Do you keep your fenders down in canal locks?

[doratheexplorer]

12 hours ago, haggis said:

Nothing to do with fenders but I have come to the conclusion that mooring with a centre rope as well as a bow and stern rope is the new fashion.  We were around the Anderton area recently and it was the exception for the centre rope not to be attached to a ring or a pin.  You used to get the occasional boat moored like that but this year it seems to be the thing to do ? 

 

haggis

I'll tell you what else is the new fashion - not even dropping revs a smidgen when passing moored boats.  I'm moored on pins at the moment and I'd reckon about 1 in 5 boats don't slow at all.  Then most of the others do a tiny rev drop when they're first alongside you before notching the revs back up before they've even fully passed.  My current experience is that less than 1 in 10 actually slow down properly.  Maybe it's time to drop the requirement to pass moored boats slowly?  If hardly anyone is doing it, then what's the point? 

[Rambling Boater]

9 hours ago, jpcdriver said:

Maybe because we use rope fenders that float so don't leave prop entanglers hiding in locks if they do come off? 

I'm not sure that will stop the rope and fenders being sucked into the prop.

 

BTW, the incident I saw where 2 boats were hung due to fenders was in a broad lock. 

 

I must admit, I didn't consider commercial boats, I was thinking more about leisure traffic. Do commercial traffic leave fenders down in canal locks?

[Jerra]

10 hours ago, jpcdriver said:

Maybe because we never go into a narrow lock? Maybe because we use rope fenders that float so don't leave prop entanglers hiding in locks if they do come off? Maybe because we are not protecting rubbing strakes but the paintwork higher up because we are cruising on large commercial waterways with all sorts of rough concrete and uneven edges rising several feet above the waterline.  Just some thoughts.

All Valid reasons if you never go into a narrow lock.    Out of interest why did you give this as an answer to "why would anybody go into a narrow lock with fenders down".    The implication being, why would anybody deliberately make their boat wider in a very narrow space.

[Bee]

11 minutes ago, Rambling Boater said:

I'm not sure that will stop the rope and fenders being sucked into the prop.

 

BTW, the incident I saw where 2 boats were hung due to fenders was in a broad lock. 

 

I must admit, I didn't consider commercial boats, I was thinking more about leisure traffic. Do commercial traffic leave fenders down in canal locks?

Commercials often or usually have one or two hefty hard rubber for even wooden fenders to protect the 'shoulders' of the fore end, once the front of the boat is where it should be the rest ought to follow and  rubbing along the wall doesn't do any harm. We keep ours down as we are always at least 5 or 6 feet more narrow than the lock and being short and light we can get bounced around.

[GUMPY]

39 minutes ago, Bee said:

Commercials often or usually have one or two hefty hard rubber for even wooden fenders to protect the 'shoulders' of the fore end, once the front of the boat is where it should be the rest ought to follow and  rubbing along the wall doesn't do any harm. We keep ours down as we are always at least 5 or 6 feet more narrow than the lock and being short and light we can get bounced around.

As you say fenders like this are acceptable when you slop around in locks and have to open both gates to enter.

[Pluto]

7 hours ago, Bee said:

Commercials often or usually have one or two hefty hard rubber for even wooden fenders to protect the 'shoulders' of the fore end, once the front of the boat is where it should be the rest ought to follow and  rubbing along the wall doesn't do any harm. We keep ours down as we are always at least 5 or 6 feet more narrow than the lock and being short and light we can get bounced around.

You wouldn't get very far if you treated your boat like that in Germany. The photo shows the Bayernland (2500 ton IIRC) entering the lock below Würzburg on the River Main.  Note the crew members stood at either side who were in direct communication with the captain steering, and they were there to give directions to the captain on clearance so that the boat entered the lock without rubbing or getting crossed-up. Most such boats are only 8mm or 10 mm plate, and the captains are very concerned not to damage their hull. Wooden fenders are also used temporarily, and these are a simple block, perhaps 2 feet long, chamfered at either end to ensure they don't catch. Rubber tyres and the like are prohibited as if the rope holding them breaks, the tyre would sink and could cause problems with the seal on the cill.

[Bee]

5 minutes ago, Pluto said:

You wouldn't get very far if you treated your boat like that in Germany. The photo shows the Bayernland (2500 ton IIRC) entering the lock below Würzburg on the River Main.  Note the crew members stood at either side who were in direct communication with the captain steering, and they were there to give directions to the captain on clearance so that the boat entered the lock without rubbing or getting crossed-up. Most such boats are only 8mm or 10 mm plate, and the captains are very concerned not to damage their hull. Wooden fenders are also used temporarily, and these are a simple block, perhaps 2 feet long, chamfered at either end to ensure they don't catch. Rubber tyres and the like are prohibited as if the rope holding them breaks, the tyre would sink and could cause problems with the seal on the cill.

That boat looks as though it is carrying something that might go bang if things went wrong.  Most commercials are handled with considerable skill but occasionally one meets the odd peniche that is bowling along in a more carefree way. We saw a boat on the Amsterdam Rhine canal (from the bank, there's no way I would take our boat on that waterway) that had about 20 feet of plating renewed on one side rearwards from the stem post, all still in red oxide, lord knows what that hit but it must have made a mighty clang.

[jpcdriver]

8 hours ago, Rambling Boater said:

I'm not sure that will stop the rope and fenders being sucked into the prop.

Floating rope fenders can be retrieved if they come off. I use soft shackles to attach and have had an odd one 'detach' when entering a lock a little fast and getting it caught on a lock ladder. You hear the shackle parting and can then investigate and retrieve the fender using the boat hook. 

[Machpoint005]

On 31/08/2020 at 19:17, OldGoat said:

Too often good practice gives way to with what you can get away... (Correct grammar is a pain...) 

 

Except that the grammatical version would have been "Too often, good practice gives way to what you can get away with". You wouldn't be using a preposition to end a sentence, because to get away with is a compound verb. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or so I was taught.

 

 

1 hour ago, jpcdriver said:

using the boat hook.

 

A tool of the Devil!

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, jpcdriver said:

Floating rope fenders can be retrieved if they come off. I use soft shackles to attach and have had an odd one 'detach' when entering a lock a little fast and getting it caught on a lock ladder. You hear the shackle parting and can then investigate and retrieve the fender using the boat hook. 

Most, I nearly put all the fenders I have picked up have been floating that no one has retrieved, The ones that weren't floating I pulled up via the weed hatch

[WotEver]

3 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

Except that the grammatical version would have been "Too often, good practice gives way to what you can get away with".

Not "Too often, good practice gives way to that which you can get away with"?

Or...  "Too often, good practice gives way to that with which you can get away"?
 

Where’s that nice Mr @Athy when you need him?

[Iain_S]

23 hours ago, jpcdriver said:

Floating rope fenders can be retrieved if they come off. I use soft shackles to attach and have had an odd one 'detach' when entering a lock a little fast and getting it caught on a lock ladder. You hear the shackle parting and can then investigate and retrieve the fender using the boat hook. 

I'm surprised the soft shackle fails; most are Dyneema, and should be stronger than a steel one.

[Rob-M]

19 hours ago, WotEver said:

Not "Too often, good practice gives way to that which you can get away with"?

Or...  "Too often, good practice gives way to that with which you can get away"?
 

Where’s that nice Mr @Athy when you need him?

He is out boating, or at least he was when we came past his boat a few days ago and said hello.

30 minutes ago, Iain_S said:

I'm surprised the soft shackle fails; most are Dyneema, and should be stronger than a steel one.

The soft shackles I have to attach my centerlines have taken some abuse and haven't failed yet.

[jpcdriver]

1 hour ago, Iain_S said:

I'm surprised the soft shackle fails; most are Dyneema, and should be stronger than a steel one.

The ones I use are Polyester from Tradline @ Braunston. I think the breaking strain is less 1.5 tonne. They appear to 'do what it says on the tin'.

[Rob-M]

1 hour ago, jpcdriver said:

The ones I use are Polyester from Tradline @ Braunston. I think the breaking strain is less 1.5 tonne. They appear to 'do what it says on the tin'.

That is the same ones I am using on my centre lines but I've not had one break yet and I regularly strap the boat in with the centre lines so they are taking the weight of the boat.