Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 1:48pm

Hello, We recently purchased a 39ft canal boat. The boat rocks left and right depending what side we are standing at. This happens in particular to the docked side where there is a lot of equipment installed. We do not believe that there is sufficient weight on the boat to keep it weighed down as I think it is sitting quite high in the water. The one problem I think we might have is that we recently laid new wooden floor and therefore cannot lay a ballast down underneath the floor. Does anyone have any suggestions for a solution to reduce the rockiness of the boat while moving around in it? Sorry for the poor terminology (first boat). Thanks!

Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 8:41pm

I gave a very full reply on page 2 under the title Stabilizing a Boat. I very much fear that you are in a worse position than that reader because the shorter the boat the greater proportion of its length are the front and back swims that are even slimmer than the typical 6ft 6 in main base plate. This makes smaller boats more likely to rock about that longer ones. It is very hard to tell if a particular boat is riding high or low unless you see it out of the water. There are so many different designs even though superficially they mostly look the same. If you look carefully at the back section of the boat you should see that the sides finish just below the water on a horizontal plate. This is the uxter plate and it should typically be between 1 and 2 inches below the static water line. If it is not you may be able to lay ballast (steel?) on the flat sections either side of the engine but I suspect it is fine. I assume that your water tank that is usually at the front is full because that will pull the front down by two inches or more. To be honest I doubt anything is wrong but just to be sure check the bilge under the accommodation (usually a trap in the floor at the back) To make sure it is dry because water in there will run to one side when you stand on it and make any list worse but the list would normally stay if you stepped off the boat. If the boat rocks back upright without you on it I doubt that you have water in the bilge. I fear this is a case of first time boaters not knowing what to expect from a narrowboat. If you can not live with it I fear it may be a case of selling it and buying a wide beam boat, but they rock as well, but not as much Tony Brooks

Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 7:20pm

I am sorry that the apparent naivety of your question in the other place elicited some of the less than helpful replies, but I think my reply and those others indicate that you will not stop a narrow boat rocking, especially a shorter one. If you decide to take the floor up to install more ballast please remember that you should ensure that you have a through air space (typically at least an inch)above the ballast to ensure at least sum ventilation for the bilge. If you ignore this there is a greater chance of rusting. Personally I doubt that you will have much space above thee existing ballast for more slabs but you may be able to fit some steel bars on top of the (typically) slab ballast. If you want to investigate this then Man Buck (see back of the magazine) may be able to supply you with off cuts of bars. I also feel that you may be well advised to take on board what some others have said about the use of the boat and present and forthcoming legislation..