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Weed on the Erewash


gbclive

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For context, our boat is a bit of weed magnet. Perhaps due to our relatively low power and slow revving vintage Kelvin J2, with its lack of weed chomping power compared to more modern engines.

Also, if anything wraps around our prop shaft between the stern gland and the prop, our conical clutch won’t work as the shaft needs to shift in and out an inch or so.

It’s worth noting we now understand there has been little traffic on the Erewash since lockdown was eased.

 

Anyway... yesterday (10.8.20) we ventured forth onto the Erewash.

Initially the weed was mainly of the inconsequential duckweed variety. However as we progressed uphill, there was increasing amounts of, at least for us, the more troublesome hair algae.

 

Unfortunately, the increase was most noticeable after we had passed a convenient winding hole, so I decided to press on in the hope that things would improve.

Alas, this was a very poor decision, as after a further two locks with ever more frequent dives down the weed hatch, we eventually got completely stuck between Dockholme and Sadiacre locks, effectively blocking the canal.

We were saved from the horrendous prospect of a lengthy and sweaty stern hauling session by the incredible kindness of Ken, a local boater,  behind whose garden we had become parked. Amazingly he volunteered to “fire up” his shallow draft diesel electric narrowboat and tow us backwards through two locks to the afore mentioned winding hole.

Suffice it to say, this ignominious experience was still a very long, hot and challenging exercise. Eventually we waved a very grateful goodby to our saviour and limped back to the Trent and sanctuary above the Sawley locks, where we drowned our sorrows and treated our dehydration in the time honoured way?

 

I’m not suggesting most other boats would get stuck, but rather just something to consider as there is a lot of weed.

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The J2 in Jarrah has similar problems with blanket weed, but will chop it up if I can get going before it clogs everything up.  Sprint and drift is effective:  Go hard for a short spell (50-100yds say)   then knock it out of gear for a bit so the water flow can clear the blade a bit.  Then go again. Repeat.

 

You can hear the Kelvin working harder  and a thick green soup appears astern but it does get there.

 

The lack of boat traffic early in the year, and the consequent reduction in turbidity seems to have resulted in a generally bad year for weed.  I wonder how the Bradley arm is doing? It ought to be better than most as it was only dredged last year, to shift the weed.  Anyone been there?

N

Edited by BEngo
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8 hours ago, BEngo said:

The J2 in Jarrah has similar problems with blanket weed, but will chop it up if I can get going before it clogs everything up.  Sprint and drift is effective:  Go hard for a short spell (50-100yds say)   then knock it out of gear for a bit so the water flow can clear the blade a bit.  Then go again. Repeat.

 

You can hear the Kelvin working harder  and a thick green soup appears astern but it does get there.

 

The lack of boat traffic early in the year, and the consequent reduction in turbidity seems to have resulted in a generally bad year for weed.  I wonder how the Bradley arm is doing? It ought to be better than most as it was only dredged last year, to shift the weed.  Anyone been there?

N

Thanks for your thoughts Nigel.

I must admit I was probably concerned about digging myself even deeper into the weed thus compounding the problem?

We will never know what might have been, but I’ll certainly consider sprint and drift next time.

However, plan A is to try and avoid any such traumatic dramas in the future?

Embarrassingly I had a very similar misadventure on the Mid levels two years ago when I had to be rescued by the mid level commissioners in the morning, and a helpful boater in the afternoon!

Perhaps I should take up knitting?

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6 hours ago, stagedamager said:

It does get much clearer further up, I'm not sure how far the weed stretches this year but many visiting boats to Langley Mill have said it eases.

Thanks stagedamager - however, the fact that there you have highlighted that many boaters successfully survived the weed means one less excuse, so does not exactly make me feel any better!

(But a tranquil rest day on the T&M and several large mojitos does?)

 

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8 hours ago, Athy said:

A heart-warming story, Clive.

Your typo "Sadiacre" is quite appropriate in the 

8 hours ago, Athy said:

A heart-warming story, Clive.

Your typo "Sadiacre" is quite appropriate in the context!

Thanks Athy  - I see what you mean?

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I’ve arranged a short term mooring at Langley Mill from Sunday so I’ve little choice not to battle the weed. I chose to go there because it isn’t so well travelled and I didn’t anticipate it being an easy trip. I’ll report back after the weekend.

 

JP

Edited by Captain Pegg
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4 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

I’ve arranged a short term mooring at Langley Mill from Sunday so I’ve little choice not to battle the weed. I chose to go there because it isn’t so well travelled and I didn’t anticipate it being an easy trip. I’ll report back after the weekend.

 

JP

You will probably float over it.

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12 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

Hello @gbclive, ‘twas I that passed you earlier below Tatenhill lock.

 

The perils of asking a CWDF member with a rubbish forum moniker their name!

 

JP

Thanks John and good luck?

It’ll be interesting to hear how you get on.

Edited by gbclive
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13 hours ago, Cheshire cat said:

We went to the top three weeks ago and had no visits to the weed hatch. Very quiet up there though. The lily pads and fish are spectacular

Thanks, that’s most interesting.

Of course the weed may have got much worse with all the sunshine there has been recently, but I suspect there were several other factors that probably contributed to the magnitude of my difficulties.

For instance:

▪️My particular hull and draught (63’ and about 32”).

▪️A relatively low powered vintage engine (22 HP when new in 1948)

▪️Low RPM (normal cruise 400 - 500 RPM with max achievable somewhat less than it’s 1000 limit.

▪️No reduction gearbox, so one to one gearing.

▪️Technique as mentioned by BEngo in post #2.

 

I almost regret the dramatic nature of my original post as I’d hate to think that it might have caused anyone unnecessary anxiety and perhaps caused them to change there plans. It will be interesting to hear how Captain Peg gets on.

In the mean time, can I ask how your boat differs from mine?

I must agree the clarity of the water was spectacular and the fish and flowering lily pads were very beautiful.

 

Edited by gbclive
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3 hours ago, gbclive said:

Thanks, that’s most interesting.

Of course the weed may have got much worse with all the sunshine there has been recently, but I suspect there were several other factors that probably contributed to the magnitude of my difficulties.

For instance:

▪️My particular hull and draught (63’ and about 32”).

▪️A relatively low powered vintage engine (22 HP when new in 1948)

▪️Low RPM (normal cruise 400 - 500 RPM with max achievable somewhat less than it’s 1000 limit.

▪️No reduction gearbox, so one to one gearing.

▪️Technique as mentioned by BEngo in post #2.

 

I almost regret the dramatic nature of my original post as I’d hate to think that it might have caused anyone unnecessary anxiety and perhaps caused them to change there plans. It will be interesting to hear how Captain Peg gets on.

In the mean time, can I ask how your boat differs from mine?

I must agree the clarity of the water was spectacular and the fish and flowering lily pads were very beautiful.

 

Don't think your engine/prop combination have much bearing on weed clogging your prop.

My tub has a small outboard and yesterday on the pound between locks 1 and 2 on the Huddersfield Broad,I had to clear the prop three times.Boat draught 12"outboard leg 24".

There wasn't enough weed free section for "sprint and drift".

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1 hour ago, Mad Harold said:

Don't think your engine/prop combination have much bearing on weed clogging your prop.

I’m not 100% confidant about any single factor, but my sense is that my engine / prop / RPM were significant.

As mentioned, two years ago I had a similar experience on the Mid Levels, also in mid July. A more modern and powerful NB towed us clear, seemingly without having any insurmountable problems himself.
 

This week, was the same, although it was back through an area that I had successfully navigated, all be it with increasing difficulty. I suspect it might have been might have been a different going forward though.

Also, BEngo has the same engine and commented above of experiencing a similar problem with blanket weed in the past. However he was able to navigate through successfully.

 

Hopefully, It will become a little clearer when Captain Peg and / or others report back.

1 hour ago, Mad Harold said:

There wasn't enough weed free section for "sprint and drift”.


This was my impression looking ahead from where we got totally stuck.

The exceptional water clarity allowed visual confirmation that the weed was both dense and present throughout the water column.

(Incidentally, the water clarity also allowed a fine view of multiple piles of old bricks that had seemingly been dumped along the edge of the canal bed at that point. This happened to be adjacent to a current housing development☹️).

 

Edited by gbclive
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I think that’s duck weed which was not a problem for us - it petered out after a mile or so to be replaced by hair algae which proved to be our nemesis☹️
 

Description

Lemnoideae is a subfamily of flowering aquatic plants, known as duckweeds, water lentils, or water lenses. They float on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving bodies of fresh water and wetlands. Wikipedia
 
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27 minutes ago, gbclive said:

I think that’s duck weed which was not a problem for us - it petered out after a mile or so to be replaced by hair algae which proved to be our nemesis☹️
 

Description

Lemnoideae is a subfamily of flowering aquatic plants, known as duckweeds, water lentils, or water lenses. They float on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving bodies of fresh water and wetlands. Wikipedia
 

That description fits.

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Progress was more hampered by a low pound between Pastures and Stanton locks than it was by weed and we ended up stuck in mid-channel under the M1 bridge. Thankfully one of the local liveaboards was walking her dog on the towpath and offered to take a windlass and walk up to let some water down to get us moving. That of course meant the next shorter pound was even lower so I had to go ahead and let water down from Hallam Fields lock down toward Stanton. It took us 105 minutes to cruise what CanalPlan defaults calculate as 35 minutes from Pastures to Hallam Fields.


The duckweed isn’t a problem as @gbclive said but the other weed did slow us up between Long Eaton and Dockholme (33 minutes vice 19 minutes planned) and Eastwood and Langley Mill (37 minutes vice 19 minutes planned). I didn’t have to remove any weed from the prop. A couple of early fishes with the cabin shaft showed it didn’t stick once the flow around the prop was broken up.
 

From Hallam Fields to Eastwood we kept very close to CanalPlan times despite some of the locks. Stenson’s and Shipley were not in the best of condition and the locks are not quick by nature. In total the lock times were 15 minutes on average although I did single hand the first few (crew still asleep) including 28 minutes to complete Dockholme lock from securing the boat on the bottom landing to untying it from the top landing.
 

It’s not easy cruising but that was expected and overall we took 9 hours 15 minutes to cover what CanalPlan has as 7 hours 5 minutes.
 

JP

 

Edited by Captain Pegg
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