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Closing up mooring gaps


b0atman

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Reading on FB sites the new anger is do not touch my boat .So when you turn up to visitor moorings and no body about with boats that have e.g. 30ft of space between them you cannot shuffle one or two along to fit into the space. No one is allowed to move some ones boat ? There would be no problem if they moored with fore thought an shared rings or closed the gaps between boats .

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3 minutes ago, b0atman said:

Reading on FB sites the new anger is do not touch my boat .So when you turn up to visitor moorings and no body about with boats that have e.g. 30ft of space between them you cannot shuffle one or two along to fit into the space. No one is allowed to move some ones boat ? There would be no problem if they moored with fore thought an shared rings or closed the gaps between boats .

That's why I never read facebook.  It is a notice board for the inane.

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This an old chestnut. Sometimes these gaps are due to boaters being "English" and leaving what they feel is a courtesy gap. Other times, a smaller boat was moored there but has left, thus leaving a 30 foot gap.

Opinions on moving boats along vary. Some think it's fair and not rude, others feel that it should be punishable by seven years' imprisonment or by transportation.

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14 minutes ago, Ray T said:

On a previous thread I had a man refuse to move up as he had just set his satellite up. I'm afraid what I call "motorway manners" are invading the cut.

I think it happens at this time every year when the affluent retirees set off from the marina where their floating caravan has been parked for the other 11 months of the year. You see a general drop in the average IQ ,manners and competence of people you meet on the cut at this time.

It's one of the reasons I prefer to boat in winter.

Edited by billS
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I ask the person to move up, did it on the oxford a few weeks back, if there is nobody there and i need to moor i will move it.

I do wonder if all these people that say dont touch my boat would have the same opinion if their boat had come untied, or should we just leave alone and bump past it.

I have no problem with someone moving my boat as long as they tie it back up safely and do not put it in a place that could be seen as a hazard.

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2 minutes ago, Dave Payne said:

I ask the person to move up, did it on the oxford a few weeks back, if there is nobody there and i need to moor i will move it.

I do wonder if all these people that say dont touch my boat would have the same opinion if their boat had come untied, or should we just leave alone and bump past it.

I have no problem with someone moving my boat as long as they tie it back up safely and do not put it in a place that could be seen as a hazard.

A very sane point of view. 

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But - you can moor too close.

Couple of years ago on the T&M - we moored up in the middle of no-where with (probably) 5 miles of empty bank behind us and similar in front.

Sat having something to eat when the boat suddenly 'moves' - go out and another boat has hit us 'up-the-bum' and is now knocking in his pins with his bow fender touching our stern button.

Said 'good evening' and retired to the boat to finish the meal.

After the meal, untied the boat and walked it 100 yards and re-moored - I wondered if he 'got the message' ?

 

Folks are strange - if we go on a beach will walk miles to find a quiet spot - Sister In law, is the opposite and will walk miles to find someone to sit next to (within a couple of feet).

Good job we are not all the same.

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5 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

But - you can moor too close.

Couple of years ago on the T&M - we moored up in the middle of no-where with (probably) 5 miles of empty bank behind us and similar in front.

<snip>

Yeah, sorry about that Allan, I won't do it again:)

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There's another reason why people leave gaps. The number of times we've arrived at a mooring spot and find the boat in front still running its engine, or you get tied up and the engine of the boat you are hard up against fires up.  

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1 minute ago, Neil2 said:

There's another reason why people leave gaps. The number of times we've arrived at a mooring spot and find the boat in front still running its engine, or you get tied up and the engine of the boat you are hard up against fires up.  

Why should this matter? You can always close your front doors if the fumes bother you.

If the boat in front is still running its engine when you arrive, then don't park behind it. Then it won't be the boat in front.

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12 minutes ago, Athy said:

Why should this matter? You can always close your front doors if the fumes bother you.

If the boat in front is still running its engine when you arrive, then don't park behind it. Then it won't be the boat in front.

I can't think why anyone would choose to moor against a boat running its engine, apart from exhaust fumes (and it's summer remember so closing doors/windows isn't an option) there's the noise.  It always seems to me those boats that have to run their engines to charge up the batteries always have the loudest motors. 

We were dutifully tied up at Windmill End once, right behind the boat in front just in case any other boats came along, and he fires up his engine at 8pm.  And it was loud.  I agree with the comment about "motorway manners" on the network these days, I see more and more examples of folk behaving with little or no consideration for others.

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There is the other case where we moored on the Llangollen at about 5 PM close to the next boat a hire boat, at about 7 PM after they had come back from dinner at the pub they carried on cruising for a bit longer. I found that several hire boats do this with the light evening, leaving us sitting in the middle of a gap. I could have moved but I was just off to the pub for my own dinner.

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Mooring gaps occur naturally as boats come and go but they are still a little infuriating when looking for somewhere to moor. However boaters are increasingly intentionally leaving a one ring gap as normal practice, and this is almost becoming the norm, so much so that boaters often ask us if its ok to share our ring.

Moving moored boats to make a gap is a difficult one, but as so many boats are now unoccupied "dumpers" there is sometimes no alternative. I often watch boaters spending ages getting into the exact position to get TV reception and I have some sympathy with this, it must be horrible to have one of those TV things on a boat. More seriously we sometimes have to spend some time probing with a stick to find a deep section of mooring so that we don't fall over as the level drops or grate horribly on underwater rocks as the speedboats go past and I would not be pleased if somebody moved the boat whilst we were out walking the dog.

..............Dave

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1 hour ago, dmr said:

so much so that boaters often ask us if its ok to share our ring.

I find this very odd; that is what mooring rings are for, mooring on!

It's not as if it is a vacant chair at your table in the pub and they are asking if they can take it to their table. Only one person can sit on a chair but more than one boat can use a mooring ring. 

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I have never understood why boaters object to boat engines being run.

It's what I have to do for all my hot water and electrickery, invariably by cruising, but occasionally when I wish to stay somewhere a couple of days, whilst moored.

Provided the 8amx8pm guidance is adhered to, I cannot see an issue.

I prefer mooring alone, which can be difficult because other boaters seem drawn towards you, but occasionally we need to moor on visitor moorings, where suddenly the boaters who won't leave you alone in the wilds, now wish to complain about your engine.

Exasperating. 

Rog

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The main problem we have had from moored boats running engines was exhaust fumes coming into our boat (via doors and windows) and noise. Somehow the folks who run their engines when moored seem to have smokey noisy engines :-) Quiet fume free ones are fine:-)

haggis

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3 hours ago, rgreg said:

My rule is that if I can leave a full length boat space I will, otherwise it's up close to the next. 

So you leave a 75ft space in case a 72ft narrowboat turns up, but a 35 ft one does, so now you have 30ft of wasted space.  It is what I often do, unless it is a busy place and then I moor up against adjacent boats.

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3 hours ago, dogless said:

I have never understood why boaters object to boat engines being run.

It's what I have to do for all my hot water and electrickery, invariably by cruising, but occasionally when I wish to stay somewhere a couple of days, whilst moored.

Provided the 8amx8pm guidance is adhered to, I cannot see an issue...

As owner of a boat which doesn't have a internal combustion engine, including having a gas water heater and large battery bank for us when not crusing, to have a large and often poorly silenced diesel running 20ft away because someone else has decided that's a reasonable why if having a shower seems a shame.

Hencewhile I am very happy to share rings, or even have a boat moor along side, I would always seek to avoid being along side an running engine. That said, I also try and 'live and let live' and am very aware of times we make noise, running power tools to do work, or one evening unloading a vintage mini digger outside my house at 11pm.

Daniel

 

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49 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

So you leave a 75ft space in case a 72ft narrowboat turns up, but a 35 ft one does, so now you have 30ft of wasted space.  It is what I often do, unless it is a busy place and then I moor up against adjacent boats.

Yes, I should have qualified that it does depend on how busy the mooring site is, or is likely to get. If in any doubt I would moor up close.

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7 hours ago, Bewildered said:

I find this very odd; that is what mooring rings are for, mooring on!

It's not as if it is a vacant chair at your table in the pub and they are asking if they can take it to their table. Only one person can sit on a chair but more than one boat can use a mooring ring. 

I agree, saw something identical today when mooring in Staines for a quick shop. A wide beam was asked to move back to make space for a GRP boat - fine- but he retied his rope around the fence rather than share the bollard right next to the fence post! No logic to it really.

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