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Towing a cruiser How ?


jonathanA

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Strange occurrence today got flagged down by a youngish chap who appeared to be trying to moor a yoghurt pot. Turned out  he wanted a tow, as it was about 16.30 and going dark in the frozen north I said I’d tow as far as my intended mooring for the night. 

 

What's up with your engine I said ‘ain’t got one just bought this boat’ he says...

 

bloody hell where are you going i ask hebden bridge was the reply given we were near chorley in the L&L I was bit surprised...

 

anyway towline attached right at the bow of his boat and starboard stern dolly on mine and off we set. 

 

I kind of expected a v hulled cruiser to tow nicely and follow behind but it was like a side to side yo-yo. Slewing side to side.

 

After a mile or two and having had some near misses with bridges and moored boats we called it quits...

 

he clearly knew little and I’d never tried towing a cruiser 

 

what should/could I have done differently ?

 

there was no obvious place to attach a line further back and no cleats midships to try to fashion a ‘y’ tow to each side. 

 

With no engine or rudder he had no steering at all. 

 

 

 

 

Edited by jonathanA
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4 minutes ago, jonathanA said:

Strange occurrence today got flagged down by a youngish chap who appeared to be trying to moor a yoghurt pot. Turned out  he wanted a tow, as it was about 16.30 and going dark in the frozen north I said I’d tow as far as my intended mooring for the night. 

 

What's up up with your engine I said ‘ain’t got one just bought this boat’ he says...

 

bloody hell where are you going i ask hebden bridge was the reply given we were near chorley in the L&L I was bit surprised...

 

anyway towline attached to right at the bow of his boat and starboard stern dolly on mine and off we set. 

 

I kind of expected a v hulled cruiser to tow nicely and follow behind but it was like a side to side yo-yo. Slewing side to side.

 

After a mile or two and having had some near misses with bridges and moored boats we called it quits...

 

he clearly knew little and I’d never tried towing a cruiser 

 

what should/could I have done differently ?

 

there was no obvious place to attach a line further back and no cleats midships to try to fashion a ‘y’ tow to each side. 

 

With no engine or rudder he had no steering at all. 

 

 

 

 

One sugestion; put him alongside if there is sufficient canal width.

 

Alternatively, , do you have two stern dollies? If so, rig up a bridle from them, and pull the boat being towed up close to your stern fender. If it still wont steer well, get him to tow something astern of him - a bucket, or a maybe abundle of rope - which will act as a drag and he can get rudimentary steering by moving it from side to side.

 

Howard

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There was too much difference in length and height to tow alongside. If it had been another nb would have tried that.

 

i didn’t think about pulling the cruiser close up and possibly a line from one of my dollies to his front cleat and back to my other dolly might have worked?thanks 

 

never thought about towing something like a bucket that would probably have done the job!  Years ago I saw a sea anchor made from a little bit of old sail shaped a bit like a small, ( maybe 2 or 3 foot across) parachute and was amazed how well it worked. 

 

Thanks Howard

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2 minutes ago, jonathanA said:

There was too much difference in length and height to tow alongside. If it had been another nb would have tried that.

 

i didn’t think about pulling the cruiser close up and possibly a line from one of my dollies to his front cleat and back to my other dolly might have worked?thanks 

 

never thought about towing something like a bucket that would probably have done the job!  Years ago I saw a sea anchor made from a little bit of old sail shaped a bit like a small, ( maybe 2 or 3 foot across) parachute and was amazed how well it worked. 

 

Thanks Howard

I'm not sure why you mention about the differences in dimensins. I am assuming that he is shorter so that shouldn't be too difficult to lash it to your side. If you have difficulty rigging a rope at one end because of the lack of a dolly, what about the roof rail on your boat, for example, or a centre rope fitting. You just have to think slightly outside the box in these circumstances. I also cn't see why a difference in height should cause a problem, unless his boat was a very unusual design.

 

Howard

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Yes possibly with hindsight alongside might have worked, could have used the centre ring my handrails are of the solid type, although he had nothing in the way of fenders

 

seemed to be a dawncraft / Viking style cruiser although don’t think was one of those well known types. 

 

Yes your right about thinking laterally I did consider alongside and cross straps but also didn’t have much thinking time and failing light didn’t help ! 

 

So maybe that’s  the lesson should have stopped and given it a coat of looking at ! 

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It sounds as if in the circumstances (wide canal, not much oncoming traffic, difficult to have a cross strap arrangement) breasting up would probably have been best if reasonably possible. With fenders down between the boats to cushion things.

 

Otherwise in the absence of a rudder, yes I would definitely want something trailing in the water behind the towed boat. That would greatly reduce the tendency for the stern to swing from side to side. Then try to work out a cross strap arrangement if possible. For example if the yogurt pot bow was above the narrow boat's dollies and the T stud a little back from it, a line from one dolly round the opposite side of the bow, tied round the T stud then back over the other side and back to the second dolly might work; if the bow is held back by your stern fender and not obstructing the tiller. If you towed on a line you'd be OK until the towing boat has to stop; where's the towed boat going to go without a rudder? Answer, probably not where it needs to!

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If he has a pulpit rail, you should tow him with medium cross-straps from the two side mounting points on his rail in an X to your two stern dollies.

 

If he hasn't, a medium length V from your dollies to his cleat works a lot better than a single towline.

 

The medium length works better than short cross-straps because with a high prow on the cruiser you will get your tiller fouled by his bow if you have him in close on short straps.  Long enough to not put yourself at risk works better in this particular case.

 

How far did you get?  I dropped Johnson's Hillock at lunchtime, so might be able to catch you up tomorrow and show you how best to tie a bridle for towing a small cruiser before you reach Wigan - I'm assuming you are only going to tow him as far as Wigan Junction because he will be going down the Leigh Branch and you will be heading for Parbold.

 

Edit to add:

Oh, and if he needs an outboard, my mate has one for sale that I could run down to him in the car.  He would be lucky to get a tow over the Rochdale Summit at this time of year!

Edited by TheBiscuits
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21 hours ago, Peter X said:

It sounds as if in the circumstances (wide canal, not much oncoming traffic, difficult to have a cross strap arrangement) breasting up would probably have been best if reasonably possible. With fenders down between the boats to cushion things.

 

Otherwise in the absence of a rudder, yes I would definitely want something trailing in the water behind the towed boat. That would greatly reduce the tendency for the stern to swing from side to side. Then try to work out a cross strap arrangement if possible. For example if the yogurt pot bow was above the narrow boat's dollies and the T stud a little back from it, a line from one dolly round the opposite side of the bow, tied round the T stud then back over the other side and back to the second dolly might work; if the bow is held back by your stern fender and not obstructing the tiller. If you towed on a line you'd be OK until the towing boat has to stop; where's the towed boat going to go without a rudder? Answer, probably not where it needs to!

Thanks Peter I didn’t consider readying up and that might have been worth a try, I ruled it out due to the lack of fenders on the cruiser, perhaps too hastily. 

 

The dolly/ cleat arrangement would have been better but it couldn’t have been on short line as I think the high bow of the cruiser would have fouled on the tiller as you say and stopping might have been interesting...

 

Thanks The Biscuits 

he didn’t have a pulpit rail or much of anything to attach to....

 

i left him at rawlinson moorings, but doubt he’s got very far as I haven’t seen anything else moving today. 

 

A little outboard would give him a chance I did suggest he ask at pb engineering to see if they had a little outboard. 

 

Boater Sam - he did have some tyres piled up on his foredeck one of those towed would have helped I’m sure.

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Couple of ropes from the bows across the stern.

 

20180325-152424.jpg

 

We did modify this for the Fossditch though as it was having a tendancy to try and run into the back of us as we slowed down. The tow bar worked a treat and kept the boats apart. Towed lovely at this.

 

20180326-112328.jpg

 

20180326-123759.jpg

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If the townig boat is a narrow boat with 2 mooring dollies on  the counter & the the boat requiring towing has a higher bow than than the NB' counter with a single mooring stud then "Cross Straps"s are the best way  with the towed boats bows pulled up tight to the towed boats stern fenders

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On 20/01/2019 at 23:46, TheBiscuits said:

If he has a pulpit rail, you should tow him with medium cross-straps from the two side mounting points on his rail in an X to your two stern dollies.

 

If he hasn't, a medium length V from your dollies to his cleat works a lot better than a single towline.

 

The medium length works better than short cross-straps because with a high prow on the cruiser you will get your tiller fouled by his bow if you have him in close on short straps.  Long enough to not put yourself at risk works better in this particular case.

 

How far did you get?  I dropped Johnson's Hillock at lunchtime, so might be able to catch you up tomorrow and show you how best to tie a bridle for towing a small cruiser before you reach Wigan - I'm assuming you are only going to tow him as far as Wigan Junction because he will be going down the Leigh Branch and you will be heading for Parbold.

 

Edit to add:

Oh, and if he needs an outboard, my mate has one for sale that I could run down to him in the car.  He would be lucky to get a tow over the Rochdale Summit at this time of year!

One of the locks below west summit is closed for repairs at the moment. Walked by the other day, all fenced and scaffolded. 

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6 minutes ago, Jim Riley said:

One of the locks below west summit is closed for repairs at the moment. Walked by the other day, all fenced and scaffolded. 

Duke's Lock is shut for work as well.

 

I wouldn't worry too much though as @jonathanA only towed him 2 miles then left him, so he won't be at Adlington yet!  I might be nice and tow him to Wigan when we go past him in a couple of weeks time if he is still there.

 

 

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