Narrow boats just a thought

normskib

normskib

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Just a simple thought on a beautiful day like Today but risking starting the outbreak of World War 3 wouldn't it be nice in a perfect world if Narrow Boats stuck to the canals that they were designed for! giving us smaller motor boats a chance to moor occasionally ! That's it I've said my bit now l suppose I'd better put on my tin hat and retreat to my dugout.?
 
Ok. I'll bite. Just spent 13 days Shepperton to Oxford and back. Only one place I could not moor up because of NB's and that was Wallingford going upstream, but it was lunch time. The rest of the time no problems. Only 4 self service locks. If I had to nit pick this trip it would have to be the exhaust fumes given off by some motor cruisers, especially a couple who did not like shutting down in a lock. Apart from that a great trip in great weather with great company.
 
I've suggested to my sewer tube loving friends there needs to be a Thames direct action group, objectives welding shut the various canal entrances onto the Thames, plus destroying Osney Bridge.
 
Whilst I cheerfully subscribe to the view that NBs are ugly, lack charm, are boring and do not add to the ambience of the river. I also concede that over the past few years there has been a marked improvement in their manners. Many now close up the gaps and some even double bank.
The fact is they are here to stay and contribute to Envag income. The bumboats are a thorn in everyone's flesh and I really don't have a clue as to how one deals with these. It is vital that we don't tar all NBs with the same brush. The bulk are paying their dues, do not take liberties and can't help being ugly.
 
Hope your not suggesting that 1000hp offshore sports boats,ginourmous luxury Med style flybridge yachts and Brooms with 3 story tiers of blue canvas biminis/dodgers and resembling spanish war gallions in full sail were not designed for the Thames as well.:)
 
alanch said:
Ok. I'll bite. Just spent 13 days Shepperton to Oxford and back. Only one place I could not moor up because of NB's and that was Wallingford going upstream, but it was lunch time. The rest of the time no problems. Only 4 self service locks. If I had to nit pick this trip it would have to be the exhaust fumes given off by some motor cruisers, especially a couple who did not like shutting down in a lock. Apart from that a great trip in great weather with great company.
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whats the problem, real boaters raft up
 
Narrow boats. The ideal boat for a dreamer.
We'll live on this and "one day" we'll cruise the whole system. Meanwhile living in a corridor*

Anyway the biggest problem as I see it is those horrible 50-70ft "wide beam narrow boats" and the 'oh look isn't this comfy' piper barges that seem to be breeding lately.

Narrow boats -tend- to be occupied by people actually boating and going somewhere but the wider things seem to be more of a mooring hogging type thing to me. An observation as the owner of a 57'x12' barge who spent 5 weeks on the River this summer before returning to our residential mooring on a canal in London :)

* it's OK I lived on a narrow boat 24/365 for 12 years so I know what its like.

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normskib said:
Just a simple thought on a beautiful day like Today but risking starting the outbreak of World War 3 wouldn't it be nice in a perfect world if Narrow Boats stuck to the canals that they were designed for! giving us smaller motor boats a chance to moor occasionally ! That's it I've said my bit now l suppose I'd better put on my tin hat and retreat to my dugout.��
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Narrowboats make excellent landing pontoons, they are flat sided and keep your props well away from the shallow river bank.

What's not to like about them :)
 
CX54WEK said:
Narrowboats make excellent landing pontoons, they are flat sided and keep your props well away from the shallow river bank.

What's not to like about them :)
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Unfortunately no side decks to facilitate easy crossing of vessel.
Usually a fender the width of a supermarket budget sausage or none at all protecting your pristine immaculate shiney Gelcoat.
All deck furniture designed to fasten warps the thickness of thin cotton
A small verdant jungle on the roof to make standing on it as difficult as possible.
...and worse of all a plethora of poorly executed badly painted cartoons purporting to depict some mythical Avalon of barge existance when actually people actually suffered a short brutal and very hard life and would have given their eye teeth for a comfy warm dwelling ashore.. :):):)
 
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I don't mind NBs as long as they are responsibly handled. And don't hit me!
Would be nice if they all flew ensigns. Biggest issue I have is when they chug along at 1kt and you can't get past. And of course they ought to have navigation lights. ??
 
I've seen the odd one with can only be described as an extension. A ridiculous amount of public mooring required.

I was speaking to a couple from Yorkshire who'd hired a NB and were on the last day of their holiday. I asked them if they enjoyed it and they both agreed that they'd do it again, but definitely not in a NB as it's too big and you spend all day trying to find a mooring large enough:D
 
There are some smart looking ones around, but I'm afraid to say many do look decidedly tatty from the outside. Although the interiors are generally very well fitted. We travelled last year from Oxford to Bourne End, and polished up the gelcoat and put up bunting, just so we could pass the Henley vintage boat show in style!

I also came across a NB with bow thrusters- expertly handled by an Aussie guy - who reversed into a tight mooring space behind us. That was quite impressive and could save a bit on the mooring space required if more had them fitted!
 
I feel I must come to the defence of narrowboats. I have done more inland boating on those than any other craft, for the obvious reason they are all that will fit on a lot of the canals.

They are actually very nice craft to pilot. They should be comfortably capable of 5 knots, though urban legend has it a lot of hire boats have small props so it is physically impossible to exceed 4 knots.

What I like about them is their sheer mass means they hold their station well. You can maneuver them very slowly and accurately where a lighter and larger craft (fibreglass) would be much more likely to be blown off course. You can tuck them into a mooring space just a couple of feet longer than the boat without the need for a bow thruster. Point the bow in. Get a crew off at the bow to hold it on a warp and tuck the stern in. Done it many times.

You can also turn one in it's own length at a winding hole without (as some do) burying your bow into the bank. How would most river boaters get on if they were on a waterway too narrow to turn your boat around and you had to continue to the next winding hole to turn around. And how many river boaters cold travel any distance backwards (sometime the quickest way to get to a winding hole)

Although you complain narrowboats are "large" I think of them as small boats as they are obviously narrow, shallow draft, and low air draft. they make up for that with length of course. But when you emerge from a canal onto a river, they do suddenly feel just a little bit small when every other boat you have to look up to see.

My own little lightweight GRP sailing boat by comparison is much harder to steer and maneuver in tight surroundings (entering the harbour for instance) as it is much more influenced by wind and currents and does not have the mass to just keep going. Though it is not an issue at sea.

The only "problem" with narroboats is SOME of the owners.

On the canals, you have to get used to parking your boat into a lock, that's 2 inches wider and 6 inches longer than the boat. Ideally without hitting anything hard. That's why they have skinny rope fenders, nothing else would fit in a lock, and the rope fenders give a bit of protection from the brick sides of the lock. How many with fibreglass boats would be happy to park their boat in a lock, or pass though a bridge hole with similar tight clearance? One normally passes through a tight bridge hole without even slowing down as they are so good at maintaining a course.

I have said it before but one of my retirement plans is to buy a narrowboat and explore the whole inland waterway network. Please be kind to me when I am on the rivers. You may look down on me as a second class boater, but at least I will have bought a boat that can fit on the entire network and not be constrained as to where I can go.

Lets have a bit of tollerance, and just admit there are many different types of boat and all have good and bad points. I would not personally want a 3 storey GRP gin palace, for the simple reason I would not like the restrictions it gives as to where I can go. but that does not mean the boat, or the people in it, is a bad boat.
 
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normskib said:
Just a simple thought on a beautiful day like Today but risking starting the outbreak of World War 3 wouldn't it be nice in a perfect world if Narrow Boats stuck to the canals that they were designed for! giving us smaller motor boats a chance to moor occasionally ! That's it I've said my bit now l suppose I'd better put on my tin hat and retreat to my dugout.?
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Narrow boats and barges have been plying the Thames since 1810 when they carried stone and other goods between Bath and London via the Kennet and Avon. It's the white plastic motor boats, which are a recent introduction, that are blocking all the moorings.
 
When they were being used to transport goods, they moved. Too many of them don't and the ones that do are taking up 2 average boat lengths.
There are some ugly, dirty looking cruisers on the Thames that detract from the scenery, but I find NB's plain ugly,
So what's the ideal boat for the Thames? The Freeman gets my vote.
 
Actionmat said:
When they were being used to transport goods, they moved. Too many of them don't and the ones that do are taking up 2 average boat lengths.
There are some ugly, dirty looking cruisers on the Thames that detract from the scenery, but I find NB's plain ugly,
So what's the ideal boat for the Thames? The Freeman gets my vote.
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Any boat whose owner pays its registration, obeys the bylaws and whose owner respects other boaters. Oh, and moves up /rafts out to make room for others.
 
This is the sort of tolerant and sensible contribution that might turn some of us 'lurkers' into 'contributors' (to hijack another thread). One of the delights of the Thames for me (especially the lower Thames) is the sheer variety of boats.

I like the river - but the river without the boats and people on it would be - well - just a river. It would not be the colourful conduit of fellow boaters and their various ways of floating that keeps me (at least) entertained.
 
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