What do you do with rubbish from your weed hatch?

[PeterScott]

5 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

 I’m not sure if Tesco noticed the difference with 2 trolleys in Stalybridge but it was worth a try 🤣

W&E, BCN  31May2009

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, PeterScott said:

W&E, BCN  31May2009

 

 

Is that one of the new C&RT Photographers  pictures ?

 

"Still life in todays canals"

[Hudds Lad]

12 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

I’m not sure if Tesco noticed the difference with 2 trolleys in Stalybridge but it was worth a try 🤣

 

Did you get two quid out of that deal then?

[Stroudwater1]

34 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

 

Did you get two quid out of that deal then?

🤣🤣No, I’ve fished a few out and seems someone knows how to extract the money before me 😕

[Stroudwater1]

Today, Stroudwater Navigation, plenty of recent dredging

[blackrose]

6 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

 

The something wrong is taking a boat on the BCN, and the waterways around Manchester for rubbish, or the Chesterfield Canal and River Witham for actual weed. 

 

Have you ever been boating on the GU near London? Lots of rubbish but I only had to go down into the weed hatch once in the 5 years I lived there.

 

There's lots of weed on the Nene but my prop just chops through it. 

6 hours ago, Rob-M said:

I do a large portion of my boating on the BCN and mainly on boats without a weed hatch. Knocking it out of gear at bridge holes prevents picking up rubbish and gliding through areas where it is visibly full of rubbish helps.

 

Exactly.

6 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Yup, as I edited my post to say while you were replying, careful use of the prop can minimise it. Actual water weed, like I found on the Daw End Branch will gum up a prop regardless.

 

Must be a different type of weed than I'm used to.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

9 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

Have you ever been boating on the GU near London? Lots of rubbish but I only had to go down into the weed hatch once in the 5 years I lived there.

 

There's lots of weed on the Nene but my prop just chops through it. 

 

 

Must be a better class of rubbish as you get near that London! 😃

There is water weed and water weed. The stuff that stops you boating is fine hair like and forms a ball around the prop shaft, just ahead of the prop. This ball of weed prevents the prop getting any bite on the water, yet doesn't get in to the prop to be chopped. It is rare, needing a lot of sunshine and little navigation. Only three or four places I've ever come across it, but all are notorious for it. Daw End Branch on the BCN, The Chesterfield, The River Witham and the adjacent Sleaford Navigation. If you've not yet experienced this stuff it is hard to believe just how much it can prevent you making any progress.

Here is a pic of some of it removed when on the Sleaford Nav.

[Grassman]

I've noticed that since the plastic bag surcharge was introduced a few years ago I hardly ever get any round the prop now. I wouldn't have thought the surcharge would have made much difference though but maybe it has. Have I just been lucky or do you others find it's the same?

[robtheplod]

8 hours ago, David Mack said:

We don't have a weed hatch.

problem solved then?    

[David Mack]

25 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

problem solved then?    

Most stuff comes off with a short shaft wielded from the bank.

[David Mack]

3 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

I’m not sure if Tesco noticed the difference with 2 trolleys in Stalybridge but it was worth a try 🤣

 Trolleywise was launched some years ago, and they were supposed to collect abandoned trolleys, including those in canals.  But does it actually work?

[system 4-50]

Time for a mattress surcharge.

[Stroudwater1]

There’s loads of plastic bags still on the Rochdale, we ended up with a huge bag full on the prop over the day despite much reverse attempts to clear it. Many seem to be thick compost bags, the compost being for cannabinoids in some significant part, as a CRT worker showed a large pile of spent strong smelling compost during a recent ascent past Newton Heath. 
I usually need to clear the prop once if that per week but this was hourly for the Manchester Rochdale section. 

[Tom and Bex]

18 hours ago, Rob-M said:

My last trip to Walsall on a working boat in May had no issues with picking up any rubbish or weed.  Chucking it in to reverse at the first sign of a change in prop wash or engine note usually clears it.

I think that boat design and engine/prop combo probably has a lot to do with it. I notice our current boat (ex- hire) seems to be much more prone to prop fouling severe enough to affect steering and forward power than our pervious boat with deep draft and slow revving prop.

Edited July 26, 2021 by Tom and Bex

[ditchcrawler]

15 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

Have you ever been boating on the GU near London? Lots of rubbish but I only had to go down into the weed hatch once in the 5 years I lived there.

 

There's lots of weed on the Nene but my prop just chops through it. 

 

Exactly.

 

Must be a different type of weed than I'm used to.

Until you have been down the Walsall canal you have  no idea what rubbish is 

 

[MHS]

14 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Until you have been down the Walsall canal you have  no idea what rubbish is 

I think luck plays a huge part in it. We’ve done the Walsall, Curly Wurly, Dudley canals and most of the BCN a few times over the years and have rarely been down the weed hatch. 
Maybe we have followed you a couple of hours behind, so you have cleaned up for us!

[ditchcrawler]

On 26/07/2021 at 08:58, MHS said:

I think luck plays a huge part in it. We’ve done the Walsall, Curly Wurly, Dudley canals and most of the BCN a few times over the years and have rarely been down the weed hatch. 
Maybe we have followed you a couple of hours behind, so you have cleaned up for us!

I find it better if you are the first boat, as I think the  turbulence from your prop lifts it from the bottom for the next boat coming along. 

[doratheexplorer]

On 25/07/2021 at 12:37, Rob-M said:

My last trip to Walsall on a working boat in May had no issues with picking up any rubbish or weed.  Chucking it in to reverse at the first sign of a change in prop wash or engine note usually clears it.

Those working boats may be deeper, but the props turn much slower, which probably helps a lot.

 

On my boat, chucking it into reverse seems to be a sure-fire way of picking something up.

[doratheexplorer]

On 25/07/2021 at 17:05, blackrose said:

 

Have you ever been boating on the GU near London? Lots of rubbish but I only had to go down into the weed hatch once in the 5 years I lived there.

 

 

I have.  The difference is the GU near London is a lot deeper than the problem canals on the BCN.  The BCN new mainline doesn't give any problems either, because it's deep.

33 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I find it better if you are the first boat, as I think the  turbulence from your prop lifts it from the bottom for the next boat coming along. 

That's probably true.  The only time I've had a weedhatch-free trip along the Walsall was in the depths of winter with no other boats moving.  I was terrified of having to stick my hands into the icy water, but I go away with it.

[cuthound]

2 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

I was terrified of having to stick my hands into the icy water, but I go away with it.

 

 Pouring a kettleful of boiling water into the weedhatch helps take the chill off for a couple of minutes. A longer job needs a kettle filling and boiling between weedhatch dives. 

[Rob-M]

2 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

 Pouring a kettleful of boiling water into the weedhatch helps take the chill off for a couple of minutes. A longer job needs a kettle filling and boiling between weedhatch dives. 

Better to use a short cabin shaft then no need to put your hands in the water.

[doratheexplorer]

11 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Better to use a short cabin shaft then no need to put your hands in the water.

I'm not sure if I'm up to removing tightly bound chicken wire with a cabin shaft.  I would imagine that slow revving boats with no weedhatches don't get tangled up so badly that you spend 3 hours with bolt cutters and a hacksaw to get it off.

[Rob-M]

28 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

I'm not sure if I'm up to removing tightly bound chicken wire with a cabin shaft.  I would imagine that slow revving boats with no weedhatches don't get tangled up so badly that you spend 3 hours with bolt cutters and a hacksaw to get it off.

That is when the wetsuit comes in.  We did pick up a full tennis net a couple of years ago which one of the crew got in the cut and cut off.

[doratheexplorer]

1 minute ago, Rob-M said:

That is when the wetsuit comes in.  We did pick up a full tennis net a couple of years ago which one of the crew got in the cut and cut off.

I'll pass thanks.  Climbing into the canal to clear the prop, in January, when I've been breaking ice, is not something I ever intend on doing.