Steveio

Hi Arthur, No I didn't pay any money for it up front, if I had I'd still be in the area with CRT on my back. I am still thinking about attempting to build my own remote, I considered an 'Actuator' which screws it forward and back, but it would be too slow by the time it got into reverse I would have hit the gates. It needs something attached to the gear stick that responds quickly, like a small piston, also I would need to be able to immediately detach it from the lever as soon as I jumped back on the boat. I think it can be done without spending too much money, but how is the question.

I agree £2.500 was way more than I expected, in fact I thought it was £1500 which is still a lot, I had come into some money at the time and it was an expensive gadget treat. I know someone who has had the BL fitted for 5years and it still works ok, but he told me when it was first fitted it lost signal and hit the gates, he then 'collaborated' it and its worked fine ever since. At the age of sixty I am still more than capable of getting through locks on my own and quite enjoy the exercise, but in 10years time my belly may not fit between the boat and the lock wall, as I rarely walk on my roof. The BL only controls the gears not the throttle, my idea at the time was to step off the stern as I was going into a lock (going up) and using it to stop the boat before it hit the gates, to save me having to climb up the green slimy ladder while carrying a windlass and for taking the boat out of a lock while its at the bottom on tickover. I understand there maybe some negativity about this gadget and the safety concerns, I get that, but I think that all boaters should at some point experience taking a boat through locks completely solo to fully understand what is involved. Many boaters already have the Lockmate its called 'the wife' lol. Anyway it seemed like a good idea at the time and you don't miss what you never had, I now have no regrets as I learned so much about the 'Black Country' and the good friends I made while being there, apart from Mr Thompson that is.

Hi, here is my experience of trying to get the Boaters Lock Mate fitted by Mick Thompson. I rang him early March 2019 from the River Stort, as I was attending my Fathers funeral in Bishop's Stortford, he told me to bring my boat up to the Stourbridge Lock flight to have it fitted, So I set off on my 60ft Narrowboat single handed, it was a challenging journey in severe winds and I had to replace a prop shaft bearing on the way. But after 201 miles and 224 Locks I finally arrived one week before Easter. Mick came to my Boat with the 'lockmate', it looked like a sturdy bit of kit and he said he just needed to fit the electric motor, which would take 2 weeks and then added that it would cost £2,500. After 2 weeks he said it would be another 2 weeks as he was having problems trying to get some red wire? this went on for 6 weeks, I rang him for 4 days before he answered and I said he needed to communicate with me to let me know what was going on, he agreed, but he never did have the decency to ring me. I kept ringing once a week with no answer and waited around the area until early August with no communication from him, some of the good friends I made in Stourbridge who knew him would ask him why he hadn't fitted it, he would always say "I'm having trouble with the wiring" shrug his shoulders and walk off, bearing in mind he has built and sold around 30 of the Boaters Lockmates. This was all nearly 6months ago and still no Lockmate and no communication from him, so to say I'm disappointed is an understatement, the fact that I travelled so far I really don't think his man has a conscience, he owes me for a lot of waisted time and diesel.