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Lift Bridge Etiquette


andybarrett1

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18 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Count yerself lucky 😃. Did it once and decided there and then that once was enough!

 

Did what once? The Llangothlen? 

 

I do get the impression that it is great if you also like cruising along in long string of other boats rather than by yourself.

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14 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Did what once? The Llangothlen? 

 

I do get the impression that it is great if you also like cruising along in long string of other boats rather than by yourself.

Yes, The Llangollen thingy lol. Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee most overrated canal known to man 😁

The water trough jobbies in the sky are awesome but thats about it.

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I think it was the Llangollen where the boat just in front of us opened one of the bridges than to our amazement the bridge guy hopped back on the stern as his steerer went through.  It just seemed rude to me but the guy clearly didn't want to give up his position as the "lead" boat.   The problem was, this was one of the bridges operated from the off side and the boat we had at the time was centre cockpit so there was no easy way to alight to close the bridge.  Fortunately, being the Llangollen, as we were scratching our heads another "conventional" boat came along and they were able to do the honours.   

 

It's surely quicker and more efficient all round if the person who opens the bridge closes it.  

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, andybarrett1 said:

In answer to some questions I was 3rd boat in the convoy .....The Hire was the one that opened said bridge first then later on asking as to why we haven't closed it   (There was NO handover at all) We even thought it might already be up . .... When we explained (politely) as we all do. That normally him who opens it closes it ...As that's how I was tought ....He went of on one shouting that that was utter nonesense if he had to do that, he would be waiting all day ....Then jumped back on board and made off into the distance. Leaving his crew apologising. We walked back to close said  bridge ....

 

Yes the one at Tevor 😁👍

For the one a Trevor I would say it works well for first opens last closes as it is easy to get on an off the boat on the side with the mechanism, and there is even a foot bridge as well.  I think that is exactly what happened when we came back a month ago, we were last of a group across the aqueduct and closed the bridge.
 

But in general the mechanism is on the off side which is usually very overgrown and would require gymnastics off the bow to get off on the offside, so it is much more efficient for first to open, let all the boats through, and then close the bridge.

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3 minutes ago, john6767 said:

For the one a Trevor I would say it works well for first opens last closes as it is easy to get on an off the boat on the side with the mechanism, and there is even a foot bridge as well.  I think that is exactly what happened when we came back a month ago, we were last of a group across the aqueduct and closed the bridge.
 

But in general the mechanism is on the off side which is usually very overgrown and would require gymnastics off the bow to get off on the offside, so it is much more efficient for first to open, let all the boats through, and then close the bridge.

 

TBH that's why I was baffled why this question was being asked.

 

All very well to say "for example, the Llangollen" but if you're asking about general etiquette the idea that the last person should close the bridge is just ridiculous.  Imagine trying to do this on the Leeds Liverpool where I think every moveable bridge - and there's a lot of them -  is operated from the off side.

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I'm afraid that single handing with no offside space to moor on the canal here, I need to hand over the bridge and can't just wave everyone through. My boat is blocking the canal until I can move it. It's also only a small tupperware with low clearance so I tend to only open the manual ones as much as I know each needs, certainly wouldn't be enough for a following narrowboat to get under. Had to do the same and handover a bridge when single-handing the NB, but if two of us were oon it, the one operating the bridge was always happy to let following boats come through and leapfrog us as we shut it. There is an electric towpath operated lift bridge on the stretch of canal I frequent that is fine for allowing following boats through, even if single handed. It lifts it fully open for you, you're on towpath side all the time, pull boat through, wave anyone else through. I can't see that there is a universal etiquette, just good manners and common sense.

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37 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

I'm afraid that single handing with no offside space to moor on the canal here, I need to hand over the bridge and can't just wave everyone through. My boat is blocking the canal until I can move it. It's also only a small tupperware with low clearance so I tend to only open the manual ones as much as I know each needs, certainly wouldn't be enough for a following narrowboat to get under. Had to do the same and handover a bridge when single-handing the NB, but if two of us were oon it, the one operating the bridge was always happy to let following boats come through and leapfrog us as we shut it. There is an electric towpath operated lift bridge on the stretch of canal I frequent that is fine for allowing following boats through, even if single handed. It lifts it fully open for you, you're on towpath side all the time, pull boat through, wave anyone else through. I can't see that there is a universal etiquette, just good manners and common sense.

 

Common sense prevails when a single hander is involved.  Most "offside" bridges were not designed to be operated by solo boaters, in fact there's a few on the Leeds Liverpool that are practically impossible to do single handed, Apperley Bridge springs to mind. We once did the section from Skipton to Rodley with a singleton and my wife opened/closed every bridge - it was the only practical way.  

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3 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

 

Common sense prevails when a single hander is involved.  Most "offside" bridges were not designed to be operated by solo boaters, in fact there's a few on the Leeds Liverpool that are practically impossible to do single handed, Apperley Bridge springs to mind. We once did the section from Skipton to Rodley with a singleton and my wife opened/closed every bridge - it was the only practical way.  

Only time I've met the situation is the Llangollen, simply because there are so many boats on it. I will either shout, if in range  or gesticulate dramatically to the one behind to see if they are ok jumping off onto the off side to close it. If I don't get a response, I'll start closing it and see if they wave at me to leave it. As a singlehander, it's complicated, but, anyway, when I started boating it was the norm for first to open,  last to close. But then virtually everyone boating knew what they were doing.

It's fairly obvious from this thread that this isn't the case now  and some fairly experienced boaters aren't happy about climbing off the back onto the offside.

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1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

A while back I was at the bridge in Thrupp and the nice man from the cafe came out and worked the bridge form when it was first electrified

That nice man sold the business on ten years ago lol!! 

When first forced on us that poxy lift bridge often cost me money as it broke down most days. Once it broke down in the up position for a couple of hours until lowered by BW with cars stuck both sides and customers unable to either leave or come in. I was not a happy bunny. It never broke down when it was a proper lift bridge.

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9 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Only time I've met the situation is the Llangollen, simply because there are so many boats on it. I will either shout, if in range  or gesticulate dramatically to the one behind to see if they are ok jumping off onto the off side to close it. If I don't get a response, I'll start closing it and see if they wave at me to leave it. As a singlehander, it's complicated, but, anyway, when I started boating it was the norm for first to open,  last to close. But then virtually everyone boating knew what they were doing.

It's fairly obvious from this thread that this isn't the case now  and some fairly experienced boaters aren't happy about climbing off the back onto the offside.

 

I'd have to disagree - I can't think of any time in the past 35 years when this "last to close" practice was the norm, certainly not on the Northern canals where, I repeat, the practice makes no sense at all. 

 

I will concede though that it's no longer safe to assume everyone/anyone knows what they are doing, and appearances can so often be deceptive.

 

  

 

 

Edited by Neil2
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4 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

I have singlehanded that one a few times.  What do you think the problem is?

 

It is a good few years since we last did it but when we were based at Skipton it was my wife's most hated bridge (and that's a highly contested field) simply because of the verbal abuse we used to get from motorists.  It certainly used to be a very busy road, and we always seemed to meet a single handed boater waiting for another crew to lend a hand.   

 

There's a lot of things I miss about the Leeds Liverpool but the interminable swing bridges isn't one of them.  

 

I remember once at that footbridge at Kildwick, which you can do from the towpath side by giving it a good push, I was walking by when a single hander came along.  He pushed the thing so hard that the bridge rebounded and whacked the cabin side just as he was passing through, scraping it all the way down cue choice language. 

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  • 2 months later...
On 31/08/2021 at 08:25, andybarrett1 said:

Thank you all 

So my idea that generally he who opens bridge closes it...Or in very occasionall settings passes the responsibility on ...Is correct.

 

I will continue in that vein 

 

Andy 

 

 

 

 

 

 

speaking as somebody who doesn't even have his first boat yet, that does seem a practical way to do things as you'll only be doing this once per X number of times where X is the number of boats in "convoy". So it's sharing the workload evenly

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