Brentford Possible Blockage

[Mike Todd]

8 minutes ago, eid said:

 

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?

We seem to have drifted away from understanding what happened to offering advice to do it differently. I guess that the boat owner does not need telling that! (Most of us do things that we cannot subsequently justify logically!)

[eid]

8 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

We seem to have drifted away from understanding what happened to offering advice to do it differently. I guess that the boat owner does not need telling that! (Most of us do things that we cannot subsequently justify logically!)

 

I'm not offering advice, but trying to understand what happened and why. The story given doesn't make a lot of sense to me, hence the questions arising.

[MoominPapa]

Currently moored on the lower lock landing for lock 99. The twice-sunken boat is behind us, floating. Can confirm, from careful experiment, that the lock does not self-empty with all paddles down, because if it did, the widebeam which has been in it all afternoon would be at the bottom by now. Said widebeam is where it is because the pound above is 1 metre down and the hotel widebeam ahead of them  is stuck in the middle by the railway bridge.

 

Hmmph.

 

MP.

 

 

 

[Alway Swilby]

4 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

Currently moored on the lower lock landing for lock 99. The twice-sunken boat is behind us, floating. Can confirm, from careful experiment, that the lock does not self-empty with all paddles down, because if it did, the widebeam which has been in it all afternoon would be at the bottom by now. Said widebeam is where it is because the pound above is 1 metre down and the hotel widebeam ahead of them  is stuck in the middle by the railway bridge.

 

Hmmph.

 

MP.

 

 

 

How does that pound become a metre down? I thought it was part of the River Brent?

[MoominPapa]

14 minutes ago, Alway Swilby said:

How does that pound become a metre down? I thought it was part of the River Brent?

That seems to be something of a mystery, including to CRT, who are being quite cagey about a time to get it back up.

 

MP.

 

[eid]

1 hour ago, MoominPapa said:

Can confirm, from careful experiment, that the lock does not self-empty with all paddles down...

 

Yes but does it fill?

 

Probably not at the moment.

Edited May 14, 2019 by eid
things

[RLWP]

1 hour ago, MoominPapa said:

Currently moored on the lower lock landing for lock 99. The twice-sunken boat is behind us, floating. Can confirm, from careful experiment, that the lock does not self-empty with all paddles down, because if it did, the widebeam which has been in it all afternoon would be at the bottom by now. Said widebeam is where it is because the pound above is 1 metre down and the hotel widebeam ahead of them  is stuck in the middle by the railway bridge.

 

Hmmph.

 

MP.

 

 

 

I wonder if that is the hotel widebeam I came across stuck in a bridgehole?

 

Richard

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, RLWP said:

I wonder if that is the hotel widebeam I came across stuck in a bridgehole?

 

Richard

Maybe C&RT have narrowed the bridge-holes to limit the 'range' that fatty's can cruise ?

[mark99]

49 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

That seems to be something of a mystery, including to CRT, who are being quite cagey about a time to get it back up.

 

MP.

 

We demand pictures...... bet it smells nice.

[RLWP]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Maybe C&RT have narrowed the bridge-holes to limit the 'range' that fatty's can cruise ?

It's one of these unforeseen consequences. The bridge in question is on the GU and is regularly cruised by narrowboats. This keeps the channel through the bridge hole open, but the channel isn't as wide as the gap in the concrete. The widebeam fits the gap, but not the channel

 

In order for widebeams to regularly cruise this bit, it needs to be dredged to a wider channel than for narrowboats

 

Richard

[Alan de Enfield]

16 minutes ago, RLWP said:

It's one of these unforeseen consequences. The bridge in question is on the GU and is regularly cruised by narrowboats. This keeps the channel through the bridge hole open, but the channel isn't as wide as the gap in the concrete. The widebeam fits the gap, but not the channel

 

In order for widebeams to regularly cruise this bit, it needs to be dredged to a wider channel than for narrowboats

 

Richard

Obvious when you explain it.

[roland elsdon]

16 minutes ago, RLWP said:

It's one of these unforeseen consequences. The bridge in question is on the GU and is regularly cruised by narrowboats. This keeps the channel through the bridge hole open, but the channel isn't as wide as the gap in the concrete. The widebeam fits the gap, but not the channel

 

In order for widebeams to regularly cruise this bit, it needs to be dredged to a wider channel than for narrowboats

 

Richard

So no dredging required. The grand union  is rejecting inappropriate boats. It tried them in the 1930s and spat them out then.

 

i did a town class rudder in bath deep lock once. That was scary, rudder came out due to the boat touching bottom on the bounce from the lock emptying. That was in 1999 i think my backs never been the same since.

[nbfiresprite]

1 hour ago, MoominPapa said:

Currently moored on the lower lock landing for lock 99. The twice-sunken boat is behind us, floating. Can confirm, from careful experiment, that the lock does not self-empty with all paddles down, because if it did, the widebeam which has been in it all afternoon would be at the bottom by now. Said widebeam is where it is because the pound above is 1 metre down and the hotel widebeam ahead of them  is stuck in the middle by the railway bridge.

 

Hmmph.

 

MP.

 

 

 

Is there a block of timber with steel banding fixed to the front of the cill?

 

[Boater Sam]

4 minutes ago, nbfiresprite said:

Is there a block of timber with steel banding fixed to the front of the cill?

 

Known as a babby I believe.

[nbfiresprite]

Just now, Boater Sam said:

Known as a babby I believe.

If there is a small gap between the band and the wood, It is possable to trap the front of the baseplate in the gap as the water rises.

[MoominPapa]

Something very strange going on around here. The 98-99 pound is coming up, but still well off. the 99-gauging lock  pound, where  we were, started falling fast, which led to the decision to stage a last minute breakout starting around 8.15. For a good half hour, it was looking like we were spending the night in the middle of the cut under the M4, but eventually managed to thread through the mudbanks. Moored up above lock 98 10 minutes ago, as the light finally faded. Level here looks OK.

 

MP.

 

[Alway Swilby]

45 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

Something very strange going on around here. The 98-99 pound is coming up, but still well off. the 99-gauging lock  pound, where  we were, started falling fast, which led to the decision to stage a last minute breakout starting around 8.15. For a good half hour, it was looking like we were spending the night in the middle of the cut under the M4, but eventually managed to thread through the mudbanks. Moored up above lock 98 10 minutes ago, as the light finally faded. Level here looks OK.

 

MP.

 

Are the EA mucking about with wiers or something? Sounds very odd.