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Post by Jim on Jul 16, 2023 8:55:43 GMT
I often moor up with just a centre line.
Do I perceive florid apoplectic gammon? Calm down dears, it's ok. It's convenient when just stopping for lunch, even overnight when the weather is calm. I do have a rope eye on the centre of the gunnels though, clip the rope through that with a carabiner. I usually drop a fender at stern and bow so the boat doesn't swing, bump and bang.
Otherwise, when setting off, untie bow, give it a shove out, untie stern, off we go.
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Post by dogless on Jul 16, 2023 9:02:16 GMT
Hey... each to their own.
Having witnessed the process I was just wondering what the rationale was.
I found mooring on centre line only (when using services) was a waste of time as the bow was able to pivot and drift from the bank which was a pain.
Easier to just tie up.
Rog
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Post by Telemachus on Jul 16, 2023 9:08:43 GMT
On the rare occasions I've worked solo I learned to tie the centre line so the boat was secured whilst I managed to tie bow and stern ... embarrassing running between bow and stern lines like a see-saw was then avoided. Of course with no other boats about I wouldn't bother with the centre as there was little movement, and either way I wouldn't leave it tied once moored. Rog In the time taken to tie the centreline, you could tie say the bow and make the line length appropriate (not necessarily tight). Then go to stern and pull the boat back so that bow line comes tight and tie it off. I suspect that, just like the thumbs up thread on the other channel, this issue depends on when you started boating. In the 60s when I started boating everyone had cruisers. They didn’t have centre lines. Then Chris’s dad bought Zenobia 1 (47’ steel narrowboat) in the early 70s. It didn’t have a centre line and of course traditional working narrowboats didn’t have centre lines. They hadn’t been thought of. We managed to do some long trips including over the L&L and another year, to Ely (both from Lapworth) without a centre line. Very bold! Can’t say I noticed centre lines on other purpose built leisure steel narrowboats at the time. Stopped boating late 70s. Then in about 1990 went back to boating and borrowing Chris’s boat, which was now Zenobia 2, a 57’ narrowboat, and it had this new fangled thing, a centre line. Quite a novelty. When we got Telemachus in 2011 it had a centreline. And then we added another one. Luxury! So centrelines came in somewhere between about 1978 and 1990. Canals were built around 1750. So somehow, people managed without centrelines for over 200 years and it is only in the last 30 years or so that they have become the mandatory source of faffing about that they now are.
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Post by Telemachus on Jul 16, 2023 9:12:03 GMT
I often moor up with just a centre line. Depends on the canal and the section of that canal. On a narrow shallow one, that can be a bad idea as I discovered when I paused in the Dog & Doublet pound on Curdworth to let a boat pass. I was single handing at the time. It was a historic boat and even though it came past quite slowly, it caused our boat to tip alarmingly and everything fell off the shelf. Lesson learnt! But on a wide deep canal, at services etc, we sometimes just use the centreline.
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Post by Aloysius on Jul 16, 2023 9:16:02 GMT
On the rare occasions I've worked solo I learned to tie the centre line so the boat was secured whilst I managed to tie bow and stern ... embarrassing running between bow and stern lines like a see-saw was then avoided. Of course with no other boats about I wouldn't bother with the centre as there was little movement, and either way I wouldn't leave it tied once moored. Rog traditional working narrowboats didn’t have centre lines Akshally they sort of did...consider the purpose of the rail fixed to the front of the cabin.
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Post by Mr Stabby on Jul 16, 2023 9:19:51 GMT
Hey... each to their own. Having witnessed the process I was just wondering what the rationale was. I found mooring on centre line only (when using services) was a waste of time as the bow was able to pivot and drift from the bank which was a pain. Easier to just tie up. Rog Normally when I moor up I pull into the bank, steady the boat with the centre line then secure that to the piling and roof cleat with a nappy pin, then secure fore and aft ropes (actually I nearly always use ratchet straps rather than ropes, massively better I find) then loosen and re-secure the centre line to the roof cleat. When I set off I have to roll up the ratchet straps, put the goat chains away etc which takes a minute or so but the boat is still held loosely to the bank lest it should decide to wander off on a frolic of its own.
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Post by Jim on Jul 16, 2023 9:31:31 GMT
I often moor up with just a centre line. Depends on the canal and the section of that canal. On a narrow shallow one, that can be a bad idea as I discovered when I paused in the Dog & Doublet pound on Curdworth to let a boat pass. I was single handing at the time. It was a historic boat and even though it came past quite slowly, it caused our boat to tip alarmingly and everything fell off the shelf. Lesson learnt! But on a wide deep canal, at services etc, we sometimes just use the centreline. Bringing the line down to gunnel height before tieing off on bank stops this.
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Post by fi on Jul 16, 2023 9:57:51 GMT
I use a loosely tied centre line when it's windy (just helps if single handing, stops boat wandering too much whilst sorting fore and aft), also use a centre line if using pins in soft ground. My mooring is soft ground in winter with no convenient rings fore and aft but a ring at centre point, the centre line stopped embassasment on several occasions when the doubled pins still pulled out.
Found a lot less faffy solution by now mooring using two 45 degree springs to the available rings, was surprised it works so well.
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Post by Aloysius on Jul 16, 2023 10:14:58 GMT
I often moor up with just a centre line. it caused our boat to tip alarmingly and everything fell off the shelf So if you have the centreline on and for some reason the water level changes then the sharper angle of the line (as opposed to the fore and aft lines) will tend to heel the boat over. Interesting. That Archimedes bloke knew his shit.
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Post by Jim on Jul 16, 2023 10:23:34 GMT
it caused our boat to tip alarmingly and everything fell off the shelf So if you have the centreline on and for some reason the water level changes then the sharper angle of the line (as opposed to the fore and aft lines) will tend to heel the boat over. Interesting. That Archimedes bloke knew his shit. I can leave it slack, or just slacken it off. It's usually just when we stop for lunch, shopping etc, so no problem. We often leave lines a little slack, so there is some movement of the boat, we enjoy it that way. Screw Archimedes.
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Post by Aloysius on Jul 16, 2023 10:26:46 GMT
Yeah Jim. Screw that guy. I think he did screws as well though.
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Post by fi on Jul 16, 2023 10:59:02 GMT
it caused our boat to tip alarmingly and everything fell off the shelf So if you have the centreline on and for some reason the water level changes then the sharper angle of the line (as opposed to the fore and aft lines) will tend to heel the boat over. Interesting. That Archimedes bloke knew his shit. Only if the water level rises.
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Post by Aloysius on Jul 16, 2023 11:13:21 GMT
So if you have the centreline on and for some reason the water level changes then the sharper angle of the line (as opposed to the fore and aft lines) will tend to heel the boat over. Interesting. That Archimedes bloke knew his shit. Only if the water level rises. And if it drops?
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Post by fi on Jul 16, 2023 11:15:44 GMT
Only if the water level rises. And if it drops? The boat rests on the bottom or the fore/aft lines tighten too much.
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Post by Aloysius on Jul 16, 2023 11:17:04 GMT
The boat rests on the bottom or the fore/aft lines tighten too much. You are a genius.
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