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Living afloat, trade narrow for wide?


David Lorimer

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17 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Trouble with dutch barges is they seem to have less room in them than a widebeam of the same size,

Just out of curiosity could you explain why that is, I'm not experienced enough in either to know, I'm afraid. 

 

17 minutes ago, peterboat said:

I do have a wheelhouse on mine which makes a great dining room I have to say.

We have some (non dutch barge) widebeam narrowboats in our local marina who have lovely wheelhouses and they do seem to make Really nice places to sit and enjoy the world going by. 

 

 

Edited by Tumshie
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Just now, David Lorimer said:

Tumshie, I think you'll find that the framing on a Dutch Barge is likely to be more substantial than on a wide beam.  Look at some of the pictures in the Peter Nicholls site and then google widebeam canal boat construction for more detail.  

Oh right. Now you mention it that does seem feasible. 

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16 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

Just out of curiosity could you explain why that is, I'm not experienced enough in either to know, I'm afraid. 

 

We have some (non dutch barge) widebeam narrowboats in our local marina who have lovely wheelhouses and they do seem to make Really nice places to sit and enjoy the world going by. 

 

 

I was just using your post to give a different view before I bought my widebeam I looked at Dutch Barges and whilst I loved their engine bays the loss of room to live in was an issue

Edited by peterboat
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1 minute ago, peterboat said:

I was just using your post to give a different view before I bought my widebeam I looked at Dutch Barges and whilst I loved their engine bats the loss of room to live in was an issue

I see, that's interesting. Thank you. 

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I have great respect for Peter Nichols boats, but seeing T.Spall's version at was horrible - there's no side deck for you to work and the freeboard is too low. Looks great on the inland waterways, though.

If you want a good compromise how about an used Sagar boat instead  (if you can find one).

Or a Piper boat

Edited by OldGoat
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Tumshie, my conscience has been nipping at me for not saying more about Dutch Barges.  There are plenty of flat-bottomed narrowboats and wide-beams built in the UK to look a bit like Dutch Barges, with wheelhouses and proud bows.  They are nothing of the sort and taking them out to sea would be certain suicide.  Even the older "real" Dutch Barges are not the type of vessel you'd like to be out on in heavy weather.  The Peter Nicholls website does a good job of describing why their models - and those of Piper and Sagar, as OldGoat mentioned - are more seaworthy.  

Edited by David Lorimer
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1 hour ago, David Lorimer said:

Tumshie, my conscience has been nipping at me for not saying more about Dutch Barges.

There really was no need for your conscience to be nipping at you, I have long decided that if I keep a boat on the Caley it'll be a yacht. The hunt continues. 

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39 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

There really was no need for your conscience to be nipping at you, I have long decided that if I keep a boat on the Caley it'll be a yacht. The hunt continues. 

You could do a lot, lot worse than this :

 

https://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/Sailboats/-custom-built-steel-motor-sailor/244234

 

Custom built Steel Motor Sailor

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12 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

And get a cracking delivery trip back from Lefkas to the Caley too!

 

 

We did Rijeka to Hull (3538 miles) in 30 days (2 days 'off')  so it would be a day or two longer.

 

http://ports.com/sea-route/#/?a=3551&b=3102&c=Port of Andros, Greece&d=Port of Inverness, United Kingdom

 

But I wouldn't take this route.

Probably up the Channel, the English East Coast and into the Inverness end of the Caledonian.

I recon the distance would be about the same.

 

It would, maybe, fit up the French Canal Du Midi which would save a lot of miles / days going around Spain and Portugal

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

We did Rijeka to Hull (3050 miles) in 30 days (3 days 'off')  so it would be a day or two longer.

 

http://ports.com/sea-route/#/?a=3551&b=3102&c=Port of Andros, Greece&d=Port of Inverness, United Kingdom

 

But I wouldn't take this route.

Probably up the Channel, the English East Coast and into the Inverness end of the Caledonian.

I recon the distance would be about the same.

Not sure why that route goes right round the top to get to the Caley - you could always go in the South-Western end!

 

Mind you hitting the Western Isles and the Hebrides then Orkney would make for an epic trip, Cape Wrath in February wouldn't be too much of a problem if you survived Biscay ...

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4 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

Not sure why that route goes right round the top to get to the Caley - you could always go in the South-Western end!

 

Mind you hitting the Western Isles and the Hebrides then Orkney would make for an epic trip, Cape Wrath in February wouldn't be too much of a problem if you survived Biscay …

It took us over 2 days to cross Biscay at the end of April. NE - NNE winds 25kts + we were not covering much ground.

 

The website is for 'uge boats (tankers and container ships) that wouldn't quite fit in the Caledonian.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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