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Two boats - How do you use them?


magpie patrick

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As the title says really. 

I am within sight of having both boats at Brassknocker basin. Juno has always been there and if the latest engine repairs have worked then Lutine will join her in a month or so.

Those of you who have two boats, how do you make use of both? Mine are quite different.  Juno is trailable  (although not with my car) and good on rivers, Lutine is 45 foot and more a canal boat. Next year is pretty well fixed that any cruising will be in Juno as Lutine needs a lot of work, but after that? 

For one summer some years ago I had both Juno and Ripple in working order on different canals, which gave varied weekends. Do those with two boats keep them together or in separate places?

Just looking for ideas really. The western K and A is probably not the best place to base them both as it's 70 miles and 92 locks to the nearest junction. The original plan was to live on them and one be the "home base" when doing an extended cruise on the other, but this may be overtaken by events. But with their very different characteristics I can see reasons for keeping both. 

 

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We have two boats 

1 60ft narrow boat used as weekday accommodation and for summer holidays moored on the southern  GU

2 20ft Norman used as a dayboat at weekends moored in the village where we live on the Nene

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We don't have two boats we only have the one.

But I would use this as an opportunity to move Juno somewhere different and have a choice of waterways to explore. 

She is of a size where it would be cheap enough to transport her to a new cruising ground every year or two. Explore more of the UK waters on offer.

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If you have two old boats, you will spend so much time trying to get/keep both in good order, that the issue of actually using them to boat in will seldom arise.

If you do boat in them extensively, at least one will quickly become unusable, so problem solved!

Seriously though, we took the decision some time back to base both our 1936 ex working boats at the same place in the hope we could be getting on with small jobs on both simultaneously.  It hasn't always worked out, (one has not been at base for several months now), but it is still more practical than when we had them at different moorings.

15 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

We don't have two boats we only have the one.

Surely a tender is a second boat?

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18 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

If you have two old boats, you will spend so much time trying to get/keep both in good order, that the issue of actually using them to boat in will seldom arise.

If you do boat in them extensively, at least one will quickly become unusable, so problem solved!

Seriously though, we took the decision some time back to base both our 1936 ex working boats at the same place in the hope we could be getting on with small jobs on both simultaneously.  It hasn't always worked out, (one has not been at base for several months now), but it is still more practical than when we had them at different moorings.

Surely a tender is a second boat?

A very small second boat!

Ok then. We do have two boats and we keep them in the same location .

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3 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

If you have two old boats, you will spend so much time trying to get/keep both in good order, that the issue of actually using them to boat in will seldom arise.

If you do boat in them extensively, at least one will quickly become unusable, so problem solved!

Seriously though, we took the decision some time back to base both our 1936 ex working boats at the same place in the hope we could be getting on with small jobs on both simultaneously.  It hasn't always worked out, (one has not been at base for several months now), but it is still more practical than when we had them at different moorings.

 

We’ve had two boats for the best part of thirty years and reluctantly we’ve reduced the number to one.

We kept our historic pair in the same place because they were a josher pair and looked good together. Although the butty has an independent means of propulsion, it was great fun to use them as motor and butty.  However, and it’s a big “however”, when only myself and my wife were boating it was, frankly, a bit of a struggle using both boats. So we tended to use only the motor, leaving the butty on the mooring.  The idea originally was for our son and daughter-in-law to use the butty, but pressure of work meant that they were only able to come out with us for a very limited time each year.  

Alan is absolutely right about the time taken to look after two historic boats, not to mention the expense.  I used to spend at least four weeks each year doing maintenance work - mainly on the wooden cabined butty. This was time I would rather have spent actually boating.

The moment of truth came last summer when I was battling up the north Stratford into Birmingham.  The levels were diabolical - I even got stuck in the King’s Norton guillotine lock.  That had never happened before.  I realised that I was no longer enjoying boating with a deep drafted boat and I looked enviously at our butty which was having absolutely no problems since it has a much shallower draft.

Then I damaged my back turning the Kelvin over prior to starting it (I used to turn it over a few times, to circulate the oil). That, coupled with my wife’s dodgy knee, meant that the time had come to let the motor go to a younger enthusiast! I’m pleased to say it sold very quickly and couldn’t have gone to a better custodian.

We are eagerly awaiting the time - in about six weeks - when we get our butty back.  It is undergoing extensive and skilled restoration up at WFBCo and we hope it will give us many more years of more or less maintenance-free boating. Also while still being an historic boat, it is much more manageable on today’s shallow canals.

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8 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

He said boats... :D

Oh! 

 

In that case, don't do it. You spend half your time fixing them, and the other half of your time on this, bl@@dy forum finding out how to fix them :)

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3 hours ago, koukouvagia said:

We are eagerly awaiting the time - in about six weeks - when we get our butty back.  It is undergoing extensive and skilled restoration up at WFBCo and we hope it will give us many more years of more or less maintenance free boating. Also while still being an historic boat, it is much more manageable on today’s shallow canals.

What is this maintenance free boating you speak of?

I only have one, relatively modern boat, 10 years old later this year. I find that the best time to undertake the little external maintenance required (revarnishing external woodwork, touching up paint etc) seems to coincide with the best days to go boating :mellow:

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I think if you are really interested in boats, and a lot of canal folk are not, it's like pringles and dogs, you always want another.  I suspect most folk are financially limited though and common sense prevails. 

I started a similar thread a few weeks ago because being at the time of life where chickens start coming home to roost and having a bit more disposable income, we could now think about having another vessel.  

In the uk it's impossible to properly explore all the waterways with just one boat, and eg if you live where we do it's also frustrating to be hundreds of miles from your chosen boating environment.  the answer is two boats.  I was thinking about a trailable boat until I saw that that accident with the Sea Otter on the A9...  At the moment I'm thinking about a proper river cruiser in addition to our 45' narrowboat.  

I always say it is my ambition to die worn out and penniless.  Reckon having two boats ought to do it.  

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9 minutes ago, cuthound said:

What is this maintenance free boating you speak of?

Well, comparatively speaking it should be better.  The restored boat will have a steel back cabin, a new paint job, upgraded electrics and - most important of all,  70% of the hull at the back of the boat has been replaced.  So I'm hoping to avoid major jobs for a while.

I can deal with ordinary maintenance - in fact, I rather enjoy it.   Think this will need less attention . . .

P1240057.jpg.a5ca6808051e52c9190ee7a2611bf075.jpg

 

than this

IMG_0388.JPG.4f404b5e7f7e71328aabc510612080d6.JPG

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True, at least for 5-10 years.

The main problem on my boat is the red paint. The horizontal bits age faster than the vertical bits, so it seems each year there is another bit that needs sanding back and repainting :mellow:

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2 hours ago, cuthound said:

What is this maintenance free boating you speak of?

I only have one, relatively modern boat, 10 years old later this year. I find that the best time to undertake the little external maintenance required (revarnishing external woodwork, touching up paint etc) seems to coincide with the best days to go boating :mellow:

Ain't that the truth.  I like a bit of fettling as much as anyone, but keeping on top of external maintenance means sacrificing cruising time.  There's no way round this.

I keep thinking we should get our old girl repainted, but, we were moored up next to an old Colecraft a few weeks back that had just been refinished.  It looked fabulous and I was making apologetic noises to the owner about the state of our boat by comparison, and she replied yes but at least you don't have to waste a lot of valuable time keeping it looking like new.  I think she had a point.  

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23 hours ago, Naughty Cal said:

We don't have two boats we only have the one.

But I would use this as an opportunity to move Juno somewhere different and have a choice of waterways to explore. 

She is of a size where it would be cheap enough to transport her to a new cruising ground every year or two. Explore more of the UK waters on offer.

That's one of my thoughts - and thanks for confirming the idea. I saw your pics from Scotland and longed to do the same, and the World Canals Conference in Ireland next year has given me ideas. Also with that option I'd spend most of my "home" time on board Lutine

Another thought is to move Lutine about 150 miles each summer in one direction only, say start at Bath and Finish at Bishops Stortford, then next Year Bishops Stortford to the Ashby. Lutone is probably the better boat for the main canal system

I suppose what I'm wondering is if I did either, would the other boat get used at all? Need to win the lottery and not have to work!

 

23 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

If you have two old boats, you will spend so much time trying to get/keep both in good order, that the issue of actually using them to boat in will seldom arise.

If you do boat in them extensively, at least one will quickly become unusable, so problem solved!

That is fast becoming my experience! :lol: 

16 hours ago, Neil2 said:

 

I always say it is my ambition to die worn out and penniless.  Reckon having two boats ought to do it.  

:lol::clapping::lol: 

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