• Welcome to The Bushcraft Forum

    You are currently viewing the site as a guest and some content may not be available to you.

    Registration is quick and easy and will give you full access to the site and allow you to ask questions or make comments and join in on the conversation. If you would like to join then please Register

Boat less..

saxonaxe

saxonaxe

Very Addicted
Messages
2,499
Points
1,410
Not quite, but down to a wood strip canoe, an inflatable Dinghy and an inflatable canoe. Sold my little bilge keel boat today. Being realistic it will be next summer before I will be fully agile, I'm not meaning just mobile as I've cracked that, but agile enough to skip about on a small yacht under sail or even jumping ashore with a mooring line safely. She has limited deck space and it was a clamber over the cabin top to get onto the fore deck and that was not easy even with good sea legs and a dry deck. A wet deck and rolling in even a slight sea was always...interesting.
So, rather than spend out on Boat Yard fees she had to go, and also I hate to see forlorn looking boats laid up like unfulfilled dreams, in Boat Yards. Gone to a good home, a young couple with 2 nippers who just want something safe and stable that floats for playing on in the river.
 
If I do Mike it will probably be something that I can keep on a trailer, a big Clinker Dinghy perhaps, something that I can sail without the gymnastics of climbing over a Cabin top. I'll try to make use of the Canoe this Summer, it's just hanging in storage at the moment.
 
saxonaxe said:
If I do Mike it will probably be something that I can keep on a trailer, a big Clinker Dinghy perhaps, something that I can sail without the gymnastics of climbing over a Cabin top. I'll try to make use of the Canoe this Summer, it's just hanging in storage at the moment.
Click to expand...
You know Sax for years I had set my heart on owning a 20ft Yorkshire Cobble and building a deck housing from keel upwards. In my opinion having been on many they are one of the very best wooden sea going boats on the water
 
Ha! That brings back memories Joe. In the early 1960's I was in a Collier carrying coal from Methil in Fifeshire down to the London River for Ford Motor Co. plant at Dagenham. We used to see the Cobles fishing off Staithes up by Scarborough when we came down the coast. Fine sea boats they were too, out in all weathers. All had engines then rather than sail, but I suppose there are few working boats left now.
 
saxonaxe said:
Ha! That brings back memories Joe. In the early 1960's I was in a Collier carrying coal from Methil in Fifeshire down to the London River for Ford Motor Co. plant at Dagenham. We used to see the Cobles fishing off Staithes up by Scarborough when we came down the coast. Fine sea boats they were too, out in all weathers. All had engines then rather than sail, but I suppose there are few working boats left now.
Click to expand...
Staithes did used to run a few under sail but as in all things if the boats not fishing then it isn't earning
 
Not a sailer but a few years ago we were considering boating from channel to Med via Frances inland waterways; looked at a Fairmile D ex RAF rescue launch which had been converted into a houseboat; made far less practical sense than a Dutch barge we also looked at but was the emotional champion by far!

never happened but maybe one day!

38
 
I was berthed in a Spanish Marina for the Winter about 2010 and alongside was an English couple who had travelled down via the Canal Du Midi in their shallow draught motor-Sailer. In a very dry Summer anything over a Metre draught can...in some places in the Canals make life difficult, but their boat had a lifting keel. They enjoyed it so much that thy had abandoned plans to sail Coastal Spain and planned to go back to the Canals for the Summer. Highly recommended, probably better in a motor vessel because a mast has to be stowed on deck, or sent in advance by land transport to your port of leaving the Canal system. That can be pricey and bits have been looted from masts in transit, but a slow canal passage down to the Golfe Du Lion is apparently a great experience. The people I spoke to loved the slow pace of life on the Canals and looked as if they had eaten their way via every canal side cafe and Bistro from LeHavre to the Med..:lol:
 
38thfoot said:
Not a sailer but a few years ago we were considering boating from channel to Med via Frances inland waterways; looked at a Fairmile D ex RAF rescue launch which had been converted into a houseboat; made far less practical sense than a Dutch barge we also looked at but was the emotional champion by far!

never happened but maybe one day!

38
Click to expand...
Expensive to maintain 38
 
It had been modernised into a gentleman’s cruiser with fewer more efficient (slower) engines. My wife preferred the space of a barge but it was so cool!

38
 
38thfoot said:
It had been modernised into a gentleman’s cruiser with fewer more efficient (slower) engines. My wife preferred the space of a barge but it was so cool!

38
Click to expand...
For me it would have to be the Fairmile every time, the very last thing I would want to be on if I went offshore fishing would be a Dutch river barge
 
We wouldn’t be off shore; the plan was to drift lazily south whilst eating enough cheese to soak up the wine. The barge was more spacious and practical but the reduce launch was just 😎
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top