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Who works the locks, who steers


Philip

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Well done OP I've often wondered this myself. I would say its the exception for the lady to steer at locks

 

SWMBO steers at locks as she has mobility issues and I do.the lock wheeling.  She quite often gets comments about her steering suspect a bloke wouldn't get comments.

 

I nearly always ask the lady, and it usually is a lady, why she not steering and I would say.the standard answer is either "he doesn't trust me with the boat" or " I don't have confidence " which to me is basically the same thing.

 

Don't generally switch the engine off and as others have said would be concerned about safety 

 

I usually steer between locks but we do share and if we have a crew then we might swap roles / share doing the locks depending on the crew

Edited by jonathanA
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30 minutes ago, Alway Swilby said:

Re turning the engine off: it is the rule to do so in Thames locks and the lock keepers enforce this rule.

Not all lock keepers insisted on that, I used to single hand the boat on the Thames, and always got off in locks to hold the ropes.  The main reason given to me by a lock Keeper for turning the engine off in locks was so that the lock keeper could communicate with the steerer, As I was already on the lock side this was not neccessary, and I was usually allowed to leave the engine running.

 

 

Edited by David Schweizer
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7 minutes ago, jonathanA said:

Well done OP I've often wondered this myself. I would say its the exception for the lady to steer at locks

 

SWMBO steers at locks as she has mobility issues and I do.the lock wheeling.  She quite often gets comments about her steering suspect a bloke wouldn't get comments.

 

I nearly always ask the lady, and it usually is a lady, why she not steering and I would say.the standard answer is either "he doesn't trust me with the boat" or " I don't have confidence " which to me is basically the same thing.

 

Don't generally switch the engine off and as others have said would be concerned about safety 

 

I usually steer between locks but we do share and if we have a crew then we might swap roles / share doing the locks depending on the crew

It's not the same thing. I DO trust my partner with the boat but she doesn't have the confidence. So she does the locks and I drive the boat.

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1 hour ago, Paddle said:

Turning the engine off in a lock strikes me as downright dangerous.

I am a single hander and I see little point having the engine running in a lock when I am topside with the boat secured as It isn't going anywhere.

Yes,if there is someone at the helm,and the boat not secured,then it is necessary to be able to move the boat so as not to "cill it"

I did point out that my boat is outboard powered with a pull start,and auto decompresser so a child could start it.

So there is no stress on the electric starter or battery.

One particular lock on the Calder and Hebble (Cromwell Lock I think ) took nearly half an hour to fill! I don't want my engine idling for that long.

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47 minutes ago, Paddle said:

Yes. 

 

The Building of the Empire States Building cost 5 lives (or possibly 14 according to the New York Daily News). Last year the entire UK construction industry recorded 30 deaths. Going back to the nineteenth century 3 navvies died per mile of railway laid (https://wiki2.org/en/Navvy) - I have not found an equivalent number for canals. I like to think of this as progress! Boats with running engines are safer in locks than those without.

The point was that they used other means to control the boat. Those same means are both necessary and in some situations preferable to the engine even today. One of those as I pointed out was single handing when no one can be on the boat and also if you have a small boat it is preferable to restrain it with a line as the engine will do nothing to stop it going sideways in a wide lock or pulling it headlong into the gates of a narrow lock at speed should the lock have a culvert that leads to water entering the lock beneath the boat.

 

Use of the engine isn’t a cover all situation so it isn’t black and white or critical. That said I never turn the engine off on my own boat when locking.

 

JP

Edited by Captain Pegg
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We share locking and steering about 50/50. I must say that I've mostly had comments about "women doing all the hard work" when I'm locking, I can hardly remember any comments about me doing the steering. Maybe those were said out of my hearing, to my husband!   ?

 

And we both use the engine to control the boat in the locks, so no turning it off for me.

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4 hours ago, pig said:

I really dislike the offensive assumption that I am a "feet-up captain", while the "liitle woman" does the locks.

If I could wave a magic wand and get SWMBO to steer the boat, I would, but she won't.

 

Totally agree with this. It is up to each boat to determine who does what role in locks.

 

In the early days of boating with my wife, she steered the boat into and out of locks and I worked the locks. Then as she was entering a lock to go up, and I was closing the bottom gates a couple of "helpful" people off a boat waiting to come down rattled up both top paddles, which flushed our boat backwards before it was pulled strongly forwards until it hit the gate.

 

This frightened my wife so much that she has refused to steer the boat into or out of a lock since. Now I steer the boat into and out of locks and help with gates and paddles where I can.

 

I leave the engine running in locks, it gives more control and when locking up in locks with a strong pull I like to hold the boat against the top lock gate to stop it being flushed back.

Edited by cuthound
To add the last paragraph
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I've never done a lock yet - other half always does these as she's not keen on steering. Hope to change that during our Leicester Ring when she said she'll have another go!!  I do think everyone needs to be able to do everything on a boat...

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8 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Surely it is because men are better at inserting long things into a narrow orifice, whereas women are better at winding things up?

I expect on your boat a man works the locks ?

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4 hours ago, robtheplod said:

I've never done a lock yet - other half always does these as she's not keen on steering. Hope to change that during our Leicester Ring when she said she'll have another go!!  I do think everyone needs to be able to do everything on a boat...

The only thing Mrs S couldnt do was start the Ha2 from cold. I remember once starting up and shooting off and away for a 14 hr shift on a Sunday.

Cunning plan meet her at braunston after work, so she had a car to get to work, while I boated to the mooring.
I got a call at work, please come home to Brinklow as your home is still there. 
(She had had to walk to the phone box in the village.)

The boat had stalled out and no one had been able to start it.

So instead I soloed to all the way to Stockton   and she went to work.

We fitted a clockwork engine commencement device after that.
 

20 years after selling the boat, my left shoulder is ruined from swinging that engine over.

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11 hours ago, Philip said:

Something I've often wondered; why does it so often seem to be the case that women tend to be working the locks and men 'putting their feet up' staying at the helm? There are exceptions obviously and if the couple are both young and/or sprightly then it isn't as much of an issue, but seems to be too often I've seen elderly women struggling doing the bulk the work on a flight of locks while her other half just stands as 'captain' and (sometimes) gives instructions.

 

I wonder if it is 'how things were done' in the working age, but in this day and age with it still being rife from what I've seen, one or two obvious words come to mind...

 

It isn't just this subject either when it comes to 'catching up with this day and age', a case could be made regarding turning engines off in locks when possible and not lighting the stove unless it actually is cold (ie. not just for the nice effect)...in view of the environmental issues.

It's very simple realy. Blokes drive and women crew. Women have babies but "these days" I hear more blokes say that " we" are having a baby? How the hell does that work and when did blokes start having babies? 

Women cook, wash, iron and clean and blokes make a mess, this is how it has always been. 

Apart from that try telling my missus to drive the boat whilst I do the locks and you will see who wears the trousers!! 

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Myself and Gillie (wife) just gave Goliath Glenn some assistance doing the Rochdale up through Manchester and the division of labour was obvious, Gillie drove the boat with all the stress of keeping a boat steady in wide locks, me and Glenn worked a few paddles and chatted, thats how it should be.

 

...............Dave

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I do nearly all the lock work - because I need the exercise. My wife does the steering because she bashes the boat less often than I do!

The bonus is - I get to chat up all the ladies from the other boats ?

 

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9 hours ago, David Schweizer said:

Not all lock keepers insisted on that, I used to single hand the boat on the Thames, and always got off in locks to hold the ropes.  The main reason given to me by a lock Keeper for turning the engine off in locks was so that the lock keeper could communicate with the steerer, As I was already on the lock side this was not neccessary, and I was usually allowed to leave the engine running.

 

 

I thought it was only a requirement with multiple boats in the lock

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My wife does occasionally steer through the locks, but prefers working them so she can have a natter with other boaters.  If I'm steering I will get off and work the offside paddles or close the gate etc whereas she won't do this and stays on the boat.

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12 hours ago, dmr said:

Myself and Gillie (wife) just gave Goliath Glenn some assistance doing the Rochdale up through Manchester and the division of labour was obvious, Gillie drove the boat with all the stress of keeping a boat steady in wide locks, me and Glenn worked a few paddles and chatted, thats how it should be.

 

...............Dave

It has always struck me as rather odd to see a boater struggling to control a boat in a lock (usually going up in a broad lock ) with crew on the top wall watching.

Surely it would take little effort to chuck a couple of lines up to secure the boat.

I do this in a broad lock single handing and up the lock ladder sharpish.

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