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Wide boat
Like a narrow boat but the other way round | |
Narrow boats on the British canal system are, typically, 7ft wide and between 30 ft and 70 ft long.
A wide boat could be 7ft long and up to 70ft wide. You then just cruise sideways through the canal system.
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[marked-for-deletion] um, stuff turned around to face a different direction. |
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Why not one boat that fills the entire canal system? |
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"One boat to rule them all" |
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like a snake. locks and all? |
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Good point normzone. My original idea was to have a boat, whose width was the length of the canal system, making it possible to walk to any destination without leaving the boat. However, this is clearly a silly idea; it doesn't allow for all the bends, bridges and locks etc. |
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Well, the bends would be easy to deal with, but building the locks into the boat will represent an engineering challenge. |
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Yes, an articulated wide boat is certainly an option for bends, but as soon as you make the articulated joints detachable, in order to negotiate locks etc. you're really just describing a lot of wide boats joined together, rather than one very wide boat. |
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Your bluff will be called when you hit the river and have the option of going "forwards". |
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I can see where you're coming from there David. The key thing is to remember that in a wide boat one always travels sideways. |
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I think this is funny. I may be alone in this, but... [+] |
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Hawkwind reference appreciated - thanks Ian T. |
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Particular thanks also to Wagster. You're not alone; there's at least two of us. |
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Murray Leinster too. "Right angles to
reality". |
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Keelhauling mutineers would be a tad difficult. |
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Keelhauling would certainly be a more treacherous experience (for the keelhaulee) than on a narrow boat. The space between the boat's shallow draft and the canal's limited depth (approximately 3 feet) would pose the same problem however, regardless of whether the boat were narrow or wide. The more portly mutineer would always be at risk of getting stuck. |
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Believe the Chinese tried this idea but discounted it as being a load of old junk. |
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