Winter boating on the Leeds and Liverpool canal | Kirkstall to Leeds 

Roger you are absolutely right, I'm just a moron. Thanks for taking the time to explain it so well!

I'll feel terrible if the result of my comment is for you to feel like a moron. Not my intention at all. I really enjoy your videos. My wife and I plan to spend one to two years continuously cruising once I retire. While we're Americans, we're avid anglophiles.

Ah no! Don't worry Roger! I was just being silly - I'm glad you are enjoying the videos, it's great to have you on board!

A lot of people argue that it is about winding (as in winding a clock) but you are right Roger and they are wrong. If you have ran a narrowboat pair for a few years you get to realise that to turn the butty the wind can used to help. It does not matter which way is it blowing; it becomes obvious then that before motorboats existed the horse boats would be turned using the wind (blowing air).

@@RobbieCumming It's been over 5 years so I'm assuming (dangerous word I know) that perhaps you've learned a few tricks when going in reverse. One, your propeller is likely, a right-hand prop, meaning when going in forward it cuts into the water on the right side if you're looking forward. When going in reverse by nature the propeller is less efficient but cutting to the left or Port side and that if you look at a propeller as a linear screw which it is (thank you Archemedies) the tendency of the boat given the now sharply shortened pivot point and not having water thrust past the rudder by the propeller in forward motion, is to move in the direction of the cutting of the screw or to the letf/port and is EXTREMELY difficult to control the direction of travel. You only begin to overcome this by gaining enough reverse speed to overcome the tendancy to move to the left because now you have greater waterflow over the rudder and its effect on direction is increased. This applies to ALL marine vessels, whether they be ten-foot small boats or 1000-foot-long tankers! When you shift into forward, thinking you have to correct the direction of travel, you are negating and nullifying whatever advantage you may have gained when increasing your reverse speed. This is a situation where you have to be planning well ahead, you need space, you have to set your vessel up to have ample room to begin to gain the advantage of greater reverse speed, where the rudder will gain advantage and be able to lead (at the apex of the fulcrum now) the direction of travel. Once you have enough speed, then if you drew a line down your tiller backwards, the direction that line points is the direction the vessel will go. It's ALL about speed in reverse and you don't need to be going like a bat out of hell! I've reversed tanker ships, fully loaded, (so there's a hell of a lot of inertia there once you get it moving) at between 1-3 mph and controlled the reverse motion with great accuracy. Of course, at 3mph, a fully loaded tanker, if put into neutral would still take a kilometer to come to a stop at a bare minimum! The first thing is to not be hesitant or afraid. You have to get enough reverse motion/impetus/speed going to get a good flow of water moving over your rudder so that you can influrence/dictate the direction your vessel will travel. In reverse because you are influencing the direction at the apex of the fulcrum the corrections of direction are much more minute. But, given ample speed and a delicate hand, one can steer almost any vessel in reverse with some level of accuracy. Now we come to wind and that just F's things up no end and makes the finesse required that much more important. Practice, Practice, Practice! A friend of my father in New York City had occasion to be given one of those moments of serendipity that few are blessed with. He was crossing the sidewalk to go into The Russian Tea Room when he encountered a tiny Chinese Cellist, lumbering her Cello on its way and confused as to where she was. The Russian Tea Room is very close to Carnegie Hall. She asked in broken English, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall" A well-known cliché, to which he replied, "Practice, Practice, Practice!" A magical moment to be sure. I am confident that by now you are a significantly more accomplished boatman! I've been mucking about in boats since I was 5 and there's no difference in the learning curve, it's constant and as my father always said, "If you don't pre-plan, think ahead, and do things right NOW, GOD will punish you at 3 a.m. during a rainstorm!" A suggestion if I may. Better control when going in reverse can be gained by adding 2 to 4 inches of rudder surface forward of the pivot point, given the length of your vessel and its entirely flat bottom and the shallow water. You might get away with less. Your boat yard may not agree, but trust me, 2-4 inches of rudder forward of the pivot point of the rudder will work miracles!

Thanks very much. Good idea on the name, I live up north though so brews just mean tea up here!

Yep! You're not alone! Keep on cruising guys 8^)

Life in a Nutshell

Thank you Seren 😄

Thank you Finlay that is very kind of you to say. Welcome aboard! 8^)

Ah cheers Ade that means a great deal!

Stephanie, you are so very welcome, I hope you enjoy being a member of this select group! We shall have to come up with a handshake! 8^)

Aw thanks Bry really appreciate that cheers!!

Thanks Mr J! 8^)

Thank you David!!

Thank you JP that means a great deal! Cheers mate

Hey Bob welcome aboard! Yes I really hope it does feel like that for viewers as there are times when I imagine you are all here to give me a courage boost!

You're welcome Pete! Glad you enjoyed it. Next one will be a live stream I think!! (Just to prove how crap they are) 8^)

You know it Harry! I grew up in a house without double glazing and certainly no central heating blasting away through the night like some houses - so this is luxury really! Thanks for commenting, great to hear from you 8^)

Hey Nilo, yes, it's hard work - but definitely worth it! Thanks for watching and commenting always good to hear from you 8^)

Tour video "winter" Mr CruisingTheCut" :)

Gary Arnold Eh?

Just a cheeky joke, love your vlogs too :)

Thanks for watching- YES the Abbey Inn is a great pub, would've been POTW if I'd have stayed longer!

Yeah, right! I think it also comes down to practice, luck and editing too (so much editing!) 8^D

Hey you're welcome thanks for stopping by 8^)

My god yes at least you’ve experienced the worst! Also, glad to hear my videos are still relevant two years on!!

Thanks so much Grant! I’ll be in touch shortly 8^)

Argh nightmare for you!

Hi Roy, welcome onboard sir! 8^)

Cheers Hayden!!

Gotta be done! Cheers Kerry see you in March sometime perhaps!

I'll give it a go, cheers for the recommendation!

Ironic isn’t it they must have already been on other jobs 100 miles away 🤔😂

Oh yeah - all the time!??!! Ha ha thanks for watching Carolyn 8^D

Thank you Pete! All done on the iphone as it just works and is aways ready to go when I need it! Would struggle to find a handier option really...8^)

Hey Tim thanks for watching, I use Garageband to record my guitar!

Thank you for watching guys! No, it looks a bit too trendy for me ;)

I just look at them all dead in the eye and smile knowingly. They're just kids. Some of the little smashers threw stones at my boat the other day so I jumped out and stood with arms out stretched. They apologised as they ran away!

For most of the canals/rivers it is covered in the standard annual licence, however for some waterways, such as the Thames, you are required to pay for each day you're on there.

Yeah i reckon that would work. Cheers Matthew 👍

McCulloughs irish bar music tavern Barnoldswick 👍

Hi Terry, Sheila, no I don’t think so sorry! 8^\

Ha ha! Nice one Darryl, that's really kind, hope you enjoy the extra content as well. Reverse, good question... I'd say it's definitely slower. Not because of the engine so much, more because of the other factors such as trying to keep it in a straight line!

Robbie Cumming ah, makes sense. Keep up the great vlogs!

At least two things, you rarely wants to go fast in reverse on any boat because of poor steering response, secondly you normally don’t get the same speed in reverse because the propeller is working less efficient (I have been told.) You will probably smash the rudder before you brake the propeller.

Thanks Matt!! You rock!!

I'm the same as you Matt. Sorry Robbie didn't realize the patreon option was available due to the support button still there but fixed now. Great video mate. keep cranking it. By the way I found 'The lockkeeper" sit com its nearly 30yrs old

Least I could do fella 😉

I think it'll be straight down the aire towards the Trent... but might wait til spring

If you were coming up the Calder & Hebble I was going to recommend you a pub, the Bingley Arms adjacent to Bridge 27, between Wakefield and Dewsbury. Good beer and friendly locals. If you're going to wait for spring to do the Trent you have plenty of time for a detour & explore!

Good point, cheers Dave!

Ha ha ha! This is brilliant, thank you Stephen, thank you, for brightening up another canal based RU-vid video with your amazing comments!!

My pleasure Robbie. I feel I must make an effort when presented with quality RU-vid content. Looking forward to the virtual tour.

I don’t think I’ve come across one yet, but it’s possible and some even cross over each other. But what you see there is part of a marina.

No what makes you say that?!

I've seen similar builds and they were fibre glass.

Ha brilliant, thanks so much - you can definitely have the one that says 'I'd rather be cranking it'!! Only available to full crank it crew members of course! Let's definitely discuss this over in P town 8^)

I don't really know as have not been around the entire network. Hopefully my videos give you an idea - but that's just based on my experiences and sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not. If you moor with others you'll generally be fine, if mooring alone, you can get picked on - but it doesn't matter where you are really.

It's really a shame! It makes it so much less attractive to cruise on the system, but I suppose that’s one of the consequences of living in a densely populated country . What you call rural I call suburban. How it is in Sweden now days I really don't know since I haven’t been around for years, but back then such events would have been exceptions. On the other hand back then an occasional knife murder in rough areas could happen, these days they shot, and to often machine gun, each other down every week, and not only in the tree major cities. Placing the dregs behind lock and key seems to have fallen out of fashion, not only in Sweden.

What’s a counterfeit key?!!

Hi Doug, very kind of you - was using layers of picking from my acoustic guitar, over some beats i made - have uploaded to soundcloud for you to download: soundcloud.com/cobedy/grey-fears

Robbie Cumming. Thanks much. Binge watching you after finding you via CtC and Narrowboat experience. You guys have given me the itch for a narrowboat. all I need to do is win the lotto (have to afford bringing the daughters along, and kids are damnned pricey) then get a visa so I can leave the U.S. for the free world.

Well Doug sounds pretty straightforward to me?! Although actually probably easier to build your own canal over there 8^D

Solution: Have Trumpy build a canal instead of a wall. We will be able to travel from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico. Might need some armor plate on the south side of the Boat! The Erewash use to be my home, when there was a upper cut too, near Eastwood. Been in San Jose CA since 78. Love watching the Vids, and the humor.

That's very kind of you Mr J! Well the best way for me (ie minimum transfer fees etc) is www.paypal.me/crankit - but also if you wanted to buy any merchandise that would also be really cool (although the printers get about 80% of the money) teespring.com/en-GB/stores/crank-it-clothing?aid=marketplace Many thanks! 8^)