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Rochdale canal blocked lock 92


Dav and Pen

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Saw the Manchester evening news article. Very sad and probably made worse by an audience from the pub garden right by that lock!

A lot of speculation on Facebook that excessive water flowing over the top gates (as is common on the rochdale) may have been the cause but I'd have thought a cratch cover and well deck drains should have prevented this?

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6 hours ago, Dave123 said:

Saw the Manchester evening news article. Very sad and probably made worse by an audience from the pub garden right by that lock!

A lot of speculation on Facebook that excessive water flowing over the top gates (as is common on the rochdale) may have been the cause but I'd have thought a cratch cover and well deck drains should have prevented this?

 

What a shame.

 

Yes the cratch board and cover should prevent any significant amounts of water from entering ths well deck.

 

Given that the stern appears to be very close to the centre of the bottom gates, I think it is more likely that they didn't have a stern fender fitted and trapped the rudder between the gates, which prevented the boat from rising as the lock filled. 

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1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

What a shame.

 

Yes the cratch board and cover should prevent any significant amounts of water from entering ths well deck.

 

Given that the stern appears to be very close to the centre of the bottom gates, I think it is more likely that they didn't have a stern fender fitted and trapped the rudder between the gates, which prevented the boat from rising as the lock filled. 

From the video and the other photos the stern is right over to one side of the lock (but next to the bottom gates), which excludes the trapped rudder idea. Maybe something on the stern got trapped under a protrusion on the gate or the gate recess/lock side and the stern was held down as the lock filled? There's also plenty of clearance to the top gates, which together with the cratch/cover suggests it wasn't the well deck filling up either even with the usual Rochdale waterfall.

 

Maybe we'll find out later, but there doesn't seem to be an obvious cause right now...

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15 hours ago, Jim Riley said:

Now refloated, apparently the rudder got caught on the gate. 

 

And if the water was cascading over the top gates as usual there wouldn't be much time to react. Those gates are on a chain and winding system so nightmare situation.

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On 24/08/2021 at 10:02, Midnight said:

 

And if the water was cascading over the top gates as usual there wouldn't be much time to react. Those gates are on a chain and winding system so nightmare situation.

How does the bottom gates being chain/windless stop you closing the top paddles quickly and opening the bottom paddles, which is what would be needed? Duke's Lock has normal paddle gear at both ends...

 

The waterfall over the top gates doesn't help, but wouldn't have been enough on its own to sink the boat, otherwise you'd never be able to open the bottom gates going down -- which is certainly an effort sometimes when the lock won't empty completely, going by experience...

Edited by IanD
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It probably takes a little time to realise what is going on and communicate with the lock operator by which time the counter will be getting close to the waterline (been there and done that) so the water overtopping the gates would be a significant problem even after the top paddles were shut.

 

Coming down the top couple of locks on the "9" recently the overtopping was significant and I did ponder whether to not open the paddles and to see how long it would take to fill the lock 😀

 

 

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29 minutes ago, dmr said:

It probably takes a little time to realise what is going on and communicate with the lock operator by which time the counter will be getting close to the waterline (been there and done that) so the water overtopping the gates would be a significant problem even after the top paddles were shut.

 

Coming down the top couple of locks on the "9" recently the overtopping was significant and I did ponder whether to not open the paddles and to see how long it would take to fill the lock 😀

 

 

I wasn't saying the overflow wasn't a problem (it is!), just that the chain/windlass bottom gates made no difference. I think this is us coming down that very lock...

dukes.jpg

Edited by IanD
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By definition, if the boat was going uphill, which I have read it was, then the pound above must have been relatively low and therefore the flow over the top gates relatively low, unless there was another boat coming down the flight at the same time, which I believe there was not. It has to be a low flow otherwise they would not have been able to open the bottom gates, against the flow to gain access to the lock.

All very unfortunate but as everyone keeps on saying you have to be on your toes all the time.

 

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On 25/08/2021 at 13:37, IanD said:

How does the bottom gates being chain/windless stop you closing the top paddles quickly and opening the bottom paddles, which is what would be needed? Duke's Lock has normal paddle gear at both ends...

 

The waterfall over the top gates doesn't help, but wouldn't have been enough on its own to sink the boat, otherwise you'd never be able to open the bottom gates going down -- which is certainly an effort sometimes when the lock won't empty completely, going by experience...

 

You've not done the Rochdale 9 then?

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I dont either, surely rudder/ something stuck on/ in the closed lower gates, water filling up from opened paddles at some speed so lower gates not openable in any case

 

Top paddles need to lower, lower paddles need to go up . The gates wont open or be shiftable unless all is pretty much back to square one, which would have saved the sinking in any case assuming the water hadn't overwhelmed things in the meantime? 

 

If the lock was filling up from just the overspill (Its usually not very fast TBH with that alone) then the lower gates woundnt be openable or movable at all, as the level will have risen by a foot for the stern to have taken on water? The lower gates are incredibly heavy on the Rochdale even when level  regardless of the chain. 

 

 I cant see the chains relevance to this other than the gate may not have been closed so well due to the chain if they were unfamiliar with them and the boat slipped back enabling the rudder to get trapped? 

 

 

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I have today aided a fibreglass boat up the Rochdale 9 from Castlefield. One of the lock Gates was chained in place with the paddle only working on the port side.

Fortunately he fit through and we said  farewell at the Ashton branch. 

Plenty of water cascading over the lock however. 

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