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Anchor for the Thames


Yeletah

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On 19/08/2020 at 01:43, Cinimod said:

Very happy to share the story...

 

I went out of Keadby onto the tidal Trent with all going very smoothly... 

It was a warm day and I have an air cooled Lister engine from around 1975 in a 40ft Springer.

 

At the time of leaving the lock, the tide was still on the ebb, so was pushing up river against the outgoing tide.

 

In order to make headway, the engine needed to be going at quite a rate, and as she is a trad layout, the engine is very noisy in the cabin right in front of me, so I had the top of the hatch only partially open...  

 

Long story short, not too long after getting onto the river the engine cut out... just before the M180 bridge (https://goo.gl/maps/zjigUeaQD3tNPew16)

 

My first action - was to try and restart the engine, by turning the key... the starter clicked, but nothing happened... 

As I was heading for the centre column of the bridge, I thought it would not be a good idea to hit it... so deployed the anchor.

I had the anchor sitting next to me at the back of the boat for just such an eventuality, as I am 'skippering' on my own (From York to Bath...) 

 

The anchor deployed, and lodged - at this point the tide was on the turn, so the flow was reasonably neutral to slightly incoming.

 

I spent the next 10 or so minutes, trying to figure out what to do next... I could manually turn the 'wheel thingy' which has the belt to the alternator on, so the engine did not appear to have jammed... I checked the starter battery was OK, turned everything off and on again...  then the engine started up again... 

 

By this time the flow was coming in pretty rapidly and even though the anchor was deployed securely I had still been pushed under the bridge (slowly), fortunately away from the centre column.

 

As I had travelled out with a couple of other boats they were kind enough to be waiting to see if I needed help.

 

The issue I had is that I had tied the anchor to the bow stern of the boat... and with the flow coming in so quickly there was no way I could back up over the anchor to get it up.

I did try to pull it up and almost ended up getting knocked overboard as the tiller swing in the current - (I did have a life jacket, but would not advise falling overboard on a tidal river in full flow!)

 

One of the other boats came back to try and help me - the plan being to tie up together and pull me back over the anchor so that I could pull it up.

 

However, that did not go entirely to plan... whilst we got a rope on, the other boat overshot and got caught by the current which swung her round behind me, resulting in their prop slicing the rope to the anchor (good job it was not all chain, or it would have got tangled and who knows what would have happened!)

 

I then spent the next few hours (not sure how many, but it was quite a while) taking it very steady to get to Torksey.

 

The following day I was lucky enough to be able to borrow and anchor to complete the journey up the tidal Trent to Cromwell...  

From Cromwell to Nottingham - I just took it slow and steady, with no anchor - had anything gone wrong then, it would have been a matter of trying to get into the bank somehow...  a very anxious few days boating.

 

So - things worked out alright in the end - just need to replace the anchor, which whilst it is a cost, is a lot less substantial than hitting a motorway bridge or sinking the boat.

 

What would I do differently? - Very definitely have the anchor ties on to the front of the boat.   
That way, when you are ready to recover the anchor, all you need to do is to power forward over it and pull it up - assuming you can get going again.

 

So on engine failure or other loss of control - get your anchor our ASAP to stop your movement - then take time to assess what needs doing and call for help if you need to.
 

 

 

 

Thank you for that - interesting. I think you have a typo in "The issue I had is that I had tied the anchor to the bow of the boat.." - should read "stern"?  EDIT BY MAGPIE PATRICK - now corrected in the original

I too agree your last few lines. The strong advice from the PLA to narrowboaters on the tidal Thames is that if you have a problem and there is no boat nearby to offer an immediate tow then a) drop the anchor b) call for help. 
 

Edited by magpie patrick
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1 minute ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

Thank you for that - interesting. I think you have a typo in "The issue I had is that I had tied the anchor to the bow of the boat.." - should read "stern"? 

Yes, he said so in post #70, so it’s definitely a typo. 

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On 19/08/2020 at 12:36, Scholar Gypsy said:

Thank you for that - interesting. I think you have a typo in "The issue I had is that I had tied the anchor to the bow of the boat.." - should read "stern"? 

 

You are absolutely correct - is there a way to edit the post, I can not see one? - Thank you

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32 minutes ago, Cinimod said:

 

You are absolutely correct - is there a way to edit the post, I can not see one? - Thank you

You only get a couple of hours to edit the post then 'its gone'.

You could ask a Mod to edit it for you.

Top right hand side of you post is 'report' click on that and fill in the text box with your request.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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On 06/08/2020 at 01:10, Cal Ando said:

Alan, I've tried but can't resist it.  PLEASE take this comment as humorous rather than critical.

"and as the roar of 1/4 million gallons of water hurling over the weir grows even louder she raises her voice to be heard...

'step 14!  Attach left end of roll bar 'D; to port side Fluke 'F' using M10 x 25 bolt 'K''

Your comment is not quite as daft as it sounds - I accompanied some friends on their 62 ft NB (I've a RYA Day Skipper and Power Boat instructor for lumpy water) and had to fight quite hard for "No, the anchor needs to be in the Well Deck, warp attached and ready to be deployed, not 'it's in the locker, we'll get it out if we need it'"

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On 19/08/2020 at 01:43, Cinimod said:

 

However, that did not go entirely to plan... whilst we got a rope on, the other boat overshot and got caught by the current which swung her round behind me, resulting in their prop slicing the rope to the anchor (good job it was not all chain, or it would have got tangled and who knows what would have happened!)

 

I know it's easy to be wise after the event, but I can't help thinking that it would have been better for one of the accompanying boats to take you in tow, to get past the bridge, give you time to try to sort the engine problem, or to tow you on at least to somewhere you could moor safely.

 

You can't have had a very good anchor rope. If the boat's prop could slice through it, then how do you know it would be strong enough to hold the boat at anchor?

 

And if the rope hadn't failed, then you would have had two disabled boats stuck on tidal waters!

Edited by David Mack
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3 minutes ago, David Mack said:

I know it's easy to be wise after the event, but I can't help thinking that it would have been better for one of the accompanying boats to take you in tow, to get past the bridge, give you time to try to sort the engine problem, or to tow you on at least to somewhere you could moor safely.

I don't know if you have tried to take a fast, free-drifting boat under tow, but its not easy.

 

The boat is likely oscillating side to side, or even turning/spinning and is unlikely to be drifting in a 'straight line' veering left and right as differing currents 'get hold of it'.

 

Some time ago we were a 'party'of 3 boats and having moored overnight top-side of Cromwell lock, we set off for Newark.

The 1st boat off pulled out into the channel and started to turn towards Newark ( heading upstream), his engine stopped and he started to drift towards the weir.

 

Myself and the other boat quickly cast off and went to try and assist, whilst doing this 'boat 1' lowered his anchor which slowed his drift but it failed to set, we tried to get a line aboard but he was moving about all over the place.

 

The anchor finally set just after the brown trouser moment of " less than 100 yards to the weir".

 

We both went in and approached from between the weir and his stern turning along side and trying to get a line aboard 'boat 1'.

 

We failed miserably as 'boat 1' was swinging in the flow about 45 degrees to the right, and the same to the left, he was either moving into us, or away from us.

 

After each of us made about half-a-dozen attempts we finally got a line aboard, moved him forward and he recovered the anchor.

 

If you have an engine failure, do not 'prat-about' trying to get a tow,

DEPLOY THE ANCHOR,

GET IT SET,

REVIEW SITUATION,

ASK FOR HELP

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Regarding strong points, my t'stud is welded and I have been considering what strong point to use. Last time out I noticed the hole in the stem post that i presume the shell builder used to move the boat around, tucked behind the front fender. Will probably use this next time out to back up the T'stud?

 

Mud weights, an alternative to the 56lb weight are railway sleeper chairs. Can be found on old railway lines within piles of old sleepers, a windlass is a perfect fit for the sleeper bolts. Two together is very heavy.

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