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Bike on a cruiser deck?


vanboosh

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If we're ruling the tug option out, have we considered what a couple of hundred kilos might do to stability, particularly if it's mounted at gunwale height up forward?   I have seen others attempts at this, and clearly they've got away with it, but, if memory serves, they have been smaller bikes and sit in a large well deck rather than on top (the only larger bikes I've seen have been on a low tug deck).   It may be unwise not to give stability some thought, as even relatively small weights become a bigger issue with increasing height.

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Well if you take the KTM 390 Duke at 154kg wet weight, thats about 2 of me (approx 80kg). An engine hoist weighs around 110kg with all the legs, etc. which would be removed, so lets say 90kg which is me and a bit, so so far just over 3 of me + me actually standing in there moving the bike into place - Can the average well deck handle 4 adults in it? I guess once the bike is in, you could remove the hoist and shift it somewhere else in the boat to even out the weight?

Edited by vanboosh
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8 minutes ago, vanboosh said:

Can the average well deck handle 4 adults in it?

Irrespective of the weight (1/3 rd of a ton) I'm not sure you could even get 4 adults (comfortably) in an 'average' well deck. (and that's without wheels and handlebars sticking out all over the place) The water tank (1/2 ton) and gas cylinder lockers are often built into the 'front of the boat' so further reduce the 'length available'.

 

But then, I'm not sure there is anything such as an 'average narrowboat'.

 

Image result for narrowboat well deck
 

 

Image result for narrowboat well deck

 

Image result for narrowboat well deck

 

 

Image result for narrowboat well deck

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3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

But then, I'm not sure there is anything such as an 'average narrowboat'.

Thats very true! I'm still looking for something with a longer well deck and I also want a reverse layout for around £40-£45k so my choices seem to be slightly limited! 

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13 minutes ago, vanboosh said:

Thats very true! I'm still looking for something with a longer well deck and I also want a reverse layout for around £40-£45k so my choices seem to be slightly limited! 

You could always use an electric bicycle to get you to your car, (or Bike) for the odd occasion you need it. Use the bike for your local 'shopping runs' etc.

Admittedly it won't take you up the motorway at 70mph, but you stand more chance of finding a place to park a car (Bike) than finding a long well-decked, reverse layout NB at £40k

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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27 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

You could always use an electric bicycle to get you to your car, (or Bike) for the odd occasion you need it. Use the bike for your local 'shopping runs' etc.

Admittedly it won't take you up the motorway at 70mph, but you stand more chance of finding a place to park a car (Bike) than finding a long well-decked, reverse layout NB at £40k

I don't think I'd want to leave a bike on its own somewhere for long. I'd do it with a car, but that means actually owning a car again, which I'm trying to avoid. Still, those are options I'll keep in mind if I really struggle to find the right boat. 

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Reading this information, I keep being struck by the need to find compromises and 'least unpleasant' options for long-distance capable motorised transport. Which is no surprise really, given the space constraints on a narrowboat.

My original  plan was that I would keep my car, and go back to move it every few days via electric or pedal bike. Many people do that, and consider it a hassle worth doing for the benefit of having reasonably handy motor transport. 

I will still need car about twice per month for occasional business and family purposes after I formally retire, so in my case a bike is actually an additional expense to the car, not an alternative- but having it on board would remove the significant hassle of retracing my steps every 2/3 days to move my car (which can instead be kept at a family members house, with them able to use it as a recompense for keeping it).

In fact, I'm starting to reconsider the entire basis of car ownership though. If I only use the car twice a month, why not let my breother be its official named keeper, with me as a named driver on his insurance? 

How the car is owned/insured is certainly one avenue to think about and to discuss with my brother, but the main thing that has occurred to me is that to make the best decision about how to handle and store a bike, the competing 'wants' should be prioritised. 

My order of priority is as follows: 

1. Budget range between 40-50k

2. Maximum interior space/layout, with large open plan living area

3. About 15 years old or less if possible, so that the domestic systems don't need lots of immediate attention

4. Toilet- I have very specific ideas about the kind of toilet I want, which I wont go into here for fear of restarting the Great Toilet War.

 

And somewhere further down the list comes the 'nice to have' section, that contains the onboard bike. 

Which means if I find a boat that I like, I'm definitely not rejecting it because the well deck wont hold a particular size of bike.  There just arent enough boats around that have the sort of interior potential I want.  So instead my approach will be to buy the boat, then look at what bikes are suitable for it. 

 

And on that, one option we havent mentioned so far is the possibility of a 300cc Vespa type vehicle. These do have a slightly shorter wheelbase and might just fit into an average well deck (and I'm told the parka is not mandatory, but rather advisory).

The fact that several thousand young men regularly travelled 50 miles or more on these vehicles for the purposes of engaging in a mass brawl is proof they can cover reasonable distances, and my fashion advisers assure me that scooters are certainly the coolest of the options available, even if the very thought of them makes some gentlemen vomit slightly into their own mouths. 

 

But ultimately, if 'm not happy with the cost and the hassle of front deck mounting for any motorbike, I will have to consider mounting it to the stern. It would only add another two feet or so onto the boat length, and the weight of it would be reasonably low-slung to help with stability. 

 

I don't envisage the hoist being easily dismountable,  because at over 100kg I could easily injure myself trying to wrestle it around the boat, and it would need to be centrally mounted so you could unload the bike from either side of the boat.  

The best current options seem to be a well deck mounting with one wheel held up and off the deck perhaps in some sort of frame, or an RV-type ramp welded to the stern to hold the bike transversely (and sincere apologies if 'transversely' isn't an actual legit word, as I very much fear it might not be). 

 

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Hi Cuthound, yes you have a very good point there. 

I initially shied away from hiring partly for financial reasons.

My twice monthly trips would mostly be for ad hoc jobs, as a way of earning some extra pocket money and to keep me at least occasionally busy (and I need to take some kit that wont fit on a bike). Each day's job would only pay about £150-200 anyway, and to lose maybe half of that for the van hire would be a right pain, and would probably make it not worth my while. 

If I could perhaps borrow a car from a family member that would help, but I would still have to give them something in return- not the full cost of a hire perhaps, but something.  

Now that I've started to seriously look at the costs associated with travelling to work, and having to run a car or van mainly for that, it's made me start to rethink my whole approach to working after retirement. 

At 58 I'll be too young to do nothing at all, but cc'ing alone wont keep me busy enough, and I cant spend all day crocheting jumpers or arguing on the internet about composting toilets.

Or can I....? 

 

Edited by Tony1
lack of beer
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That sounds brilliant Alan, but sadly I don't have a fleet to keep me busy. 

One thing I've read here time and again is how much time and effort is needed to keep boats fully maintained and shipshape, so perhaps I wont be quite as much of 'gentleman of leisure' as I'm imagining... 

Perhaps my solution is to buy a project boat for 20k. I'll be kept so busy I won't want to do any 'work' work ?

 

 

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10 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

That sounds brilliant Alan, but sadly I don't have a fleet to keep me busy. 

One thing I've read here time and again is how much time and effort is needed to keep boats fully maintained and shipshape, so perhaps I wont be quite as much of 'gentleman of leisure' as I'm imagining... 

Perhaps my solution is to buy a project boat for 20k. I'll be kept so busy I won't want to do any 'work' work ?

 

 

 

https://m.apolloduck.com/boat/orchard-marine-60-cruiser-stern/584707

 

Perfect boat, ride the bike straight on to the back, and you can sit on the bike while stearing the boat. 

Simple.  And it has a reverse layout. 

?

 

£95,000 !!! 

 

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3 minutes ago, Goliath said:

 

https://m.apolloduck.com/boat/orchard-marine-60-cruiser-stern/584707

 

Perfect boat, ride the bike straight on to the back, and you can sit on the bike while stearing the boat. 

Simple.  And it has a reverse layout. 

?

 

£95,000 !!! 

 

That is the exact sort of boat I want... Only about £50k cheaper. 

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55 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

arguing on the internet about composting toilets.

Or can I....? 

 

Just an idea, motorbike and sidecar. Top half of a cassette toilet mounted in the sidecar with a hole in the bottom of the sidecar.  Use when green laning. Pull the trap when speeding around a bend and let nature do the rest.  

You could be driven, while you read a book or newspaper, or ride solo after the job and have a cable fitted to the handle bars which pulls the trap open at an appropriate moment. 

 

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2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

No use as a liveaboard - only 350 litre water tank.

Our last NB had 1000 litres and our current GPR Cruiser has 600 litres.

I'd drink canal water for my motorbike ❤️ 

I've seen you can put a secondary (or more!) plastic tank in elsewhere to make up for it. And its only me (and eventually a pooch).

Edited by vanboosh
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8 minutes ago, vanboosh said:

I'd drink canal water for my motorbike ❤️ 

I've seen you can put a secondary (or more!) plastic tank in elsewhere to make up for it. And its only me (and eventually a pooch).

But if I was spending £95,000 on a boat I wouldn't want to have to start cutting it up, fitting water tanks and re-doing the plumbing just to get it up to a usable standard

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3 minutes ago, vanboosh said:

I'd drink canal water for my motorbike ❤️ 

I've seen you can put a secondary (or more!) plastic tank in elsewhere to make up for it. And its only me (and eventually a pooch).

A dog is a perfectly good reason to go for a walk and then pick up your car or bike. 

Years ago I bolted a catbox on to the rack of my ZR1100 and put my jack russell in it. 

I collected him by bike when he was a puppy, so he knew nowt else. Until he was 12 months he pretty much slept when travelling. When he was older he would bark like crazy at other motorbikes. 

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1 hour ago, Tony1 said:

Hi Cuthound, yes you have a very good point there. 

I initially shied away from hiring partly for financial reasons.

My twice monthly trips would mostly be for ad hoc jobs, as a way of earning some extra pocket money and to keep me at least occasionally busy (and I need to take some kit that wont fit on a bike). Each day's job would only pay about £150-200 anyway, and to lose maybe half of that for the van hire would be a right pain, and would probably make it not worth my while. 

If I could perhaps borrow a car from a family member that would help, but I would still have to give them something in return- not the full cost of a hire perhaps, but something.  

Now that I've started to seriously look at the costs associated with travelling to work, and having to run a car or van mainly for that, it's made me start to rethink my whole approach to working after retirement. 

At 58 I'll be too young to do nothing at all, but cc'ing alone wont keep me busy enough, and I cant spend all day crocheting jumpers or arguing on the internet about composting toilets.

Or can I....? 

 

 

I retired at 59 and bought my boat (after 23 years of shared ownership and 19 years of hiring before that) at 60.

 

I find looking after the house, the boat, the wife and an anti-social rescue GSD fills my time almost completely ?

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33 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Just an idea, motorbike and sidecar. Top half of a cassette toilet mounted in the sidecar with a hole in the bottom of the sidecar.  Use when green laning. Pull the trap when speeding around a bend and let nature do the rest.  

You could be driven, while you read a book or newspaper, or ride solo after the job and have a cable fitted to the handle bars which pulls the trap open at an appropriate moment. 

 

And they would have us believe that British innovation is dead...

 

If there was a Queen's Award for Toilet-Based Innovation, you Sir would be the runaway winner, with such brilliant and audacious thinking.

However, I think I will wait until the composting version is developed.

 

Dammit, I swore I would never use the C word again...  

 

 

Edited by Tony1
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1 minute ago, Tony1 said:

And they would have us believe that British innovation is dead...

 

If there was a Queen's Award for Toilet-Based Innovation, you Sir would be the runaway winner, with such brilliant and audacious thinking.

However, I think I will wait until the composting version is developed.

 

Dammit, I swore I would never use the C word again...  

 

 

Trains are still doing this aren’t they?

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13 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

I retired at 59 and bought my boat (after 23 years of shared ownership and 19 years of hiring before that) at 60.

 

I find looking after the house, the boat, the wife and an anti-social rescue GSD fills my time almost completely ?

By a combination of circumstances involving diabolical luck, pure animal cunning and a small jack russell, I tragically find myself wife-less as of several months ago.

One has of course to be realistic in these matters, and with my almost complete lack of charm or character there seems very little prospect of acquiring a replacement in the medium term future.

One lives in hope of finding a fair maiden of the canals, but I appear doomed to spend my days idly drifting about the cut, with no Director of Operations to get things organised.

Plus without a woman to keep me civilised, there is every chance my living standards and behaviour could deteriorate to pre-Neanderthal levels. I fear a grim future awaits...

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Sounds like the first stage of decluttering.

?

All too accurate, Mr G.

Having rented out my house and moved 200 miles to live with the very wonderful Mrs Tony1 five years ago, the rather sudden and (in my view) enforced ending of the relationship meant that finding suitable accommodation for my baggage train and the servants was extremely awkward.

It necessitated a quite ruthless and rapid decluttering, after which I felt no worse off.  

Over the last couple of decades I've come to the belief that in general, we carry far too much physical baggage through our lives, and unless we live in very large houses (which most of us very much do not), the insidious and gradual accumulation of 'stuff' has to be periodically and ruthlessly purged, or our living spaces can become almost untenable.

So a narrowboat may hold some fears for me- the limitless horror of dealing with a malfunctioning pump out tank, for example- but decluttering is definitely not going to be a problem. 

 

 

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