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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2020 17:30:24 GMT
That made me larf JohnVRog
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2020 17:34:00 GMT
Have you used this technique on a river Tony? (thinking, longer ropes and bigger boats there). Small boats, short ropes in small pound has resulted in Chris waking up on me (which was nice..). To be honest the only rivers I've done are the Great Ouse and the Nene, and they were quite slow and canal-ish, although there are a number of places with I think a 7mph speed limit, so the GRP boys can get up to some face-stretching velocities if they feel like it. But I don't want to take the risk of having my imaginary friend Wilson landing on top of me in bed- even though he mostly consists of a face painted on a football. He would deal with it very tactfully I'm sure, but he's just not that kind of ball.
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Post by TonyDunkley on Dec 15, 2020 18:49:41 GMT
When I saw the thread title I thought it might be about helping elderly folk who have been kicked off their mooring through no fault of their own. Why do you think I'm taking an interest in it ?
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Post by TonyDunkley on Dec 15, 2020 22:45:45 GMT
To be properly effective head and stern springs need to be at a much shallower angle to the fore and aft centreline of the boat itself, . . . 45 degrees is far too steep an angle to really count as a 'spring' at all, . . . 10 - 15 degrees maximum is what you must aim for, . . less is even better, and they're best run ashore to a point roughly half way along the length of the boat. To get both springs as tight as possible, put a made-off head spring on first and run against it in ahead gear with the engine on a on a fast idle and the tiller held a few degrees over towards the bank, . . . then make off the stern spring swigging it up as tight as you can BEFORE putting on the stern breast line and then knocking the engine out of gear. There is an alternative way of doing it by getting a stern spring on first, . . but I'll explain that after I'm sure you've understood the head spring method. Have you used this technique on a river Tony? (thinking, longer ropes and bigger boats) What I've told TonyC to try is in fact a variation, for small craft with lightweight lines, on the standard method for getting heavy barge mooring lines ( 2" - 3" Dia) good and tight when laying alongside overnight at a non-tidal wharf, in a lock-cut, or somewhere like the last few boat's lengths of the Aire & Calder where it enters Goole Docks. To get long lengths of heavy rope good and tight without messing about with rope stoppers and winches or warping barrels, standard barge practice is to bring the ship to a standstill angled out a few degrees from the bank/wall on a headspring of around 30' length from the forard shore side deck bollards to a shore bollard. Keeping the barge at the same angle out from the shore, ie. stern around the equivalent of the barge's width/beam away from the shore, you then run the engine at a fast idle in ahead gear against the headspring whilst leading a longish headrope (which will serve instead of a sternspring when you've finished tying up) from the forard water side deck bollards to a shore bollard well ahead of the bows and make it off on the deck bollards as tight as you can physically get it - which won't be very tight because of the weight and length of the headrope. Having done that, you then swing the stern all the way into the shore under full rudder and as much engine power as is needed, and put on and make-off a short tight breast rope from the stern deck bollards to the nearest shore bollard. If you've judged the initial angle to the shore/wall correctly, and the length and initial slack in the headrope, the headrope will come up as tight as the headspring just as the stern contacts the wall/shore. It sounds complicated and tricky, but in practice it isn't, . . and it's taken me around 4 or 5 times longer to type this than it would to actually do it !
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