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Theft: Manchester:Rochdale: Dukes Lock - steel engine cover plate


lionfish

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Hello - we had one of two large steel plates stolen that covers the engine bay on the back of our barge ( the bits you stand on).

 

Before this incident we'd noticed the boat get tagged with grafitti, once red, once silver ( small stuff) . Pretty much removed the grafitti as soon as. But we were away from the boat for a few days to come back to a hole and missing plate. 

 

Not really having the best of luck with this boating stuff. 

 

There very heavy and around 90cmx70cm .

I had a fish around the boat with a magnet, no dice.

Has this happened to anyone else? 

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If it ain't bolted down,some bugger will nick it off your boat! ?...Never had anything heavy nicked before,just light stuff (broom,tv aerial)..Check the bushes around your boat,maybe kids messing about and have thrown it in there.I would wander up and down the towpath for a short distance with the magnet in.Maybe they carried it for a while,then got fed up and dumped it in.

 

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16 minutes ago, lionfish said:

 

There very heavy and around 90cmx70cm .

I had a fish around the boat with a magnet, no dice.

Has this happened to anyone else? 

Despite the weight, a flat plate dropped in nearly horizontally could move a fair distance sideways before reaching the bottom. So to fish for it you need to throw the magnet across the canal as far as you can and slowly draw it towards the towpath. And repeat every foot along the towpath. Takes time, but I found a lost boathook metal end that way.

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8 minutes ago, lionfish said:

Wondering if it may be a scrappage thing.

Less likely. Scrap metal prices are low at the moment. In recessions they drop, in booms they rise. More likely just kids. High probability it is within a hundred yards of your boat, so a strong magnet and line could reunite you with it. What @David Mack said, it could plane away a fair distance in the water as it sinks. Rotten thing to happen. I've had a couple of things go missing from the outside of the boat over the years.

Jen

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Thank you for you nice replies.

I felt a bit wtfy, but as Leggers says if it ain't bolted down... 

Luckily it's been straightforward getting an order in for a new steel plate, thanks to local steel manufacturers. 

 

Here's a picture of the random graffiti in case anyone else gets done. 

IMG-20201111-WA0001.jpg

And the red one from a few weeks ago. 

 

( When we still had a engine cover) 

Screenshot_20201120-215552.jpg

Edited by lionfish
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1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Less likely. Scrap metal prices are low at the moment. In recessions they drop, in booms they rise.

Scrap lead, copper and brass are currently very good!! Steel is Ok. Beware.!!

Have you checked inside the bottom of the engine bay, just thinking they may have been interested in what's inside, not what's on top.

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From your pics, I would suggest this is not 'kids' or petty thieves who had the heavy steel away instead of the easier to nick and possibly more useful wood planks.

They would have been more 'fun' to throw in the canal or build a boat with.

More likely a stolen to order or 'we need some steel plate' kind of theft maybe??

 

You could build a deep pit type of trap by covering the exisiting hole with tarp and leaves so they fall in when they come back to nick the second one ?

Better still wire it up live to 240v instead.

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9 minutes ago, Pie Eater said:

Looking at the background it may be on the CaRT Rochdale nine flight.

I think the only rocky bit is up near the little offside arm and this is a real street drinkers/druggies/rough sleepers paradise in which case any theft likely has no logic behind it.

 

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

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58 minutes ago, dmr said:

I think the only rocky bit is up near the little offside arm and this is a real street drinkers/druggies/rough sleepers paradise in which case any theft likely has no logic behind it.

 

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

The header states "Dukes Lock", which is the bottom of the Rochdale 9 (lock 92). I've seen boats moor on the stretch above the lock there but the photo looks somewhere different. 

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2 hours ago, rgreg said:

The header states "Dukes Lock", which is the bottom of the Rochdale 9 (lock 92). I've seen boats moor on the stretch above the lock there but the photo looks somewhere different. 

That's pretty accurate. We are just at the bottom of the flight, past Castlefield Basin. Just before Deansgate Tunnel.

 

Thinking of moving it up to Islington Marina. 

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7 minutes ago, lionfish said:

That's pretty accurate. We are just at the bottom of the flight, past Castlefield Basin. Just before Deansgate Tunnel.

 

Thinking of moving it up to Islington Marina. 

Castlefield basin is ok if you can find a spot, but its Bridgewater rules. Boats sometimes stop right above Dukes lock but its not the best spot. New Islington is good but otherwise once you leave Castlefield  its all the sort of place where you would not leave a boat unattended.

 

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

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16 hours ago, dmr said:

Castlefield basin is ok if you can find a spot, but its Bridgewater rules. Boats sometimes stop right above Dukes lock but its not the best spot. New Islington is good but otherwise once you leave Castlefield  its all the sort of place where you would not leave a boat unattended.

 

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

I don't know Manchester but it does seem to have the worst kind of chavs.

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15 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Steel plate deckboards? What do you paint them with to stop them rusting? It would need to something pretty tough to deal with the bumps and scrapes of being lifted and moved around, plus they must be heavy. Aluminium always seemed like a better option to me if you want metal boards. 

 

It doesn't look like the OP used it, but there is available an Anti-Slip paint available that can be used on concrete, steel fire escapes, and walkways, steel stairways etc etc.

(I used it on the rear deck of the boat - expensive but indestructable.

 

Various colours available, and two grades - course and fine.

 

 

 

 

IMG_1328.JPG

Screenshot (53).png

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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There are quite a few non-slip paints and many people on boats use them on their decks, myself included.

 

What's so different about Safe Kote? It just looks like another single pack PU paint. I doubt the painted edges of steel plate being shifted around would be indestructible.

 

I use International Interdeck (over primer and undercoat) myself. It's the only non-slip paint I've found that goes on evenly.

Edited by blackrose
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On 21/11/2020 at 07:51, MarkH2159 said:

From your pics, I would suggest this is not 'kids' or petty thieves who had the heavy steel away instead of the easier to nick and possibly more useful wood planks.

They would have been more 'fun' to throw in the canal or build a boat with.

More likely a stolen to order or 'we need some steel plate' kind of theft maybe??

 

You could build a deep pit type of trap by covering the exisiting hole with tarp and leaves so they fall in when they come back to nick the second one ?

Better still wire it up live to 240v instead.

I have built the trap. I added snakes to the pit just in case. 

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3 hours ago, Jerra said:

I hope they aren't Anacondas they will be over the side and into the canal before you know it.

I went for a classic viper and mamba combo. Will bare the Anacondas in mind for future pit ventures.

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On 22/11/2020 at 09:14, blackrose said:

There are quite a few non-slip paints and many people on boats use them on their decks, myself included.

 

What's so different about Safe Kote? It just looks like another single pack PU paint. I doubt the painted edges of steel plate being shifted around would be indestructible.

 

I use International Interdeck (over primer and undercoat) myself. It's the only non-slip paint I've found that goes on evenly.

For years on ships we never had any of these fancy non slip deck paints - A bucket of coarse sand worked just as well, sprinkle on and roll in evenly.

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8 minutes ago, MarkH2159 said:

For years on ships we never had any of these fancy non slip deck paints - A bucket of coarse sand worked just as well, sprinkle on and roll in evenly.

Technology improves & things move on

 

(Except that we seem to be making retrograde steps and moving back to 'ash-buckets' as toilets on some 21st Century boats)

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