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Pulling/Towing a boat


Pennie

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Wanted to ask what is the best method of towing a boat by rope from the towpath.

 

How do you keep away from the edge? Negotiate locks? Pass another boat either moving or moored?

 

There are times I just feel or sometimes needed to pull the boat along rather than use the engine and I found I just kept pulling Rose into the mud on the bank. A lock was fine until I had to negotiate a road bridge over it.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I like playing horse pulling the boat along sometimes :-)

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Pennie, on 13 Apr 2016 - 3:41 PM, said:

Wanted to ask what is the best method of towing a boat by rope from the towpath.

 

How do you keep away from the edge? Negotiate locks? Pass another boat either moving or moored?

 

There are times I just feel or sometimes needed to pull the boat along rather than use the engine and I found I just kept pulling Rose into the mud on the bank. A lock was fine until I had to negotiate a road bridge over it.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I like playing horse pulling the boat along sometimes :-)

 

Well you still need somebody on the tiller for a start, otherwise there will indeed be a tendency to draw the boat into the edge.

 

A lot also has to do with how far ahead you tow from, and where the line is fastened to the boat. Horses were often well ahead of the boat they were pulling.

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I presume you were pulling the boat using a rope attached to the bow. This is the normal way people try and usually results in the boat being pulled into the bank.

 

BMC Problems can type faster than me and gives the same answer I was going to give

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I've only had to do it a long time back after a gear box failure, you really need a steerer on board and a rope fastened about a third of the boat length back from the bow. A rope about equal to the boats length will allow the boat to stay in the centre of the canal and should allow it to pass moored boats and anglers with some care on the part of both. It's best if the rope is secured to the roof handrail so that you don't swipe everything off the roof of any moored boats. Much easier to wait for a tow from a competent skipper passing your way!

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Ideally, make the towline fast to as near to the pivot point as possible, or just slightly forward of it. The centre line attachment would be a good place. That will then avoid the tendency for the bow to dive into the bank as it does when it is made fast to the bow.

 

It is also beneficial to have someone on the tiller.

 

Howard

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According to Jerome K Jerome's best seller "Three Men In a Boat" There is nothing more exciting than being towed by girls.

Quote............

 

Of all experiences in connection with towing, the most exciting is being towed by girls. It is a sensation that nobody ought to miss. It takes three girls to tow always; two hold the rope, and the other one runs round and round, and giggles. They generally begin by getting themselves tied up. They get the line round their legs, and have to sit down on the path and undo each other, and then they twist it round their necks, and are nearly strangled. They fix it straight, however, at last, and start off at a run, pulling the boat along at quite a dangerous pace. At the end of a hundred yards they are naturally breathless, and suddenly stop, and all sit down on the grass and laugh, and your boat drifts out to mid- stream and turns round, before you know what has happened, or can get hold of a scull. Then they stand up, and are surprised.

"Oh, look!" they say; "he's gone right out into the middle."

They pull on pretty steadily for a bit, after this, and then it all at once occurs to one of them that she will pin up her frock, and they ease up for the purpose, and the boat runs aground.

You jump up, and push it off, and you shout to them not to stop.

"Yes. What's the matter?" they shout back.

"Don't stop," you roar.

"Don't what?"

"Don't stop — go on — go on!"

"Go back, Emily, and see what it is they want," says one; and Emily comes back, and asks what it is.

"What do you want?" she says; "anything happened?"

" No," you reply, "it's all right; only go on, you know — don't stop."

"Why not?"

"Why, we can't steer, if you keep stopping. You must keep some way on the boat."

"Keep some what?"

"Some way — you must keep the boat moving."

"Oh, all right, I'll tell `em. Are we doing it all right?"

"Oh, yes, very nicely, indeed, only don't stop."

"It doesn't seem difficult at all. I thought it was so hard."

"Oh, no, it's simple enough. You want to keep on steady at it, that's all."

"I see. Give me out my red shawl, it's under the cushion."

You find the shawl, and hand it out, and by this time another one has come back and thinks she will have hers too, and they take Mary's on chance, and Mary does not want it, so they bring it back and have a pocket-comb instead. It is about twenty minutes before they get off again, and, at the next corner, they see a cow, and you have to leave the boat to chivy the cow out of their way.

There is never a dull moment in the boat while girls are towing it.

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Wanted to ask what is the best method of towing a boat by rope from the towpath.

 

How do you keep away from the edge? Negotiate locks? Pass another boat either moving or moored?

 

There are times I just feel or sometimes needed to pull the boat along rather than use the engine and I found I just kept pulling Rose into the mud on the bank. A lock was fine until I had to negotiate a road bridge over it.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I like playing horse pulling the boat along sometimes :-)

 

The 3 posts (howaerdand, ditchcrawler, MJG)tell you where to fasten the line. To find the balance point just push the boat away from the bank a few times until you find the point where the front a back go out evenly. You want the centre of your pulling arrangement to be about a foot in front of this.

 

You need at least 50 foot of rope, the more the better.

 

Ideally you need a steerer, but if you have not got one then to you can set the tiller to steer a few degrees from the towpath. Pull on the whole length of the rope to make it go out, shorten the rope to pull the boat into the bank, letting the boat pass you. It's a lot easier if you have a mast to tie to though.

 

Locks are not usually a problem. Just pull the boat in. By-washes can be tricky though. There are some locks where we would always pull the butty in with the motor on a long line, or at least have that option. Going up or going down, always pull the boat right in until the bow touches and tie the pulling rope to the lock gate - wrap it round the beam - not on the metalwork. Going up, tighten this as the boat comes up, going down loosen as it goes down to keep the boat off the cill.

 

Tie a monkey's fist on the end of the rope so you can swing it under foot path bridges.

 

Passing moving boats, wave them to the offside.

 

Passing moored boats - difficult especially with all the crap some people have on their roofs, but you an toss the rope over a bit at a time or use a stick to hold it high.

Edited by Tiggs
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One rope at the front, one at the back, pull the one at the front to make it come in and the one at the back to make it go out (and to make it go forward).

 

 

 

Or tie your bow and stern ropes together (possibly with an additional rope if you have one), to make a continuous rope from bow stud to stern dolly. Place the loop around your waist, and as you pull you can adjust where you are in the loop to keep the boat going in the right direction. You usually want the bow to be just a little further out from the towpath than the stern. With a little practice you will find you can keep on adjusting the position while continuing to pull, so you can steer the boat as necessary around bends and through bridges. Once you have the boat moving it takes surprisingly little effort to keep it going at a moderate speed.

 

You will get dirt from the towpath and water from the cut on your clothes though, so dress appropriately.

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Or tie your bow and stern ropes together (possibly with an additional rope if you have one), to make a continuous rope from bow stud to stern dolly. Place the loop around your waist, and as you pull you can adjust where you are in the loop to keep the boat going in the right direction. You usually want the bow to be just a little further out from the towpath than the stern. With a little practice you will find you can keep on adjusting the position while continuing to pull, so you can steer the boat as necessary around bends and through bridges. Once you have the boat moving it takes surprisingly little effort to keep it going at a moderate speed.

 

You will get dirt from the towpath and water from the cut on your clothes though, so dress appropriately.

 

 

Yes, that's it exactly, that's three who have done it.

 

Ignore the rest, especially the bits about needing someone on the helm.

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One rope at the front, one at the back, pull the one at the front to make it come in and the one at the back to make it go out (and to make it go forward).

 

Best strategy is to get the boat as far from the bank as you can to give you wriggling room.

 

This.

 

While if crew-strong or trying to re-enact horseboating days tying a single line around where the 'mast' would be on a butty/horseboat and trying to steer using a rudder intended to be in prop-wash can be got to work, its a mugs game and certainly if there is only one or two of you, having one person stood largely idle on the tiller is a waste.

 

With a long line from the rear of the boat to the towpath about level with the bow, and a single short line to the bow, a single person can 'take a boat for a walk' maybe 1/3 mile with reasonable ease, most of the pull goes on the line to the rear using the bow line to steer. With two fairly fit people one on each rope you can do a mile in an hour with a 22ton narrowboat, if not feel very up for doing the next mile, dont ask how I know! Adjust the line lengths and hence angles to find a balance where for straight on, both can pull as hard as practicable for their given strength. If you have three, place two on the rear line.

 

12063321_10205299398829365_6476632003194982774_n (1).jpg

*Its not super clear from the photo, but I have a line to each end of the boat, and am standing level with the bow.

 

 

Daniel

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I'm genuinely looking forward to putting all your advice into practice and finding out what works best for me. Will probably have the OH aboard at the tiller so I'm not alone. Will practice away from shallow banks, other boats and locks to hone my hauling skill

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I'm genuinely looking forward to putting all your advice into practice and finding out what works best for me. Will probably have the OH aboard at the tiller so I'm not alone. Will practice away from shallow banks, other boats and locks to hone my hauling skill

If the OH is about he is much more use on the end of a rope. With two of you it is best with one on the bow rope and one on the stern rope as Dan suggests, and enough coordination that you each increase or decrease your input to steer as necessary.

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According to Jerome K Jerome's best seller "Three Men In a Boat" There is nothing more exciting than being towed by girls.

Quote............

 

Of all experiences in connection with towing, the most exciting is being towed by girls. It is a sensation that nobody ought to miss. It takes three girls to tow always; two hold the rope, and the other one runs round and round, and giggles. They generally begin by getting themselves tied up. They get the line round their legs, and have to sit down on the path and undo each other, and then they twist it round their necks, and are nearly strangled. They fix it straight, however, at last, and start off at a run, pulling the boat along at quite a dangerous pace. At the end of a hundred yards they are naturally breathless, and suddenly stop, and all sit down on the grass and laugh, and your boat drifts out to mid- stream and turns round, before you know what has happened, or can get hold of a scull. Then they stand up, and are surprised.

"Oh, look!" they say; "he's gone right out into the middle."

They pull on pretty steadily for a bit, after this, and then it all at once occurs to one of them that she will pin up her frock, and they ease up for the purpose, and the boat runs aground.

You jump up, and push it off, and you shout to them not to stop.

"Yes. What's the matter?" they shout back.

"Don't stop," you roar.

"Don't what?"

"Don't stop — go on — go on!"

"Go back, Emily, and see what it is they want," says one; and Emily comes back, and asks what it is.

"What do you want?" she says; "anything happened?"

" No," you reply, "it's all right; only go on, you know — don't stop."

"Why not?"

"Why, we can't steer, if you keep stopping. You must keep some way on the boat."

"Keep some what?"

"Some way — you must keep the boat moving."

"Oh, all right, I'll tell `em. Are we doing it all right?"

"Oh, yes, very nicely, indeed, only don't stop."

"It doesn't seem difficult at all. I thought it was so hard."

"Oh, no, it's simple enough. You want to keep on steady at it, that's all."

"I see. Give me out my red shawl, it's under the cushion."

You find the shawl, and hand it out, and by this time another one has come back and thinks she will have hers too, and they take Mary's on chance, and Mary does not want it, so they bring it back and have a pocket-comb instead. It is about twenty minutes before they get off again, and, at the next corner, they see a cow, and you have to leave the boat to chivy the cow out of their way.

There is never a dull moment in the boat while girls are towing it.

 

Classic old humour. That book is brilliant, as is the next one, who's name I forget.

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I'm genuinely looking forward to putting all your advice into practice and finding out what works best for me. Will probably have the OH aboard at the tiller so I'm not alone. Will practice away from shallow banks, other boats and locks to hone my hauling skill

Begs the question if the engine ant broke why the hell do you want to pull it, its bloody hard work

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Begs the question if the engine ant broke why the hell do you want to pull it, its bloody hard work

 

Fun?

 

For us it is the case that for distances under a mile, certainly up to half a mile, it is a lot quick as well as about £15 cheaper than lighting the boiler and raising steam!

 

As said, unless you really do want to make life hard, don't try and steer it with a 18inch square rudder while wasting half your power.

 

 

Daniel

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Fun?

 

For us it is the case that for distances under a mile, certainly up to half a mile, it is a lot quick as well as about £15 cheaper than lighting the boiler and raising steam!

 

As said, unless you really do want to make life hard, don't try and steer it with a 18inch square rudder while wasting half your power.

 

 

Daniel

I thought she could just turn a key and go, didn't realise it was steam or a Bolinder boat.gif

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