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Big Boat or Small boat? FAO Liveaboards...


golden_chapati

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23 minutes ago, magictime said:

OK, an illustration. We've been on the eastern L&L over the winter. This spring we're heading south to get some work done on the boat and do some exploring before heading back oop north. We're keen to cruise the Huddersfield Narrow and the Macclesfield again - two beautiful canals we've only cruised once before. In our 55-footer, we can do that by heading south via the C&H, Huddersfield Narrow, Macclesfield and T&M, before heading back north with minimal repetition via either the Trent, or the Shroppie and Bridgewater plus either the Rochdale or the L&L. In a 63-footer, sure, we could get where we're going via the Trent and still cruise the Macc and HNC by heading north from there; but then we'd have to turn straight round and head south again to take the Trent back up. Now the HNC is lovely, but not particularly a canal we'd care to make that sort of detour to cruise twice in a row - it's hard work! Ditto the Rochdale. It's really not as simple as 'oh dear, I can't cruise a few miles of the C&H but I can still cruise everywhere else'.

Ok ok I get it, you are completely entitled to wanting a small boat, many people do. I suggest though you never buy a whole boat as you will never want a little one again. In reality my widebeam was hugely more comfortable than any of my narrow boats but then that did cut the cruising range. 

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17 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Ok ok I get it, you are completely entitled to wanting a small boat, many people do. I suggest though you never buy a whole boat as you will never want a little one again. In reality my widebeam was hugely more comfortable than any of my narrow boats but then that did cut the cruising range. 

Yeah I get that it's a personal choice as to living space vs cruising options; I just couldn't let the idea that a longer boat has a 'minimal' impact on the latter go unchallenged!

 

And don't worry, unless our centre of gravity shifts several hundred miles south (in terms of where our kids and grandkids live and where we feel our heart is), there is zero danger of us buying a boat that won't allow us to travel freely around the Yorkshire waterways.

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15 hours ago, magictime said:

Yes, it's true that it's really 'only' the short locks on the Calder and Hebble and Huddersfield Broad that you can't get through in a boat of more than 57' or so.

Tripe :D

 

We have done both the C&H and the Huddersfield Broad cruising in company with a 60' boat.  You need to be more careful, but it is doable.  Our boat is 45' and we managed to share all except one lock by taking the longer boat in through one open gate and shunting it behind the closed gate, then put the little boat in the lock too.

 

You wouldn't be able to share a 60' and a 57' boat on some locks on the C&H though, so you would have to work the lock twice.

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44 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

Tripe :D

 

We have done both the C&H and the Huddersfield Broad cruising in company with a 60' boat.  You need to be more careful, but it is doable.  Our boat is 45' and we managed to share all except one lock by taking the longer boat in through one open gate and shunting it behind the closed gate, then put the little boat in the lock too.

 

You wouldn't be able to share a 60' and a 57' boat on some locks on the C&H though, so you would have to work the lock twice.

Yes, I went with 57' because (1) that was the figure mrsmelly used and (2) having been through all those locks in a 55-footer, I can't help thinking 60' would be seriously stretching a point. It's when you're going down and the lock is empty the fun really seems to start - having to stay backed right up while some VERY leaky top gates are chucking water on to your back deck, while a poor crew member is trying to open bottom gates with your bow in the way... how you'd do it with two boats I genuinely don't know. I seem to remember we had to sit diagonally with the bow on the left to open the right-hand gate, and then switch by pushing the boat off the wall at the back so it pivoted. Did you go up, down, or both? I'm curious.

Edited by magictime
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14 hours ago, golden_chapati said:

My friend lives on one, and her mum, so a little. I know there will be a whole host of difficulties and oversights, but I'll go ahead with it anyway as I'm big on life experiences. 

You'd need to very keen to live in  London, it's certainly not "the world", and if I were young and keen on life experiences, living on small boat in London would be my very last choice.

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On 13/01/2019 at 11:59, Tom Morgan said:

From a boat-steering point of view, the nearest vehicle that most people will have experience of is a shopping trolley. Bear this in mind and the concept of boat-steering becomes easier.  

 

Is that how shopping trollies end up in the canals? People trying out their steering before taking out that hire boat for a week?

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