Canal Boat Turning it around and 'crashing' it side on in to a bush

OOPS!!! Canal boat muppetry strikes as caught in a cross flow I end up in the riverside bushes...! I was turning around having not driven it for a long while, and got caught in a current coming from the side and got shoved in to the bushes. I should have gone a little further up and turned the other way and let the current coming in from the side swing the back around so I could power against the current as the nose came around. Video is quite long and starts off with a demonstration of the hydraulic drive and its ability to go smoothly and quickly from forward to reverse and back again with out the crashing of dog clutch teeth. This is a tall geared boat so full power comes in at low engine revs - purrrrrr! :-))

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• canal
• boat
• narrow
• narrowboat
• muppet

[shifttradition]

No reason to be embarrassed it happens to everyone at some point. You understood what was going on in the process. What I would have done differently is when pulling into the current to judge it's strength I would have turned directly into it and allowed it to assist in reversing the boat past the starting point point and then complete the turn. Like a 3point turn in a car

[ChuffChuffWoo]

@shifttradition Yes I started the manouver in the wrong direction :)

[feiz01]

ah,,, i think a little instruction would be a good idea before you sink the thing, you could prob get lessons if you looked on the interweb, good luck.

[ChuffChuffWoo]

@feiz01 Nah - just put stock car nerf bars on it!! Its not called a 'barge' for nouthing!! :) Boat has since been sold - it was used for living on, not driving about :)

[feiz01]

why did you park so close to the trees? i thought you had to stop on towpath side? cheers

[ChuffChuffWoo]

@feiz01 I was turning around having not driven it for a long while, and got caught in a current coming from the side and got shoved in to the bushes. I should have gone a little further up and turned the other way and let the current coming in from the side swing the back around so I could power against the current as the nose came around.

[ChuffChuffWoo]

@DumblyBrilliant Yes, I'd gone a little bit further up and allowed the current to push the BACK of the boat round, not the front, so it would have been bow first against the current as it came around, which was how I was going to do it, but I wasn't far up enough and the side current took the bow the wrong way, so I tried to follow it around -oops! ;-))

[DumblyBrilliant]

May I ask you something? What would you have done differently had you been aware of the strength of current coming from your starboard side and with such a small space to turn around in? As I see it, however, you try you will always have water pressing against the beam as you turn and forcing you downstream sideways. Is there any way the current could be employed to help rather than hinder the turn?

[DumblyBrilliant]

It just proves that even the most expereinced skipper can get caught out sometimes. It was good to see you slowing down when passing other boats.