the steering and throttle controls.

 

one question to bear in mind is that if you are steering from the front how can you tell where the back end is going, narrowboats tend to pivot at a point just rear of the middle (exactly where depends on the boat design and length), this means if you turn left the rear of the boat is going right.

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2 minutes ago, Jess-- said:

from a technical view it wouldn't take much to have hydraulics on the steering and throttle controls.

Cables are the traditional solution. Speed and gear change by morse cable, steering by a pair of cables running around pulleys. Best with a wheel of course, not a tiller

 

Richard

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5 minutes ago, Jess-- said:

it can be / has been done but I am under the impression that quite a few of them struggle with insurance where they are remotely (as in nobody on the boat) controlled

 

from a technical view it wouldn't take much to have hydraulics on the steering and throttleI wasn’t thinking  of controlling toe boat when not on it.  I know it would take some getting used to.  Thanks for your input. controls.

 

one question to bear in mind is that if you are steering from the front how can you tell where the back end is going, narrowboats tend to pivot at a point just rear of the middle (exactly where depends on the boat design and length), this means if you turn left the rear of the boat is going right.

 

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2 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Cables are the traditional solution. Speed and gear change by morse cable, steering by a pair of cables running around pulleys. Best with a wheel of course, not a tiller

 

Richard

I did think of cables but thought that the force needed sometimes on the tiller might make them a bit of a liability, so suggested hydraulics for both as that gives the maximum number of possibilities for control

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Just now, Jess-- said:

I did think of cables but thought that the force needed sometimes on the tiller might make them a bit of a liability, so suggested hydraulics for both as that gives the maximum number of possibilities for control

For the tiller, it's all to do with the number of turns of the wheel compares to the change of rudder angle. The forces are pretty low

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25 minutes ago, jimxtc said:

I have been looking to find a skipper for my own boat or someone with a bout looking for crew without success for quite a while.   I have decided that the only way Iam going to get on the canal network is to do it all my self.  I would like to hear from boatyards, aircraft engineers, universities/engineering students who would be interested in converting my narrowboat  to remote control operation so that I can control it from the bow where I can see where I am going! I know this is possible to do, if it can be done on a Jumbo jet then it can be done on a narrowboat!   I have limited vision which stops me from skippering from the rear of the boat so another solution has to be found.

I really don’t want to hear from the nay-sayers  about how it is too difficult or I shouldn’t do it thank you.  Please e-mail me with any ideas or suggestions you have with regard to remote control.  My e-mail is rhoda1@sky.com

It is relatively straight forward to install such a system (at a price of course) but...on a typical leisure narrow boat it would be very difficult to be able to see where the stern is and to keep a straight line. Particularly difficult when turning sharp corners and also controlling the boat in a lock. Forgive me but you don't mention in what way your vision is limited, but if it affects your peripheral vision it would make it extra difficult to see behind you to check any tendency to swing. It might be construed as you not being in total control of your boat. Only you know how your vision is affected but I would strongly advise against it.

 

Howard

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1 minute ago, jimxtc said:

I had thought of remote control as I would need to move to the rear of the boat to Denise bark for mooring and would like to retain control as I did so.

 

Can you have another go at that one please? I think you have been auto-corrected into intelligibility 

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2 minutes ago, howardang said:

It is relatively straight forward to install such a system (at a price of course) but...on a typical leisure narrow boat it would be very difficult to be able to see where the stern is and to keep a straight line. Particularly difficult when turning sharp corners and also controlling the boat in a lock. Forgive me but you don't mention in what way your vision is limited, but if it affects your peripheral vision it would make it extra difficult to see behind you to cI have superb peripheral vision but no central vision.  Nothing in life is easy but it doesn’t stop me doing it.heck any tendency to swing. It might be construed as you not being in total control of your boat. Only you know how your vision is affected but I would strongly advise against it.

 

Howard

 

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2 minutes ago, RLWP said:

 

Can you have another go at that one please? I think you have been auto-corrected into inSorry about that, working on an iPad with very small text!  I had considered fixed controls in the bow but unless I was going to leap from the front of the boat to moor, I would need to move to the back of the boat to get off to moor and having a portable control would be best in that situation.  I am open to any suggestions as to how to achieve skippering my own boat.telligibility 

 

3 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Macular degeneration?

Yes for the last 42 years.

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3 minutes ago, jimxtc said:

 

Quote

Sorry about that, working on an iPad with very small text!  I had considered fixed controls in the bow but unless I was going to leap from the front of the boat to moor, I would need to move to the back of the boat to get off to moor and having a portable control would be best in that situation.  I am open to any suggestions as to how to achieve skippering my own boat.

You are somehow managing to post your replies in the middle of quoted bits

 

I'm not sure why it makes any difference. If you step off the front and take a centre line ashore that you brought to the front, it's no different to what most single handers do. They bring the stern in and take a centre line ashore they had brought to the rear. It's much the same either way

 

Richard

Edited by RLWP
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35 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Many broads cruisers have central steering positions. Extending such a system to the front wouldn't be hard

 

Richard

Many broads boats have forward steering positions. Just sayin...

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1 minute ago, RLWP said:

You are somehow managing to post your replies in the middle of quoted bits

 

I'm not sure why it makes any difference. If you step off the front and take a centre at you Ybrought to the front, it's no different to what most single handers do. They bring the stern in and take a centre line they had brought to the rear. It's much the same either way

 

Richard

 

Thank you Richard, that is va very good point, I am so used to getting off at the back!

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A few years ago we met up with a disabled boater who was single handed - we cruised along with him for several days.

 

Once he had managed to get off the boat he struggled to get back on and so had his boat completely set up for remote control with bow thruster and stern thrusters, he could get off, open the lock gates, remotely drive the boat in, fill / empty the lock, open the gates and drive the boat out. Close the gates and struggle to get back onto the boat and off he went.

 

Was very proud of his 'invention' and didn't like help (I think he was 'showing off' really)

 

I think he had the modifications done at Thorne (nr Doncaster). The boat name was Victoria Plum.

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1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

A few years ago we met up with a disabled boater who was single handed - we cruised along with him for several days.

 

Once he had managed to get off the boat he struggled to get back on and so had his boat completely set up for remote control with bow thruster and stern thrusters, he could get off, open the lock gates, remotely drive the boat in, fill / empty the lock, open the gates and drive the boat out. Close the gates and struggle to get back onto the boat and off he went.

 

Was very proud of his 'invention' and didn't like help (I think he was 'showing off' really)

 

I think he had the modifications done at Thorne (nr Doncaster). The boat name was Victoria Plum.

That's the one!   I couldn't remember the name of it.

Edited by TheBiscuits
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Thank you Alan that is very interesting.  I am sorry that my postings are coming out in the wrong place, I also need iPad training!  I am used to working on a PC and this screen is very small.

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Just now, jimxtc said:

Thank you Alan that is very interesting.  I am sorry that my postings are coming out in the wrong place, I also need iPad training!  I am used to working on a PC and this screen is very small.

How are you on potty training?

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Just now, jimxtc said:

Thank you Alan Richard that is very interesting.  I am sorry that my postings are coming out in the wrong place, I also need iPad training!  I am used to working on a PC and this screen is very small.

Try switching to the desktop version or the screen if you are on the mobile version or vice versa.

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