Brentford Possible Blockage

[WJM]

From that link... That still doesn't fully explain it. So he is in the lock with his arms down the weed hatch. The lock slowly fills. That wont sink the boat.

 

 

"The boat owner was there (in the hi-viz) and we asked what had happened ...  from what I could gather his tiller arm had been knocked out of its skeg when the tide was apparently too low whilst waiting at Thames Lock (so he's come off the tide today).  He thought he'd fixed it but on the way to Clitheroes Lock realised that it was still not fully in.  He decided to go into the lock, close the tail gate, open his weed hatch to try to relocate the tiller arm.  Unnoticed by him was that the upper gates were very leaky and of course the water level rose, his boat moved forward and his bow caught on the cill, and the boat sank. ??? Very, very puzzling ???"

[Alan de Enfield]

18 minutes ago, WJM said:

Very, very puzzling ???"

Even more puzzling to do it a second time.

 

[RLWP]

1 hour ago, WJM said:

From that link... That still doesn't fully explain it. So he is in the lock with his arms down the weed hatch. The lock slowly fills. That wont sink the boat.

 

 

"The boat owner was there (in the hi-viz) and we asked what had happened ...  from what I could gather his tiller arm had been knocked out of its skeg when the tide was apparently too low whilst waiting at Thames Lock (so he's come off the tide today).  He thought he'd fixed it but on the way to Clitheroes Lock realised that it was still not fully in.  He decided to go into the lock, close the tail gate, open his weed hatch to try to relocate the tiller arm.  Unnoticed by him was that the upper gates were very leaky and of course the water level rose, his boat moved forward and his bow caught on the cill, and the boat sank. ??? Very, very puzzling ???"

It sort of does.

 

The owner needed to reseat his rudder in the cup on the skeg. 

He put the boat into the lock and closed the gates, but didn't draw the paddles

While he was working on the rudder, the boat drifted forwards

Leakage meant the lock was filling*

The pulpit rail caught under the gates while the owner was concentrating on the rudder**

The pulpit rail eventually pushed the bow under far enough for water to flood the front deck via the drain holes

 

*This is the bit that doesn't ring true. It must be a huge leak

**It's a bloody frustrating and tiring job. I can imagine losing concentration on anything else while doing this

 

Richard

[eid]

But the paddle is up.

 

 

[RLWP]

So, either strike the bit about leaky gates, or perhaps the paddle has been opened afterwards (no, no idea why)

 

Richard

[Rob-M]

Perhaps a helpful person raised a paddle to fill the lock for them whilst they were busy.

[roland elsdon]

So you boat into a lock, hop up to close rear gate hop down to boat open weedhatch and have a furtle, boat catches up, bow held down that should lift stern up. So boat went down from the bow, without a paddle open?

ouch.

[Boater Sam]

Not a wayward vlockie helping out then?

How do you re-locate a rudder via the weed hatch? I can't even see mine through there.

[alan_fincher]

4 hours ago, RLWP said:

Leakage meant the lock was filling*

 

*This is the bit that doesn't ring true. It must be a huge leak

 

I disagree,

 

Some Southern GU locks can self fill very quickly indeed.

Apart from anything else, don't forget they have no bye wash, but are instead designed that excess water in the pound above flows through the sluices for the ground paddles, so if bottom gates are shut and paddles down the lock will fill.

I have no idea if that was happening at this lock at the time, but when it does a lock can "self fill" in minutes.  This happens down Buckby when the back-pumps are left pumping far too much water back up, and it has to overflow to somewhere.

[MtB]

4 hours ago, RLWP said:

The owner needed to reseat his rudder in the cup on the skeg. 

He put the boat into the lock and closed the gates, but didn't draw the paddles

While he was working on the rudder, the boat drifted forwards

 

Doesn't ring true to me.

 

The last place I'd choose to re-locate my dislodged rudder would be in an empty lock with all the gates closed.

 

 

[Tim Lewis]

On 10/05/2019 at 17:40, alan_fincher said:

Somewhat staggeringly there are now pictures of what certainly looks like the same boat sunk again, this time below a lock, (possibly the same lock).

What on earth is going on?

 

 

RCR time lapse of the boat being refloated:

 

 

 

 

[eid]

Will there be a time-lapse of it sinking a third time? ?

 

 

[Phoenix_V]

did they forget to put the weedhatch cover back on?

[MtB]

1 minute ago, Phoenix_V said:

did they forget to put the weedhatch cover back on?

 

Does it make your boat sink three times if you forget, then?

 

 

[RLWP]

9 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Doesn't ring true to me.

 

The last place I'd choose to re-locate my dislodged rudder would be in an empty lock with all the gates closed.

 

 

No? I've reseated a rudder in a lock

[Phoenix_V]

5 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Does it make your boat sink three times if you forget, then?

 

 

if you tow it out of the lock too fast.....

 

[MtB]

Just now, RLWP said:

No? I've reseated a rudder in a lock

 

An empty lock? Why did you choose to do it in an empty lock?

 

I chose to do mine not in a lock, so I wouldn't be impeding any traffic. I can see the attraction of doing it in a full lock, but not n empty one with the gates closed. 

 

 

[RLWP]

1 minute ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

An empty lock? Why did you choose to do it in an empty lock?

 

I chose to do mine not in a lock, so I wouldn't be impeding any traffic. I can see the attraction of doing it in a full lock, but not n empty one with the gates closed. 

 

 

Well, it was a lock, and that's where the boat was

 

It is tempting to try and do quick fixes in locks

 

Richard

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Well, it was a lock, and that's where the boat was

 

It is tempting to try and do quick fixes in locks

 

Richard

 

I agree. The convenient water level and concrete apron make a good environment when the lock is full. But this lock must have been empty, with all gates and paddles closed during the proposed attempted re-seating. That makes no sense to me. I'd have wanted the lock full before proceeding with reseating the rudder. 

 

 

[RLWP]

1 minute ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I agree. The convenient water level and concrete apron make a good environment when the lock is full. But this lock must have been empty, with all gates and paddles closed during the proposed attempted re-seating. That makes no sense to me. I'd have wanted the lock full before proceeding with reseating the rudder. 

 

 

Why does the level make any difference, Mike?

[magnetman]

Maybe the grounding below Thames lock also holed the vessel and it was filling up with water then by the time it got to Clitheroes it was swamped. Engine bay bulkhead would have meant owner may not be aware of water in cabin. 

 

 

[MtB]

1 minute ago, RLWP said:

Why does the level make any difference, Mike?

 

My rudder was too heavy for one person to lift. The pair of us were us were on and off the boat like fleas in a fit. Doing it down in an empty lock lock would have been silly.

 

Took two of us about an hour to do it in the end. By this time I was really expecting to have to dock the boat or sill it. 

 

 

[RLWP]

3 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

My rudder was too heavy for one person to lift.

 

 

And it is lighter in a full lock?

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, RLWP said:

And it is lighter in a full lock?

 

I don't know. We did it on a marina pontoon. The guy helping me produced a neat bit bit of kit for viewing why we couldn't get it back in. A 6" tube with glass across the end and a light fixed to the outside. A low-tec endoscope. Would have been a right PITA using that down in an empty lock!

 

Not that it helped, as it happened....

 

[eid]

57 minutes ago, RLWP said:

And it is lighter in a full lock?

 

Yes because the lock is North/South facing so closing the bottom gates would be blocking the sunlight. Why would someone choose to fix his tiller, while looking through the weed-hatch (?) , with reduced light?

Edited May 14, 2019 by eid