More robust that a padlock? Best(er) ways to lock a boat

[magnetman]

Mr Finch. Thats going back a while! Around Braun St On wasn't it. 

[David Schweizer]

16 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

My sympathies. There is much to be said in favour of portholes.

 

Very true, but having seen Mr Finch on several occasions, he was as thin as a stick, and could probably get through a standard sized porthole.

 

 

14 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Mr Finch. Thats going back a while! Around Braun St On wasn't it. 

 

We did nearly catch him once skulking around the boats at at Bottom Lock when we moored there, but he manged to disappear. He broke into our boat in October 2000 when it was over-winter moored at Thrupp. He stole two tins of soup from us, and a stove and pan from another boat moored near us.

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by David Schweizer

[MtB]

4 hours ago, David Schweizer said:

 

We did nearly catch him once skulking around the boats at at Bottom Lock when we moored there, but he manged to disappear. He broke into our boat in October 2000 when it was over-winter moored at Thrupp. He stole two tins of soup from us, and a stove and pan from another boat moored near us.

 

 

That's curious. He stole my frying pan and a saucepan too! Also a load of my cutlery and kitchen utensils and all my Nicholsons map books when he broke into mine. Probably some food too but I rarely remember what food I have in stock in the cupboards. 

 

I felt/still feel the loss of the Nicholsons most keenly as they were all old and full of my cruising and mooring notes, hand-written on all the pages.

 

On the upside, he managed to get in causing no damage whatsoever, and he locked up after himself again when leaving! 

 

 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

5 hours ago, David Schweizer said:

We did nearly catch him once skulking around the boats at at Bottom Lock when we moored there, but he manged to disappear. He broke into our boat in October 2000 when it was over-winter moored at Thrupp. He stole two tins of soup from us, and a stove and pan from another boat moored near us.

 

We moored our share boat at Braunston and went to the Boat House/Mill whatever it was called at the time for a meal. came back to find the rear slide open, I understand he didn't like dogs and he would have looked down at 4 large eyes looking back at him.

[James_P]

Thanks guys for the thoughts and advice.

James

[cuthound]

On 05/08/2023 at 09:56, Lady C said:

Mine just has bolts on the inside and the main access to the boat is through the front doors which have a keyed lock.

 

Mine was like that. A real pain if you go to Llangollen Basin, where the pontoons are short and you have to reverse in.

 

Got a boat yard to fit a Yale lock as well as the bolts, so can access from either end now.

[robtheplod]

On 05/08/2023 at 09:51, David Mack said:

Padlocks always seemed to be a pretty bad idea to me. The presence of a padlock suggests that the boat is unoccupied. That said, if you are in the boat, having entered by another door, you can't unlock a padlocked door from inside, which would be a problem in the case of sinking or a fire. And with the padlock off, anyone can just enter the boat, or put a stick through the staple and lock you in.

Far better to have a conventional door lock, with just a keyhole on the outside, and perhaps a thumb turn locking knob on the inside.

Indeed, it will take 5 secs to establish the boat isn't occupied by the presence of a padlock..... if nobody is around then time is on their side.

[Hudds Lad]

6 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

Indeed, it will take 5 secs to establish the boat isn't occupied by the presence of a padlock..... if nobody is around then time is on their side.

There was a boat on the moorings at Rugby with a fat padlock securing the back doors, the family were all in the saloon having their tea 🤷‍♂️

[robtheplod]

2 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

There was a boat on the moorings at Rugby with a fat padlock securing the back doors, the family were all in the saloon having their tea 🤷‍♂️

thats very dangerous....:(

[MtB]

31 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

thats very dangerous....:(

 

Not really. I bet the family survived.

 

Granted, they exposed themselves to a very slightly elevated risk but dangerous? I don't think so.  

[magnetman]

Drinking tea can be very hazardous. 

Also having one end of boat locked or blocked can be dodgy. Quite likely this is what happened here

 

https://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/21242353.woman-speaks-dramatic-regents-canal-boat-blaze-rescue/

[MtB]

Just now, magnetman said:

Drinking tea can be very hazardous. 

 

Lying in bed is more dangerous that having tea in the saloon of a NB with the stern doors padlocked. 

 

More people die in bed than in having tea narrowboats.

 

 

[magnetman]

Just now, MtB said:

 

Lying in bed is more dangerous that having tea in the saloon of a NB with the stern doors padlocked. 

 

More people die in bed than in having tea narrowboats.

 

 

Surely the moral of this is don't have a bed in the boat. 

 

The making of tea often requires a source of fire. This can set the curtains ablaze and the whole boat goes up killing a load of primary school kids on a day out who happen to be walking past. 

 

Get an electric kettle. 

 

 

[MtB]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

Surely the moral of this is don't have a bed in the boat. 

 

The making of tea often requires a source of fire. This can set the curtains ablaze and the whole boat goes up killing a load of primary school kids on a day out who happen to be walking past. 

 

Get an electric kettle. 

 

 

More people die from electrocution than from having tea with the stern doors padlocked.

 

At a guess! 

[jonathanA]

3 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Surely the moral of this is don't have a bed in the boat. 

 

The making of tea often requires a source of fire. This can set the curtains ablaze and the whole boat goes up killing a load of primary school kids on a day out who happen to be walking past. 

 

Get an electric kettle. 

 

 

a 240V electric kettle that close to water - a disaster waiting to happen.....  what are you thinking man...

make sure its a super safe 12V one that way there is no danger of electrocution, nor indeed of scolding as the water in it is unlikely to ever reach scolding temperature....

[magnetman]

No electric, no bed, no doors and no fire.  Drink beer.

That'll sort it. 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Hudds Lad said:

There was a boat on the moorings at Rugby with a fat padlock securing the back doors, the family were all in the saloon having their tea 🤷‍♂️

I have seen that more than once, even in the winter with a solid fuel fire at the front

1 hour ago, robtheplod said:

thats very dangerous....:(

It is if its not unlocked, there was a death in Stone where the back doors were locked and the fire ranaway at the front

[MtB]

I regularly left my stern doors padlocked when in occupation on my previous boat. This left me with just five apertures for egress in the case of a fire. Very dangerous I agree. 

[ditchcrawler]

11 minutes ago, MtB said:

I regularly left my stern doors padlocked when in occupation on my previous boat. This left me with just five apertures for egress in the case of a fire. Very dangerous I agree. 

Many only have one other

[Ronaldo47]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Lying in bed is more dangerous that having tea in the saloon of a NB with the stern doors padlocked. 

 

More people die in bed than in having tea narrowboats.

 

 

Some 20 years ago a very nice guy who I worked with, had a narrowboat that was kept in a marina in the Midlands. We were based in Essex, and when visiting clients in the Midlands, he preferred to spend  the night on his boat rather than use a hotel. One morning we were phoned by the client he was supposed to be visiting as he hadn't turned up. We didn't know where he kept his boat, but a phone call to BW established the marina where his boat was registered. The marina found his boat with the interior lights on, and him lying dead on his bunk, evidently having had a massive heart attack the previous evening while reading a book.

Edited August 7, 2023 by Ronaldo47
typo

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo47 said:

Some 20 years ago a very nice guy who I worked with, had a narrowboat that was kept in a marina in the Midlands. We were based in Essex, and when visiting clients in the Midlands, he preferred to spend  the night on his boat rather than use a hotel. One morning we were phoned by the client he was supposed to be visiting as he hadn't turned up. We didn't know where he kept his boat, but a phone call to BW established the marina where his boat was registered. The marina found his boat with the interior lights on, and him lying dead on his bunk, evidently having had a massive heart attack the previous evening while reading a book.

The same thing happened to someone I knew online, he was moored on the Thames and we passed him, I walked back to introduce my self but the boat was closed up and effectively empty. His son broke in the next morning to find him on the bed, dead. 

[Ewan123]

On 05/08/2023 at 10:18, David Mack said:

The domestic door locks I have fitted over the years work just as well on outward or inward opening doors. If you have double doors then you do need internal bolts on the first-closing leaf.

This does seem like the best option without over doing it. Easy to open from the inside in an emergency, easy to get into with a key from the outside, and more effort to get into from the outside than most of your neighbours.

[Tacet]

8 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

Mine was like that. A real pain if you go to Llangollen Basin, where the pontoons are short and you have to reverse in.

 

Got a boat yard to fit a Yale lock as well as the bolts, so can access from either end now.

Why did you reverse in?

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, Tacet said:

Why did you reverse in?

 

It is not uncommon that a marina will demand that you reverse into the mooring.

[ditchcrawler]

I revers into out slot at the marina so if its windy when I want to leave I can go out forwards to the marina entrance, At Stratford on Avon I revers in so we can sit out on the front deck, if I ever succumbed to paying to moor in Llangollen I would probably do the same there