Mike Askin wrote: > I don't think any narrowboats reverse particularly well, but > again a well made swim helps I think. It needs to be > symetrical to have any chance of going the right direction. > You also need a good speed of water over the rudder which > usually means using plenty of throttle (even in reverse the > prop is pulling the water through the rudder). > Again I find longer boats cope better, more keel in the water > I assume.
Fulbourne (unconverted Large Woolwich ex-working boat, 70 years young) is normally a bit of a pig in reverse, and backing up on the canal usually requires lots of burst of forward or lots of pushing on poles to keep the boat pointing in the right direction. However, on our way to the National at St Ives, we had to go backwards through Stanground Sluice (so the stern was in the deeper extended part of the lock, and the bows in the original shallow part). This then required that we reverse along Kings Dyke to the first point where we could wind. The channel is not particularly wide, but it is quite deep. After coming out of the lock we had to use some forward gear to get the stern pointing in the right direction, and we had to do so again a short distance further on. But by this stage I had got the hang of steering in reverse, and we made a faultless, if slow, progress backwards for the next mile, without having to come out of reverse gear. This included one significant bend, several smaller changes of direction, and passing a boat coming the other way. I think the problem on confined waterways is the 'paddle wheel' effect when the prop is close to the bottom (or side) which takes the stern sideways. But with a little more water around, this effect is much reduced, and you can compensate for it in the steering. David Mack
