TECHNICAL
Metacentric Stability of Narrowboats
Considerations on the
BY EUR. ING. JEFFREY N. CASCIANI-WOOD
the tidal reaches of a large river or the open seas of the English Channel which are EU Category C waters. Appendix 1 to this article.
anything about boat stability, one even suggesting that, because his boat had a flat bottom, she was stable.
Narrowboats have a relatively simple hull design with a long parallel mid body which may be of one of four cross sectional form. These forms are shown in Figure 1 below.
In a recent discussion on the social media, the subject turned on taking a narrowboat along the lower tidal reaches of the London river – the Thames – it being suggested by several people that it was perfectly safe to do so and even to take such a boat across the English Channel to France. Let me be very clear about that. The modern live aboard narrowboat which developed from the cargo boats of the nineteenth and early twentieth century is a boat and suitable and safe only on the EU Category D calm waters of the canal and inland rivers and waterways not for See the
It also became clear in the discussion that many of the correspondents did not know
W
L
Typical early Springer
Typical late Springer
Flare Sided BCN Type W
Wall Sided Type L
Two Modern Midship Sections Figure 1. Typical narrowboat midship section outlines The Report • March 2019 • Issue 87 | 35
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