Erewash canal closed due to gates being “opened and closed”.

[nicknorman]

Those pesky boaters have been at it again, using the canal. It’s outrageous. My bold below…

 

Erewash Canal
Location: Between Shipley Lock and Trent Lock - Erewash Canal
Starts At: Lock 14 - Langley Mill
Ends At: Lock 60 - Trent Lock

Wednesday 20 July 2022 14:00 until further notice

Type: Advice 
Reason: Water resources

---

 

Original message:

 

Our local team have been working hard all week to address the very low water levels. 

Due to the continued hot weather, locks gates opened and closed and in some cases deliberately left open, we are struggling to bring the water levels back to normal.  

Boats are getting stuck and we therefore request boaters do not travel along the Erewash, until further notice.

We will update the website as soon as the levels have been brought back up to a minimum level. 

[Tracy D'arth]

There must be some well muscled boaters who can open both ends of a lock at the same time.

Would it be uncharitable to suggest to C&RT that leaking gates are the real problem that they are ignoring and blaming others so that they don't get a black mark on their lousy maintenance records?

[David Mack]

All wide locks leak at the bottom end due to narrow boats using just one gate rubbing away the mating face on the mitre post at top guard level. There is little CRT can do to prevent this. As a result, if the top gates are not fully closed, a considerable quantity of water can leak through overnight, whereas if the top gates are left closed, the lock soon empties and the leakage rate is much reduced.

[Midnight]

9 minutes ago, David Mack said:

All wide locks leak at the bottom end due to narrow boats using just one gate rubbing away the mating face on the mitre post at top guard level. There is little CRT can do to prevent this. As a result, if the top gates are not fully closed, a considerable quantity of water can leak through overnight, whereas if the top gates are left closed, the lock soon empties and the leakage rate is much reduced.

 It's so easy to open the opposite side gate a fraction to prevent this. Many don't realise the damage they do. I remember Victor of NBW fame bragging about it and when I emailed to complain Tom said he wouldn't print it as it would upset too many boaters - pah!

[ditchcrawler]

15 minutes ago, David Mack said:

All wide locks leak at the bottom end due to narrow boats using just one gate rubbing away the mating face on the mitre post at top guard level. There is little CRT can do to prevent this. As a result, if the top gates are not fully closed, a considerable quantity of water can leak through overnight, whereas if the top gates are left closed, the lock soon empties and the leakage rate is much reduced.

I wish someone would remove all those 3ft 6in boats from the Oxford canal to stop their gates wearing like that  

[Arthur Marshall]

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

I wish someone would remove all those 3ft 6in boats from the Oxford canal to stop their gates wearing like that  

Can you keep them down there, please? They've caused havoc on the Wheelock flight.

[MrsM]

I've wondered why people don't automatically make sure all gates are closed behind them when leaving a lock. We followed a boat off the Severn at Worcester and locked up with them. I was quite surprised when they graciously said they would help close the gates behind us on exiting, for the boats following.  I hadn't realised that some rivers, like the Avon, ask you to leave the exit gate(s) open. I now understand why some boaters think it is normal not to close all gates.

[Bargebuilder]

27 minutes ago, MrsM said:

I've wondered why people don't automatically make sure all gates are closed behind them when leaving a lock. We followed a boat off the Severn at Worcester and locked up with them. I was quite surprised when they graciously said they would help close the gates behind us on exiting, for the boats following.  I hadn't realised that some rivers, like the Avon, ask you to leave the exit gate(s) open. I now understand why some boaters think it is normal not to close all gates.

How many years ago did it become usual to close gates behind one upon exiting a lock?

[Jerra]

3 minutes ago, Bargebuilder said:

How many years ago did it become usual to close gates behind one upon exiting a lock?

I don't know but I was told to do it when I first hired back in the mid 70s.

[stagedamager]

There is conflicting information regarding the Erewash coming out of CRT towers..... we were very low on the top 3 pounds last week, which recovered in 4 days, put down to vandalism, however there were reports of something stuck on the cill on the top gates of Shipley. 

Roll on to today, and again the cut was closed by Shipley being chained closed due to vandalism. Reports from the boaters stuck below the lock said it was locked because of kids swimming. I take it with a pinch of salt, but, as all levels were OK, I'm not sure what reasons they had to close the canal.

Then we saw a CRT staff member opening the bottom paddles at Langley Mill with the top gates wide open........

I wonder if gates have an encoder on these days to count no. Of opens and closes........ unbelievable to think gates could open and close (fully).....

 

Kind regards

 

Dan

[Paul C]

4 hours ago, Midnight said:

 It's so easy to open the opposite side gate a fraction to prevent this. Many don't realise the damage they do. I remember Victor of NBW fame bragging about it and when I emailed to complain Tom said he wouldn't print it as it would upset too many boaters - pah!

 

The easiest way of opening the opposite gate is to nudge it slightly with a narrowboat, when entering/leaving a lock. Compared to that method, it takes ages to walk round to open it.

[Midnight]

10 hours ago, Paul C said:

 

The easiest way of opening the opposite gate is to nudge it slightly with a narrowboat, when entering/leaving a lock. Compared to that method, it takes ages to walk round to open it.

 

No that's the easiest way to damage the mitres. It only takes ages for lazy barstewards who then go on to whinge that gates leak.

[nicknorman]

45 minutes ago, Midnight said:

 

No that's the easiest way to damage the mitres. It only takes ages for lazy barstewards who then go on to whinge that gates leak.

Agreed. The other thing to bear in mind is that it depends on whether you are going up or down, if going up your boat displaces water out of the lock which tends to close a partially open gate, thus negating the benefit of partially opening it. If you are going down, the reverse applies and the boat tends to open a closed gate but not before the bow area has scraped it a bit.

[Tonka]

9 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Agreed. The other thing to bear in mind is that it depends on whether you are going up or down, if going up your boat displaces water out of the lock which tends to close a partially open gate, thus negating the benefit of partially opening it. If you are going down, the reverse applies and the boat tends to open a closed gate but not before the bow area has scraped it a bit.

The locks are 14ft wide so with one gate open the gap is 7ft. The width of most boats is 6ft 10in which means there is an inch gap each side of the boat, so why the rubbing. Must be from the fenders left down

[Midnight]

1 minute ago, Tonka said:

The locks are 14ft wide so with one gate open the gap is 7ft. The width of most boats is 6ft 10in which means there is an inch gap each side of the boat, so why the rubbing. Must be from the fenders left down

 

Cos clever people aren't as clever as they tell you they are when it comes to steering out of/in to a lock with just one gate open. I once helped single-hander up Wigan when I opened the second gate he yelled "I only need one I never touch the gates" ...... donk! I asked if that was the first time,  he told me to fooook off, but I continued opening both gates for him anyway.

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, Midnight said:

 

No that's the easiest way to damage the mitres. It only takes ages for lazy barstewards who then go on to whinge that gates leak.

I think he may have been joking

 

[Midnight]

19 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I think he may have been joking

 

Oh I see I'll laugh then - hee!. hee!

[nicknorman]

3 hours ago, Tonka said:

The locks are 14ft wide so with one gate open the gap is 7ft. The width of most boats is 6ft 10in which means there is an inch gap each side of the boat, so why the rubbing. Must be from the fenders left down

No side fenders on our boat and if the gate is fully open I wouldn’t expect to touch it. BUT most gates don’t open fully due to debris behind etc. And lots of people can’t steer…

[booke23]

1 hour ago, nicknorman said:

No side fenders on our boat and if the gate is fully open I wouldn’t expect to touch it. BUT most gates don’t open fully due to debris behind etc. And lots of people can’t steer…

 

Exactly this.....or there's a load of weeds growing on the inside of the gate or slightly protruding brickwork that pushes the boat into the gate.