Captain Pegg

If the chap had any sense he would have remarked that he had intended to ask if the crew ahead would be prepared to wait for him to join them in the next lock but seeing as that wasn’t possible would they kindly wind a bottom paddle back for him at subsequent locks. That’s something to consider anyway if boats are following you.

The unofficial county top of Warwickshire in the background there.

The replacement of the original wooden infill to the paddles with plastic is another reason to wind them down. The wood had a degree of give to it that the plastic doesn’t have and they are prone to cracking if the paddles drop sharply.

I too have pondered the parallel between the arguments about why boats without a home mooring should pay more and the council tax vs poll tax debate.

I haven’t read a word of that but the bit I was pondering was the ‘winner’ in a four horse vote was any horse getting more than 25%. You just can’t step back from ramming your point of view down folks’ throat can you?

I was pondering @Paul C’s maths in general rather than the outcome of the actual survey.

🤔

That right hand lock looks peculiar. The chamber wall seems to slope upward to a higher top gate which suggests it’s a staircase. However the left hand lock appears to be a conventional lock. As they are broad locks I was thinking London, maybe the Regents canal. Above Stanley dock, Liverpool is a possibility but not sure about FMC trade to Liverpool in the BW era. Can I have three guesses? Runcorn? I bet all three are wrong. ETA - I took too long to write that and JB beat me to it!

It’s either work to the services in the road or the need to remove the bridge that spans the disused arm/wharf entrance by the look of things. It was still closed at the end of November and didn’t look like reopening was imminent.

A recent customer of mine told me of his experience of communications with a supposed boatmover that on enquiry via FB he concluded to be a scammer. Hence I’d be grateful if @Journeyman36 could at least confirm if the scam they mentioned involved a boat mover?

The point of the procedure is to initially arrive at the place you wish to stop with the boat stationary and the bow in a position where a crew member can step to the bank safely with a line. Another feature of the training being that you never step on or off a moving boat. And @LadyG you most certainly don’t jump. If you coast in a boat when exactly is it going to stop? Most likely when it hits something or you have jumped off with a line and taken a turn around a bollard. Coasting into the side is also highly likely to result in collision with the bank if done at a steep angle or being pushed away from the bank if coming in at a shallow angle. There’s no hurry involved at all. Hurrying involves veering toward the bank a couple of hundred yards before a lock so the crew can take a flying leap on to the towpath and run up to prepare the lock. I was taught to use mooring rings to bring the boat to a final stand but the technique as published doesn’t assume any particular type of canalside equipment is present.

That was my choice of words and maybe not the best. In the circumstance I described the boat would be virtually stationary with the bow facing the bank. The purpose of a quick burst of throttle against a rudder angled at 45 degrees is to get the stern moving toward the bank without driving the bow into the bank. Similarly to arrest the forward motion a quick burst of reverse will retard the boat without sending a wave of water between the boat and bank that will push the boat away from the bank. A consistent part of the teaching was to start manoeuvres from a slow speed and keep the tiller at 45 degrees using the throttle to change the rate of turn, but always starting with a burst of throttle to get the boat turning in the first place. I did the Helmsman course 45 years after first going boating and 6 years after buying my own boat. I found it very well taught and useful. That was not what I’d expected. Unfortunately I can’t recommend the training provider, Willow Wren, because they no longer exist as a training entity.

I use the bollards to stop boats in Grand Union locks both when ascending and descending for similar reasons. It performs the dual function of stopping the boat and putting it alongside the wall when working a wide lock with a single boat. Of course most GU locks have suitable lockside furniture to do this but many others do not. The point of a training course is to teach generic techniques and give awareness of risks. The rest is up to the trainee as to what they wish to do and go away and practice and develop that knowledge.

Considering all the above is this possibly a Leicester line or Erewash lock?

It’s unlikely CRT are allowed to directly engage individuals on a self-employed basis. It’s probably done through an agency. The change in law referred to above was in principle to remove the ability to employ agency staff as de facto employees while denying them the rights afforded to employees, such as annual leave, sick pay and pension contributions. If tendered as specific short term work it possibly has no bearing on CRTs chugging efforts.

The RYA method advises against taking a turn around a bollard to stop the boat because of the risk that the rope will bind and heel the boat violently as it comes to an abrupt stop. RYA prescribed methods are universal and are intended to be applied in any circumstances. You will know that taking a turn around a GU steel bollard can produce a very different outcome than doing the same on a concrete bollard or a square wooden stump. The method described involves slowing down on approach while still cruising in mid-channel, turning the boat toward the bank at about 30 degrees and engaging reverse to bring the boat almost to a stop as the bow is about to contact the bank. At this point a crew member can step off the bow with the bow line or centre line. Then a quick blast of forward with the tiller at 45 degrees to the bank starts to move the stern toward the bank with little forward momentum and lastly a blast of reverse with the tiller 45 degrees to the opposite side to arrest any excessive forward momentum and the steerer can step off at the the stern with either the stern line or the centre line. The boat is then brought to a complete stand by direct use of the lines. Key is to avoid bank effect on the bow which can occur if approaching too fast or too shallow. Not helped if the channel side is particularly shallow. I was taught quite faithfully to RYA methods but some variances to allow for the particular style of the canalside equipment were made.

The lock at Droitwich could have served a similar purpose to that you suggest for Middlewich big lock. It’s also possible the term barge lock is a bit of a misnomer because it’s a flood lock and that may be the reason for its dimensions. If it were a narrow lock it would be largely unnavigable today because of the build up of silt behind the gates.

And CRTs grant is £739m over 15 years. So about £0.75 per head and £1.50 per taxpayer per year.

Isn’t CRT’s current level of direct grant broadly equivalent to £1 per head of the entire UK population?

That information is false. The RYA handbook has methods for coming alongside using either the bow and stern lines or the centre line. The latter method is shown for both a crew member stepping off the bow or a single hander stepping off at the stern. The instructions are explicit that you should not put a line around a bollard while the boat is moving, and that while the boat is in gear the line should be held slack.