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Bike on a cruiser deck?


vanboosh

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1 hour ago, blackrose said:

Perhaps the side they cut out can be fitted back on with sliding bolts on the inside? If not I'd say they'd ruined that boat.

The piece that has come out would be very heavy to manhandle back into place. Every chance it would fall in the cut! That type of solution is only practical if the flap is hinged.

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Just another thought on the idea of cutting away part of the gunwale - I had gotten the impression that the structural integrity of narrowboats was in part derived from the outer hull shape, so if you cut a 2ft deep and 4ft wide gap in that outer skin, isn't there a lessening of the craft's overall structural strength? 

Fair enough if they are over engineered to start with, of course - but they are so long and thin that one imagines they would need all of their original structural strength on, say, a river. 

But that's all guesswork of course - for all I know that boat might be fine bouncing around on the trent or wherever (with the hull side section back in place).

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26 minutes ago, David Mack said:

The piece that has come out would be very heavy to manhandle back into place. Every chance it would fall in the cut! That type of solution is only practical if the flap is hinged.

Looking at the photo, it looks like the other side may actually be 2 removeable pieces, as there seems to be shiny nuts/bolts in several places. In that case they would be much more managable.

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30 minutes ago, vanboosh said:

I don't know what I was worried about. These guys have managed a car... seems like there's plenty of room for a bike ?

IMG_8712.jpeg

Imagine that appearing through a bridge ‘ole!

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Well that'll sail through the BSS exam, no worries.

 

On a rather sexier note, for gentlemen of a certain age who are looking for a lightweight bike suitable for carrying on a boat (or would it be fairer to say 'least unsuitable for carrying on a boat'?), this is a fine specimen of retro yet rakish charm. It can do motorway trips, carry a pillion, and apparently only weighs 130kg, which is the same as many 125's. 

 

https://muttmotorcycles.com/pages/mongrel-250

 

I'd love to get my hoist round that...

 

 

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13 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Imagine that appearing through a bridge ‘ole!

The rear brake lights would be pretty confusing, thats for sure. 

 

1 minute ago, Tony1 said:

Well that'll sail through the BSS exam, no worries.

 

On a rather sexier note, for gentlemen of a certain age who are looking for a lightweight bike suitable for carrying on a boat (or would it be fairer to say 'least unsuitable for carrying on a boat'?), this is a fine specimen of retro yet rakish charm. It can do motorway trips, carry a pillion, and apparently only weighs 130kg, which is the same as many 125's. 

 

https://muttmotorcycles.com/pages/mongrel-250

 

I'd love to get my hoist round that...

 

 

I've met the Mutt guys - Nice bunch, nice bikes and not a bad price! Although where's the fun in buying a ready made cafe/tracker? Isn't the point to do it yourself ?

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Sadly Mr Boosh, I have the mechanical aptitude of an incompetent chimp. 

I could change the oil on a good day with a following wind, but for me to attempt anything further would be to visit doom and disaster upon the bike. 

I would hesitate to build a bike from lego, let alone metal. 

 

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Mr Boosh, I promise you I am above temptation in this matter.

The prospect of applying a spanner to any mechanical device has as much appeal as removing weeds from a fouled propellor with my teeth. 

 

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27 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

Mr Boosh, I promise you I am above temptation in this matter.

The prospect of applying a spanner to any mechanical device has as much appeal as removing weeds from a fouled propellor with my teeth. 

 

You'll be needing my prop-cleaning tackle then good for fishing line, rags and lobster pots (not many of those on the T&M admittedly) :

 

 

IMG_20160924_101301.jpg

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49 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

Mr Boosh, I promise you I am above temptation in this matter.

The prospect of applying a spanner to any mechanical device has as much appeal as removing weeds from a fouled propellor with my teeth. 

 

? fair enough! Although you might be needing a few DIY tricks up the sleeve when you're ready for boat ownership. I've heard its not entirely maintenance free as evidenced by Alan's nifty gear!

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7 hours ago, blackrose said:

Perhaps the side they cut out can be fitted back on with sliding bolts on the inside? If not I'd say they'd ruined that boat.

If this is the same pic I posted earlier, then yes, the sides drop in. Have seen many variants of this. I believe Mel Davis has done more than one.

A little more detail on the one I posted earlier:

 

https://www.grannybuttons.com/granny_buttons/2009/03/wandering-snail-and-the-bike-crane.html

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5 minutes ago, Markinaboat said:

If this is the same pic I posted earlier, then yes, the sides drop in. Have seen many variants of this. I believe Mel Davis has done more than one.

A little more detail on the one I posted earlier:

 

https://www.grannybuttons.com/granny_buttons/2009/03/wandering-snail-and-the-bike-crane.html

http://narrowboats-freyja-and-christina.blogspot.com/2014/12/my-motorbike-on-our-tugdeck.html

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22 hours ago, vanboosh said:

A good set of panniers can carry a fair bit of weight. You could easily get a few bags of coal back if you got the right ones, You'd probably also want removable ones if you do decide to try and get the bike on board. Thats my plan, anyway! Not sure I'd want to travel with a gas bottle though, but there are plenty of places to pick them up on the cut, no?

 

Or get a drip feed diesel stove, no need to carry coal then. ?

Edited by cuthound
Spillung
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There is another issue that might crop up for potential bike carriers on boats (and it certainly will for me), and that is fitting the bike on the foredeck. 

One of the things I don't want to compromise when buying a boat is to restrict my options to boats with tug size decks. 

There are going to be just too few boats around that meet my other key criteria (and budget) for me to be able to reduce the potential market by 70% because I have to have a tug. 

But the problem that raises is how to fit a 2 metre long middleweight bike into a smallish cratch. 

Clearly not all boat decks will accommodate the bike when it's standing with both wheels on the deck, so I think one end of the bike will have to lifted somehow... 

Edited by Tony1
Beer
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Thats what I'm trying to work out at the moment. I'm also wondering if you could mount it sideways. A KTM Duke is roughly 6'5 long and a narrowboat is around 6'10-7' wide. 

I wonder if you could mount one of these RV racks over the well deck, then you just need a longish ramp up to it. I don't know if it will make the bike stick up too high though. You can also get boats with longer decks that aren't tugs. I love tug decks, but I don't want to limit my inside living space too much. 

bike1.JPG

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Mounting horizontally over the gunwales is a good idea, except for low bridges. 

Could the bike be mounted crossways but perhaps laid on its side, or at a low angle? 

This is where a hoist might come in handy... 

 

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23 minutes ago, vanboosh said:

Thats what I'm trying to work out at the moment. I'm also wondering if you could mount it sideways. A KTM Duke is roughly 6'5 long and a narrowboat is around 6'10-7' wide.

If you are looking to mount it in the 'pointy end' the taper will mean that it will probably be nearer 5 feet in width.

Unless you get one built with a very long fore-deck that is long enough between the end of the cabin and the start of the taper to allow the doors to open and to take up the width of the bike.

 

lateral mounted bikes that I have seen (125's) require the front wheel removing to make them narrow enough not to overhang.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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Ah, that's that idea out then! Thanks for the heads up!

Tony, you can't really lay a bike on its side unless you do a load of prep work, including removing fluids, etc. I've just been looking at an Abba Skylift which lets you mount the bike with a wheel in the air, but I think thats overkill. I reckon hoist is the easiest option and just lay the bike down, rear wheel in the 'ole and front wheel up on the bow. I'll hopefully have some more answers in the coming weeks after I find a boat. 

 

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Thanks Alan- so transverse mounting is not really an option on a normal cruiser style deck, and you can't lay it over anyway. 

I am starting to wonder whether a crossways framework like your RV type, but fitted to the stern, might be less problematic than trying to cram it into the cratch? 

Would you need extra ballast at the front of the boat, as I think someone suggested earlier? 

The other thing is with maybe 2 feet of ironmongery hanging off the stern, it might limit your boat length options a bit, but for me 57ft will be plenty anyway. 

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