286. The narrowboat you can drive from the towpath...

[Music] hello and welcome to the Shropshire Union canal in Cheshire back back when I was on my boat chugging single-handedly around the canals of Great Britain I'd often have people ask me wouldn't it be useful if you had some kind of remote control device for your boat David so that when you're at locks instead of how to put the boat here and Scamper up the lock and Scamper back to the boat and Scamper up the lock ladders and so on you could simply control it from one device I know I said no it's not really necessary you know it's good exercise so on and blah blah blah but in fact it would have been quite handy and so today I've come to meet someone who's got exactly that this is Jill Gregory and she's tending to her 60-foot long semi-traditional narrowboat which she bought brand new a year ago a former teacher she decided during covid lockdowns to retire and sold her house to live aboard the boat was designed to be as future proof as possible for when Jill gets older and potentially less agile built by the highly regarded company braid bar boats it is absolutely lovely a true work of craftsmanship and no this is not an advert it just so happens that braid bar are well known for making very very lovely boats they're always winning awards at the Crick Inland Waterway show and everything is very well crafted that's just a fact and for that reason I think we should start with a little tour I love snooping around other people's boats there's a lovely light weld egg with seating ostensibly to look out but in reality largely used by Jill's two dogs speaking of whom they were making themselves very comfortable in the forward Saloon which boasts a comfortable sofa bed and lots of solid wood cabinets and storage Nooks boy for warmth and no mess there's a diesel stove in the corner though there's also radiator heating as well the kitchen has granite worktops and is all electric this is a gas-free boat so that Jill doesn't have to lift heavy propane cylinders that means for cooking she has an induction hob and you'll notice the electric toaster and kettle the oven and Grill are likewise powered from the battery Bank through a large inverter there's even a compact dishwasher true luxury the bathroom's fairly standard a large shower toilet and sink and the bedroom is at the back with yet more storage over the narrowboat standard four foot wide compact double mattress there's even a TV and again more cupboards right at the back which house some of the electronics outside there's a fair watch of solar on the roof to keep the substantial battery Bank topped up at least in summer when there might be some sunshine worth having the semi-traditional cockpit means plenty of space for guests or dogs to sit as you go along and there's a clue to the propulsion with the controls as you notice the little display screen for under the deck boards lies a diesel electric hybrid drive so you can run on either the diesel or an electric motor that motor being a crucial part of the remote control system as is the electric bow thruster that being a little extra propeller in the bow which points sideways and means you can push the boat left or right at the touch of a button normally when you're steering an arrow boat you use forwards reverse and obviously you steer it via the tiller at the back um when you're using the remote control with a hybrid when you press the forward button it engages the electric motor to a preset percentage normally about 70 percent uh same when you press the backwards button it engages it in reverse so that's your forwards and backwards but then the steering is done via the bow thruster so when you press left the bow thruster comes on and pushes the front of the boat left same with right to demonstrate Jill started up the boat and then set about preparing for our departure removing the fenders it's generally bad practice to cruise with those down on a narrowboat she untied the bow line and with the boat now almost free walk to the stern to do the same at that end reverse was engaged [Music] and the boat gently eased itself from the pontoon there's quite a delicate art to steering a narrow boat in a marina because the wind always tries to push you the wrong way and there are loads of other boats close by that you don't want to hit so here a bow thruster is a useful addition for sure we headed towards the marina entrance foreign the plan for the day was to show off the remote control system so we'd just be heading to the nearest lock where Jill could demonstrate it's only about half a mile away as we went along the display showed how much electricity the motor was using once again I was struck by just how quiet narrowboat cruising is with an electric motor you really notice the peace under bridges where a diesel engine would reverberate like mad thank you these boats probably didn't even hear us coming that's the lock it's a really deep one and it's here the remote control would be put through its paces the actual remote is this green handset battery powered and Jill always carries spare batteries just in case approaching the lock is done just as you normally would because you need to tie up the boat and go and set the lock ready for use or at least see if it's set your way so Jill stepped ashore and used the center line round a Bollard to slow the boat to a halt with the boat Loosely secured she could now head up to the lock windless in hand as luck would have it the lock was almost empty anyway and another boater was helpfully letting the last bit of water out so that we could open the lower Gates the hands now imagine having to clamber up that slimy lock ladder all 11 feet of it to get on and off your boat that's the issue the remote control solves with the gates open Jill could return to the boat and bring it in as a single-hander she'd normally have two options drive it in and then climb that lock ladder or haul the boat in from the Towpath using a very long rope and a lot of effort but no Jill first ties the tiller so it's fixed straight ahead then she takes the handset and activates remote control mode on the boat strictly speaking now Jill doesn't need to take the center line with her at all but she does as an extra precaution but in essence she's now controlling the boat from the handset little bursts of forward thrust to keep it moving and quick blasts of left and right Barrel Thruster to point the nose in the right direction foreign for anyone watching the seemingly driverless boat can be something of a shock people have said to me oh if you lost control of your boat love um no I've got this all under control and it's different it's new lots of people think when it's around your neck that it's it's um a walkie-talkie but I know what it is and it works for me just another reminder here that if Jill was standing on the boat to drive it into the lock she'd now have to climb up out of the lock in order to operate the sluices and Gates even when your able-bodied deep locks like this are dangerous places to be climbing in and out of far safer to do it by remote control although it does leave the dogs somewhat bewildered fear not Jill gives them reassurance from above hello YouTube with the boat fully enclosed a spurt of reverse brings it to a halt the nose perfectly pressed up against the Sill the rest of the lock operation is as normal opening the sluices in this case very gingerly as it's such a deep lock that the water in Rush is substantial just a couple of turns is enough to get things started the boat will drift back from the incoming water which again Jill can compensate for with the remote keeping it perfectly placed and not crashing about from end to end as the lock starts to fill the second sluice gets its turn again just a little to start the dogs were fine this lock is unusual in being quite so deep and therefore the water so turbulent but as the boat Rose and the pressure subsided so Jill could raise the sluices fully here's the first bit sped up by eight times you can imagine you don't want the boat crashing forwards onto the sill but instead gently kissing the lock gate as it rises up to meet it with the lock full the paddles can be closed and the gate swung open which the other boater kindly took care of foreign Jill could just step straight back aboard but as she was demoing the remote she used it to bring the boat forward if there hadn't been another boat coming down the protocol is that you shut the gate behind you so Jill would have been able to guide the boat out while staying ashore shut the gate and rejoin the boat it's so weird seeing it do that without a driver it's not for everybody lots of people are very skeptical about it you know you should be able to control your boat without something like that and it's a little bit like the old bow thruster argument isn't it you know if you should be able to control your boat without a bowel Thruster well you know try using your boat without an engine then because Boats were originally pulled by horses um it's what's convenient for me and it's what means it's it's I can vote safely which is a major consideration for me I can boat safely using that um so horses for courses I suppose once back aboard the tiller is Unchained and the boat switched back to local control whereupon boating can resume as normal we didn't go much further just onto a winding hole another half mile further on and then back to the marina which meant using the lock again of course but this time going downwards although the procedure in terms of the remote is much the same we were lucky again that another boater was waiting to come up but the lock was full so they rightly let us come straight in we would after all be emptying the lock for them by virtue of going down in it the tiller was tied again the boat in remote mode and Jill stepped off to close the gate behind us foreign the boat was brought to the front of the lock the paddles opened and the water let out so far absolutely normal lock operation except that Jill could keep the boat away from the end of the lock using the remote so there was no chance of it catching on the concrete sill which with a sill as tall as that would definitely lead to sinking and here's the remote's Advantage again with the lower gates open there was no need for Jill to climb or jump down to the boat to steer it out she could just press a button [Music] oh as the boat exited the lock Jill could use the barrel Thruster to steer it towards the bank as she walked back down towards it whereupon she'd step aboard and carry on foreign and for the final time the motor was switched back to local control it's easy to see where this comes in handy we've got customers out there that are single-handed and live aboard and the remote control becomes their best friend going through locks because you can actually control the boat in and out of locks um you can close your especially coming out of single locks going Upstream you can get the boat out the lot um shut the gate yourself and actually control the boat so you can get on it yeah so it's dead handy while I was at the boat Builders I chatted to the buyer of their latest craft he's had the system installed as well we were building a boat for the future you know I'm about to retire and we wanted to be able to use it a long time and I wanted to be able to get off the boat and help my wife with the locks and although we can do it now we can go up Rock ladders I'm thinking a few years time it's going to be hard to do that so that was a big motivation with the remote control if technology can do the job why why not use it and that's that's my theory I must be clear this technology is not some exclusive for braid bar any Builder fitting the system from hybrid Marine can install it they just happen to have built this boat as always I hope you found it interesting thanks for watching cheerio [Music]

Channel: CruisingTheCut

Views: 390,087

Keywords: narrowboat, canal boat, barge, barging, narrow, canal, boat, the cut, widebeam, liveaboard, continuous cruising, continuous, cruiser, RV, motorhome, campervan, sailing, tiny house, houseboat, house boat, vlog, remote control, Hybrid, Hybrid Marine, bow thruster, Braidbar

Id: FCD83cHdZ_E

Length: 19min 32sec (1172 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 07 2023