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Advice needed


Johan

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I'm planning a narrowboat holliday for next year april, together with my wife. We are living on Aruba so we will fly to London. From there we'll need transportation to the boat (bus ? Train?). I would like to take a one or two day helmsman course before we hire a boat, preferable at the same company. We like to avoid the masses and love the countryside. All together we have about 12 days to spent. 

I would appreciate any advice about the transportation to the boat, a company and region.

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I wouldn't bother with the course, a waste of money in my opinion.

Flying into london you can get a train to Oxford and get a boat from these, 

https://www.oxfordshire-narrowboats.co.uk/about-us.html

The hire base is about 10 minutes by taxi from Oxford station, lovely stretch of canal heading north, once you get past Dukes lock and all the hippy boats.

Or go further on the train, maybe do the llangollen canal,

https://www.black-prince.com/chirk-base-llangollen-canal-boat-holiday-hire/

 

A couple of sites to use for planning trips on the uk canals.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/canal-and-river-network

http://canalplan.eu/cgi-bin/canal.cgi

 

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Why would a course be a waste of money ? I've never been at the helm of a narrow boat (but had some holidays sailing a 24 ft sailing boat). My thoughts were it would ease my mind a bit to do a lock, maneuver in and out a marina and things like that before go out on my own.  

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I had the same thoughts when i first hired, as i would imagine a lot of people do, within ten minutes of steering a narrowboat you understand why its a waste of money, locks are easy once you have done a couple, you cant really go wrong if you are a sensible person and allow time to react and think things through.

 

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18 minutes ago, Johan said:

Why would a course be a waste of money ? I've never been at the helm of a narrow boat (but had some holidays sailing a 24 ft sailing boat). My thoughts were it would ease my mind a bit to do a lock, maneuver in and out a marina and things like that before go out on my own.  

From my experience Oxfordshire NBs is one of the better hire boat companies in  that they take you through at least one lock and show you how to navigate the boat up to there. If you've had experience of sailing as a helm (not just crewing - but you're almost there) then you'd be more experienced than 90% of first time hirers. There are several good online videos showing you how to steer, position and work the boat have a look. (Some kind folks will post some links shortly). The most difficult thing is to realise that the boat goes exceedingly slowly - so you can't and shouldn't do anything quickly. 

Most of the other companies just show you the basics and let you go.

So a course is  not a matter of a waste of time, it's more that it's provided by that hire company.

The Oxford is a very beautiful canal, but the downside - if any - is that there aren't many shops en-route, so you need to do some planning.

There are trains that stop at Lower Heyford - jut across the bridge from the hire base.    

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OldGoat : meanwhile I think  I've seen all the narrow boat videos on YT LOL. This is something we're planning to do for some time when we are (early) retired so this will be a test case for us...

Dave: I came across this company, looks very promising ! Thanks.

Edited by Johan
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Was moored next to them Thursday night, boats seemed ok, nothing spectacular but tidy enough.

You also have the option of heading onto the thames, from there.

 

If you dont like locks you could also hire up near napton, braunston or rugby and it gives you a nice wide area to explore.

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3 hours ago, Johan said:

Why would a course be a waste of money ? I've never been at the helm of a narrow boat (but had some holidays sailing a 24 ft sailing boat). My thoughts were it would ease my mind a bit to do a lock, maneuver in and out a marina and things like that before go out on my own.  

Hire boat companies are used to hirers who turn up with absolutely zero  experience. They will show you how to operate the boat and most will take you through your first lock.

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The main thing to remember is that even when a narrowboat is going too fast, it still feels dead slow. Calibration of one's judgement of speed takes a while initially. 

If the boat seems difficult to steer or keeps swerving towards the bank, or you get in difficulty of any sort you're probably going too fast. Close the throttle down. Going slower (even though you're already going slow) helps in the majority of situations. 

The exceptions are in strong crosswinds you NEED a bit of forward motion or the steering vanishes, and when an impatient boater is following you wanting to go faster. Pull over and wave them past. You'll catch them up at the next lock anyway!

That'll be £100 please, as I've just saved you doing the helmsman's course :D:D:D

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1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

The main thing to remember is that even when a narrowboat is going too fast, it still feels dead slow. Calibration of one's judgement of speed takes a while initially. 

If the boat seems difficult to steer or keeps swerving towards the bank, or you get in difficulty of any sort you're probably going too fast. Close the throttle down. Going slower (even though you're already going slow) helps in the majority of situations. 

The exceptions are in strong crosswinds you NEED a bit of forward motion or the steering vanishes, and when an impatient boater is following you wanting to go faster. Pull over and wave them past. You'll catch them up at the next lock anyway!

That'll be £100 please, as I've just saved you doing the helmsman's course :D:D:D

You missed the bit about a boat not having brakes, so you have to put it in reverse to stop. 

Only problem is when in reverse, and trying to stop you then have no steering, so you need to slow down as much as possible by reducing revs to tickover well before you reach the hazard. Looking well ahead and anticipating what might happen is the key.

You owe me half of that  £100 MtB :D:D:D

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3 minutes ago, cuthound said:

You missed the bit about a boat not having brakes, so you have to put it in reverse to stop. 

Only problem is when in reverse, and trying to stop you then have no steering, so you need to slow down as much as possible by reducing revs to tickover well before you reach the hazard. Looking well ahead and anticipating what might happen is the key.

You owe me half of that  £100 MtB :D:D:D

 

They still haven't paid me!!

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1 minute ago, cuthound said:

You missed the bit about a boat not having brakes, so you have to put it in reverse to stop. 

Only problem is when in reverse, and trying to stop you then have no steering, so you need to slow down as much as possible by reducing revs to tickover well before you reach the hazard. Looking well ahead and anticipating what might happen is the key.

You owe me half of that  £100 MtB :D:D:D

This is the bit that they dont really tell you when you hire, or at least they didnt tell me.

So many hire boats i come across at bridges or blind bends appear to be going to fast, then think hitting reverse is the answer, they then go sideways into the bank/bridge and sometimes my bow!

If you cant see round a bridge or bend then slow down, use the horn and stay slow till you can see clearly, if something does come to fast you have time to react and let them hit the bank.bridge...

 

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17 hours ago, Johan said:

Why would a course be a waste of money ? I've never been at the helm of a narrow boat (but had some holidays sailing a 24 ft sailing boat). My thoughts were it would ease my mind a bit to do a lock, maneuver in and out a marina and things like that before go out on my own.  

Most people who hire a narrowboat will never have been on any boat other than perhaps a ferry!  You have experience of sailing boats are already much more experienced, you realyl do not need to do a course, just have 2 days extra hire and take you time.  You will be given instruction when you set off, although some hire companies are better than other at this, for example ones that are not near a lock tend to use a video or model to show you how to work a lock, where as *some* who are close to a lock will actually give you instruction on a real lock.  If that is important to you use that in helping to choose a hire company.

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11 minutes ago, Dave Payne said:

This is the bit that they dont really tell you when you hire, or at least they didnt tell me.

So many hire boats i come across at bridges or blind bends appear to be going to fast, then think hitting reverse is the answer, they then go sideways into the bank/bridge and sometimes my bow!

If you cant see round a bridge or bend then slow down, use the horn and stay slow till you can see clearly, if something does come to fast you have time to react and let them hit the bank.bridge...

 

Very true Dave.

The last time I hired was to steer a 70 foot boat for the disabled on the Llangollen a couple of years ago, helping a friend out who wanted to show his elderly disabled friend what canalling was about.

To prevent hirers speeding, the company had restricted the engine revs, unfortunately this severely impacted on stopping ability, particularly coming back from Llangollen when the boat was being carried along by the flow. I had more near misses on that trip than at any time other than my early experiences.

Here is an example of what can happen when boats approach a narrow bridge too fast. Taken by the bridge at the end of my garden, by a neighbour in 1999. Apparently it took two days to extricate the boats.

September 99 Boats Stuck Under Brisge.jpg

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13 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Very true Dave.

The last time I hired was to steer a 70 foot boat for the disabled on the Llangollen a couple of years ago, helping a friend out who wanted to show his elderly disabled friend what canalling was about.

To prevent hirers speeding, the company had restricted the engine revs, unfortunately this severely impacted on stopping ability, particularly coming back from Llangollen when the boat was being carried along by the flow. I had more near misses on that trip than at any time other than my early experiences.

Here is an example of what can happen when boats approach a narrow bridge too fast. Taken by the bridge at the end of my garden, by a neighbour in 1999. Apparently it took two days to extricate the boats.

September 99 Boats Stuck Under Brisge.jpg

 

That photo, I suggest, is of a different problem. It looks to me as though both boats expected to be able to pass in the bridge 'ole, but turned out to be mistaken. Most bridges on wide canals are as wide as the locks.

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1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

That photo, I suggest, is of a different problem. It looks to me as though both boats expected to be able to pass in the bridge 'ole, but turned out to be mistaken. Most bridges on wide canals are as wide as the locks.

It is on the Coventry Canal,  which as you know is a narrow canal. The working boat is based about a mile from the scene.

The nearest wide canals in the direction that the hire boat came from are the GU (last wide locks are Knowle) or the Trent and Mersey at Burton upon Trent, so they must have passed through numerous narrow locks and bridges to get to the Coventry.

I agree both expected to be able to pass through, but I think each thought the other would give way! 

According to the locals similar events have happened twice at the bridge before (which is on a blind bend and usually has a boat moored there.

Unfortunately the incident took place 15 years before I bought my house, so I can only go on what the locals tell me.

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thanks so far for all the helpful comments. I'll skip the helmsman course. As said, I did some sailing vacations in the Netherlands (beiing the skipper). Also, in my younger years I worked on a 360 ft Rhine barge, being at the helm many times. Meanwhile I prepare myself by reading all about narrowboats and watch lots of videos on YT. As you might have noticed, I tend to be on the responsible side so I don't expect to much trouble. For now, the Oxford canal looks like a good place to start....

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48 minutes ago, Johan said:

thanks so far for all the helpful comments. I'll skip the helmsman course. As said, I did some sailing vacations in the Netherlands (beiing the skipper). Also, in my younger years I worked on a 360 ft Rhine barge, being at the helm many times. Meanwhile I prepare myself by reading all about narrowboats and watch lots of videos on YT. As you might have noticed, I tend to be on the responsible side so I don't expect to much trouble. For now, the Oxford canal looks like a good place to start....

Goodie! Tea and Crumpets with Smelly and you could even pop your head onto the Thames (which is much nicer......)

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It looks like you may be in the market for a 10 or 11 day hire (?), which some hirers are better at accommodating than others.

The Southern Oxford is highly recommended.....

Just a thought, but if you need to open up many more options for hiring, then consider starting at the northern end of your range and venturing southwards (and back!).....

If you start from the Rugby/Napton or Warwick area (easily accessible by train) you will find several more hiring companies come into consideration. The extra train travel time will be minimal.

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