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How common are sunken narrowboats?


Heather22

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I don't know much yet about boats (working on that as we speak), but I've gone down an internet rabbit hole of sunken narrowboat videos and pictures and I just started wondering how likely it is that you could be living on a narrowboat, and checking all the relevant areas of the boat regularly to make sure they're all up to scratch, and still sink due to some unforeseen problem? Is it usually a user error that causes boats to sink? Can you check everything you need to check and still wind up underwater? 

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From experience most sinkers are due to accidents. Like lock sill hangups, gate and fender lockups etc. Weir trips.

The other popular cause is rain water filing up the stern.

Then there are trees landing on boats.

The old guys used to have wooden boats that leaked, wooden bottoms that needed ramming into the clay banks to seal them occasionally. They just kept pumping to keep up with the inflow.

More modern steel hulls do develop pin holes, wear away in front of the prop, or wear the chine overhang away.

Some are never fully welded from new! I have seen new shells from a Lancashire fabricator of renown start to sink as soon as they go into the water.

 

If it really worries you, sleep with an arm out of bed..............

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1 minute ago, Heather22 said:

That's good to hear, I'm a natural worry-er so I have to be careful figuring out whether something is a genuine concern or if my heads just messing with me. 

 

The latter. Boats sinking are as Tracey says, 95% 'boater error', most boater errors being not paying attention in locks. It is disarmingly easy to get distracted by random strangers engaging you in pleasant convo leading you to fail to notice your boat getting hung up or a fender trapped, sometimes leading to a sinking. Be rude, ignore nice people chatting to you, pay attention to your boat in locks ALL the time. Don't feel bad about it, friendly chatters do NOT understand the danger they represent. 

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Tbh if you are a natural worrier then boating may not be for you as anything can happen to cause problems. It’s extremely unlikely to especially with experience though then it’s easy to get over cocky.

 

Perhaps try hiring a boat a couple of times first.
 

It is great fun but you do need to keep your wits about you. It’s not one to crack open the Stella or Pims at 9am 

then expect to travel 20 miles trouble free afterwards though many try that😉

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7 hours ago, Heather22 said:

That's good to hear, I'm a natural worry-er so I have to be careful figuring out whether something is a genuine concern or if my heads just messing with me. 

Surely you worry about where you live at the moment? Us natural worriers can find anything to worry about - is it just different things that you hadn’t got used to worrying about?

 

In my dreams sometimes watch the boat the boat sinking, but it’s always in random ways that will never happen!

 

good luck 

 

 

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Pretty much all boat sinkings are due to human error, the most common being :

 

lack of concentration in locks (cilling the boat)

lack of keeping drains cleared (block with leaves)

lack of maintenance (boat corrodes and rusts thru)

 

There cannot be many examples of a boat suddenly sinking thru it own volition, if it sinks its because you have failed to do something.

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As MtB said, you must pay attention to what is happening in locks, the boat should be going up or coming down nicely without getting caught or stuck anywhere. I suppose I am at the quite experienced end of the boating world so I should never get into any trouble (!) but whilst involved in a conversation with a lock keeper the boat slowly tilted as a rope that was round a bollard jammed. Entirely my fault. Also quite recently a fender hooked under a projection on a lock wall, (these are French locks so slightlly different but the point still holds)  Again innatention on my behalf. Stuff happens, not often but the cause is usually distraction or innatention. You needn't be worried or scared but being awake and thinking is a Good Idea.

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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Pretty much all boat sinkings are due to human error, the most common being :

 

lack of concentration in locks (cilling the boat)

lack of keeping drains cleared (block with leaves)

lack of maintenance (boat corrodes and rusts thru)

 

There cannot be many examples of a boat suddenly sinking thru it own volition, if it sinks its because you have failed to do something.

Don't forget the well known case of the boat that sank in 10 seconds on the Thames.  It had been overplated and sat lower in the water, thus allowing rapid inundation via an air vent.

 

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5 minutes ago, koukouvagia said:

Don't forget the well known case of the boat that sank in 10 seconds on the Thames.  It had been overplated and sat lower in the water, thus allowing rapid inundation via an air vent.

 

 

This is true but... the case is an outlier. I'll wager in-lock sinkings from cilling the boat outnumber air-vent sinkings 100 to 1.

 

If there have even ever been as many as 100 lock sinkings. We get two or three a year I guess, always from the boater not paying attention. 

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6 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

This is true but... the case is an outlier. I'll wager in-lock sinkings from cilling the boat outnumber air-vent sinkings 100 to 1.

 

If there have even ever been as many as 100 lock sinkings. We get two or three a year I guess, always from the boater not paying attention. 

 

And more time before sinking can be gained if you ensure the engine air vents are no in the side of the hull. Difficult with air cooled engines but not with water cooled ones. The engine will need lots of air but suitable vents can be arranged during the build higher up. I think the fancy PIPER name cut into the hull side at the stern on their boats is an air vent and in my view totally unnecessary to be there.

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13 hours ago, Heather22 said:

I don't know much yet about boats (working on that as we speak), but I've gone down an internet rabbit hole of sunken narrowboat videos and pictures and I just started wondering how likely it is that you could be living on a narrowboat, and checking all the relevant areas of the boat regularly to make sure they're all up to scratch, and still sink due to some unforeseen problem? Is it usually a user error that causes boats to sink? Can you check everything you need to check and still wind up underwater? 

 

A couple of years old but this gives some idea of reasons for sinkings

 

Rescue figures increase again - River Canal Rescue

 

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12 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

More than one have sunk due to the weedhatch lid not being refitted correctly

I had a near miss in that regard.  Slightly off weedhatch.  Entered long tunnel.  Exited tunned significantly lower than I'd entered.  Found lots of water in the bilge but couldn't work out where it was coming from.  The water only came in whern the prop was turning.

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1 minute ago, doratheexplorer said:

I had a near miss in that regard.  Slightly off weedhatch.  Entered long tunnel.  Exited tunned significantly lower than I'd entered.  Found lots of water in the bilge but couldn't work out where it was coming from.  The water only came in whern the prop was turning.

After replacing the weed hatch cover ALWAYS give the engine a quick burst of full ahead and full astern in gear, to check no water is coming in, before replacing the deck boards.

4 minutes ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

A couple of years old but this gives some idea of reasons for sinkings

 

Rescue figures increase again - River Canal Rescue

 

 

Includes the wise advice "In many cases, the call-out could have been avoided with a little ‘know-how, by giving the boat a ‘once-over’ or simply carrying spares.”

 

Perhaps indicative of more people who own a boat as cheap housing, and are not really interested in knowing how the boat works?

 

4 minutes ago, dave moore said:

There seem to be rather more sinkings these days than I remember from years ago. Perhaps it’s increased use, or the prevalence of social media. I don’t know.

 

Perhaps we just hear about them more these days. In the past only locals would have been aware of such incidents.

 

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11 minutes ago, David Mack said:

After replacing the weed hatch cover ALWAYS give the engine a quick burst of full ahead and full astern in gear, to check no water is coming in, before replacing the deck boards.

 

That should be normal practice, I wonder if the boat handling courses teach it. I also wonder if the maintenance courses do as well. However I must admit I never specifically taught it because I thought it was standard prcatice after you have been down the weed hatch.

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 How common are sunken narrowboats?

Almost all of them. If you happen to be in one of the few that aren't sunk, you'll be bouncing off the roof of one sunken wreck after another as you cruise down the canal. 😀

 

3 hours ago, PNB116 said:

In my dreams sometimes watch the boat the boat sinking, but it’s always in random ways that will never happen!

Glad I'm not the only one who gets those. They rival the "I've got a Uni finals   exam today and done no revision and didn't go to most of the lectures" dream that I still have decades later. 😱

 

38 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

And more time before sinking can be gained if you ensure the engine air vents are no in the side of the hull. Difficult with air cooled engines but not with water cooled ones. The engine will need lots of air but suitable vents can be arranged during the build higher up. I think the fancy PIPER name cut into the hull side at the stern on their boats is an air vent and in my view totally unnecessary to be there.

My Piper built boat has that and they are indeed engine air vents. What is weird is that Simon Piper has continued his fathers practice of putting bow low level cabin air vents high in the corners of the front bulkhead, feeding in to the bilge, rather than in the cabin doors like almost every one else. No draughts and out of the way of any swamping of the well deck, till it has got so bad the boat will sink regardless. Strange that he hasn't done something similarly well thought out for engine air vents. There is a diverter plate behind, which would slow down water coming in from say a ground paddle side entry in a lock, or a big wash from a passing fast river boat.

 

 

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All of the above examples of lock sinkings, weed hatches, weirs etc are true, and by far the most common. 

What used to get to me was the frankly irrational worry at about three in the morning, waking up and hearing what sounded just like water trickling into the  well maintained thick steel hull. It was always just a bit of a breeze making wavelets that were hitting the hull, outside. The sound was a shock, the first time!

Waking up one morning with what sounded like small chipping hammers at water level on one side of the hull caused total panic, but turned out to be ducks helpfully eating the algae that grows at the waterline.

Just try to be careful, remember the good advice you get, and to keep a sense of proportion.

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9 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Almost all of them. If you happen to be in one of the few that aren't sunk, you'll be bouncing off the roof of one sunken wreck after another as you cruise down the canal. 😀

 

Glad I'm not the only one who gets those. They rival the "I've got a Uni finals   exam today and done no revision and didn't go to most of the lectures" dream that I still have decades later. 😱

 

My Piper built boat has that and they are indeed engine air vents. What is weird is that Simon Piper has continued his fathers practice of putting bow low level cabin air vents high in the corners of the front bulkhead, feeding in to the bilge, rather than in the cabin doors like almost every one else. No draughts and out of the way of any swamping of the well deck, till it has got so bad the boat will sink regardless. Strange that he hasn't done something similarly well thought out for engine air vents. There is a diverter plate behind, which would slow down water coming in from say a ground paddle side entry in a lock, or a big wash from a passing fast river boat.

 

 

 

Or even just ducted bilge air into the engine space so the bilge is ventilated as well.

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