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Help wanted near Kidderminster


Andrew Denny

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We once did something similar of the River Stort. Arrived late in the evening and extemporised a mooring; not realising how high the river was. What didn't help was that the local CRT bods opened the flood paddles that (Friday) evening and then buggered off for the weekend, so by the time we woke up the next morning the water level was a lot lower than usual and we were well and truly marooned. Several other boats were in the same state, but we all got together and freed the easiest NB, which then started snatching others. Being deep, and because we weren't on a regular mooring spot, Melaleuca was by far the most stuck; sitting pretty flat on the bottom with a good eight inches of normally wet hull showing all round. I was very sceptical that she'd ever move, but we used one NB roped to the front and another roped to the back  and both took a good snatch at the same time and she came off very easily. 

 

So what you need, Andrew, is not one, but two passing boats :)

 

MP.

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2 hours ago, David Mack said:

Or if one end of the boat is free(ish), push it out with the pole as far as you can, then pull it back in with a rope, and keep repeating, and usually it moves a bit further each time.

 

That usually works, jamming the pole into the bed just under the boat then, standing on the boat, pulling it towards you as a lever can often move the boat. You need to have a good feel for the flexibility and strength of you your pole. (I was going to say long shaft but that sounded a bit rude).

 

The idea a few posts above of using a plank of wood or two on the weir to raise the water level is worth investigating, it might or might not be possible, When we use a certain dry dock the dock operator does exactly this the night before so that we can get in without too much trouble.,How long is the pound?

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13 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

That usually works, jamming the pole into the bed just under the boat then, standing on the boat, pulling it towards you as a lever can often move the boat. You need to have a good feel for the flexibility and strength of you your pole. (I was going to say long shaft but that sounded a bit rude).

 

The idea a few posts above of using a plank of wood or two on the weir to raise the water level is worth investigating, it might or might not be possible, When we use a certain dry dock the dock operator does exactly this the night before so that we can get in without too much trouble.,How long is the pound?

A mile and a quarter reading between the lines, therefore unlikely to have any other spill wiers.

Edited by matty40s
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Just now, matty40s said:

A mile and a quarter reading between the lines, therefore unlikely to have any other spill wires.

 

Thats quite long, so will take a fair bit of time to get the level up, or maybe not at all unless we have some serious rain, but still worth a try. 

The top weire plank on the next pound down from me, (about 1/2 mile long),  sometimes moves and the level drops. When I put the plank back it takes maybe a day for the level to get back up so that we can get into the lock.

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9 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

Thats quite long, so will take a fair bit of time to get the level up, or maybe not at all unless we have some serious rain, but still worth a try. 

The top weire plank on the next pound down from me, (about 1/2 mile long),  sometimes moves and the level drops. When I put the plank back it takes maybe a day for the level to get back up so that we can get into the lock.

I think Andrew is here, just above the lock. , on a canal not known for lack of water...(thank you Wolverhampton). I think even more now that dropping a plank or two suspended on mooring stakes, over the canal bank spill wiers would allow boat movement in hours. 

Screenshot_20221103-214012_Maps.jpg

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20 minutes ago, Tacet said:

Andrew needs to wait until a boat passes just above tickover.  You know, one of those that pushes an enormous bow wave followed by drawing all the water from under the boat such that you're reminded that you are no longer in your bungalow.

A few years ago we ran ourselves very aground on the Shroppie (Farm putting mud into the cut, but mostly us not paying attention 😀). We waited for a passing boat to make a nice bow-wave to lift us, but when they saw a boat in an odd position the b*ggers kept slowing down to a tickover.

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1 hour ago, MoominPapa said:

We once did something similar of the River Stort. Arrived late in the evening and extemporised a mooring; not realising how high the river was. What didn't help was that the local CRT bods opened the flood paddles that (Friday) evening and then buggered off for the weekend, so by the time we woke up the next morning the water level was a lot lower than usual and we were well and truly marooned.

 A similar thing happened to us on the Godalming navigation. Earlier on in the trip the local NT staff seemed to be having trouble managing the sluices and water levels, so I suspect that was the cause of what followed. Boating up past Farncombe Boathouse in the afternoon we went aground in the middle of the channel, and as we tried to get free it became apparent that the water was just draining away. We ended up spending the night in the middle of the river, and by morning the level had come up again.

PICT1368.JPG.a949cab6f7c3a8cb616e36db15bf27a6.JPG

And no, I don't know why my daughter was in the river, but she does show how shallow the remaining water was.

 

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If a boat is passing facing the same way as you, how about breasting up tying tightly together fore and aft? Then put both boats in forward gear with tillers pointing away from the edge, i.e effectively driving the bows into the bank.

 

With the extra depth of water that the other boat has beneath it, combined with a bit of help from your engine, it might just be enough to get your stern away from the edge and into deeper water, enough for you then to reverse off the mooring. It would probably mean using the bank to pivot against which might in itself be a problem though.

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11 hours ago, Tacet said:

Andrew needs to wait until a boat passes just above tickover.  You know, one of those that pushes an enormous bow wave followed by drawing all the water from under the boat such that you're reminded that you are no longer in your bungalow.

 

I've been talking to Andrew using PM and seen where he's stuck, and there's zero chance of a boat "passing" because he's stuck in a "layby" on one side of a tiny little side arm... 😞

 

The good news is that his boat is close to piling at both bow and stern so there's some chance of him pushing/levering/jacking the boat off the silt, if he can just find something that can push hard enough... 🙂

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1 hour ago, Grassman said:

If a boat is passing facing the same way as you, how about breasting up tying tightly together fore and aft? Then put both boats in forward gear with tillers pointing away from the edge, i.e effectively driving the bows into the bank.

 

With the extra depth of water that the other boat has beneath it, combined with a bit of help from your engine, it might just be enough to get your stern away from the edge and into deeper water, enough for you then to reverse off the mooring. It would probably mean using the bank to pivot against which might in itself be a problem though.

Not sure about running the inner boat's prop - this will surely just dig it deeper into the mud?

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2 hours ago, Grassman said:

If a boat is passing facing the same way as you, how about breasting up tying tightly together fore and aft? Then put both boats in forward gear with tillers pointing away from the edge, i.e effectively driving the bows into the bank.

 

I suggested similar use of rudders to drive the stern out yesterday, but was talking of directing thrust between Andrew's boat and the bank. Going full ahead with the configuration you describe would pull water away and the boats would only dig deeper in. It might work better for the assistant vessel to be in reverse, which would then tend to lift the stern up and maybe give just sufficient buoyancy for Andrew to get free.

 

Tam

Edited by Tam & Di
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7 minutes ago, philjw said:

It's possible to hire Tirfor winches

 

https://www.nationaltoolhireshops.co.uk/category/tirfor-winch-hire/

 

Don't know if the cables are long enough to reach the piling on the far side or a tree

Looking at Andrew's photo (on PM, he asked me not to share it) the far bank is a "very" long way away as he described earlier, with nothing solid to attach a winch to... 😞

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6 minutes ago, philjw said:

It's possible to hire Tirfor winches

 

https://www.nationaltoolhireshops.co.uk/category/tirfor-winch-hire/

 

Don't know if the cables are long enough to reach the piling on the far side or a tree

When we got Fulbourne stuck on an electrical cabinet in the middle of the Birmingham and Fazeley at Erdington after the BCN Challenge a few years back, BW came out with a tirfor. They attached the cable to a fence around a nearby spillway, which I didn't think looked substantial enough, but the boat just came right off.

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1 hour ago, David Mack said:

When we got Fulbourne stuck on an electrical cabinet in the middle of the Birmingham and Fazeley at Erdington after the BCN Challenge a few years back, BW came out with a tirfor. They attached the cable to a fence around a nearby spillway, which I didn't think looked substantial enough, but the boat just came right off.

There is always the 

https://www.safetygearstore.co.uk/tractel-tirfor-strap-anchor-with-rods

Option

 

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4 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

 

 

At only £814.80, Andrew should probably buy two!

 

But I get your point. Plenty of mooring stakes driven into the ground through a scaffold board with loads of holes drilled might well provide a strong enough ground-anchor point for a tirfor.

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1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

At only £814.80, Andrew should probably buy two!

 

But I get your point. Plenty of mooring stakes driven into the ground through a scaffold board with loads of holes drilled might well provide a strong enough ground-anchor point for a tirfor.

 

Very difficult to do given the circumstances...

 

"Opposite the mooring, on the towpath is a 10ft dry stone wall. Last week two 10m ropes tied together barely reached to the towpath to allow those three  beefy guys to pull, and they couldn't get a proper purchase. I would need a third to reach higher to the trees/field above."

 

[photo removed at Andrew's request]

 

Edited by IanD
[photo removed at Andrew's request]
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6 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

At only £814.80, Andrew should probably buy two!

 

But I get your point. Plenty of mooring stakes driven into the ground through a scaffold board with loads of holes drilled might well provide a strong enough ground-anchor point for a tirfor.

 

 

Or get a military suplus systen (for about £90- £100) regularly listed on ebay and quite common at military surplus dealers (I've looked at one that I know had them but non at the moment - Anchor Supplies)

 

 

See the source image

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14 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

At only £814.80, Andrew should probably buy two!

 

But I get your point. Plenty of mooring stakes driven into the ground through a scaffold board with loads of holes drilled might well provide a strong enough ground-anchor point for a tirfor.

Yeah i wasn't suggesting buying one, more a bit of lateral thinking, over the years I've done a fair bit of "interesting" backwoods engineering to shift stuff from one place to another 

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57 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Or get a military suplus systen (for about £90- £100) regularly listed on ebay and quite common at military surplus dealers (I've looked at one that I know had them but non at the moment - Anchor Supplies)

 

See the source image

The problem isn't the thing to do the pulling, it's the lack of anything sufficiently strong (and close enough) to attach it to... 😞

Edited by IanD
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You can get cheap tirfor style winches from Vevor (they are currently £122). I bought one for hauling large logs and it works well. 

 

When we have been stuck before (quite often as our boat is deep in the water) we have levered it off with a long pole under the edge of the hull. Any chance you could beg/borrow/steal a scaffold pole?

 

I do wonder if you are on silt or rock, can you tell by prodding around the hull with a pole? I suspect that mooring area was dug out of the rock when the house was built rather than from canal construction and may have limited depth.

 

 

 

 

Edited by jonesthenuke
Second/third paragraphs added.
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7 minutes ago, jonesthenuke said:

You can get cheap tirfor style winches from Vevor (they are currently £122). I bought one for hauling large logs and it works well.

 

But where would you attach it? Andrew has already explained the problem with this approach... 😞

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