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Boat loose in Brentford flood


Dave123

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Some scary videos of what happens when you tie up a widebeam on a river in spate with a single small pin in a soft bank. And have string for mooring rope!? I know this will delight those that hate everything widebeam and London but posting it anyway...

https://m.facebook.com/groups/73933281285?view=permalink&id=10157180603116286&sfnsn=scwspmo

 

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4 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Should have moored nose into flow

That isn't always possible, that would mean winding in the marina which is tricky in high winds. I'm also not sure it would have helped? The branch might not have been deflected. Better/more pins with a spring line may have helped.

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I don't think it's right to start criticism here because to have been involved in that must have been pretty scary. Thank god nobody was hurt and that the boats have all been recovered now.

 

But...do my eyes deceive me or did they have 2 widebeams tied to one mooring pin in a soft bank in a flood? 

 

I've watched it a few times thinking what would i have done. I'd have been on the bank with my long shaft trying to push that floating tree out beyond the boat, rather than standing on tbe back of the boat with the shaft waiting for it. Easy to say when watching the video though, those poor folk had seconds to think.

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1 minute ago, junior said:

I don't think it's right to start criticism here because to have been involved in that must have been pretty scary. Thank god nobody was hurt and that the boats have all been recovered now.

 

But...do my eyes deceive me or did they have 2 widebeams tied to one mooring pin in a soft bank in a flood? 

 

I've watched it a few times thinking what would i have done. I'd have been on the bank with my long shaft trying to push that floating tree out beyond the boat, rather than standing on tbe back of the boat with the shaft waiting for it. Easy to say when watching the video though, those poor folk had seconds to think.

But they had time to film it. 

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The third video bothered me the most.  The one where the boat was drifting backwards, the skipper left the helm, the engine was in neutral, the boat was moving swiftly, the skipper then threw a line to someone on the shore who had the unenviable task of securing the line very very quickly.  The list of things which could have gone wrong there is long.

 

Whatever was on the shore could have been torn away.  The jolt to the boat could have snapped the t-stud.  The same jolt could have thrown someone in the river. 

 

I can't understand why there was no attempt to use forward power to bring the boat alongside in a more controlled way?  Maybe the engine is bust?

 

I'm not the biggest fan of using pins on a canal (even though that's what I'm doing right now), but on a river, in flood, with a widebeam, and small mooring spikes?  No chance.

Edited by doratheexplorer
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I thought the backwater they are on was a weir stream (part of the Brent) and not for navigation? A proper clown show and it seemed the cast of characters changed from clip to clip.

Edited by BWM
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Hopefully the video can educate others on what not to do. I'm nowhere near Brentford so don't know but was also wondering why they didn't bang in another pin quickly or start the engine sooner (they eventually motor out of the weir stream) presumably the engine takes too long to get going?

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1 minute ago, Dave123 said:

Hopefully the video can educate others on what not to do. I'm nowhere near Brentford so don't know but was also wondering why they didn't bang in another pin quickly or start the engine sooner (they eventually motor out of the weir stream) presumably the engine takes too long to get going?

I am wondering if there are engine problems?  They may not have had any other pins?

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1 hour ago, BWM said:

I thought the backwater they are on was a weir stream (part of the Brent) and not for navigation? A proper clown show and it seemed the cast of characters changed from clip to clip.

No, looks like they started just under the A4 bridge on the River Brent.

 

Looking at the map, I think what happened is the mooring ping went ping there, then they tried (And failed) to attach to the CRT workboat south of the Brentford railway bridge, then got swept into the non-non-navigable backwater where they managed to stop the boat, get the engine running and head back upstream again.

 

 

1 hour ago, junior said:

I read something somewhere about having a line around the prop. If so that just adds to the calamity. If true they must have got it freed from the prop by the time they motored back out.

 

Fair bet it's the mooring line they originally had round the pin... scary situation but a good reminder to keep your lines out of the water even when everything's going a bit pear shaped!

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4 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

I am wondering if there are engine problems? 

At the start of the video the engine covers are lifted suggesting just that.

 

 

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That looks really scary...

 

ok assuming the engine isnt working, what should they have done?  I thought the throwing a rope to the chap on the bank whilst the boat was going at a rate was fairly pointless - the inertia would have snapped it surely??

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4 hours ago, BWM said:

I thought the backwater they are on was a weir stream (part of the Brent) and not for navigation? 

Certainly used to be navigable before the housing development was built. There were wharf moorings along the island and a dry dock off the backwater which BW used for craft maintenance well into the 90s. I had a boat craned out from the backwater onto a lorry in about 1995 - convenient as part of the wharf was at that time sublet to a crane hire company.

Edited by David Mack
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29 minutes ago, midnight cowboy said:

Me too - has the video been taken down?

After following the link and trying to open the clip i had to refresh the page to access the content, don't know why but it worked!

Edited by BWM
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Looking at the clips again the engine was running as the tree approached and after breaking loose he was motoring back amd forth, i can only assume that perhaps they tried to turn at the second location and underestimated the flow.

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