R Wey - National Trust

[miket]

I have a feeling someone on here moors on a NT mooring on R Wey? Cliveshep?
I had a purchaser for my Freeman who had agreement from NT to accommodate it on his existing NT mooring. They have now told him (after I had accepted his offer to buy) that it is too wide at 11.5 ft.
I don't think he is just ratting as he has been looking for 3 years and seemed delighted to have found the Freeman. The purchase is through a broker and there is no question of enforcing the purchase.
I am interested to know if there is anything one can do to encourage NT to change their mind?

 

[Dave_Seager]

According to their own documentation at http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-riverwey-info_boat_users.pdf you can use boats up to 14' to Guildford and 13'10" above Guildford. This is logical as 13'10" is the standard beam for a barge.

Is the mooring alongside the bank on a particularly narrow part of the navigation where you would obstruct passing boats? Otherwise, is is a mooring at an angle to the bank where moored boats are effectively alongside one another?

 

[miket]

No details

Sorry. No info' on type or whereabouts of mooring.

 

[Cliveshep]

I doubt you can challenge their decision at all. I have had some bad and unhappy experiences with them and I'm far from happy at their attitudes, which I could not and cannot change. Some at the NT offices are a load of inconsiderate jobsworth's. Once someone has made a pronouncement they absolutely will not go back on it no matter what, it is like the "Laws of the Medes and Persians". In my experience that person could be someone with no boating experience whatsoever who sits behind a desk, as has happened to me. They are not user friendly at all, unlike what one hears about EA and BW you cannot deal reasonably with the NT - stubbornness is to them like a virtue. It seems as though they have a small empire to protect and apart from NB's and small craft they really don't seem to want cruisers on the navigation at all in spite of it being theoretically maintained as a navigation under the old Act of Parliament. This they will happily quote at you, but getting hold of a copy of that Act to see what it really says so you can challenge them is quite impossible.

I actually had a letter from their accounts lady telling me my boat was far too big to go beyond Addlestone, which is total rubbish of course as I regularly go up to Shalford and there are the old Steven's barges moored at Guildford at their head office and a wide beam trip boat operates out of Guildford Boathouse. They do seem to make it up as they go along in spite of the published dimensions. From gossip picked up from some of their own staff and my own experiences they certainly need to be more user and customer friendly and more open to alternatives and suggestions than they are. The actual working staff on the waterway are NOT included in this assessment, they do a good job under difficult conditions and frankly they too deserve better from their management from what I can see.

There are places where wide beam boats do moor alongside, down at Addlestone for a start, mine is there as is a Dutch barge. You make me wonder now as mine is up for sale. I wonder if they will go back on their previous agreement to transfer the mooring for a fee when I sell.

Edit - can your potential purchaser not go see them to see if they can offer an alternative mooring location? You never know, someone might possibly decide to be reasonable.

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

NT are into the environment and old houses, not boats...

 

[Gumpy]

I actually had a letter from their accounts lady telling me my boat was far too big to go beyond Addlestone, which is total rubbish of course as I regularly go up to Shalford and there are the old Steven's barges moored at Guildford at their head office and a wide beam trip boat operates out of Guildford Boathouse.

Yet last time we did the Wey we were actively encouraged to go to Godalming with a promise that they would drop the level if we couldn't get under Broadford
Mind you this was from the men on the ground rather than the offices.
One problem with the NT is that their dredging program is not to the original barge profile but only so that two narrow boats can pass.
This may well lead to problems next week, we arrive on Sunday morning

 

[Cliveshep]

Yet last time we did the Wey we were actively encouraged to go to Godalming with a promise that they would drop the level if we couldn't get under Broadford
Mind you this was from the men on the ground rather than the offices.
One problem with the NT is that their dredging program is not to the original barge profile but only so that two narrow boats can pass.
This may well lead to problems next week, we arrive on Sunday morning

Actually, in in defence of the NT I don't think they dredge to allow only 2 NB's to pass each other or no-one would ever get past me, or you if you come up in a barge. The Wey is fairly unique in that the original profile of the canal sections was "saucer" shaped, so it is shallow at the edges and deep in the middle. However, I have found nowhere I cannot pass even another wide beam boat. Mind you, there's loads of places where turning round can be a bit of an issue!