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Post by TonyDunkley on Aug 20, 2021 10:06:34 GMT
Don't know much about how pairs of (narrow)boats worked, . . do you ! No-one ever travelled abreast, loaded or empty, on the North Oxford, the Coventry or the Moira - or 'Ashby', as everyone calls it these days. God only knows why, . . it never went anywhere near Ashby (de la Zouch), from the time it was first opened, or at any time before sections were progressively closed from Moira down due to mining subsidence, . . but it DID carry wideboat traffic -- 12' beam round bilge boats -- between Moira and Hinckley. Times change, Its now called the Ashby, Only by people who don't know any better !
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2021 10:13:56 GMT
I'm sure The Dunk will be along to correct me in due course I read that's why the canal has numbered bridges and then named bridges ... two canal companies. There's a stone marker on the towpath in Whittington where the change occurs. Rog
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Post by mrbeacham on Aug 20, 2021 10:38:58 GMT
Times change, Its now called the Ashby, Only by people who don't know any better ! That's everyone apart from you then. All bow to lord Dunkley, oh great one.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2021 11:14:51 GMT
He made it this far ... the guy's a professional boat mover, and has a spotter on the towpath for bends and bridges. Rog ETA nice to meet you wandering ... you didn't miss any excitement
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Post by IainS on Aug 20, 2021 12:51:22 GMT
Would love to see you take two breasted up, deep draught boats up the Ashby canal now. Don't know much about how pairs of (narrow)boats worked, . . do you ! No-one ever travelled abreast, loaded or empty, on the North Oxford, the Coventry or the Moira - or 'Ashby', as everyone calls it these days. God only knows why, . . it never went anywhere near Ashby (de la Zouch), from the time it was first opened, or at any time before sections were progressively closed from Moira down due to mining subsidence, . . but it DID carry wideboat traffic -- 12' beam round bilge boats -- between Moira and Hinckley. So two pairs passing on the North Oxford would require a channel about 15 feet wide. Two widebeams doing the same would need anything between 22' and 30' to do the same. (by "channel" I mean "channel of sufficient depth" )
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Post by wandering on Aug 20, 2021 13:31:21 GMT
He made it this far ... the guy's a professional boat mover, and has a spotter on the towpath for bends and bridges. Rog ETA nice to meet you wandering ... you didn't miss any excitement
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Post by wandering on Aug 20, 2021 13:33:49 GMT
And to meet and chat with you. Good that the move was professionally done. Very, very busy to Calcutt, probably in excess of 30 boats. Serves us right for being here in August.
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Post by ianali on Aug 20, 2021 13:42:45 GMT
He made it this far ... the guy's a professional boat mover, and has a spotter on the towpath for bends and bridges. Rog ETA nice to meet you wandering ... you didn't miss any excitement We steered around this boat earlier. All very chilled .
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Post by TonyDunkley on Aug 20, 2021 16:41:09 GMT
He made it this far ... the guy's a professional boat mover, and has a spotter on the towpath for bends and bridges. Rog He might be a "professional" in the sense that he's paid for moving boats around, . . but he's got the approach to that bridgehole all wrong. He should be carrying a fair bit more way than the tiny ripple of a bow wave indicates, and be following the towpath - no more than 6' - 7' out - all the way round that long inside turn so that 'bank effect' - 'cushion' at the bow and 'suction' at the stern - helps the boat round. All in all, . . much too slow to create any helpful 'bank effect', . . and way off the correct line.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2021 16:48:50 GMT
Yes ... okay.
Rog
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Post by ianali on Aug 20, 2021 16:56:49 GMT
I think Tony has a point, i had my knee down earlier on that bend. Oh, and thanks for being my ‘spotter’ by the way.
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Post by brummieboy on Aug 20, 2021 21:23:04 GMT
I think he's about right. Once the bow is almost in the bridge, half tiller and a burst of throttle and the stern comes round with the bank and the bow is in centre of bridge.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2021 21:58:59 GMT
That's right ... just encourage the grumpy old sod Rog
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Post by TonyDunkley on Aug 21, 2021 4:59:31 GMT
Don't know much about how pairs of (narrow)boats worked, . . do you ! No-one ever travelled abreast, loaded or empty, on the North Oxford, the Coventry or the Moira - or 'Ashby', as everyone calls it these days. God only knows why, . . it never went anywhere near Ashby (de la Zouch), from the time it was first opened, or at any time before sections were progressively closed from Moira down due to mining subsidence, . . but it DID carry wideboat traffic -- 12' beam round bilge boats -- between Moira and Hinckley. So two pairs passing on the North Oxford would require a channel about 15 feet wide. Two widebeams doing the same would need anything between 22' and 30' to do the same. (by "channel" I mean "channel of sufficient depth" ) Theoretically, yes, . . but in practice, with pairs of (carrying) narrowboats, that was never the case on the North Oxford, the Coventry or the Moira. Almost nowhere on any of those three canals was it possible for a pair of loaded boats to meet and pass a pair of empty boats without the empty pair having to run up onto the mud. Usually, the empty pair would just about manage to keep moving, and be drawn off the mud and back into the channel by the suction from the displaced water closing round the stern of the loaded pair's butty, but occasionally, where the channel was especially narrow, the empty pair would have to be 'snatched' back off the mud with a bight of line(rope) from the loaded butty round the T-stud of the empty pair's butty. What was essential for this to be done quickly and successfully, was that neither the loaded nor the empty boats either slackened speed, at all, or moved over, to leave the absolute minimum (if any) of a gap between them, until the last possible few seconds when the 'motors' of both pairs were just about to cross.
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Post by TonyDunkley on Aug 21, 2021 5:11:46 GMT
I think he's about right. Once the bow is almost in the bridge, half tiller and a burst of throttle and the stern comes round with the bank and the bow is in centre of bridge. Nice theory, . . and it could work, . . if boats steered round a (virtual) lateral pivoting point well ahead of the stem, instead of pivoting around a point somewhere between a quarter and a third of the overall length aft of the stem.
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