Botterham Staircase

[BEngo]

Looks like someone has cilled an Alvechurch boat at Botterham.

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/transport/2020/08/22/three-elderly-people-rescued-from-sinking-narrowboat-in-canal-lock/

Also on the Daily Wail site.

 

RCR will no doubt be on the case but I guess that at least two holidays have just gone down the tubes.

N

[Rob-M]

Notice Alert

Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal
Location: Lock 21 Staffs & Worcs Botterham Top Lock
Starts At: Lock 21 Botterham Top Lock
Ends At: Lock 21 Botterham Top Lock
Up Stream Winding Hole: Bumble Hole Lock
Down Stream Winding Hole: Hinksford lock

Saturday 22 August 2020 14:00 until Sunday 23 August 2020 12:00

Type: Navigation Restriction
Reason: Police Incident

---

 

Original message:

A boat has sunk in the lock.

Fire service have made the boat safe and taped off the area. 

The hire boat company have a RCR removing the vessel at 09.00 am tomorrow morning, so it should be clear by Midday tomorrow.

You can view this notice and its map online here:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/18182/lock-21-staffs-and-worcs-botterham-top-lock

You can find all notices at the url below:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices

[ditchcrawler]

Looking at the photos it looks like someone drained the bottom chamber without closing the intermediate gates or bringing the boat fully out of the top chamber

[zenataomm]

I'm surprised if no volunteers were on duty at that time on a Saturday morning.

[Rob-M]

I've never seen volunteers at Botterham.  Good job really as they wouldn't be happy if they saw me opening middle and top paddles at the same time which is what I usually do.

[David Mack]

53 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Looking at the photos it looks like someone drained the bottom chamber without closing the intermediate gates or bringing the boat fully out of the top chamber

Agreed. The stern is on the cill, and well behind the cill marker.

[ditchcrawler]

58 minutes ago, zenataomm said:

I'm surprised if no volunteers were on duty at that time on a Saturday morning.

Never seen one, no toilet or tea room nearby

 

56 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Agreed. The stern is on the cill, and well behind the cill marker.

As I said its in the top chamber, no way were those gates closed when the bottom chamber drained for whatever reason

[Captain Pegg]

If you look at the photos in the linked news article it appears that the nearside bottom gate paddle is slightly open. If they had operated the upper chamber with it in that condition the level between the two locks would have made at a lower than normal level and continued to drop as the boat transited over the cill.

 

JP

 

ETA - other than Bratch I don’t think I’ve ever seen a volockie anywhere on the S&W

Edited August 22, 2020 by Captain Pegg

[Scholar Gypsy]

A good reminder of why one should never take a boat over a cill unless you are confident there is enough water?

[frangar]

9 hours ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

A good reminder of why one should never take a boat over a cill unless you are confident there is enough water?

As I scraped the skeg over the cill at grindley brook a month or so ago despite me saying to the vol the level was too low his reply was “oh you are deep aren’t you”....I wasn’t a happy bunny. I have reported to CRT. 

[Flyboy]

4 hours ago, frangar said:

As I scraped the skeg over the cill at grindley brook a month or so ago despite me saying to the vol the level was too low his reply was “oh you are deep aren’t you”....I wasn’t a happy bunny. I have reported to CRT. 

There are guage marks on the lock sides at Grindley so as to ensure the correct depth of water over the cills.

[Keeping Up]

Isn't it illogical for the stoppage notice to give the reason as "Police incident" ?

[frangar]

2 hours ago, Flyboy said:

There are guage marks on the lock sides at Grindley so as to ensure the correct depth of water over the cills.

Indeed!! Another reason I much prefer doing all my own locks!! 

[Flyboy]

2 hours ago, frangar said:

Indeed!! Another reason I much prefer doing all my own locks!! 

If a volocky was ignoring the level markers I would definitely report it to CaRT.

[frangar]

1 hour ago, Flyboy said:

If a volocky was ignoring the level markers I would definitely report it to CaRT.

Apparently it’s because the flow on the Llangollen was less that day.....funny how the bywash was still running but who am I to know better......??

[DHutch]

On 22/08/2020 at 20:10, ditchcrawler said:

Looking at the photos it looks like someone drained the bottom chamber without closing the intermediate gates or bringing the boat fully out of the top chamber

Something a bit like that isn't it, middle gates are not shut by the looks. Opps!

[AndrewIC]

How leaky are the bottom gates? I recall a spate of sinkings on the HNC at a lock where once a boat was over the top cill, so much water was leaking out the bottom gates that not enough could get past the boat to maintain the level in the chamber, which would start dropping rapidly. If the top pound was a bit too low or the boat a bit too deep, the boat would drop onto the cill, and it more than half way in would tip forward and sink.

[ditchcrawler]

41 minutes ago, AndrewIC said:

How leaky are the bottom gates? I recall a spate of sinkings on the HNC at a lock where once a boat was over the top cill, so much water was leaking out the bottom gates that not enough could get past the boat to maintain the level in the chamber, which would start dropping rapidly. If the top pound was a bit too low or the boat a bit too deep, the boat would drop onto the cill, and it more than half way in would tip forward and sink.

I did that lock last week with no problems, however I did encounter several locks where a paddle had been left up a notch, something that you dont at first notice with a quick look from the top end until the lock takes longer than expected to fill

[Rob-M]

9 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I did that lock last week with no problems, however I did encounter several locks where a paddle had been left up a notch, something that you dont at first notice with a quick look from the top end until the lock takes longer than expected to fill

I had two locks on Atherston yesterday where the boat going down hadn't fully closed the paddles and they were one of two turns open. Wasn't noticed until lock nearly full but not obtaining a level which didn't help the level of the short pounds.

[tom_c]

On 23/08/2020 at 07:49, frangar said:

As I scraped the skeg over the cill at grindley brook a month or so ago despite me saying to the vol the level was too low his reply was “oh you are deep aren’t you”....I wasn’t a happy bunny. I have reported to CRT. 

I was steering my parents tug up Grindley Brook, the keeper asked how deep we were, I replied with 3’3”, when we hit the cill the reply was “oh you actually are that deep” it sounds like a bit of retraining is needed.