Headroom on Rochdale Canal

[Lynna]

Really appreciate all of the responses, thank you. The wheelhouse is very, very fixed unfortunately!

I'm reluctantly starting to think that this boat just isn't going to work for me because I'm going to freak out every time a bridge looks a bit low! 

[dmr]

1 hour ago, Lynna said:

Really appreciate all of the responses, thank you. The wheelhouse is very, very fixed unfortunately!

I'm reluctantly starting to think that this boat just isn't going to work for me because I'm going to freak out every time a bridge looks a bit low! 

 

Are you going to do a lot of long distance cruising or just live on the mooring at Hebden Bridge with maybe the odd little outing to Sowerby Bridge or Todmorden etc?  If its static then no problem, if local cruising you will be fine and soon learn how to get through any tight spots. If you want to cruise extensively then it probably is the wrong boat.

 

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

[Lynna]

Local cruising but it would be good to have the option to go further. I'm leaning towards wrong boat now! Just need to summon up the courage to talk to the seller and hope he understands and will return my deposit....!

[cuthound]

Who made the boat?

 

Wincham Wharf made some narrowboats with a fixed wheelhouse and a floodable ballast system, so that the air draught could be lowered on demand (assuming sufficient depth of water).

[Tam & Di]

17 hours ago, dmr said:

At 33 foot the boat will go down a fair bit if you take a lot of large friends with you.

 

A 72' narrow boat sinks 1/2" for each ton loaded, so a 33' cruiser will drop slightly more than 1" per ton. As the crunch point is at the stern, 1 ton on the back will drop the stern about 2" leaving the bow much as it is. You could get a 40 gallon drum and fill it with water -  1 gallon of water weighs 10 lbs.

 

Tam

Edited April 25, 2021 by Tam & Di

[dmr]

26 minutes ago, Tam & Di said:

 

A 72' narrow boat sinks 1/2" for each ton loaded, so a 33' cruiser will drop slightly more than 1" per ton. As the crunch point is at the stern, 1 ton on the back will drop the stern about 2" leaving the bow much as it is. You could get a 40 gallon drum and fill it with water -  1 gallon of water weighs 10 lbs.

 

Tam

 

I thought it was an inch to the ton for a 70 footer, wait a minute and Ill get my calculator out.......?

 

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

[Tam & Di]

2 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

I thought it was an inch to the ton for a 70 footer, wait a minute and Ill get my calculator out.......?

 

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

 

Whoops! I'd just been talking elsewhere about what you can load on a pair, and I had loading a pair with 1 ton in mind without switching brain on ?.   Makes it even easier for the OP to reduce her air draft though.

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, Tam & Di said:

 

A 72' narrow boat sinks 1/2" for each ton loaded, so a 33' cruiser will drop slightly more than 1" per ton. As the crunch point is at the stern, 1 ton on the back will drop the stern about 2" leaving the bow much as it is. You could get a 40 gallon drum and fill it with water -  1 gallon of water weighs 10 lbs.

 

Tam

Hmm, at this rate a 2" reduction in air draught will need 2 cubic metres of water - not easy to accomodate in a 33' cruiser, methinks...

[Lynna]

4 hours ago, cuthound said:

Who made the boat?

 

Wincham Wharf made some narrowboats with a fixed wheelhouse and a floodable ballast system, so that the air draught could be lowered on demand (assuming sufficient depth of water).

Yep, it was Colliery Boats at Wincham...

[cuthound]

2 minutes ago, Lynna said:

Yep, it was Colliery Boats at Wincham...

 

In which case check whether there is a pumping system to flood and/or empty the floodable ballast compartment.

 

If there is and it is working you flood the floodable ballast compartment when approaching a height restriction and emprty again afterwards, Hey Presto problem solved.

 

[Keeping Up]

Yes a full length boat sinks by 1" per ton, so this one should go down by 2" per ton, but if they are all near the stern you should manage to sink that end by more than 3" per ton; and you get about 12 people per ton, so you could push the stern down by 6" with maybe 24 people. We once "recruited" 20 people from a road in Birmingham, and they all thought it was great fun to stand on our boat and get us through a bridge!

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

In which case check whether there is a pumping system to flood and/or empty the floodable ballast compartment.

 

If there is and it is working you flood the floodable ballast compartment when approaching a height restriction and emprty again afterwards, Hey Presto problem solved.

 

I wonder how they treat that for corrosion 

[cuthound]

12 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I wonder how they treat that for corrosion 

 

Yes I always wondered that. I think their boats were made before 2 pack became common, so came with a built in rust trap.

[doratheexplorer]

Without trawling through the whole thread, has anyone suggested dropping the pound a couple of inches to get under a low bridge?  The Rochdale is virtually one long lock flight, so you'd be unlikely to be affecting a long stretch.

[Lynna]

Hi again everyone - really appreciate the replies and I've learned a lot! I've decided to go for it...I'll keep you posted on whether we make it to Hebden Bridge with the roof intact! And if you see me looking puzzled by a lock or bridge somewhere please say hello

 

[MrsM]

1 hour ago, Lynna said:

Hi again everyone - really appreciate the replies and I've learned a lot! I've decided to go for it...I'll keep you posted on whether we make it to Hebden Bridge with the roof intact! And if you see me looking puzzled by a lock or bridge somewhere please say hello

 

How exciting and welcome to the waterways! We hope to head up that way this spring (stoppages permitting) so will keep our eyes open for a boat with a wheelhouse. Ours is a tatty blue job called "Aventine" .... one day it will be pretty .... sigh.

[Jackofalltrades]

1 hour ago, Lynna said:

Hi again everyone - really appreciate the replies and I've learned a lot! I've decided to go for it...I'll keep you posted on whether we make it to Hebden Bridge with the roof intact! And if you see me looking puzzled by a lock or bridge somewhere please say hello

 

Looking on the bright side, it's the right time of year for an open-top ?

[David Mack]

This morning I dangled a tape measure over the parapet at Copperas House Bridge (no. 32) between Walsden and Todmorden. A bit difficult to get an exact figure as the wind was blowing the tape, and it kept twisting so I couldn't always see the front face with the markings. But I reckon there is around 8 ft of headroom above water level, with the pound on weir. So Lynna should have no problems.

[Lynna]

49 minutes ago, David Mack said:

This morning I dangled a tape measure over the parapet at Copperas House Bridge (no. 32) between Walsden and Todmorden. A bit difficult to get an exact figure as the wind was blowing the tape, and it kept twisting so I couldn't always see the front face with the markings. But I reckon there is around 8 ft of headroom above water level, with the pound on weir. So Lynna should have no problems.

Thank you so much! I was planning to do that myself this weekend so you have saved me a job as well as a lot of stress, sounds like it's going to be just fine.

[dmr]

3 hours ago, David Mack said:

This morning I dangled a tape measure over the parapet at Copperas House Bridge (no. 32) between Walsden and Todmorden. A bit difficult to get an exact figure as the wind was blowing the tape, and it kept twisting so I couldn't always see the front face with the markings. But I reckon there is around 8 ft of headroom above water level, with the pound on weir. So Lynna should have no problems.

 

As I said earlier, its a very variable pound. We often have to wait in the upper lock and run some water off otherwise the amount of water overtopping the gates swamps our back. With this and emptying the lock the pound goes up a bit. I also think there is a feed from Walsden water just below the lock.  Going down we usually have to take the exhaust off (just) so I reckon that's just 7 foot. On the way up having taken a lockfull out we usually get through with the exhaust stack up.

There is also an extra plank on top of the big storm overflow weir and I think they were not in place when we came down a couple of days ago. Its a medium length pound so its easy to drop the level a few inches if required. The OP needs to take care but will get through.

After all this free advice please note that I am in Hebden right now waiting for the OP to take me to the pub. ?

 

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

[Lynna]

I'm still stuck on the Shroppie waiting for a new alternator, but when I do finally make it to Hebden, I promise you a pint Dave!

[dmr]

All of the Rochdale experts here, and CRT, forgot about the footbridge at the bottom of the top lock in Rochdale. From Tod down to Slattocks that's the only bridge where we had to take the exhaust off. Several inches lower than the M62 tunnel. 😀

 

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