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Dangers of boating and not keeping your eyes on the ball!

ranworthbreeze

By ranworthbreeze
in The Broadscot Lounge

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LondonRascal

LondonRascal

Posted
Posted

My understanding is there is a ledge that is above the floor of the lock, but at the bottom of the lock gates.  I think as per picutre it is called a Cill.

 

boating-guide_html_2401cb68.png

 

 

Its important to not let the bow or stern therefore be too close to the lock gates, or as the water is let out of the lock then in this case the stern comes to rest on the ledge – it can drop no further but the bow can and does, often ‘twisting’ the boat.

 

I what could have helped save the boat fully submerging would have been to quickly wind down the (sluice)? That would have been letting water drain from the lock the moment the boat came to a rest on the ledge – then have allowed more water in from above which would have refloated the boat. 

 

I have never been on a canal holiday so this is all ‘what I think’ and is probably pretty close to facts but I am sure those who know their locks will come and fill in my inaccuracies :)

 

Here are some more examples:

 

sunkenboat1.jpg

 

narrowboat-stranded_686984c.jpg

 

 

 

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ranworthbreeze

ranworthbreeze

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Hi Eric,

Dead easy espicially it being 65 foot long in say max 72 foot lock.
The lock in question was a dual lock. The proceedure in a dual lock is to open the ground paddle opposite the side that the boat is held against (this helps push and keep the boat against that wall).

The crew more than likely will have got the boat hung by the stern on the lock cill (these are marked now on all locks). The other explanation could be that rather than hold and feed the ropes to hold the boat steady that they were stuck on a bollard or that the boat went sideways and maybe jammed at an angle in the lock.

If the crew had been on the ball, at the sign of any trouble with the level of the boat they could have closed all the paddles and slowly refilled the lock.

We had to do this for another crew many years ago on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal out in the sticks, they were stuck on the cill, but had closed down in plenty of time to prevent the boat going down by the nose. We helped them and then shared the rest of the locks with them that day.

Regards
Alan

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Siddy

Siddy

Posted
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What a mess, This was the info we hoped the crews picked up on when we let them loose after taking them up 5 locks for return trip to Leeds. Enter the lock and pop rope round the bollard which is in front of the stern and one at the helm keep hold of it as it drops. this keeps the bow against the front gate. Also keep a eye on the white mark which shows the cill area.

 

Few months ago I day hire a narrow boat and got caught out by doing it the way told, reverse back to the gate and leave in reverse riding the gate up using just a ground paddle. All well till 4th lock and a bolt sticking out pinned the boat and had to stop filling and drop level to release.

 

It didn't stop there but got grounded outside the lock and had to throw a rope to a passing copper on a push bike to get me to bank and go down the lock backwards lol.

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Siddy

Siddy

Posted
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Normal canal locks ain't too hard work if you don't rush, most gates will easy open when ready if you just lean on them.

The hire boat I had was a tester to see if Kaz could handle boat ok before booking a canal break. Turned out she couldn't see over the top of the boat so I got a nice tan sat on back all day lol. This meant Kaz had to try do the locks which she listened and didn't rush and couldn't belive she could push the gates etc. Only one gate I had to tie up help get it going.

Now I have a bad back due to doing locks when younger on a trip boat every night when one gate used to take 3 of us to get it going (now electric) if we went down the river or 10 locks in 3 hrs on a canal run. (where was where there's a blame in the late 80's)

 

If you put put canal locks against Broads tides.

Canal - if you follow a boat 20 mins in front of you, you have to empty lock before use, costing time & wasting water

Broads - if you don't plan to use the tide it cause time and fuel.

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Hylander

Hylander

Posted
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Quite frankly how we ever did the Warwickshire Ring without any hiccups I cannot imagine.   I was at the helm the whole time of a 40 foot narrow boat.      I had never seen a narrow boat before boarding.     Oh I have just recalled the wonderful trip through Birmingham , past all those delapidated old factory buildings , smelly outfall pipes, everything and the kitchen sink floating in the canal,  grounding on god knows what. Being pelted by bricks from one of the walk over bridges by kids.     I now know why I pefer the Broads.

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Timbo

Timbo

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We did the Chesterfield Canal with two NB's, Uncle Albert at the helm of one, me at the helm of the other. Each NB carried an additional three patrols of Scouts on board, we were having a change from our usual two weeks in summer under canvas. Whilst tied up in Worksop we got pelted with bricks by kids from a bridge and we ordered the lads off the boat for safety's sake when one of the windows went through. The three toerags throwing the bricks turned tail and ran when 36 kids and my collie dog erupted from the boats. We didn't have any more trouble.

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Polly

Polly

Posted
Posted

We came to the Broads when we ran out of slave labour on the canal holidays; reading the, then, HW catalogue, I said, 'Ooooh look, we could hire a yacht!' Not being totally daft, we included two days basic tuition In sailing from Wroxham and got totally hooked. I just wish we had done it years earlier.

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Baitrunner

Baitrunner

Posted
Posted

Here's a bit of history that talks about the locks of old.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broads

 

And the great flood of 1912 saw the demise of the Wherry and the Broads as a major transport route. Taking out most of the major locks.

 

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/1912_great_flood_series_norfolk_s_virtual_tsunami_1_1495768

 

I am sure others will know more about the one sin action still today.

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