The canal / narrowboat thread.

[eldar]

Not technically a narrowboat, more a floating shed. Just after you decided not to renew the insurance....

Couple 'homeless' after boat topples in Quorn marina https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershi...

[MartG]

eldar said:

Not technically a narrowboat, more a floating shed. Just after you decided not to renew the insurance....

Couple 'homeless' after boat topples in Quorn marina https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershi...

Why didn't they slacken off the mooring lines as soon as it started to list ?

[dhutch]

MartG said:

Why didn't they slacken off the mooring lines as soon as it started to list ?

If they where onboard, when the levels began to rise, you would have liked to think they would have been able to do that.

However there are a lot more considerations and variables:
- Being a static houseboat, it may well have had service connections such as water, power, which may also have been tight.
- They might not have been on the boat at the time, away at work, asleep, even just in the onsite restaurant!
- We don't know how fast the levels came up, 0.8m rise is a massive rise in level for what is typically a controlled environment.

Not having insurance appears like poor planning, but again, we don't know the details.


Daniel

[welshjon81]

Ah! I didn't realise we had a dedicated thread to narrow boats.

My family along with another family, spent 5 days on one last summer on the River Stour. We had a fantastic time, such a relaxing experience!

We would love to go again this summer but would like to try a different hire company as the boats on offer were a bit tired.

Can anyone recommend a good hire firm on a scenic route for our summer adventure?

Much appreciated!

[mcdjl]

dhutch said:

f they where onboard, when the levels began to rise, you would have liked to think they would have been able to do that.

However there are a lot more considerations and variables:
- Being a static houseboat, it may well have had service connections such as water, power, which may also have been tight.
- They might not have been on the boat at the time, away at work, asleep, even just in the onsite restaurant!
- We don't know how fast the levels came up, 0.8m rise is a massive rise in level for what is typically a controlled environment.

Not having insurance appears like poor planning, but again, we don't know the details.


Daniel

About 6 miles downstream (similar rise)
There were people thre multiple times a day checking on the boats. You normally step down into them.

Someone posted photos of that boat earlier in the week:

[URL]Facebook|https://www.facebook.com/groups/CanalMarketPlace/permalink/2586029068343899/?xts__[0]=68.ARDzbQVA35Z487ac9T6yRnkkttSBohpPCiah1HFT4RhwMlwMAwQaxDZV7C6ga5oyqkg4IMJORxb1sAz5KGe42QVYb8aZhamuOFqHlpgJfNPyuQk8cmwJyaikz-uffGO9rDYkk31bd-vwmPniZkGkbq0cqCX2PtNXgjmL2Mk3xS-J-KJvpsbwC0FoMPArKyB-0tzxJKSk6Ja0UE96aAV0BKQZ5WB9I68g0bosMESk_78u-Ij2vbJplTNYqDNlhFSHDVE7XZQqz9q7jnd-ySzp0HPyDIowj4_QplaPvgHqjK6VmfdXSNsi98WqgiAECUTM_efiMivKmPQVVwidF8wCkaWloOSSWwpeB6_47vCqmyeGUYxdm4D-0nsqM2WQrtixTmrbtZABvKaItRknav3stvcFzsllVO1jSwjt-goITDY&__tn=KH-R[/URL]

That marina is just after (below) a flood lock and weir. I didn't think they'd have opened it though as it will have risked the town, rather than just the fields.

[classicaholic]

Part of the CaRT license conditions are that you have to have insurance and you have have a license even in a marina if its connected to the cut. I suppose you can have 3rd party insurance but its only about £100 year for a 50k boat.

[MartG]

classicaholic said:

Part of the CaRT license conditions are that you have to have insurance and you have have a license even in a marina if its connected to the cut. I suppose you can have 3rd party insurance but its only about £100 year for a 50k boat.

I suspect the requirement would be for more than 3rd party - as a minimum sufficient to recover your boat if it sinks in the middle of a canal somewhere blocking it

[egor110]

I wonder how this green attack on coal/wet wood is going to hit narrowboat users ?

[dhutch]

Most burn smokeless (or wet wood...) so it shouldn't effect them too much currently.

However as a steam powered narrowboat, we rely on high quality unprocessed coal. Which is much more of a concern.

Daniel

[eldar]

President?

[Chrisgr31]

dhutch said:

f they where onboard, when the levels began to rise, you would have liked to think they would have been able to do that.

However there are a lot more considerations and variables:
- Being a static houseboat, it may well have had service connections such as water, power, which may also have been tight.
- They might not have been on the boat at the time, away at work, asleep, even just in the onsite restaurant!
- We don't know how fast the levels came up, 0.8m rise is a massive rise in level for what is typically a controlled environment.

Not having insurance appears like poor planning, but again, we don't know the details.


Daniel

The article states Mrs Warren was onboard with the dog when it bagan to tilt. You would have thought she might have noticed, surely she would have had time to adjust the ropes although maybe she don’t know what to do. Why did they have a digger in to remove the upper deck?

[mikebradford]

Chrisgr31 said:

Why did they have a digger in to remove the upper deck?

Maybe to help retrieve it, or if they're trying to claim on someone else's insurance they may not want to be in breach of any contract terms for their mooring.

I'm just speculating

[dhutch]

eldar said:

President?

Emily Anne.

Although President is another steam powered narrowboat. There are around 15 or so, of which about ten are in active use.

http://www.emilyanne.co.uk/

Daniel

[mcdjl]

dhutch said:

Emily Anne.

Although President is another steam powered narrowboat. There are around 15 or so, of which about ten are in active use.

http://www.emilyanne.co.uk/

Daniel

The steam boat rally was mentioned at our club the other day as we might host it this year. I didn't realise that the 12 boats mentioned meant all the steam boats!

[geeks]

I can imagine the coal ban would have exceptions for heritage stuff, plenty of steam locomotives out there too, lets be honest, they aren't really the target here are they.

[dhutch]

mcdjl said:

The steam boat rally was mentioned at our club the other day as we might host it this year. I didn't realise that the 12 boats mentioned meant all the steam boats!

The vast majority of steamboats in the UK are smaller craft, trailable launches and the like, of which there are a reasonable number. As said 10-15 steam narrowboats, and then some larger steam boats on some of the rivers, thames style, tugs and smaller coastal boats, but not many survived.

geeks said:

I can imagine the coal ban would have exceptions for heritage stuff, plenty of steam locomotives out there too, lets be honest, they aren't really the target here are they.

Yes, the ban itself will not directly impact our being allowed to burn coal. However as the supply chain is the same, and heritage is around 5% of consumption, it does raise some very real issues.

In the short-medium term it might mean having to get larger orders and share, or collect in person from s.wales for instance. Preserved railways obviously use more than a narrowboat so would still be able to take deliveries direct. However the lump-size requirements are very different, so we wouldn't be able to share their order. So you are then onto getting small batches of a few 100tons or so run off for the years road/boat consumption. We are about the same size sort of grade as a traction engine would take, larger domestic might overlap, the small launches would then need a smaller grade more like you would get on a domestic grate.

However if the other national demand reduces, coal fired power stations, industrial use such as steel and concrete production, then the mine (s) would close meaning no local supply. Currently there is only one mine open in S.Wales which is used by almost all of the steam boats. Options then are going to be importing is from overseas, Poland, Russian, Columbia, which can result in very varied quality and characteristics and obviously you are commiting to say 10ton delivery, which would be about £3000 and 6-8years supply for us, which is a lot if you get a bad batch!

We shall see, something will work out I am sure, but it is certainly uncertain times.

Daniel

[eldar]

dhutch said:

Emily Anne.

Although President is another steam powered narrowboat. There are around 15 or so, of which about ten are in active use.

http://www.emilyanne.co.uk/

Daniel

Sound like a decent boat.

I’ve been on President and butty Kildare a few times. Gets stuck a lot, needs a decent depth

[geeks]

dhutch said:

mcdjl said:

The steam boat rally was mentioned at our club the other day as we might host it this year. I didn't realise that the 12 boats mentioned meant all the steam boats!

The vast majority of steamboats in the UK are smaller craft, trailable launches and the like, of which there are a reasonable number. As said 10-15 steam narrowboats, and then some larger steam boats on some of the rivers, thames style, tugs and smaller coastal boats, but not many survived.

geeks said:

I can imagine the coal ban would have exceptions for heritage stuff, plenty of steam locomotives out there too, lets be honest, they aren't really the target here are they.

Yes, the ban itself will not directly impact our being allowed to burn coal. However as the supply chain is the same, and heritage is around 5% of consumption, it does raise some very real issues.

In the short-medium term it might mean having to get larger orders and share, or collect in person from s.wales for instance. Preserved railways obviously use more than a narrowboat so would still be able to take deliveries direct. However the lump-size requirements are very different, so we wouldn't be able to share their order. So you are then onto getting small batches of a few 100tons or so run off for the years road/boat consumption. We are about the same size sort of grade as a traction engine would take, larger domestic might overlap, the small launches would then need a smaller grade more like you would get on a domestic grate.

However if the other national demand reduces, coal fired power stations, industrial use such as steel and concrete production, then the mine (s) would close meaning no local supply. Currently there is only one mine open in S.Wales which is used by almost all of the steam boats. Options then are going to be importing is from overseas, Poland, Russian, Columbia, which can result in very varied quality and characteristics and obviously you are commiting to say 10ton delivery, which would be about £3000 and 6-8years supply for us, which is a lot if you get a bad batch!

We shall see, something will work out I am sure, but it is certainly uncertain times.

Daniel

Interesting I didn’t know heritage volume was as high as 5% that’s a surprising amount. Like you say I’m sure it will all work out in the long term. Medium is probably the concern, would be a shame to lose those icons of yesteryear!

[darkyoung1000]

welshjon81 said:

Ah! I didn't realise we had a dedicated thread to narrow boats.

My family along with another family, spent 5 days on one last summer on the River Stour. We had a fantastic time, such a relaxing experience!

We would love to go again this summer but would like to try a different hire company as the boats on offer were a bit tired.

Can anyone recommend a good hire firm on a scenic route for our summer adventure?

Much appreciated!

I’ve used Shire Cruisers before to do parts of the Leeds - Liverpool canal and found them excellent. You can go further too (but the Calder and Hebble isn’t very scenic...).

[Simpo Two]

welshjon81 said:

My family along with another family, spent 5 days on one last summer on the River Stour. We had a fantastic time, such a relaxing experience!

We would love to go again this summer but would like to try a different hire company as the boats on offer were a bit tired.

Can anyone recommend a good hire firm on a scenic route for our summer adventure?

Stour as in Essex/Suffolk border? No hire boats there... River Soar perhaps?

You can book boats from many different companies. Some are the actual companies, some are booking agents. If you want to support a small business, try Midland Mallard on the Ashby Canal. By contrast ABC Boats are a big agent and work well. I think the main thing is to choose a boat with more space that you need, and to pick a newer one, as the fittings and decor will be nicer.

Before that though, decide whether you want a narrowboat/barge for the traditional canal experience, or a cruiser for more space and comfort - eg on the Broads, Thames or the stunning Caledonian.

Edited by Simpo Two on Monday 24th February 23:12