Sheffield to Anderton on Rallentando

[IanD]

After moving the boat from Finesse into the basin -- and acquiring the first scrapes in the first five minutes, thanks to the wind! -- and a pizza and beer boat-launch party with hald a dozen Sheffield friends in True Loves/Dorothy Pax, Rallentando set off as planned at 8:30am on Saturday morning. Down Tinsley locks with no problems apart from some being almost impossible to shift, arrived at Sprotbrough about 5:30 as planned -- The Boat very food-oriented but decent food and beer.

 

No real issues with the boat, a couple of settings that Ricky changed remotely -- remote access and control can be very useful. Lovely going along in silence, only about half the time when going fairly quickly all day but that's expected , solar maybe 2kWh per day since mostly cloudy. Power consumption when cruising typically 3-4kW on still water, up to 5kW upstream against a small current -- flat out is something like 16kW. Generator running is audible but a lot quieter than most diesel engines, no vibration inside or outside boat so the inertia frame is doing its job. Steering is brilliant, light and very responsive, and works even with the rudder hard over (75 degrees?) when you just get a wash at right-angles to the boat, so Schilling rudder a success too. Only downside is less steering with no power on because it's smaller, but that's a tradeoff I'm happy to make... 🙂

 

Day 2 was a long boring slog to Knottingley, moored opposite the Steampacket -- no food Sunday evening so ate on the boat then beers and crib in the pub. Similar the next day to Calder Grove, we were originally going to eat in the Navigation but a very nice CCing lady told us we'd be far better off at the Kingfisher fish'n'chip restaurant, and she was dead right -- highly recommended. Navigation was basically a lounge + a restaurant and was empty, so back to the boat.

 

Set off yesterday aiming to go up the HNC, only to find that instead of being open 12am-2pm as previously notified CART had decided to close the lock all day to repair it, and this made getting through lock 1A and Standedge basically impossible due to opening times. Cue several panic phone calls to CART who found out that it would be open by 4pm, so we switched to Plan B -- The Rochdale, boo hiss. CART were helpful with changing bookings at short notice, so Tuel Lane tomorrow morning and the Summit Locks the day after. All sorted out in an hour or so, but major panic in the meantime... 😞

 

Ended up at Mirfield last night, moored just after the bridge, good Indian at Al-Nawab (?sp) and then a few beers and more crib in the Navigation -- who had a very nice dark mild from Magic Rock. Now filling up with water at Brighouse, aiming for Sowerby Bridge tonight -- the Navigation comes highly recommended by @Midnight (who we finally met this morning and has been very helpful throughout, many thanks!) so we'll give that a try.

 

A couple of pictures from the trip so far... 🙂

 

 

 

[nicknorman]

Pleased for you that you have finally taken delivery of your new boat. Another advantage of the rudder is no need for extensive stern fendering.

 

Not too sure of your boating experience but seeing the picture of the boat tied to centreline below a lock makes me a bit nervous. I have twice nearly sunk a boat by doing that, due to strong flow from paddles getting between the boat and the lock landing, pulling bow out, boat heels to extreme angle. Fortunately only damage was stuff falling off shelves. You would have thought I would have learnt from the first time but I managed to repeat the error a few years later!

Obviously it's not going to happen at that lock, but if you get into the habit of doing that without thinking you may come unstuck. It took me about 30 years to come unstuck the first time, but nevertheless one sinking is one too many!

Edited October 11, 2023 by nicknorman

[Jon57]

You might have to get a new hose connector in Sowerby. There's one still on the tap in Brighouse. 👍

Edited October 11, 2023 by Jon57
Typo

[Stroudwater1]

Good to see you on the move after a long albeit semi  enjoyable wait with building and planning. 
 

You must be pleased with progress so far. If you can get down the Rochdale you can do (almost) anything. 
 

ahem, are you standing a bit close to the tiller arm some may suggest? 
 

Wonder when you will have the first person advising it’s unwise to switch your engine off in the lock🤣 
 

 

[booke23]

2 hours ago, IanD said:

and acquiring the first scrapes in the first five minutes, thanks to the wind!

 

Sods first law of boating.......always happens when you just get a brand new boat, or when you've just been blacked! 

 

2 hours ago, IanD said:

 -- and a pizza and beer boat-launch party but decent food and beer. - then beers and crib in the pub.- and then a few beers

 

 

You might get a few more scrapes if you keep up the beer consumption at that rate! 

 

Seriously though, glad the maiden trip is going well. 

 

 

 

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

And another pic, go and enjoy it👍

Edited October 11, 2023 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[dmr]

20 hours ago, nicknorman said:

Pleased for you that you have finally taken delivery of your new boat. Another advantage of the rudder is no need for extensive stern fendering.

 

Not too sure of your boating experience but seeing the picture of the boat tied to centreline below a lock makes me a bit nervous. I have twice nearly sunk a boat by doing that, due to strong flow from paddles getting between the boat and the lock landing, pulling bow out, boat heels to extreme angle. Fortunately only damage was stuff falling off shelves. You would have thought I would have learnt from the first time but I managed to repeat the error a few years later!

Obviously it's not going to happen at that lock, but if you get into the habit of doing that without thinking you may come unstuck. It took me about 30 years to come unstuck the first time, but nevertheless one sinking is one too many!

 

Thats very interesting and worrying, I thought the centre lines main use was fixing the boat at a lock landing, and I would say that about 99% of boaters do exactly that.

We use the centre line like that but if things look a bit dogy I sometimes put a front line on too.

Where did you have your accident? was it a big wide lock?

I do not dispute what you are saying, we have seen a related thing happen when a boat tied up on a centre line on a lock landing on a fast flowing river, we heard all the stuff smashing inside the boat.

We have had three new near misses this year after many years without any, just because you have been boating for many years does not mean that something totally new and unexpected can't go wrong. 

[Midnight]

12 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

Thats very interesting and worrying, I thought the centre lines main use was fixing the boat at a lock landing, and I would say that about 99% of boaters do exactly that.

We use the centre line like that but if things look a bit dogy I sometimes put a front line on too.

Where did you have your accident? was it a big wide lock?

I do not dispute what you are saying, we have seen a related thing happen when a boat tied up on a centre line on a lock landing on a fast flowing river, we heard all the stuff smashing inside the boat.

We have had three new near misses this year after many years without any, just because you have been boating for many years does not mean that something totally new and unexpected can't go wrong. 

 

I saw a boat in one of the short pounds on the Leicester Grand Union tied only with centre line. When the boater dropped the lock the boat did exactly what @nicknorman said. Most of the items on the shelves ended up on the floor. I do use the centre line at locks but thread it doubled through a large gunwhale-height fender hanger and around a bollard. Doesn't work as well on rings.

21 hours ago, IanD said:

After moving the boat from Finesse into the basin -- and acquiring the first scrapes in the first five minutes, thanks to the wind! -- and a pizza and beer boat-launch party with hald a dozen Sheffield friends in True Loves/Dorothy Pax, Rallentando set off as planned at 8:30am on Saturday morning. Down Tinsley locks with no problems apart from some being almost impossible to shift, arrived at Sprotbrough about 5:30 as planned -- The Boat very food-oriented but decent food and beer.

 

No real issues with the boat, a couple of settings that Ricky changed remotely -- remote access and control can be very useful. Lovely going along in silence, only about half the time when going fairly quickly all day but that's expected , solar maybe 2kWh per day since mostly cloudy. Power consumption when cruising typically 3-4kW on still water, up to 5kW upstream against a small current -- flat out is something like 16kW. Generator running is audible but a lot quieter than most diesel engines, no vibration inside or outside boat so the inertia frame is doing its job. Steering is brilliant, light and very responsive, and works even with the rudder hard over (75 degrees?) when you just get a wash at right-angles to the boat, so Schilling rudder a success too. Only downside is less steering with no power on because it's smaller, but that's a tradeoff I'm happy to make... 🙂

 

Day 2 was a long boring slog to Knottingley, moored opposite the Steampacket -- no food Sunday evening so ate on the boat then beers and crib in the pub. Similar the next day to Calder Grove, we were originally going to eat in the Navigation but a very nice CCing lady told us we'd be far better off at the Kingfisher fish'n'chip restaurant, and she was dead right -- highly recommended. Navigation was basically a lounge + a restaurant and was empty, so back to the boat.

 

Set off yesterday aiming to go up the HNC, only to find that instead of being open 12am-2pm as previously notified CART had decided to close the lock all day to repair it, and this made getting through lock 1A and Standedge basically impossible due to opening times. Cue several panic phone calls to CART who found out that it would be open by 4pm, so we switched to Plan B -- The Rochdale, boo hiss. CART were helpful with changing bookings at short notice, so Tuel Lane tomorrow morning and the Summit Locks the day after. All sorted out in an hour or so, but major panic in the meantime... 😞

 

Ended up at Mirfield last night, moored just after the bridge, good Indian at Al-Nawab (?sp) and then a few beers and more crib in the Navigation -- who had a very nice dark mild from Magic Rock. Now filling up with water at Brighouse, aiming for Sowerby Bridge tonight -- the Navigation comes highly recommended by @Midnight (who we finally met this morning and has been very helpful throughout, many thanks!) so we'll give that a try.

 

A couple of pictures from the trip so far... 🙂

 

 

 

Best of luck @IanD I hope you made it through Elland okay. Just the 92 (91) locks of the Rochdale to go then a breeze along the Bridgewater and T&M.

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

Thats very interesting and worrying, I thought the centre lines main use was fixing the boat at a lock landing, and I would say that about 99% of boaters do exactly that.

We use the centre line like that but if things look a bit dogy I sometimes put a front line on too.

Where did you have your accident? was it a big wide lock?

I do not dispute what you are saying, we have seen a related thing happen when a boat tied up on a centre line on a lock landing on a fast flowing river, we heard all the stuff smashing inside the boat.

We have had three new near misses this year after many years without any, just because you have been boating for many years does not mean that something totally new and unexpected can't go wrong. 

 

Must admit we got into the habit of tying our boat off with a centre line only whilst waiting at a lock.

 

Though one time we had a problem was at Whitley (big lock!!) on the A&C whilst Humber Princess (as was back then) entered the lock whilst we waited for her to go in before us. Our boat did heel quite badly, enough for stuff to come of a shelf but it soon righted itself. I did make a note to be aware of the proximity of the big boats after that, but concede I did continue with the same method probably 99% of the time.

[nicknorman]

6 hours ago, dmr said:

 

Thats very interesting and worrying, I thought the centre lines main use was fixing the boat at a lock landing, and I would say that about 99% of boaters do exactly that.

We use the centre line like that but if things look a bit dogy I sometimes put a front line on too.

Where did you have your accident? was it a big wide lock?

I do not dispute what you are saying, we have seen a related thing happen when a boat tied up on a centre line on a lock landing on a fast flowing river, we heard all the stuff smashing inside the boat.

We have had three new near misses this year after many years without any, just because you have been boating for many years does not mean that something totally new and unexpected can't go wrong. 

First one was below Swakerstone lock (wide lock on T&M). I felt a bit hard done by because there was a sunken cruiser blocking some of the lock landing which limited where we could tie up, and the bollard near the bow was missing. Boat heeled a long way over when chap coming down opened the offside paddle, fortunately Jeff’s shouting got his attention and he closed the paddle again whilst we sorted ourselves out. The chap said he had seen a hire boat sink under similar circumstances as Weston lock.

 

Second time a few years later was somewhere on the Soar, can’t remember which lock but I repeated the mistake of tying only by centre line and when Jeff opened the bottom paddle the boat heeled most alarmingly, such the the open hatch was only a ft or so above the waterline. We had recently got a new centre rope which was perhaps thicker than optimal. Even so it nearly broke. It occurred to me afterwards that it would be better to have a thinner rope so that it would break under similar circumstances before being able to pull the boat catastrophically over.

Edited October 12, 2023 by nicknorman

[haggis]

I had a similar incident which cost two plates 😄. This wasn't a paddle being opened but a boat coming out of a lock and putting the foot down. I was a couple of boats back from the lock and the boat was tied with the centre  rope onto a bollard. I was about to untie the rope to move the boat up a bit as the boat in front moved into the lock. The boat heeled over and I heard the crash as two plates hit the floor. Wouldn't normally have happened but I had taken advantage of the wait  at the lock to start preparing lunch and although the plates were at the back of the work surface they fell off. 

We thought they were unbreakable too, having inherited them when we bought the boat  😄

Iain had worked the lock for the offending boater 😄

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

6 hours ago, M_JG said:

Must admit we got into the habit of tying our boat off with a centre line only whilst waiting at a lock.

I generally just use the centre line. 
A Loop or two around the bollard and back to the hand rail. 
The worst I have had is when the the loop came off and I lost the boat. 
 

If I’m too close to the lock, or the lock’s a particularly lively one I’ll tie the front up. 
 

If I have any crew with me I very very rarely tie up at all. 
As soon as the water from the lock is calming down the boat should be approaching the gates not tied up. 

Loitering in front of locks (at safe distances) is a great way to learn/practice controlling the boat. 

[dmr]

2 hours ago, nicknorman said:

First one was below Swakerstone lock (wide lock on T&M). I felt a bit hard done by because there was a sunken cruiser blocking some of the lock landing which limited where we could tie up, and the bollard near the bow was missing. Boat heeled a long way over when chap coming down opened the offside paddle, fortunately Jeff’s shouting got his attention and he closed the paddle again whilst we sorted ourselves out. The chap said he had seen a hire boat sink under similar circumstances as Weston lock.

 

Second time a few years later was somewhere on the Soar, can’t remember which lock but I repeated the mistake of tying only by centre line and when Jeff opened the bottom paddle the boat heeled most alarmingly, such the the open hatch was only a ft or so above the waterline. We had recently got a new centre rope which was perhaps thicker than optimal. Even so it nearly broke. It occurred to me afterwards that it would be better to have a thinner rope so that it would break under similar circumstances before being able to pull the boat catastrophically over.

 

I think its very difficut to select a rope, or any weak link, that fails when you want it to and doesn't fail when you dont want it to.

I suppose the centre line should be ok if its short and direct to the bollard, if its running at an angle then there is scope for the boat to move forward/backwards and put some slack into the rope which allows the boat to swing, but then again its very easy for a rope to slip a bit on a bollard.

 

A related incident, I tied up tight on the centre line on a swing bridge landing and swung the bridge, a huge widebeam saw his chance and shot through at full speed. The water level (and my boat) dropped by what felt like a foot and the boat shot forward snapping the centre line.

 

I think this problem isyet another one to add to the growing list of things to watch out for/worry about when working a lock.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

16 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

I think its very difficut to select a rope, or any weak link, that fails when you want it to and doesn't fail when you dont want it to.

I suppose the centre line should be ok if its short and direct to the bollard, if its running at an angle then there is scope for the boat to move forward/backwards and put some slack into the rope which allows the boat to swing, but then again its very easy for a rope to slip a bit on a bollard.

 

A related incident, I tied up tight on the centre line on a swing bridge landing and swung the bridge, a huge widebeam saw his chance and shot through at full speed. The water level (and my boat) dropped by what felt like a foot and the boat shot forward snapping the centre line.

 

I think this problem isyet another one to add to the growing list of things to watch out for/worry about when working a lock.

I think the problem is you’re boat is too big for the rope your using. 

You need a smaller boat. 

Edited October 12, 2023 by beerbeerbeerbeerbeer

[dmr]

44 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

I think the problem is you’re boat is too big for the rope your using. 

You need a smaller boat. 

yeah, about 49 foot would be a good length, but what would the dog do without her own bedroom?

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

2 minutes ago, dmr said:

yeah, about 49 foot would be a good length, but what would the dog do without her own bedroom?

😱 are you saying Sophie the Dog has a 20’ bedroom?

[dmr]

7 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

😱 are you saying Sophie the Dog has a 20’ bedroom?

That, and the total waste of space engine room and silly back cabin.

I think the dogs bed has to stay because the drawers under it are the beer store.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

So if you didn’t have a 20’ dog and a 20’ beer store you could cruise the North proper ?

in a smaller boat

Edited October 12, 2023 by beerbeerbeerbeerbeer

[PCSB]

24 minutes ago, dmr said:

That, and the total waste of space engine room and silly back cabin.

I think the dogs bed has to stay because the drawers under it are the beer store.

I think we may have passed you today in Middlewich? 

[dmr]

3 minutes ago, PCSB said:

I think we may have passed you today in Middlewich? 

 

Yes, we moored overnight at Middlewich boats then caused a fair bit of chaos by coming alongside the moored boats to get some diesel, then stopped again by the Big Lock to go to Morrisons.

[PCSB]

3 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

Yes, we moored overnight at Middlewich boats then caused a fair bit of chaos by coming alongside the moored boats to get some diesel, then stopped again by the Big Lock to go to Morrisons.

Doesn't take much to cause chaos at that junction 🤣

[dmr]

14 minutes ago, PCSB said:

Doesn't take much to cause chaos at that junction 🤣

 

Think its the first time for ages that we have done the Middlewich locks without seeing a boater having a temper tantrum 😀

 

I was impressed with the new Middlewich Boats, we only wanted a little bit of diesel and they were very busy so gave us a free overnight mooring to serve us in the morning. Some serious engine overhauls going on too.

[PCSB]

4 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

Think its the first time for ages that we have done the Middlewich locks without seeing a boater having a temper tantrum 😀

 

I was impressed with the new Middlewich Boats, we only wanted a little bit of diesel and they were very busy so gave us a free overnight mooring to serve us in the morning. Some serious engine overhauls going on too.

We had a stress free trip up those locks today too, first narrow locks for a good few months as well. There are some good people still around.

[dmr]

5 minutes ago, PCSB said:

We had a stress free trip up those locks today too, first narrow locks for a good few months as well. There are some good people still around.

 

This forum has mixed feeling about volunteer lock keepers but they look to be doing a good job in Middlewich, stopping unexpected meetings on "drydock corner of doom" really helps.

[PCSB]

5 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

This forum has mixed feeling about volunteer lock keepers but they look to be doing a good job in Middlewich, stopping unexpected meetings on "drydock corner of doom" really helps.

Agreed. They had it running like clockwork today.