Weed on the Erewash

[gbclive]

9 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

I found a bread knife very handy for this - make one cut at right angles to the prop,, and then (if the gap between prop and stern tube is big enough) saw along the prop shaft forwards and then reverse. Rotate 120 degrees and repeat twice.  See photo on post 30 above. 

Thanks - I can see that would be useful and I have used such a knife in the past to deal with a mooring line from a buoy on a lumpy water boat.

Our trouble was not being able to make any progress between each clearing and not knowing if and when it would improve, so I was a bit reluctant to try and push ever deeper for fear of making any retreat even more difficult?.

Re you photo, is that hair algae?

Interestingly, our hair algae had tough stems of perhaps a mm or so diameter which rapped tightly like thin string, with an abundance of fine filament hair growing off it.

[Scholar Gypsy]

17 minutes ago, gbclive said:

Thanks - I can see that would be useful and I have used such a knife in the past to deal with a mooring line from a buoy on a lumpy water boat.

Our trouble was not being able to make any progress between each clearing and not knowing if and when it would improve, so I was a bit reluctant to try and push ever deeper for fear of making any retreat even more difficult?.

Re you photo, is that hair algae?

Interestingly, our hair algae had tough stems of perhaps a mm or so diameter which rapped tightly like thin string, with an abundance of fine filament hair growing off it.

I think so. This photo was taken at the point I stopped, within sight of Horseway lock! Punting (backwards) was getting rather hard work, as the weed was entangling the whole boat and acting as very effective brake. The channel was also getting a lot shallower, mud rather than the gravel which I had had until then.