Houseboat Small Talk E-Book

Torsten Krone

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 268

Beschreibung

The book "Houseboat Small Talk" is on the German market since 2015 and has been released completely revised and updated in 2020. Meanwhile it is a basic book for all topics around waterways, canals and house boating. Already one hundred years ago the first English water tourists reached Germany with their boats, in order to explore the diversity of lakes, rivers and canals in the Northeast. Today you can follow suit in comfortable houseboats on upgraded waterways, and you can moor at modern marinas or romantic mooring spots. Houseboat Small Talk offers the perfect instruction to this. Have you ever played with the thought to go on a holiday, where you can relax on a houseboat, going over canals, rivers and lakes? The Northeast of Germany offers a vast and very diverse area of different waterways with an interesting and long history. The book by Torsten Krone is full to the brim with valuable tips, useful information, historical data and entertaining anecdotes around the topic of house boating. From the initial planning stages to the return of the boat at the end of a holiday, the author takes you by the hand without forgetting any detail. On the basis of the in 2020 completely revised and updated version, this information is now also available for English speaking readers. In the process, many characteristics of German houseboat areas are discussed at length and regulations on German waterways clarified professionally. Thereby, international readers are equipped optimally for a houseboat holiday in Germany.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Preface for the English edition 2021

Introduction

Difficult or not difficult…

The desire of slowing down emotionally

Life on board

House boating with children

It's not what you say, but how you say it

About planning and misplanning

About the costs

Special information for foreign houseboat guests in Germany

Boats, travellers and providers

Houseboats and house boaters

Houseboat provider

Charter yachts and bungalow boats

Outfit of houseboats

Security and extras

Nice weather to use diesel

Security on board

Insurance

Booking further extras

The history of waterways

The great waterways

Examples of German canal building history

Old England and France

You determine, where you want to go

Routeing

Water touring map at your fingertips

With smart phone, tablet and notebook

The right course

Navigation with a long history

Shipping signs

Buoys as fairway restriction

More buoys on the water

Flashing, signalling and sounding the horn

The influence of the five forces

Leaving and coming alongside and mooring

Always straight ahead and sometimes giving way

Turning around, when possible!

Anchor off!

About stairs and lifts in the water

Locks in house boat practice

Fast, faster, too fast

This and that

The right outfit

Eating and drinking

Useful and special things

Merge with your boat

The four sides of a boat

Lines

Measurements of the boat

Knots

Taking over the boat

Visiting with a boat

An overview of houseboat areas

Off to new shores

The Elde

The Havel

The Spree

From Berlin to the Oder, a long history

Without a boatmasters' licence in Germany?

Further houseboat areas

A view over the borders

Appendix

Glossary

Preface for the English edition 2021

The book “Hausboot Smalltalk” is on the German market since 2015 and has been released completely revised and updated in 2020. Meanwhile it is a basic book for all topics around waterways, canals and house boating. This was reason enough to publish the most important parts of house boating in Germany also in the English language. Perhaps you would like to step in the shoes of English houseboat pioneers Henry Montagu Doughty or Cecil Scott Forester, who, back then, explored the unknown German waterways in northeast Germany about 100 years ago. The book intends to provide you with guidance and knowledge for a house boating holiday in Germany to make sure you are safe on your next house boating holiday in one of the most beautiful water areas Europe's. There is also a tradition with this book to pass on historical knowledge concerning waterways in Germany and Europe.

With “small talk” about the historical background and the development of shipping and waterways, food for thought is given to highlight the often tedious ways men had to go to achieve the maritime masterstrokes we know today. Whilst main waterways increasingly are used for bigger ships and tonnages, freight traffic is reduced on smaller waterways, which in turn gives rivers, lakes and canals new purposes to be developed for tourism.

Leisure boating is ideal in northeast Germany. You will find unique boating grounds with excellent water quality and extensive infrastructure, from the romantic jetty surrounded by intact nature to the harbour of a fishing village with hotel and tourism. Around one hundred charter companies offer modern boats in various sizes and designs, from rustic rafts up to five star yachts, a diversity one can only find in Germany.

Become an explorer and master the small challenges of everyday life on a houseboat. Moreover: Enjoy your time on the water, away from everyday stress and hectic. To prepare you for a house boating holiday in Germany, this book will help to avoid problems or unpleasant surprises. Basic knowledge is obviously also useful in other countries, however, some special features and descriptions of areas are specific for Germany.

A special gratitude goes to Kerstin Voigt for the translation of the book into English, and the not always easy adaptation of nautical terms and phrasing to the English language.

Introduction

To step from the pontoon into your own or rented boat, you cross a border between two worlds. From that moment you belong to the water, you watch an altered landscape, you feel the motion of the ground below, listen to unfamiliar sounds, and breath different air. Most people will gain more distance from everyday life with this small step, than after a far away flight to a sunny island in the vast ocean. It doesn't matter, whether it's your very first houseboat trip or you are an experienced skipper: Ahead of you new adventures and unknown experiences are waiting, which are exciting and will make you curious, leaving everyday life on land.

At the start there will be many questions. What kind of holiday is this? Is it difficult to navigate such a boat? How much is it? Do you need a “driving licence”? How do you live on a boat, and how do you find the right way on the water? When chartering a houseboat, basic information will be provided, which will enable you to find your nerve to go onto the water and experience it for yourself. It will make a difference, however, to be familiar with the most important things in theory already.

I would like to invite you into this world and hope you enjoy the reading. Take your time, as with travelling on a houseboat you will travel at the speed of past centuries and can notice details to the left and right along the way. Let your mind wander. Archimedes (about 200 B.C.) already explained scientifically, why a boat can stay afloat: It's called the Archimedes principle and states, that the upward buoyant force exerted on a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid, that the body displaces. How lucky is that! Otherwise, the exciting adventures on the water wouldn't be possible.

Apart from the physical facts, house boating is also an emotional experience, an alternation between suspense and adventure, ambitious boat manoeuvres and soothing relaxation. Imagine a summer day on a lake. There is hardly a breeze. It's almost sad to disturb the reflection of clouds on the water with your boat, but the clouds seem to follow you on the water, the picture stays intact. You are at the helm and in charge of the course, nobody tells you otherwise. Your crew relaxes on the foredeck. The best place is at the tip of the bow behind the railing. The boat feeling is especially intense here. The engine noise is subdued, a breeze gently combs your hair, and the forested shore passes by slowly, whilst the bow ploughs through the water with a small wave. Then you will be one with the boat and the landscape. Even when pictures of your houseboat trip will fade and all will be forgotten, it will be moments like this, that stay to the very last. I'm sure you too will find your perfect “moment”.

As nice as it is on the water, at some point you want to be back on land again. The definition for landing is easy: Turn the boat in an acute angle towards the pontoon, stop, but short before switch the rudder to face away from the pontoon, this will bring the stern alongside. That's done and the crew can now fasten the boat. That sounds simple and is true for weather as described above. On a lake, there is no noticeable current, in the example there was no wind either. Both elements are the worst enemy of house boating.

Now, one only needs the right technique to deal with the lines, so the boat stays where you landed it. In most cases two lines are enough, at an angle to the front and another to the rear. It is best to put the line around the bollard or cleat on land and then put it back to the boat, in order to secure it there. That way, you can manage your departure from the boat, rather than going back to land for it. A bollard is a short, mushroom like metal body, a cleat is a kind of hook with two ends, both are fixed deeply on the pontoon. Both lines need to be put underneath the railing, instead on top.

To get you in the mood, here are a few pictures from the areas in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which should convey some of the diversity of the area.

Close to nature: On the Peene towards the Baltic Sea

Busy: A harbor village near Rheinsberg

Vast: On the lake Mueritz

Narrow: On the canal near Neuruppin

Romantic: On the Rhin towards Lindow

Navigated on: Cargo ships on the Oder-Havel-Kanal

Rich in culture: Rheinsberg Castle

Historic: The Finowkanal

Stately: Schwerin Castle

Waiting: Diemitz lock

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Potsdam world of castles

Powerful: Lift bridge on the Peene river

Difficult or not difficult

Is house boating difficult? This is probably the most asked question of interested people, who didn't dare going on the adventure yet. Unfortunately, the answer is not a clear Yes or No. I have read stories about inland sailors, whose children, at 14 years old, used to navigate 67 m long freighter across the Rhine. So, it is not a question of age, but experience and practice. Comparing steering a houseboat with driving a car could entice one to think, the one who can drive a car, can also navigate a boat. Unfortunately, this is a mistake. You have to rethink completely.

I you want to make a practical and free of charge comparison between driving a car and navigating a houseboat, then steer a hardly loaded trolley through supermarket aisles. After that, go to the DIY store, take a trolley for bulky items, where only the rear wheels are controllable, load up at least five bags of plaster, add a pack of 3 m long boards and steer again through a few aisles. Now you start to understand the difference.

Let's look at the facts: A car is less than 5 m long, weighs usually less than 2 t and is worth a couple of ten thousand of Euro. A houseboat is about 10 to maximum 15 times longer, weighs, depending on the model, 3 t to over 20 t, and bigger boats cost hundreds of thousands of Euro. The much lighter car has usually more than 100 PS and can go over 100 km/h. A houseboat rarely has more than 100 PS and goes max.10 km/h.

Contrary to several hundred road traffic signs, as a holiday skipper you need to know about 20 signs, whose meaning you can derive from the picture or symbol. Additionally, there are some markers on the water, in the form of a buoy.

In addition, there are many other rules that regulate traffic on the water. But you can keep your cool here too. Just remember one rule: The houseboat skipper has almost always to give way. No matter what approaches you, a commercial vessel, pleasure boat, sailing boat, even a canoe – you have to give way and be considerate.

Many houseboat areas are reserved for the leisure captain and feature next to no commercial shipping. Other skipper should have similar knowledge and navigate hopefully with the same caution. You can recognise holiday skipper also by the amount of fenders – round or long shaped rubber buffers – to cushion the boat, compared to experienced boat owners,who use those only for landing. Don't be put off by the fenders; to protect the boat is more important, than perfect style and saves you unnecessary expenses, should there be damage on the boat. Moreover, it is tiresome to take them out, when frequently landing and in again when departing.

Going back to the original question: To infer from driving a car to navigating a boat is nonsense, however, the reality of thousands of boating newcomers every year proves this: You will be able to navigate a houseboat after a short introduction and have a good chance to reach your destiny. This won't always happen perfectly and elegantly, but possible dangers are small and damage to the boat is limited to minor wounds. You should not act careless, overestimate yourself or trust exclusively the insurance you bought for man and material.

The desire of slowing down emotionally

I'd like to encourage you and get you in the mood for house boating. To go through pristine landscapes with a houseboat, letting wind and waves pass by, being at the helm and in charge of your own destination, is one of the best adventures in our modern time.

Many realise only when on the water, that this is a real adventure and you can have fun, when realising it. Comfort is considerable, several technical sophistications make life on board easier, however, it is not a holiday in a hotel, but rather comparable with a camping trip, and every adventure needs it's own planning and often has it's own surprise in store.

Today, “slowing down” is a magical term for getting under control the always praised, but rarely admired dynamics of our modern society, or at least for finding a balance. To energetically and dynamically shape processes in one's job and at home, to be flexible towards change, be technologically connected, share with the world one's own life through social media networks, to present yourself and follow profiles of important and less important virtual friends, to always be up to date – all this creates knowledge, that includes a lot of ballast and whose acquisition needs a lot of strength, which might even be wasted.

Some makes sense, and modern economy would not be able to secure prosperity for so many people without connecting the world and technology. However, you will know yourself: Many of the mentioned possibilities result in a permanent anxiety, you could miss something or miss out on opportunities. At the same time, we increasingly loose control about those mechanisms. This leads to a hectic life with a lot of slack time. One can't stop this development. But you can create free space, where you can exclude speed consciously or at least for a moment slow it down. “Slow food” is a common term and a worldwide movement for tasteful, local food, compared to fast food. “Slow TV” has been a success in Norway for years, where real time scenes of open fire, landscapes or viewing a fish tank attract the audience without anything noteworthy happening.

House boating in contrast to everyday life requires your attention in a unique way and offers at the same time affirmation, when committing to the boat. You will learn a self prescribed slowness of locomotion. If going at 10 km/h – the permitted speed on canals is often even less – hectic won't arise. Although fast thinking and action is necessary when landing, departing and manoeuvring the boat through watergates, the quiet and calm locomotion will be passed on to all other holiday activities - “slow travel”, precisely.

For thousands of years this pace was a measurement for travelling at land and across the water, apart from the high developed road system in The Roman Empire, which was more advanced already 2000 years ago. It was the invention of train travel in the first half of the 19th century, which increased travel speed considerably. Not without concern from people, who feared to miss the way, that passed by in a hurry. Questions we have lost from our consciousness today, will be present again on the houseboat. Today's modern transport brings passengers quicker to their destination, in order to reach more places in less time, Europe in a fortnight, as they say. The journey and time itself retreat into the background and are tide over with other activities. Perhaps, this is the explanation for an increasing fascination to go slowly by boat through nature or towns by the canal and to re-invent travel, experiencing details along the way and anew a feeling for distance.

The moment of self-determination gives a feeling of independence on the water. Not the freedom of boundlessness and lawlessness, but the freedom to be able to focus on the most important: Which way do I need to take? Where can I moor tonight? Where can I get food from? The whole multifaceted life is being boiled down to elementary things: Eating, sleeping and avoiding danger along the way, in order to enjoy the exact few goals at the end of the day. It is a decluttering of our often complicated and complex everyday life.

A house boating holiday combines perfectly mental and physical exertion, offers individuality, whilst socialising with other boat crews at the same time. If the holiday didn't completely failed to interest you, the desire will be fulfilled with every boating holiday and arise new again, as soon as you have handed back the boat key.

House boating is a group experience, no matter whether you travel with family or friends. Team spirit is in demand; everyone gets the opportunity to be on the helm. Contrary to a strongly by men dominated boating tourism in the past, more and more women are interested in a holiday on the boat today. Therefore, it's about time, dear fellow female house boat skippers, you feel being addressed particularly. A boat is not at all the last domain of adventure seeking lads or even macho captains boasting command. It is also advisable to have at least two people on board with basic knowledge about boat handling. Whatever the reason, the captain could become indisposed, not to mention a “man over board” manoeuvre, affecting the skipper in the heat of navigational challenges.

A holiday like this is suitable for all varieties of groups, which could benefit cost sharing, under certain circumstances. Whether it is a multi generations holiday, a family holiday of one or several families, a holiday for couples or a boating trip for men/ladies only – everything is possible, as long as the interests are similar and tolerance is assured. After all, you will live close together and there is not much room for hiding. This is not always easy, as I will highlight in the next chapter.

Life on board

A specific feature on board is human contact, which limits personal space, and means everybody takes part in the life of the other. This starts with mealtimes, but the reverse process won't stay unnoticed either. In an increasing individualised and on distance based society, this might be unfamiliar. In particular, if the crew consists not only of family, but acquaintances or friends as well, with whom relations are not as close. Therefore, during planning, I recommend to make sure, that every group has its own cabin. Don't utilise the option to convert the seats in the saloon into beds. Nowadays, every cabin or at least maximum two cabins have their own bathroom, making the morning bathroom business less stressful. You will need to abandon anyway the over the top luxury to take a shower every day or even several times a day, for water and sewage reasons, and rather use showers on land.

Night time has camping specific peculiarities, which could disturb a shallow sleeper. Apart from unusual bed covers on typically sturdy frames, it is the noise from the outside, which reaches the silence indoors at night time. Creaking fender, the persistent pounding of waves against the boat's side, the late return of the crew from the neighbouring boat, or just unfamiliar noises from animals outside, which play with your mind. If you are unlucky, noises from the boat itself are added, for example by loudly snoring members of the crew, who seemingly can't be disturbed in their good night sleep by anything, whilst you lie awake, feeling your slowly accelerating pulse. Perhaps, you are woken up by people needing the toilet, using inevitably the noise intensive flush. A pump in operation or the fridge can also disturb a restful sleep. As a workaround, there is however a natural remedy whilst boating, namely many impressions, a lot of exercise and fresh air. These are beneficial for getting tired and a good night sleep.

Apart from the actual boating, the care for physical wellbeing is dominant: Buying food, cooking it, eating a meal, tidying up and everything again at the next mealtime. Cooking and frying on board can be great fun, despite conditions and space around the cooker are not optimal. Washing up of burnt pots are less favourable duties. Some like it to get rather busy in the galley, a term for the boat's kitchen, than handling lines on deck all the time. In particular in families with children a lapse into historical roles is easily done, where the woman on board is in charge of the kitchen. Unless it is an explicit wish, you should divide jobs and involve everyone. During one of our trips we announced a “golden scouring pad” competition, for instance, associated with winning a price. This resulted not only in a lot of fun, but also applications for kitchen jobs skyrocketed, as everyone wanted to collect the sought after points for certain duties.

Technical issues on board include checking oil and water filter, according to specifications of the hirer, and usually fall to the boat captain. Jobs outside on the boat, like tidying up and cleaning, can be distributed again. The amount is manageable, if everybody helps. In autumn, there might be more to do outside, in case fallen leaves need to be cleared away, so the deck won't become a slide.

Typical for water is its moisture, which will creep into the inside of the boat. Ventilation is important, good weather provided and you are on the boat. You should shut hatches in the evening in time during pre and off-season. Otherwise the moisture of the evening air spreads around the cabin like dew on a meadow, giving the bedding an unpleasant clammy feeling. You should ventilate the cabins at night, even if this won't prevent a steaming up of windows and hatches. A small trickle down the windows isn't uncommon. Hence, you shouldn't put down any valuables near the window.

House boating with children

House boating is a special adventure for children. Do you want to deny this your children? No? Then get into it! But think consciously and early enough about the wishes and ideas of all different participants of the upcoming trip, especially the children. Not every family man, usually dedicated to his job, is used to a 24 hour uproar by his children.

On a houseboat, there is something to detect all the time for five to twelve year old children, to observe or do. There is enough free space on the boat, at the same time it is manageable for small children and has defined borders, just like a snail shell. No comparison to a boring car trip, where you have to be fastened and can only look out of the window, because activities, which demand you to look down, can result in car sickness. In slightly older children and teenager not even house boating will prevent teenager attitudes. This might complicate life on board. This has nothing to do with a house boating holiday. It is the age, where youngsters disappear underneath their head phones and experience the world only via their mobile phone screen.

The said 24 hour company, where everybody brings in their individual wishes and ideas for downtime, the high expectations of the time away and the quest for a perfect holiday, all this presents potential for conflict. Children are often the catalyst and can accelerate a low mood, because they have their own mind, need entertainment and never want, what the grown ups want to do – on principle. To make things worse, small children don't need holiday to get rest. What from? As long as the demand from school doesn't mean permanent strain, outstripping the recovery effect of spare time, children will have a very different idea of “holiday” than adults. For them the emphasis is on holiday as spare time for parents, which in turn they should spend indeed completely with the children. Children want to discover and get experience, appropriate for their age, best together with their parents. Cultural highlights of holiday destinations rank rather on the last position.

The awareness of potential conflict is a good starting point to avoid it. Luckily, a house boating holiday offers several advantages for a suitable holiday with children. The houseboat presents a good compromise between interpersonal closeness within the family and own freedom of movement. Providing the children are not too young, it is possible for them to roam free inside the boat and partly on deck too. They can retreat to the cabins, if it gets too busy. There is always something else to do on land and on the boat. You can keep the children busy according to their age and more importantly transfer responsibility for certain duties. There are many options, from keeping a log book to tidying up of lines, jobs in the galley or in the engine room to operating of locks by older children. Thereby, the boat trip will be a shared experience, and the journey not just perceived as a change of location, to reach a destiny, but as the holiday itself. There is more variety on a boat than in a camper van, not least in a cramped car.

Sensibility is needed when the offspring are too full of beans and you need to ban the little ones under deck to be safe during boat manoeuvres. The bigger the age gap, the more difficult this is, because you have to explain the differences in liberties. At the end, it will be a good family experience. To put the children in front of an animation won't be an option in this holiday. You are the animation yourself.

It's not what you say, but how you say it

That's easily said. If you as the appointed captain try to dock the boat, the boat drifts away repeatedly due to the wind, however, the crew tries in vain to put the lines around the bollards, but they only land in the water and everybody is looking at you, what you are actually doing on the helm, then a grumpy word can roll off the tongue easily.

It is helpful for everyone, if the captain explains the planned manoeuvre to the crew beforehand. He/she should specify, who will be on duty in which position and what potential problems one could face. This strategy makes sense in practice, but is difficult to achieve at the beginning. The crew doesn't know what to do and therefore can't help. Helpful is a command like this: “We dock along starboard, you take the bow line and you the stern line.” “Umh, where is starboard?” “What shall I do with the bow?” Starboard is the right hand side of the boat in direction of travel. The bow line is attached to the front of the boat and the stern line at the rear, the stern. In case the crew is not yet familiar with the terminology, you have to use short and clear descriptions accordingly. It doesn't make sense in the end to utter terminology and no one understands it. After the first locks everyone is usually on their position and knows more or less what to do. With a larger crew it is recommended to maintain daily duties, until they are well rehearsed. This makes communicating easier. Further crew members can be “shown the ropes” for specific duties later. Should there be enough people, there could be one person operating the bow line and one the stern line, apart from the captain. In addition, one or two shore leavers are necessary to help securing the lines on land. If there are less crew members, they need to take on double duties.

You should interact with other boat crew and water sports people in the same friendly manner as with your own crew. This starts with saluting other crew, when passing each other and goes on with being thoughtful towards smaller boats, like canoes or rowing boats. In areas with a high boat density you will salute permanently, by all means, as everyone wants to say Hi to everybody and everything. Just like it makes it easier to dock your own boat by getting help from other crew with attaching the lines, do pass this helping hand on as soon as your boat is secure. Pets should be kept on a lead in the harbour at all times, and you are obliged to clean after them. It doesn't make a good impression, when your pet does their business already on the mooring stage, in case the need of your four legged friend is very urgent after a long time on the boat. Please also keep in mind the numerous angler on the bank, who you can pay friendly regard by going slowly and if possible by evading them. Although they usually look sullenly at the annoying tourist boats and rarely greet back, you don't need to be dissuaded to be friendly yourself.

With this knowledge and your hopefully good intention, nothing can go wrong now with the “social network” houseboat project.

About planning and misplanning

What is better, to pack some clothes and dive into the adventure houseboat or rather plan extensively and get ready and prepared for the journey? Both is possible in principle. For peace of mind during the holiday, I rather recommend to plan, however. At the same time, planning is a nice task and helps to build anticipation.

What are the stages of the planning process? You need to choose an area and search for a place to hire a boat, that is appropriate. Advertisements are out already in autumn for the upcoming season of the following year. For those, who want commit long term to secure the dream location and boat, you can get 15% to 20% discount. The down side is, as often with early bookings, you have to pay a deposit of a quarter or a third of the price. Meanwhile the amount of hirers and their fleet has increased dramatically, which means, you can hire boats all year around and at short notice, if you are flexible where to go and which type of boat to use. In pre and off season last minute discounts can reach 50%.

Arrival by plane to the boat could be unfavourable in several ways, but can't be avoided sometimes, if you want to reach houseboat areas in the northeast of Germany from abroad. Airports are not nearby to the charter harbour, which means a transfer is necessary. Foldable bags, easily to store away during flight, might get smashed at the arrival in the airport by half a dozen hard-top suitcases. The other way around, such a suitcase would make a bulky and annoying fellow on board the boat.

The time to take over the boat is always very limited, usually in the early hours of the afternoon. Beforehand, the boats require cleaning and preparation for the new customer. If you arrive too early at the base, you'll stand about with your luggage at the harbour, more or less comfortably, before taking over the boat. You shouldn't be too late at the marina either, however, as you need to complete the paper work necessary and get the handling of the boat explained. Saturdays with its frequent changeover of boat crews is great battle day for charter businesses, which not always helps with the briefing.

If you want to combine a holiday on the boat with one on land, I recommend to do the boat tour first, especially with children. As the cruise will be the bigger adventure compared to the land holiday, the offspring would wait impatiently and enjoy their time on land less. Surely, you don't want to have a count down of days on land, until finally it's time to get onboard.

On the other hand, it's not advisable to change straight from your job to the boat. It is a lot of stress to break off for holiday and do the packing, journey to, take over of the boat and briefing in a seamless transition. The strain could upset your first takes on steering the boat and influence climate on the boat adversely. Take a day earlier off from work and take it easy.

When you have decided on the location, the boat hirer and the duration of your trip, you should start planning the route, before your