Rubbish around the propeller

[Jen-in-Wellies]

1 hour ago, Neil2 said:

You now know why the biggest misnomer in the English language is weed hatch.  I don't think I have ever had to use the hatch to clear actual weed from the prop.  Pretty much everything else that lands in the canal but weed, never. 

This stuff:

 

Looks like a hair plug from a shower drain, but green. Yuck! Grows like crazy on some waterways at certain times of year. Will form a ball by wrapping itself round the prop shaft just ahead of the prop and prevent water actually getting to the propeller, giving no forward, or reverse impulse. In a badly infested waterway it will form a new ball within yards after you've cleared it. It has stopped me making any progress on the Chesterfield Canal. Had a lot of difficulty on the Rushall on the BCN too.

[reg]

53 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Bit of a wash it should be as good as new

 

Always found them difficult to remove. 

 

Eta:I seem to remember. 

Edited May 26, 2019 by reg

[ditchcrawler]

1 minute ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

This stuff:

 

Looks like a hair plug from a shower drain, but green. Yuck! Grows like crazy on some waterways at certain times of year. Will form a ball by wrapping itself round the prop shaft just ahead of the prop and prevent water actually getting to the propeller, giving no forward, or reverse impulse. In a badly infested waterway it will form a new ball within yards after you've cleared it. It has stopped me making any progress on the Chesterfield Canal. Had a lot of difficulty on the Rushall on the BCN too.

The worst I had was down the Lodes rather than the Middle Level. On the ML slower is fastest

[Victor Vectis]

Weed hatch lucky dip is part of the, ahem, fun of canal life.

 

?

[Jen-in-Wellies]

11 hours ago, Victor Vectis said:

Weed hatch lucky dip is part of the, ahem, fun of canal life.

 

?

What will we find this time?!

[Neil2]

I have had problems with weed but I've never had to use the hatch to clear it.  I have one of those long handle patio scraper things (sharpened) which I can generally get at the prop with and most weed gives up without a fight.  

 

A lot of folk scoff at weed cutters.  We did the Glasson branch of the Lancaster last year the day it was reopened after the drought.  Even after the CRT machine had been up and down a few times that canal was still stuffed with every imaginable type of marine growth and the few boats that braved it were having to stop at every lock.  It might have just been good fortune but we have a weed cutter on the current boat and got through unscathed so I think I am a convert.  Of course a cutter won't deal with a discarded fertiliser bag or a towel etc but ours does seem to work on anything organic.

[cuthound]

When i bought my boat it came with a "Prop Protector, a sort of circular saw blade that clamps around the prop shaft. "Snake oil", I thought, but in 5 years I've been down the weedhatch to clear stuff off the prop twice.

 

The first time something got round the prop, usual black smoke, difficult steering and disturbed wash. Made it to the side, went down the weedhatch and found...

 

nothing. Whatever it was had eventually been cut off by the Prop Protector.

 

Second time was stopping for fuel at Streethay Wharf. Engaged reverse to stop and the engine stalled. Found a somewhat damaged but complete cratch cover tightly wrapped around the prop. Bug**r to get off.

 

Now I would get a prop protector fitted to any future boats I might buy if it didn't already have one.

[hider]

I got Crowthers to sharpen my prop when they rebalanced it, not much survives 37 HP trashing a 18" X 10.5" wide blade prop.

[Rob-M]

And if you don't have a weed hatch you might have to take a dip

 

 

[captain birdseye]

Apart from the rubber fender we got round the prop in the sixth lock of the year, (lock 7 Bosley) people that boat with fenders down through narrow locks should thrown off the cut. the next biggie was a C&RT special, one of the eco bank protection jobbies made out of a net filled with coir or some such material, and no it didn't come up the weed hatch but with a lot of cutting and pulling with a boat hook from the bank we got it off

Edited June 2, 2019 by captain birdseye

[RLWP]

On 27/05/2019 at 19:25, cuthound said:

When i bought my boat it came with a "Prop Protector, a sort of circular saw blade that clamps around the prop shaft. "Snake oil", I thought, but in 5 years I've been down the weedhatch to clear stuff off the prop twice.

 

The first time something got round the prop, usual black smoke, difficult steering and disturbed wash. Made it to the side, went down the weedhatch and found...

 

nothing. Whatever it was had eventually been cut off by the Prop Protector.

 

Second time was stopping for fuel at Streethay Wharf. Engaged reverse to stop and the engine stalled. Found a somewhat damaged but complete cratch cover tightly wrapped around the prop. Bug**r to get off.

 

Now I would get a prop protector fitted to any future boats I might buy if it didn't already have one.

We went into and out of Brum last week, seven days and not one weedhatch trip

 

I suspect you get used to taking precautions - staying away from the edges, a quick burst of reverse as soon as you suspect there is something on the prop, that kind of thing. We definitely had something on the prop a couple of times but threw it off easily

 

Richard

[cuthound]

6 minutes ago, RLWP said:

We went into and out of Brum last week, seven days and not one weedhatch trip

 

I suspect you get used to taking precautions - staying away from the edges, a quick burst of reverse as soon as you suspect there is something on the prop, that kind of thing. We definitely had something on the prop a couple of times but threw it off easily

 

Richard

 

Very true, in 22 years we had only a handful of serious prop fouls. Most times in urban areas. I instinctively watch the wash, listen to the engine and reverse if necessary. However with DQ and the prop protector we have boater bits of the BCN and not had any prop fouls, so I'm convinced it does cope with most prop fouls.

[RLWP]

8 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

bits of the BCN and not had any prop fouls, so I'm convinced it does cope with most prop fouls.

I have done the length of the Walsall canal without doing a weedhatch trip

 

Richard

[cuthound]

1 minute ago, RLWP said:

I have done the length of the Walsall canal without doing a weedhatch trip

 

Richard

 

On foot? ?

[RLWP]

Just now, cuthound said:

 

On foot? ?

?

[Flyboy]

On 26/05/2019 at 19:27, Neil2 said:

You now know why the biggest misnomer in the English language is weed hatch.  I don't think I have ever had to use the hatch to clear actual weed from the prop.  Pretty much everything else that lands in the canal but weed, never. 

If you had gone down the L&L to Liverpool last September you would have had plenty of practice at clearing weed.  Around the Maghull area I had to go down the weed hatch 8 times in less than 2 miles to clear weed. The canal was choked with it. We met a CaRT work boat trying to clear it who said it got bad after the breach last year near Melling when the pound was drained and the weed grew big time. I asked if it would have been better to clear the weed when the pound was empty and got the reply "probably, but we didn't think of that".

[RLWP]

2 minutes ago, Flyboy said:

 I asked if it would have been better to clear the weed when the pound was empty

How would you have done that then?

 

Edited June 2, 2019 by RLWP

[Flyboy]

1 minute ago, RLWP said:

How would you have done that then?

Driving a tractor down the canal bed with a cutting attachment.

[RLWP]

Just now, Flyboy said:

Driving a tractor down the canal bed with a cutting attachment.

Right. Tractor put in the canal how? Material removed how? What sort of tractor to work through unknown depths of mud on an uneven bottom?

Or, use a weedcutting boat which they already possess

[Flyboy]

8 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Right. Tractor put in the canal how? Material removed how? What sort of tractor to work through unknown depths of mud on an uneven bottom?

Or, use a weedcutting boat which they already possess

Ok, I concede it was a daft suggestion.

[Graham and Jo]

I got this round the prop coming out of the bigger pool at Titford on the challenge this year. Tasteful I thought. I met a C&RT man at Oldbury locks and said I had picked up a carpet belonging to them and did they want it back. He agreed and put it in his van! Saved me stopping in Icknield Workshops.

 

Cheers Graham

[RLWP]

22 minutes ago, Flyboy said:

Ok, I concede it was a daft suggestion.

I still think scything would work

[NB Esk]

Picked this up on the Ashton, a couple of years back.  Wasn't the best time, day before it was a Duvet....

 

 

[tree monkey]

1 hour ago, RLWP said:

How would you have done that then?

 

Look, when I agreed to you taking that photo you promised it would only be for private perusal 

[MtB]

1 hour ago, RLWP said:

How would you have done that then?

 

 

Too busy posing for the camera to do any scything, judging by the meadow he's standing in....