Closing Lock Gates

[blackrose]

3 hours ago, Tacet said:

 

If you want to be super-perfect, you could draw a little off the lock which will keep the head gates closed.  

 

I'm not really the super-perfect type I'm afraid. I'll do what I can to do the right thing but I'm moving a big boat single handed and having to open & close all 4 gates every time I go through a lock, so not going to be a puritan about it.

[Arthur Marshall]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

 

I'm not really the super-perfect type I'm afraid. I'll do what I can to do the right thing but I'm moving a big boat single handed and having to open & close all 4 gates every time I go through a lock, so not going to be a puritan about it.

Me neither. I'll close gates as a matter of course, but if,  as yesterday, one swings open again as I get back to the boat and move off, there seems little point. It was a bottom gate, usually the leakage from the top is enough to keep even the badly balanced ones shut.

Cheshire's a bit notorious for swingers, they tell me.

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

 

I'm not really the super-perfect type I'm afraid. I'll do what I can to do the right thing but I'm moving a big boat single handed and having to open & close all 4 gates every time I go through a lock, so not going to be a puritan about it.

Me neither. I'll close gates as a matter of course, but if,  as yesterday, one swings open again as I get back to the boat and move off, there seems little point. It was a bottom gate, usually the leakage from the top is enough to keep even the badly balanced ones shut.

Cheshire's a bit notorious for swingers, they tell me.

[MtB]

Same here.

 

My personal policy on this is I'll close all the gates once, and if any swings open again after that, it stays open.

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

22 minutes ago, MtB said:

Same here.

 

My personal policy on this is I'll close all the gates once, and if any swings open again after that, it stays open.

 

Sometimes, only sometimes, if I think there’s an issue I’ll make a point of dropping a bit of water in or out to close the gates. otherwise I leave them. 
 

If I see someone is following them I will make the effort and raise/drop a paddle too. 
 

 But I will admit, there are times when there’s plenty of water and it’s busy I leave them them anyway. 

[Midnight]

On 27/05/2022 at 03:36, Tacet said:

If head gates are both closed for a while, it suggests to me that the tail gates are maintaining a good seal......

 

If you want to be super-perfect, you could draw a little off the lock which will keep the head gates closed.  

When leaving a lock I only close the gates once but sometimes draw a bit of water to help keep them closed. Worst case scenario working single-handed and the gates self-close when you walk back to fetch the boat. 

[MtB]

1 minute ago, Midnight said:

When leaving a lock I only close the gates once but sometimes draw a bit of water to help keep them closed. Worst case scenario working single-handed and the gates self-close when you walk back to fetch the boat. 

 

Nudge them back open with the boat.....

 

Or so I've heard that some might do! 

[Midnight]

5 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Nudge them back open with the boat.....

 

Or so I've heard that some might do! 

Naturally you would never see me do such a dastardly thing  😜

Edited May 31, 2022 by Midnight

[Tam & Di]

The argument for closing gates as you leave a lock is that it saves water in the event of leaky gates. But if the gate won't stay closed when you shut it that means there is no leakage in the gate(s) the other end, so you are wasting your time and effort. If you deliberately part fill the lock to keep the gate shut when you are travelling downhill you are actually wasting water unless the next boater is also travelling downhill.

 

Tam

[Midnight]

11 hours ago, Tam & Di said:

If you deliberately part fill the lock to keep the gate shut when you are travelling downhill you are actually wasting water unless the next boater is also travelling downhill.

 

Tam

 Not sure an inch makes any meaningful difference.

[Tam & Di]

11 minutes ago, Midnight said:

 Not sure an inch makes any meaningful difference.

It does to the next boater if he is travelling in the opposite direction. Having passed you on his approach to the lock and with no-one in front of him he could reasonably expect the lock to be in his favour, but it won't be.

 

Tam

[Midnight]

7 hours ago, Tam & Di said:

It does to the next boater if he is travelling in the opposite direction. Having passed you on his approach to the lock and with no-one in front of him he could reasonably expect the lock to be in his favour, but it won't be.

 

Tam

You can please some of the people some of the time............

[MtB]

8 hours ago, Tam & Di said:

It does to the next boater if he is travelling in the opposite direction. Having passed you on his approach to the lock and with no-one in front of him he could reasonably expect the lock to be in his favour, but it won't be.

 

Tam

 

 

Yes and the most annoying thing is, even when the level is not quite made and you can't quite open the gates, opening one paddle is often not enough and you still have to go over and open the other. Huh. 

 

 

[Stroudwater1]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

 

Yes and the most annoying thing is, even when the level is not quite made and you can't quite open the gates, opening one paddle is often not enough and you still have to go over and open the other. Huh. 

 

 

Not as annoying surely as the boaters in front up a lock flight continuing to believe that each upper  gate will readily open with all but 1 paddle lowered 😟

 

Some top gates will tend to open again as when being shut as often there is a little additional water being swept into the lock chamber compared to the pound which then needs to equalise so the gate opens  .I find holding almost shut briefly will sort that issue. Others claim I am just resting a while🤣
 

on the lower lock gates the prop wash will tend to open the gates if you are picking someone up just outside the chamber which can be worse as the engine speeds up🤣

[manxmike]

I came across a hire boat from Anglo Welsh on the Llangollen a couple of weeks ago who decided it was a grand idea to open every paddle they could find - all at the same time. I suggested they might just want to open the bottom paddles as they were hoping to descend, an idea echoed by an employee of a different marina who was returning a boat.

The "crew" of the offending boat got quite annoyed, saying "I know" repeatedly - a bit odd since they evidently didn't know. Thankfully I was going in the opposite direction so they didn't cause me any further problems.

They had been instructed on the use of locks by Anglo Welsh, but that had been the previous day and they had obviously got short term memory problems, or simply didn't bother listening.

A few years previously I came across a stag party, 10am and two blokes were starting to open all paddles. It transpired they were the two most sober of the party, they were not the ones who had been instructed in lock operation, and I spent half an hour running them through the procedure. Again they were going in the opposite direction to me!