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Running Engines in Gear


Mike Adams

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This is just a plea to point out the problems caused by the practice of some boat owners who run engines in gear whilst moored up. Having a deep drafted boat I can often feel when we pass a boat/place where this has happened. Usually this is only a minor problem and not that common but a trip was thwarted this year after grounding on massive bar built up on a narrow stretch of the Staffs and Worcs canal leaving much less than 3' in the channel and a 'hole' at the bank a little way along nearly 4' deep against the piling. This must have happened over a period of time and not a few minutes. Also noticeable on the Oxford Canal where there are some Winter moorings. Not only is this bad for the waterway but the channel is lost and it is against the bylaws. Once deeper boats start moving the channel starts to be cleared but it needs time for this to happen.

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10 hours ago, Mike Adams said:

This is just a plea to point out the problems caused by the practice of some boat owners who run engines in gear whilst moored up. Having a deep drafted boat I can often feel when we pass a boat/place where this has happened. Usually this is only a minor problem and not that common but a trip was thwarted this year after grounding on massive bar built up on a narrow stretch of the Staffs and Worcs canal leaving much less than 3' in the channel and a 'hole' at the bank a little way along nearly 4' deep against the piling. This must have happened over a period of time and not a few minutes. Also noticeable on the Oxford Canal where there are some Winter moorings. Not only is this bad for the waterway but the channel is lost and it is against the bylaws. Once deeper boats start moving the channel starts to be cleared but it needs time for this to happen.

 

In addition to being contrary to the Bylaws as you mention, it is also against the terms and conditions of the Licence conditions which all licence holders are asked to comply with when given a licence for their boat, and there is no justification for it, even as some people seem to think, while moored alongside piling or stone edging.

 

Howard

 

 

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38 minutes ago, howardang said:

there is no justification for it, even as some people seem to think, while moored alongside piling or stone edging.

 

Have you never heard of bore glazing? This is the justification used for it. 

 

Valid or not, it is the justification used by boaters who do it. 

 

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Last week Another boater gave me this as a tip to help stop my mooring silting up.  I’d no idea it’s against the license terms (perhaps I should read what I’ve singed!). 

 

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2 minutes ago, Jak said:

Last week Another boater gave me this as a tip to help stop my mooring silting up.  I’d no idea it’s against the license terms (perhaps I should read what I’ve singed!). 

 

It may remove silt from under your boat but give a thought to where it goes. It won't be far.

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23 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

It may remove silt from under your boat but give a thought to where it goes. It won't be far.

On the moorings in Market Drayton it pushes it back into the channel, where it came from in the first place. Moorings were dredged only a couple of years ago and the empty pontoons are now basically silted up.

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3 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Have you never heard of bore glazing? This is the justification used for it. 

 

Valid or not, it is the justification used by boaters who do it. 

 

Thank you for your explanation but of course I have heard of bore glazing - it has been discussed on this forum many times - and I am also fully aware that some boaters use that as a justification, although opinions are split about whether it is necessary with modern engines. Personally, I don't want to get into yet another  tedious argument  discussion about the subject. The purpose of the OP's post was to point out that this practise of running engines while in gear is against the byelaws and I was agreeing with him, also  mentioning that it is against the licence conditions, for the very good reason that it can, and has in the past been  damaging to the bank,  and it also helps to undermine piling. I don't think it is particularly clever to bring up arguments against the ruling such as it helps to remove silt, as others have done. I know full well that it shifts silt but because it doesn't get rid of it, it just moves it somewhere else. 

 

You might like to add your considerable influence to persuading those who do it to stop, rather that pointing out why they do.?

 

Howard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Have you never heard of bore glazing? This is the justification used for it. 

 

Valid or not, it is the justification used by boaters who do it. 

 

 

Ignoring the argument of whether bore glazing actually occurs or not, (although the evidence points to it being a thing of the past, being confined to large low speed engines, which do not heat up as much as modern engines, when using poor quality oils), if one uses to engine to actually move the boat, it charges the batteries as well as preventing bore glazing. :P ;)

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5 hours ago, howardang said:

Thank you for your explanation but of course I have heard of bore glazing - it has been discussed on this forum many times - and I am also fully aware that some boaters use that as a justification, although opinions are split about whether it is necessary with modern engines. Personally, I don't want to get into yet another  tedious argument  discussion about the subject. The purpose of the OP's post was to point out that this practise of running engines while in gear is against the byelaws and I was agreeing with him, also  mentioning that it is against the licence conditions, for the very good reason that it can, and has in the past been  damaging to the bank,  and it also helps to undermine piling. I don't think it is particularly clever to bring up arguments against the ruling such as it helps to remove silt, as others have done. I know full well that it shifts silt but because it doesn't get rid of it, it just moves it somewhere else. 

 

You might like to add your considerable influence to persuading those who do it to stop, rather that pointing out why they do.?

 

Howard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yawn.

 

 

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10 hours ago, Jak said:

Last week Another boater gave me this as a tip to help stop my mooring silting up.  I’d no idea it’s against the license terms (perhaps I should read what I’ve singed!).

 

Not just licence T&Cs, it is specifically forbidden by the bye-laws.

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If the boats used reasonably regularly the berth shouldn't get silted up, just motoring away from it and returning usually keeps it clear. Its normally boats that never ever move that get silted in and possibly dumping their stove ashes overboard too which encourages more silt.

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13 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

 

Not just licence T&Cs, it is specifically forbidden by the bye-laws.

That's what the OP pointed out in the first post!:cheers:

 

Howard

 

 

2 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Yawn.

 

 

Sorry to have bored you by daring to have an independant  opinion but, hey ho, that's life.

 

Howard

 

 

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1 hour ago, howardang said:

 

 

Sorry to have bored you by daring to have an independant  opinion but, hey ho, that's life.

 

Howard

 

 

It wasn't your opinion boring me, it was your thorough unpleasantness.

 

 

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I doubt that there's much need for modern boat owners to need run the engine in gear whilst moored, what with normouse battery banks to charge, huge alternators and inverters and often Travel powers running to power all the big Gizmo's onboard which very likely are all loading the engine down more than that it being in gear or traveling along with the prop going around anyway.

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36 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

It wasn't your opinion boring me, it was your thorough unpleasantness.

 

 

If you thought I was trying to be unpleasant I appologise because that certainly wasn't the intention. Rather, I was reacting in what I had hoped was a mild bantering tone to what I thought was an equally mildly condescending comment. Sorry that you took it seriously but I assumed by reading some of your posts to others that you liked the occasional banter, however I was obviously wrong and I regret that you took it the way you did.

 

Howard

 

 

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