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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2018 20:52:46 GMT
I never breast any gates open under any circumstances at all and I never have not even once and never will because crt read this forum and know who I am.
Other than that it is apparently common practice among some boaters to gently push the gates with the boat. I mean gently in that you would not spill a fresh cup of tea placed on the balance beam. Whacking them hard is not ideal these days because the way gates are made and maintained has changed.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2018 20:54:48 GMT
Looking at the photo it appears someone thought about that place properly and decided to allow people to do something worthwhile in there. ONE HUNDRED AND AYYYTEEE  |
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Post by TonyDunkley on Aug 13, 2018 21:00:42 GMT
One for Tony Dunkley: Last Tuesday morning I took our boat by myself down Filance Lock to fill up with water. Turned round and approached lock to go back up. No water leaking from gates so I thought maybe I could nose them open. Put front of boat gently to V of gates but no action in forward gear with no power so I ran up steps, opened the paddle and tried gate - it opened. And then the stupid boat started chugging in by itself 'cos I had left it in forward gear!!! I should have stuck it in neutral. It's a deep lock and too far down to jump onto roof of boat. The only ladder is at the top end so I climbed down that, waited patiently for the fucker to chug-chug-chug towards me - and smash into the front wall/cill-thingy! I stepped onto the front edge of the roof, ran along the roof, sat on sliding hatch and quickly lowered myself onto the back deck, put it in neutral, waited for revs to die, put it in reverse and gave it a little welly - and it stopped before hitting the wall. Perfect timing - but only by luck. A woman behind me waiting to go up the same lock came to help with the gates and paddles. I was already up the ladder again, and she said "You're obviously on your own and have done that before! That was a really neat trick!" Sometimes it is best to accept awards. That's the way to do it, . . . I hope you left the lady on the other boat believing that all that was quite intentional ! Style and nerve are all, especially when things are beginning to go horribly wrong. The ability to carry off a near catastrophic balls-up whilst it appears to onlookers that everything is going according to plan is the hallmark of a 'natural'. Aside from not 'drawing up' on the boat to bring it to a standstill and nowadays having ladders in the chamber walls, the way you worked that lock did bear some similarities to the way any working boat would have done it in days gone by. Normal practice uphill with a single 'motor', or a motor working a lock independently from it's butty, on most single (narrow) locks, in similar circumstances to those you describe (ie. coming below a full lock or one that was still draining down), would have been to take a line from the mast ashore with you, walk a little way ahead of the boat to the top gate with it and then draw about half a ground paddle when the boat was around 10' to 15' short of the cill or top gate. If you judged and timed everything just right - the effect of drawing the paddle and the timing varied in different locks - the flush of water down the chamber towards the bottom end would stop the boat just as the stem/fender reached the top gate or the cill (depending on the depth/rise of the lock). You would then quickly nip down and close the bottom gates, having first 'made off' the line you had taken ashore with you good and tight round either the paddle spindle or something on the top gate to prevent the boat being pushed back between the bottom gates before you could get them closed. |
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Post by brummieboy on Aug 14, 2018 20:13:45 GMT
I went through a stop lock recently and I read in my Pearson's guide that back in the day, the working boats would just ram the gate open if the lock was against them. Sometimes, at Autherly stop lock, it is possible to go straight through, and at busy times, with a couple of heavies on each gate, several boats have gone through. Most I've seen is 9. |
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