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Who works the locks, who steers


Philip

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13 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

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.

We rarely use any ropes in a lock, its not very effective and something else to go wrong. This is in part because we are a moderately heavy 70 footer and its not easy for the steerer to have good control holding the end of a long centre line over a bollard, not easy to control fore-aft movement and not easy to use the engine if you are using both hands to hold a rope. The real issue is that the difficult bits are when the lock starts to fill and then a little later (1/4 up) when the water starts to go under the front of the boat pushing it from one side to the other. At the bottom of a deep lock the angles on the rope are very unfavorable for controlling sideways movement, and as the front swinging over is the big issue you cant really control this from a centre line.

 

If we do use ropes then its the locking crew (me) who will control the boat from the lockside, difficult if I have to cross the lock to work the offside paddle. Ropes are very effective on the Thames with two crew on the boat, one front, one back.

 

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

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29 minutes ago, dmr said:

We rarely use any ropes in a lock, its not very effective and something else to go wrong. This is in part because we are a moderately heavy 70 footer and its not easy for the steerer to have good control holding the end of a long centre line over a bollard, not easy to control fore-aft movement and not easy to use the engine if you are using both hands to hold a rope. The real issue is that the difficult bits are when the lock starts to fill and then a little later (1/4 up) when the water starts to go under the front of the boat pushing it from one side to the other. At the bottom of a deep lock the angles on the rope are very unfavorable for controlling sideways movement, and as the front swinging over is the big issue you cant really control this from a centre line.

 

If we do use ropes then its the locking crew (me) who will control the boat from the lockside, difficult if I have to cross the lock to work the offside paddle. Ropes are very effective on the Thames with two crew on the boat, one front, one back.

 

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

 

Try a much longer locking line, from the bow to the stern plus twice the lock depth plus a bit extra.

 

The extra leverage compared to a centreline is significant, and makes it much easier to control the boat using a line.  The lockwheeler drapes the line round two or three bollards and back to the steerer, who ideally has a handrail or cleat to pass the standing end round to reduce arm strain.

 

It works very well and saves a lot of sloshing around or burning diesel when taking a single narrowboat through broad locks.  I know they say wait for another boat to share with, but that can be a 3 month project on the Rochdale! :D

 

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21 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Try a much longer locking line, from the bow to the stern plus twice the lock depth plus a bit extra.

 

The extra leverage compared to a centreline is significant, and makes it much easier to control the boat using a line.  The lockwheeler drapes the line round two or three bollards and back to the steerer, who ideally has a handrail or cleat to pass the standing end round to reduce arm strain.

 

It works very well and saves a lot of sloshing around or burning diesel when taking a single narrowboat through broad locks.  I know they say wait for another boat to share with, but that can be a 3 month project on the Rochdale! :D

 

We are 70 foot so that would be a very long rope, The front sits right in the paddle flow so takes a lot of force. Gillie does not have good arm strength, not helped by a couple of broken bone accidents, though we do have cleats rather than dollies at the back which is great on the Thames. Also due to the length we are always very close to top and bottom gates and need to keep off various gate hazzards and just don't have that degree of fore-aft control with a rope (unless maybe bollards are perfectly located). Gillie has pretty much perfected the art of controlling the boat in a lock. An additional issue is passing a rope up from the boat to the lockside in a deep lock.

 

A Rochdale lock (25?) had a very leaky top paddle (now fixed) which was pushing the front of the boat over (going up) and for various reasons the boat had to be got in to the side against that flow. Standing on the lockside using the centre line and all by strength I had not a chance.

 

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

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1 minute ago, dmr said:

We are 70 foot so that would be a very long rope, The front sits right in the paddle flow so takes a lot of force. Gillie does not have good arm strength, not helped by a couple of broken bone accidents, though we do have cleats rather than dollies at the back which is great on the Thames. Also due to the length we are always very close to top and bottom gates and need to keep off various gate hazzards and just don't have that degree of fore-aft control with a rope (unless maybe bollards are perfectly located). Gillie has pretty much perfected the art of controlling the boat in a lock. An additional issue is passing a rope up from the boat to the lockside in a deep lock.

30 metres ought to be sufficient. Though on our boat that would be rather difficult to coil atop the gas locker.

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8 minutes ago, George and Dragon said:

30 metres ought to be sufficient. Though on our boat that would be rather difficult to coil atop the gas locker.

Hank it and hang it off the T stud.

 

Add: when not locking, obviously!

 

When locking, it's easier to have it by the steerer so they can throw a coil up or pass it up on the boathook.

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4 hours ago, dmr said:

We rarely use any ropes in a lock, its not very effective and something else to go wrong.

 

 

If someone else can work the lock for me and I can stay at the helm then I agree no ropes is my preference, but as a single hander using ropes in locks is essential. I've done it without on a few locks in the past but I don't make a habit of it. 

On 24/08/2020 at 11:04, Paddle said:

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

 

Don't go onto the Thames then.

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Ropesdo  make a lot of sense when single handing ?. Sometimes when the boat is almost up Gillie will step off to take photos etc often without bringing a rope. In a wide lock the boat will immediately drift to the inaccessible middle of the lock and stay there causing all sorts of delays and embarrassment. ?

 

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

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On 25/08/2020 at 14:47, blackrose said:

Don't go onto the Thames then.

Thames locks are a bit different, you need a rope there. I had in mind a quick-emptying narrow lock with a heavy, 72' long, ex-working boat in it where a rope is pretty much useless.

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