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Wide beam envy?


Nige123

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So has anyone else found that Wide beam boats seems to upset people?

I think this may be due to envy from our Narrow boat friends, all that space not, having to squeeze past each other, not rocking about went you get up & move about, making moored boats (That are not tied up right) move back & forth due to the size of them.......

 

Now I have a wide beam & a Narrow before you start the abuse so get that fact right first off.....

I myself like boats.... I have about 9 or 10 boats of all sizes & shapes & I get on with most canal/river/sea users (expect Thames rowers they must all die)

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2 hours ago, Nige123 said:

So has anyone else found that Wide beam boats seems to upset people?

I think this may be due to envy from our Narrow boat friends, all that space not, having to squeeze past each other, not rocking about went you get up & move about, making moored boats (That are not tied up right) move back & forth due to the size of them.......

 

Now I have a wide beam & a Narrow before you start the abuse so get that fact right first off.....

I myself like boats.... I have about 9 or 10 boats of all sizes & shapes & I get on with most canal/river/sea users (expect Thames rowers they must all die)

Widebeams are simply fantastic to live on and are far more comfortable and stable and handle better than any narrowbeam, I know I have lived on one but if you want to go inland boating in the uk they are about as much use as a chocolate fireguard. Horses for courses.

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When I am out on my narrow boat I have had some funny comments about wide beam boats by people who don't know I have one & I just wonder why so man canal/river users are split into gangs of live aboard, weekend cruisers, Traditional cravat cap & waist coaters etc etc....

I wonder why we don't get on better? 

 

 

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15 minutes ago, Nige123 said:

When I am out on my narrow boat I have had some funny comments about wide beam boats by people who don't know I have one & I just wonder why so man canal/river users are split into gangs of live aboard, weekend cruisers, Traditional cravat cap & waist coaters etc etc....

I wonder why we don't get on better? 

 

 

Because we British like to moan.

Keith

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1 hour ago, Rickent said:

I have just had a similar conversation with another boater and feel that as a whole boaters are very friendly people and most get on just fine, wide or narrow.

Agree - there is just a tiny minority who suffer from an unjustifiable snooty complex (medical term.......) from a fat boat owner who likes all boats! :D

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18 hours ago, Nige123 said:

When I am out on my narrow boat I have had some funny comments about wide beam boats by people who don't know I have one & I just wonder why so man canal/river users are split into gangs of live aboard, weekend cruisers, Traditional cravat cap & waist coaters etc etc....

I wonder why we don't get on better? 

 

 

For the same reason that any gatherings of folk for whatever reason you will have a variety of opinions .

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10 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Fat narrowboats are an abomination, Fugly beyond belief. If you want the space, as I once did, get a decent barge rather than some hybrid that does nothing well.

 

Agreed a fat narrowboat is just a 'night-soil barge with a lid on it'.

A Fat-Boat is deigned and built as a Fat-Boat

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You may like cameron diaz and i may like lucy lou.....taste is personal and i dont find them ugly....they just look like wide narrowboats.......narrowboats are no lookers IMHO yes historical but not a thing of design beauty.

Abomination is a bit harsh tho.....imagine calling another mans wife an abomination because she is not your cup of tea.......you wouldnt do that.

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I have seen some very ugly narrowboats on this trip out and some very good looking widebeams as well its how the cookie crumbles. But I have noticed widebeam envy and just yesterday watched a narowboat lock out another narrowboat out of a wide lock because he didnt want to share!! even though the ques were large what an utter arse!!! 

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1 hour ago, Matt&Jo said:

You may like cameron diaz and i may like lucy lou.....taste is personal and i dont find them ugly....they just look like wide narrowboats.......narrowboats are no lookers IMHO yes historical but not a thing of design beauty.

Abomination is a bit harsh tho.....imagine calling another mans wife an abomination because she is not your cup of tea.......you wouldnt do that.

Of course I wouldn't call her an abomination, there are far more descriptive words than that.

Oh and as for proportions Navy Destroyers are built to roughly the same proportions as narrowboats but bigger, Type 45 destroyers are 500ft/70ft

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I dont like widebeam narrowboats . I think they are ugly . Proper  dutch barges etc are things of beauty though .

How anyone can look at at a WBNB and think it attractive is beyond me . It may have more space and a poncey bathroom and kitchen but to me , it has no " soul " because its been built as a cottage that floats , rather than a boat thats been fitted out nicely & thoughtfully  . Accomodation  first & boat second .

BUT , though i detest the boat itself i would find it difficult to instantly dislike the owner on that basis . They may well be a tit but theres plenty of those narrowboats too . 

I appreciate they have more space etc , but its only worth having if you " need " lots of stuff . Id rather go without as most of it probably isn t needed . My small and inferior NB requires me to be thoughtful about posessions , about space , about functionality , about power usage , & all this adds to my completely loving living on a boat , as opposed to being an annoyance i must tolerate due to lack of space , and though i could own a small attractive dutch barge - a WBNB i could never own .as theyre (IMO) soulless boxes that float , not a " boat " . 

Just idle thoughts ...

 

Edited by chubby
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1 hour ago, Loddon said:

Of course I wouldn't call her an abomination, there are far more descriptive words than that.

Oh and as for proportions Navy Destroyers are built to roughly the same proportions as narrowboats but bigger, Type 45 destroyers are 500ft/70ft

I bet they have bigger gunwales to walk along tho. IMHO fat Narrowboats have taken the worse part of a narrowboat when all past “fat” working boats have had decent size gunwales.

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I suspect any feelings of antipathy towards widebeams comes not from envy, but from a feeling that they are inappropriate for the canal environment.  Even on the wide canals they are out of scale.  Yes they are mostly ugly but that's because style has been thrown out of the window in favour of accommodation, and plenty of modern narrowboats are guilty of that. 

 

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4 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

I suspect any feelings of antipathy towards widebeams comes not from envy, but from a feeling that they are inappropriate for the canal environment.  Even on the wide canals they are out of scale.  Yes they are mostly ugly but that's because style has been thrown out of the window in favour of accommodation, and plenty of modern narrowboats are guilty of that. 

 

Not on the L&L, most wide beams are around 12ft, was built for 14ft wide boats.

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9 minutes ago, Robbo said:

Not on the L&L, most wide beams are around 12ft, was built for 14ft wide boats.

"Wide" canals were not designed to accommodate the modern "widebeam narrowboat".  Eg the traditional short boat on the Leeds Liverpool had a sympathetic hull/cabin shape not the brick profile the vast majority of modern wide beams have.  

   

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47 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

I suspect any feelings of antipathy towards widebeams comes not from envy, but from a feeling that they are inappropriate for the canal environment.  Even on the wide canals they are out of scale.  Yes they are mostly ugly but that's because style has been thrown out of the window in favour of accommodation, and plenty of modern narrowboats are guilty of that. 

 

I agree with much of this . Narrowboats fitted out all super modern with such tosh as jacuzzi baths ( seen on AD yesterday ) , waterfall taps & corian worktops etc etc also create a sense of despair for me . Why when u leave your house & go to your boat , do you wants its interior to look just like a house ???  But it seems to be the way forward and joinery and interior design for soft old retirees and others looking to " live the dream " is pushing sales up and prices too i expect 

BUT 

Its still a boat first and foremost . Its still been designed for the system on which it will travel . Though it may be a modern boat , its built to the same dimensions as the working boats for which the canals were originally built . Its still a boat , before its a cottage . Its ability to go from A to B has still overridden its ability to store lots of " stuff " .

So tho i cannot bear the very modern fitouts with all thier fluff & dishwashers  i still see a " boat " , to be owned by folk who want to go boating - not a cottage . Whereas when i see a WBNB i see nothing but a box thats been designed for accomodation not designed as a boat ... for boating ....

None of my comments are meant nastily , i just don t like em . Theyre like when u look at bad architecture and think ... " My God - someone thought that was attractive ...... it went thru a design process .... lots of people were involved and yet no one seems to have turned around at any point and said " Hold on a moment ..... this looks bloody awful " 

 

Edited by chubby
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4 hours ago, Matt&Jo said:

You may like cameron diaz and i may like lucy lou.....taste is personal and i dont find them ugly....they just look like wide narrowboats.......narrowboats are no lookers IMHO yes historical but not a thing of design beauty.

Abomination is a bit harsh tho.....imagine calling another mans wife an abomination because she is not your cup of tea.......you wouldnt do that.

When you say historical are you referring to ex working boats? if yes it was designed to do a job of work not look pretty, but having evolved over some 200 years the under water shape is/was more efficient than most modern  built leisure boats found on the canals in regards to swims & generally moving through water & creating wash some modern boats both wide & narrow are built to maximize interior space & end up not giving a lot of thought to efficiently passing through water etc.

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On 14/07/2017 at 13:20, mrsmelly said:

Widebeams are simply fantastic to live on and are far more comfortable and stable and handle better than any narrowbeam, I know I have lived on one but if you want to go inland boating in the uk they are about as much use as a chocolate fireguard. Horses for courses.

I've done plenty of inland waterways boating on my widebeam - more than most narrowboat owners I talk to.

5 hours ago, Loddon said:

Fat narrowboats are an abomination, Fugly beyond belief. If you want the space, as I once did, get a decent barge rather than some hybrid that does nothing well.

 

Disagree with you there Julian. I can moor my boat in lots of places where you just couldn't get a deeper draft barge. My boat has done lots of things very well.

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