Europen Canal Boat - Twin Enginnes ?

This question concerns the desirability of having a twin engine boat for use on the European canals, in particular relating to the handling characteristics when operating on one engine.

I am about to buy a second-hand boat in the Netherlands, Dutch steel cruiser, 10 to 14 meters. Most are single engine, but due to a depressed market, some twin engine boats come on market for no more than a single. For the French canals (where there is a six kilometre per hour speed limit) you don't need the power of twin engines. In fact singles are preferred by some as the canals can be shallow and the prop is better protected on a single engine boat.

Some (few) canal people with twins operate them on one engine routinely, alternating port and starboard every other day, because you simply don't need the power all the time, and running two engines is just a waste of fuel. I have posed a similar question in a specialist canal forum and had a couple of replies from people who claimed to have twin engine boats, and regularly run only one engine at a time, suggested they had no real handling problems, and soon got used to correcting any tendency to not steer straight, because of the offset thrust off centreline.

I'm aware of the handling advantages of twin engines in close manoeuvring, and of course the advantage of having a spare engine in case of a breakdown. Canal boats often have a bow thruster to assist docking, so manoeuvring isn't an issue in the twin single question in this special boating case. A twin could also be occasionally useful on some of the European rivers, but most canal boat owners don’t consider them either desirable.

My concern is the ease of handling on one engine? Is the boat liable to be difficult to keep on a strait course, rather important on a canal, to the point where the helm would require particular constant vigilance?

The question of suitable shaft lubrication for the idling prop was raised but others suggested that alternating the engines morning port afternoon starboard largely overcame this, you are only going 6km/hour.

I chanced upon this forum, so perhaps some members could be kind enough to comment on my questions. If I should buy a twin engine boat, it would have to be run on one engine most of the time, you don't need much power, fuel is expensive in Europe and getting more so. Some twins have very attractive accommodation layouts, so that is the attraction, and the current market for boats in the Netherlands means there are some apparent bargain twin engine craft around.

BUT, will a twin handle OK, pottering along the canals at low speed on one engine?

Canalcruiser
Brisbane Oz

 

Twin engines will be a waste of money and fuel in your case, imho, and will increase your boat's draft due to added weight. And the draft is precious for canal boats.

If the boat is well balanced and the rudder is efficient, once you get a good feeling of it's behaviour you will have no problems with handling. It is just a matter of time spent behind the helm. Consider the traditional british narrowboats, for example, who typically have just one diesel engine and rutinely engage tight waterways, like the one in this picture:



Another possibility:
There's friend of mine (an ex-client who became a friend, as happens pretty often) who owns a twin-engine trawler, whose engineering design and construction supervision was done by me. The boat has both bow and stern thrusters (an overkill for a twin-engined boat, but strongly wanted by this guy). He told me that in tight spaces he never has to maneuver with engines (he is a summer boater with not enough experience, and prefers not to use the engine steering). Just by playing with thrusters he's able to control the boat with very high precision, even when it is moving forward. This technique cannot be used for continuous and long corrections during the cruise (because it would overheat the thrusters and the power cables), and shouldn't be a substitute for a good seamanship, but still it could be very handy in tight curved canals like the one in the above pic.

Cheers

 

It is the hull shape determining how well a boat performs in canals.

I had a twin engined Draco 2500 for several years in Holland and found canals an agony because the boat needed speed to respond to steering. In canals you have to wait for bridges to open and more often than not there is some crosswind pushing your boat to the banks. The dual engines can do nothing to prevent that, only a long keel and a large rudder can help you there.

 

This boat is not going to be cheap so I assume you are going to try before you buy ....

 

Are there contrary views?

Thanks to all those who have replied.

I take daiquiri's points on cost and fuel, in the general case, but in the present depressed market in Holland, some twins are going cheaper than "comparable" singles, and the whole point of my question is to save fuel, by running only one engine at a time. That will often be a smaller and more economical engine than engines fitted to a comparable size single engine boat. Hence if it handles OK, it will likely be even more economical to operate than a single engine boat. This arises from the fact that for use on the French canals a typical Dutch steel cruiser will be operating well under hull speed at a very low throttle setting.

I am well aware of the English narrow boats, and most boats on the European canals have only one engine. The whole matter only arises from the current distorted and depressed second hand market where two engines can be cheaper than one in some cases, and the major questions for me in selecting a boat are about accommodation layout, as this will be a live aboard boat used for many months at a time. Considering twins as well as singles opens up greater choice for the accommodation layouts. The draught of any boat I buy will be maximum 1.1 meter to suit all the canals of France.

My concern with a twin was because the propellers are off centre, and using only one engine would result in off centre thrust, which would have to be corrected with the rudder being held off centre (all the time) to counter it to go strait ahead, so it seems to me with limited experience.

Yes I would "try before buy", but with limited experience handling such a boat, and no experience with a twin engine boat, in the limited time available for a trial run, I felt I would not be in a good position to assess the handling properly. If it handled badly would it just be my inexperience, or would it be that a twin engine boats run on only one engine are inherently difficult to control?

The consensus view ( in this and another forum) from those who appear to be, and I hope are in fact more knowledgeable and experienced than I, seems to be that one will soon get used to the boats handling characteristics on one engine, that there is no major problem to worry about. If there is well founded contrary advice on the handling question I would be most grateful to hear it

 

In that case, I believe you would be better off with just one engine to keep under control and to take care about, and with no asymmetric thrust to fight. Eventually assisted with bow and steer thrusters, if you wish.

As about economy, a twin engine with one propeller working and the other one feathering/freewheeling will imho hardly be more economical (considering the installation and maintainance costs too) in any aspect than a properly choosen single engine solution, but we have had a fair bit of heated discussion about that, and also about twin engine / single shaft solution, on this forum.

It's all imho, of course, and should be confronted with other opinions.

Cheers