Two in hand

We’ve been asked if it’s difficult to handle a pair, and the answer is that there isn’t an answer:  it’s different, and it’s relative;  we know people, ourselves included at times, who run pairs single-handed, it just takes a little getting used to;  at most I’d say perhaps you need to be a little more aware, sometimes I swear Christina is just waiting to catch you daydreaming and you can almost sense her snigger when she catches you unaware.

We’ve also been told:  “my wife wouldn’t want to steer the butty”, but since we tow cross-strapped, there’s no need to.  We both single-handed for years and now we enjoy each other’s company, there’s always something to point out when travelling, and it’s great having the extra person to brew up.

There is no right- or wrong way to handle a pair, what works for you is the right way.  All I can tell you is what works for us.

            There is no doubt that towing on the long snubber is more economical of diesel, as it was of horse-power, but the only time we’ve done it is when we’ve needed to travel when there was a high wind blowing.  Steering the butty independently on a 70’ line puts very little pressure on the motor, and I have to say, drifting along silently way back there all by yourself can be astonishingly restful.  But our butty is not heavily laden so there’s no real need.

            Whilst mentioning wind, on wider stretches of the canals, we might breast the boats (that is, tie them side by side – I’m aiming at newcomers to the cut so please bear with me when I state the obvious) on gusty days, so they present a smaller surface to a side-blast.  But this also puts a greater load on the engine and so again uses more diesel, and we happily use as little diesel as possible these days.  Mostly though, we sit out windy conditions and find something otherwise fun to do.

            So we prefer to travel cross-strapped, that is, with the butty’s nose close up behind the motor, with one short tow-rope from the left side of the butty’s bow to the right-side dolly on the motor’s stern, crossed by another from right to left.  In our case, one of the straps is fractionally longer than the other so that Christina’s bow rides marginally off-centre, to the left (or portside) of Freyja’s stern;  this is because of the direction her prop turns, and the wash and suck it creates.  For the same reason, the boats ride easier with Christina to Freyja’s portside when breasted.  With Christina’s tiller out and rudder strings holding it in a nice straight line so the water flows smoothly away, there is no need to steer the butty, to do so puts pressure on the motor’s stern and makes it harder for her steerer.  If you must have a steerer on the butty, steer the butty’s stern and not the bow.  But really, it’s unnecessary and possibly more troublesome.

            There are some benefits with a pair, for example:  when navigating a sharp bend, in or out of an arm say, dropping the appropriate cross strap will encourage the butty’s bow to overshoot the turn, pulling the motor’s stern with it and thus the bow over, then a little acceleration will straighten the motor up and bring the butty in behind.  Also, when spinning the pair, we will breast the butty on the outside of the turn, with the bow and stern lines just the tiniest bit slack, so that when the motor’s engine goes into reverse, the butty continues forward for a bit, pushing the motor’s bow over.

            Then there’s locking:  on single locks we tend to take the motor through first and bow-haul the butty.  If the shape of the pound makes hauling the butty out awkward, the motor will back in to pick her up.  On flights with shortish pounds, one of us will take the motor to the top (or bottom) then walk back to help with the butty.  It’s always a matter of principle to see how far you can get before the cavalry arrives back and surprisingly there’s rarely much in it, especially when there’s two-way traffic.

            On flights of double locks we keep them breasted and then locking is straight forward.  But when approaching a double lock with the butty in tow, we find it easier to have just the left-hand gate open.  The single gate concentrates the manoeuvring space.  As Freyja enters the lock, the steerer drops firstly Christina’s strap from the starboard dolly on Freyja’s stern, to encourage Christina to move over to the left of Freyja and so line up for the lock;  then as Freyja goes into reverse, her prop direction tends to suck her stern over and behind the closed lock gate, leaving the entrance to the lock free;  by then Christina is committed to the lock so the other strap is dropped leaving her free to glide in under her own momentum.  The two sterns are tied together (no need to tie the bows) so that both boats can be controlled as the lock fills or empties.  Again, when towing, we prefer to leave through one gate, the right one obviously.  The steerer takes both boats to the back of the lock to give the butty room as the motor tends to suck the butty forward, then lets go the stern rope;  as Freyja’s stern comes alongside Christina’s bow, reach over and get her bow-line, pull her over, and loop the cross-straps over the respective dollies.

            When mooring, we often settle Freyja first then decide whether to breast them or leave them in line.  We’re not sticklers for tradition, so the butty is not always on the inside, though she has a shallower draft so often she is for that reason.  Sometimes the view dictates the mooring arrangement.  If we know the butty is going on the inside, we might let her slide between the motor and bank, much like entering a lock, but with one of us ashore, flipping the motor’s centre line over the butty’s roof as she slides in.

            It’s really not complicated, the thing is to take it easy, watch what the boats are doing in relation to what’s going on around you, watch each other if there are two of you rather than bellowing instruction, chat about how you’d like to do something before you do it and have a grin and a laugh when it actually works.  And remember, all the above waffle is merely what works for us.