Guide Logs

[Onewheeler]

Bridges (I'm thinking the G&S here but doubtless elsewhere) often have floating timbers leading to the opening, presumably to guide badly steered boats into the hole. Is there a proper name for these? 

[Philip Hooton]

i'm not sure of the name for the timbers, i think they were very necessary in earlier days when the G and S was used by the John Harker Tanker fleet transporting  oil from Milford Haven and Avonmouth to Gloucester and  Worcester as they were a tight fit going through the swing bridges

[Tracy D'arth]

Forebay fenders?

[David Mack]

 

1 hour ago, Philip Hooton said:

i'm not sure of the name for the timbers, i think they were very necessary in earlier days when the G and S was used by the John Harker Tanker fleet transporting  oil from Milford Haven and Avonmouth to Gloucester and  Worcester as they were a tight fit going through the swing bridges

Apart from the two that missed the entrance at Sharpness.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-gloucestershire-54651734

 

Edited February 2, 2021 by David Mack

[magpie patrick]

Having worked on the design of such structures they've always just been referred to as "fendering" - sometimes there is a different name if a specialist piece of kit is used, such as dolphins (big rubber vertical fenders) and "mushrooms" (the vertical tubes that floating fenders and pontoons are fastened to). 

There may be local names, I often find myself having to look up what a lock gate, a paddle, a fender, a sluice or whatever is in the local dialect. 

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

Having worked on the design of such structures they've always just been referred to as "fendering" - sometimes there is a different name if a specialist piece of kit is used, such as dolphins (big rubber vertical fenders) and "mushrooms" (the vertical tubes that floating fenders and pontoons are fastened to). 

There may be local names, I often find myself having to look up what a lock gate, a paddle, a fender, a sluice or whatever is in the local dialect. 

 

 

The big 'orange' horizontal floats chained together and are used as protection above weirs are also called Dolphins

 

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

If there isn't a recognised name, we can make one up. Any suggestions? Perhaps run a poll. Words are just what people decide to call something. The language is ours to command!

 

I suggest Strepelety, plural Strepeleties.

[Boatingbiker]

I suggest ' Bridge fenders' as a name for those timbers

[frangar]

42 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

The big 'orange' horizontal floats chained together and are used as protection above weirs are also called Dolphins

 

 

Its Interesting how strong the pull can be to Cromwell Weir when coming off those moorings facing into the flow and turning round......thankfully the lock has a toilet block.......

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, frangar said:

Its Interesting how strong the pull can be to Cromwell Weir when coming off those moorings facing into the flow and turning round......thankfully the lock has a toilet block.......

 

 

I had to recover (take in tow) a NB whose engine failed as he left that mooring he eventually got the anchor to 'sort of set' about 100 yards before the Dolphins. Took two boats about a dozen attempts to get a line aboard and take the tow.

 

Brown trouser time !!

[frangar]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

I had to recover (take in tow) a NB whose engine failed as he left that mooring he eventually got the anchor to 'sort of set' about 100 yards before the Dolphins. Took two boats about a dozen attempts to get a line aboard and take the tow.

 

Brown trouser time !!

It was the going sideways towards it rather than the direction I intended that was slightly concerning....my OH just thought I was taking an odd line into the lock......

 

Im sure it wasn't as close as it felt but I'm not sure I want to go any closer!!

[Mike Todd]

The term Dolphin is used elsewhere to refer to a structure provided for boats to tie to in an emergency, such as on the Soar and the Trent.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Mike Todd

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

The term Dolphin is used elsewhere to refer to a structure provided for boats to tie to in an emergency, such as on the Soar and the Trent.

 

 

But, is that their real Porpoise ?

[magpie patrick]

1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

If there isn't a recognised name, we can make one up. Any suggestions? Perhaps run a poll. Words are just what people decide to call something. The language is ours to command!

 

I suggest Strepelety, plural Strepeleties.

Somehow I'm not going to be able to get that out of my head. The River Boyne is about to get a lot of Strepeleties in its navigation spec...

[dmr]

13 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

The term Dolphin is used elsewhere to refer to a structure provided for boats to tie to in an emergency, such as on the Soar and the Trent.

 

Some marine terminology is confusing and I suspect gets used incorrectly. Piers, jetties, wharves and docks are another example.

I believe a Dolphin is an isolated mooring made out of a number of piles joined together, not usually connected to the bank. The big floaty things on chains that protect a weir etc are not dolphins.  Or maybe they are ?

 

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

[David Mack]

2 minutes ago, dmr said:

The big floaty things on chains that protect a weir etc are not dolphins

Sausages.

[Hudds Lad]

1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I suggest Strepelety, plural Strepeleties.

 

sound like throat sweets.

 

i'd go with Bumptons or Pranglets

[bizzard]

3 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

Some marine terminology is confusing and I suspect gets used incorrectly. Piers, jetties, wharves and docks are another example.

I believe a Dolphin is an isolated mooring made out of a number of piles joined together, not usually connected to the bank. The big floaty things on chains that protect a weir etc are not dolphins.  Or maybe they are ?

 

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

Dolphins are-were also used for swinging boats ships to set-adjust their compass. 

[mrsmelly]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

The big 'orange' horizontal floats chained together and are used as protection above weirs are also called Dolphins

 

 

Cromwell?

[Athy]

22 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

But, is that their real Porpoise ?

Hoorah!

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Cromwell?

 

 

Yes, and when the chain snapped C&RT had no replacement parts and had to wait months for supply from (I think) Holland.

[mrsmelly]

41 minutes ago, frangar said:

It was the going sideways towards it rather than the direction I intended that was slightly concerning....my OH just thought I was taking an odd line into the lock......

 

Im sure it wasn't as close as it felt but I'm not sure I want to go any closer!!

Barges out of Goole and Hull used to go over the weir on the way home in the " correct " conditions unladen. How time change, HSE would have babies these days.

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Barges out of Goole and Hull used to go over the weir on the way home in the " correct " conditions unladen. How time change, HSE would have babies these days.

 

 

In a NB, once you get sideways with a bit of flow on, it is not easy to turn back into the flow, long thin, underpowered and a small rudder and it's 'brown trousers'.

 

After 2 weeks of being stuck at Sawley with the Trent in flood, they eventually let us out.

Made it safely down to the pontoons just before Trent lock and tied up to await the other boats that had come down with us, one boat was heading for the pontoon, sideways and doing some phenominal speed, I quickly cast off and got back out into the river just as the their boat slammed into the pontoon where we had been tied up. I was now sideways, being carried down towards Thrumpton Weir and the flow was so strong I couldn't get the bow to move, it so, so, so slowly started to come around, it seemed we were on the edge of the weir, but in reality I'm sure we were a distance away. 

 

Thats the time when you need to know you have a few horses left and that the cooling system is more than adequate.

[mrsmelly]

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

In a NB, once you get sideways with a bit of flow on, it is not easy to turn back into the flow, long thin, underpowered and a small rudder and it's 'brown trousers'.

 

After 2 weeks of being stuck at Sawley with the Trent in flood, they eventually let us out.

Made it safely down to the pontoons just before Trent lock and tied up to await the other boats that had come down with us, one boat was heading for the pontoon, sideways and doing some phenominal speed, I quickly cast off and got back out into the river just as the their boat slammed into the pontoon where we had been tied up. I was now sideways, being carried down towards Thrumpton Weir and the flow was so strong I couldn't get the bow to move, it so, so, so slowly started to come around, it seemed we were on the edge of the weir, but in reality I'm sure we were a distance away. 

 

Thats the time when you need to know you have a few horses left and that the cooling system is more than adequate.

Yeah I luv it  and going under the bridge when enough clearance but a strong flow into Trent lock is also moocho fun in that location lol.

[Onewheeler]

2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

If there isn't a recognised name, we can make one up. Any suggestions?

 

If they could be an aid to visually impaired steerers [1], maybe guide logs for the blind?

 

[1] including steerers who may have overstayed in the pub, a discussion of which elsewhere lead to the question being asked.