In Three Men in a Boat, what problems do the three friends encounter?

The opening paragraph of the story has the narrator, J., tell readers about the "problems" that he, Harris, and George all have.

We were sitting in my room, smoking, and talking about how bad we were—bad from a medical point of view I mean, of course.

J. believes that he and his friends are suffering from some kind of medical ailment that causes each of them to feel "seedy." Harris and George both say that they experience "fits of giddiness," while J. explains that he believes his problems are liver-related.

With me, it was my liver that was out of order.

As the reader continues to read the first chapter, it becomes clear that the narrator's problem is that he is a hypochondriac. He believes he suffers from the most extreme case of any ailment or disease he reads about.

It is a most extraordinary thing, but I never read a patent medicine advertisement without being impelled to the conclusion that I am suffering from the particular disease therein dealt with in its most virulent form. The diagnosis seems in every case to correspond exactly with all the sensations that I have ever felt.

By the end of the chapter, readers have likely come to the conclusion that the men's problem is that they are basically feeling restless. They decide that a river trip on the Thames will help them feel all-around better.

“Let’s go up the river.”

He said we should have fresh air, exercise and quiet; the constant change of scene would occupy our minds (including what there was of Harris’s); and the hard work would give us a good appetite, and make us sleep well.

From that point forward, the men experience problems related to the fact that none of them really know much about boating, camping, cooking, navigating, etc. The story is hilarious because the three men are simply incapable of overcoming any simple problem in an efficient manner. Packing is a total fiasco, cooking eggs for breakfast is basically an insurmountable obstacle, setting up a tent proves troublesome, and opening a tin of fruit is a major task.

Then Harris tried to open the tin with a pocket-knife, and broke the knife and cut himself badly; and George tried a pair of scissors, and the scissors flew up, and nearly put his eye out. While they were dressing their wounds, I tried to make a hole in the thing with the spiky end of the hitcher, and the hitcher slipped and jerked me out between the boat and the bank into two feet of muddy water, and the tin rolled over, uninjured, and broke a teacup.

If you refer to the problems the three men have at the beginning of the book -- the ones that set them on this journey -- then the answer is one of perceived ailments. All of them say they suffer from listlessness, from feeling “seedy,” from experiencing "fits of giddiness," and from being overworked. We readers are led to doubt whether or not these illnesses are real or are merely imagined.

During the actual river trip itself, the group has only minor problems. The trouble is that narrator J. likes to make mountains out of molehills, and he embellishes every story with salient details and a humorous bent. Additionally, he throws in episodes from a variety of past problems and stories, representing every member of the traveling party, including Montmorency. Nevertheless, along the River Thames the friends have these problems:

• Deciding how to travel and what to take (Chapters II-III)
• Packing (Chapter III)
• Setting up the tent (Chapter X)
• Making breakfast (Chapter XI)
• Opening a can of pineapple (Chapter XII)
• Washing clothes in the river (Chapter XVII)
• Traveling in the rain (Chapter XIX)

This last one does them in. They are on the return trip, moving downriver, when they have a few days of solid rain. This circumstance leads them to cut their travel plans short, to take a train back to the city, and to take in a good dinner and a show.

Why do the three friends reject the sea trip in "Three Men in a Boat"?

In Chapter One, Harris suggests that the three friends embark on a sea trip. J is the first one to disagree. He argues that a sea trip is a great experience if one can take a few months for it; however, if the sea trip will only last a week, it can be a devastatingly joyless experience. J maintains that it usually takes a week to overcome the propensity of getting seasick, and by the time one does, the trip will essentially be over.

J relates the story of his brother-in-law, who made the mistake of going on a short sea trip. By the time he got to Liverpool, his brother-in-law was anxious to sell his return ticket at a discount; he had had enough of the sea and wanted to take the train home. Evidently, the short sea trip had been too taxing for him, and he maintained that one could get more exercise sitting down (presumably being seasick) than "turning somersaults on dry land."

Next, J relates the story of his friend, who went on a week's voyage around the coast. This friend paid full price for a week's worth of food that he never got to eat. The initial fare was unappetizing, and then J's friend got seasick. This left him having to survive on thin captain's biscuits and soda-water for four days. By the time he was well enough to sample the food he had paid for, the voyage was over.

J tells his friends that he worries George will suffer the same fate. For his part, George maintains that J and Harris will likely be the ones to get seasick before he does. He declares that he's never gotten seasick, even during tempestuous sea trips. Then, J offers some strange advice on balancing one's body during sea trips; he argues that it is "an excellent preventive against sea-sickness."

You stand in the centre of the deck, and, as the ship heaves and pitches, you move your body about, so as to keep it always straight.  When the front of the ship rises, you lean forward, till the deck almost touches your nose; and when its back end gets up, you lean backwards.  This is all very well for an hour or two; but you can’t balance yourself for a week.

Upon hearing this terrible advice, George pipes up that they should go up the river instead. He argues that they will have "fresh air, exercise and quiet," and eventually, this is what the three friends decide to do. They reject the sea trip because none of them can agree that a week's voyage will prove enjoyable.

What problem do the three friends discuss in "Three Men in a Boat"?

At the beginning of Chapter I, the three friends—George, Harris, and the narrator, J.—are sitting in J.’s room, smoking and talking. The subject matter turns to medical maladies; and each man chimes in with his own symptoms and ailments, as people are apt to do among friendly company. It turns out that they are “all feeling seedy” or listless, and that both George and Harris have experienced “fits of giddiness.” These are the problems they decide to address: their states of physical and emotional health. After J. regales them with a few lengthy medical stories of his own, the three men decide that they are indeed at least suffering from overwork, and that they all need a rest. They need to get away from the city and to go somewhere. It is unlikely that the men are suffering from any real illnesses; and whether or not they are actually overworked is only left for them to say. By the end of the chapter, however, they decide to take a boat trip up the River Thames. This will be their remedy for what ails them.

What caused the three friends in "Three Men in a Boat" to abandon their trip?

It's been raining for some time. What started off as steady drizzle at Oxford has become heavier and more persistent. George unhelpfully regales his friends with a story about a man who contracted rheumatic fever from a damp boat and subsequently died in agony. Harris chimes in with a lurid tale about a man who slept under a wet canvas one night before waking up the next morning as a cripple. As the rain gets heavier and heavier, it seems like it might not be a bad idea to abandon the boat trip. George casually mentions that a train leaves Pangbourne after five o'clock which would allow them time to travel to London and get a bite to eat at a restaurant. The other two men agree and so they decide to abandon their trip, leaving the boat with a boatman at Pangbourne before making their way to the station.