Boat Sunk.

[Bee]

A word about anchors. We moored on the Thames for a couple of winters and one winter it flooded a lot, water over the bank etc. I had left the anchor out, a good few yards in front of the boat, and when I returned the chain had picked up a tarpaulin / boat cover. a load of branches and other debris and it had dragged right back to the boat.  In fact it was adding a massive load on to the mooring lines and could have caused even more problems. Mooring on rivers is risky, relying on a couple of mooring pins is not great either. At the moment 'Bee' is moored on a pontoon in a marina on a river and I reckon it is safe but I'm keeping fingers crossed

[rusty69]

The first time we experienced flooding was in around 2001 on the Great Ouse, so it is nothing new, but is getting more frequent. Luckily we had a couple of huge trees to tie to, and some long scaffold bars to keep us off the bank. The guy in front of us had no poles, so put out a large anchor to keep his boat off. The carpark where the winterised boats were kept on chocks flooded, and the water level came up high enough to lift them. Unfortunately, as one of them lifted and started floating it snagged our electric lead and eventually pulled the electric post with it. That week we had to get in the dinghy each day and row upriver to get to higher ground in order to get to work.

 

We later moored at a marina, where I thought the flooding thing would be a thing of the past. How wrong was I. It has flooded a number of times,each time with poorly tended boats ending up sunk. Lines are either left too tight, and the boat leans and fills, or too loose and the boat ends up getting caught on something as the wind blows it, and sinks when the level goes down. 

 

I spent one christmas day some years ago cutting lines and levering boats off pontoons/pathways. The owners are usually  oblivious to these things, returning in spring to go boating as if nothing has happened.

 

Flooding and boats sinking is nothing new, and is here to stay.

Edited January 8 by rusty69

[Tony Brooks]

19 minutes ago, Bee said:

A word about anchors. We moored on the Thames for a couple of winters and one winter it flooded a lot, water over the bank etc. I had left the anchor out, a good few yards in front of the boat, and when I returned the chain had picked up a tarpaulin / boat cover. a load of branches and other debris and it had dragged right back to the boat.  In fact it was adding a massive load on to the mooring lines and could have caused even more problems. Mooring on rivers is risky, relying on a couple of mooring pins is not great either. At the moment 'Bee' is moored on a pontoon in a marina on a river and I reckon it is safe but I'm keeping fingers crossed

 

All true, but the "anchor" referred to was a massive block of concrete sunk in the river will upstream of the mooring. This was needed to rig a flood line because the mooring was on an island with no suitable point to tie off the front of a flood line.

 

If a conventional anchor was to be used for this duty, it had better be a large one off a larger seagoing boat.

Edited January 8 by Tony Brooks

[magnetman]

It could get interesting in terms of riparian ownership. I know where @blackrose used to moor and it is above Staines so the river or island property owners also own half of the riverbed. It is their land and they could object if you place something on it. That is assuming it was a long way upstream. Maybe it was within the boundary of the riparian owner who also owned the mooring. 

 

 

 

 

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Naartjie said:

Should one be really mindful of the possibility of flooding or is this tragedy an unfortunate but isolated event.

 

Very much the former but keep some perspective. A sunken boat is worse than unfortunate but it is not a tragedy, a tragedy is people dying. 

 

Most rivers flood every year so a permanent mooring needs creful monitoring by someone. Usually you, but if you pay the swingeing costs of a marina mooring on professionally designed floating pontoons that rise and fall with the water level, you'll probably be fine. 

 

Similarly there is a world of difference between a permanent mooring which WILL get flooded in the fullness of time, and mooring overnight somewhere in summer while you stay aboard. Most (but not all) flooding happens in winter or when you are not likely to be cruising. Also it is weather-related so should never be a surprise to anyone except those who don't listen to weather reports. 

 

 

[Paul C]

Looking at the broader picture: in times of flooding, being on a boat should, in theory, do better than living on a house (which is flooded):

 

* So long as it remains floating and securely moored (respecting the likely rise/fall in water level) it will remain safe and dry inside.
* Services such as drinking water, toilet, electricity, heat etc "standalone" and not relying on grid connection

 

Anyone on a boat which totally 100% relies on eg shoreline is missing a key advantage of said boat.

 

 

 

[David Mack]

17 hours ago, Dinz said:

 

Given the shape of the cutwater on the far pier I think it was inevitable that the boat would have rolled over as the water level dropped. Winching it off while still upright was the only chance of preventing it sinking, but given the flow pressure holding the boat against the bridge, was unlikely to be achievable.

[magnetman]

5 hours ago, Paul C said:

Looking at the broader picture: in times of flooding, being on a boat should, in theory, do better than living on a house (which is flooded):

 

 

It did occur to me this might be why living on Boats has become popular. 

 

Given that the planet is doomed and we are all going to die in terrible infernos and/or get flooded then living on a Boat could actually be rather a wise move in a number of different ways. 

 

If everything is on fire and there is a huge flood it is a bit of a no brainer. 

 

[Jon57]

2 hours ago, David Mack said:

Given the shape of the cutwater on the far pier I think it was inevitable that the boat would have rolled over as the water level dropped. Winching it off while still upright was the only chance of preventing it sinking, but given the flow pressure holding the boat against the bridge, was unlikely to be achievable.

Could some kind of air bags been used between the boat and bridge abuttments to hold it off the ledge before they attempted to winch the boat free possibly? 

[matty40s]

12 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

Could some kind of air bags been used between the boat and bridge abuttments to hold it off the ledge before they attempted to winch the boat free possibly? 

That would have made eminent sense.

[magnetman]

Maybe it was spur of the moment panic reaction rather than thinking about it first. 

 

Easy to criticise after the event of course. 

 

I witnessed a similar winch recovery attempt once where the people doing it clearly hadn't thought about it OR the aim of the exercise was to immobilise the Boat by sinking it. 

 

One must never forget that in the bigger picture a Boat adrift is actually just an obstruction and a potential hazard. A sunk Boat is also an obstruction but it is predictable because it isn't going anywhere so the hazard is reduced. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[StephenA]

10 hours ago, Mike Hurley said:

Yes, very much so depending on location, but with the biblical amount of rain all over UK nowhere is 100% safe.

 

Indeed - we were moored at Braunston a good long time ago and the rain was so heavy that the entire marina went up by several inches and water was starting to top the puddle banks.

[magnetman]

A breach of the puddle banks some time in February could be quite interesting. 

 

I can't remember if there are gates or just stop plank groove irons for this. 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, magnetman said:

A breach of the puddle banks some time in February could be quite interesting. 

 

I can't remember if there are gates or just stop plank groove irons for this. 

 

 

A pile of planks under the bridge ready.

 

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, magnetman said:

A breach of the puddle banks some time in February could be quite interesting. 

 

I can't remember if there are gates or just stop plank groove irons for this. 

 

 

There are the remains of flood gates under the bridges at Braunston Turn, but not in any condition now to work.

[BWM]

On 06/01/2024 at 13:53, matty40s said:

The classic example is all the Tory MPs turning up at their local hospital with a box/2 boxes of chocolates on Christmas Eve.....with photographer present....

For a moment I thought Nutsak was playing a squeeze box!

[Grassman]

13 hours ago, StephenA said:

 

Indeed - we were moored at Braunston a good long time ago and the rain was so heavy that the entire marina went up by several inches and water was starting to top the puddle banks.

 

 

Similar to this??

[Hudds Lad]

15 hours ago, StephenA said:

 

Indeed - we were moored at Braunston a good long time ago and the rain was so heavy that the entire marina went up by several inches and water was starting to top the puddle banks.

Level was well up at Dunchurch over New Year. We were chatting to neighbouring boat on pontoons at the weekend and he was telling how he'd almost sunk his boat. He had moored stern-in and as the water rose his rear fender went over the pontoon, the boat went back, and his rudder hooked under the pontoon so as the water started to fall his bow headed down. Luckily he was onboard for New Year so was able to rush about in the dark and weather to release his rear fender. Happy ending though, and the only casualty was the shackle he dropped in the water. Makes me glad we have to moor bow first.

[Stroudwater1]

46 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Level was well up at Dunchurch over New Year. We were chatting to neighbouring boat on pontoons at the weekend and he was telling how he'd almost sunk his boat. He had moored stern-in and as the water rose his rear fender went over the pontoon, the boat went back, and his rudder hooked under the pontoon so as the water started to fall his bow headed down. Luckily he was onboard for New Year so was able to rush about in the dark and weather to release his rear fender. Happy ending though, and the only casualty was the shackle he dropped in the water. Makes me glad we have to moor bow first.

 

It’s surprising it does that as most long pounds have overflow relief bywash/weirs around the place. I can’t think of one offhand on this pound, must be ones somewhere or the only way to loose water would be down Calcutt or Hillmorton lock bywash/ gate overtopping. 
 

As well as direct rain and field run off it has the bywash/ drainage from Napton and part of Norton/Buckby Leics GU  pounds to take too. 
 

[Hudds Lad]

12 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

 

It’s surprising it does that as most long pounds have overflow relief bywash/weirs around the place. I can’t think of one offhand on this pound, must be ones somewhere or the only way to loose water would be down Calcutt or Hillmorton lock bywash/ gate overtopping. 
 

As well as direct rain and field run off it has the bywash/ drainage from Napton and part of Norton/Buckby Leics GU  pounds to take too. 
 

I don't think there are any bywashes (happy to be corrected) between Napton/Calcutt/Braunston/Hillmorton. Perhaps its just reliant on being such a large stretch with plenty of capacity?

[IanM]

7 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

I don't think there are any bywashes (happy to be corrected) between Napton/Calcutt/Braunston/Hillmorton. Perhaps its just reliant on being such a large stretch with plenty of capacity?

 

The only two I can think of is the one right by the bridge at the bottom of the Napton flight and the large one at Shuckburgh.  There are a few flood paddles dotted around that stretch though.

[magnetman]

Are there no flood sluices? 

 

I know there is one near Stowe Hill which obviously is a different place but point being it isn't all that obvious as is not immediately beside the canal. There is a culvert under the towpath. 

 

 

(cross posted with IanM)

I think there might be one somewhere near the puddle banks/ivy bridge area. 

 

 

Haven't been there since about 2005 so memory not that fresh. 

[mrsmelly]

On 08/01/2024 at 08:20, Naartjie said:

Being very new to the NB world. I was really shocked to see how easily things can turn into a tragedy. Is there a great  risk associated with being moored in a flood prone area?

I did some online rummaging I came across this Flood Map

 

 https://parallel.co.uk/rofrs/

 

Should one be really mindful of the possibility of flooding or is this tragedy an unfortunate but isolated event.

 

Different places flood at different times over the years. My lads pub is closed with river in the kitchen as of yesterday, he is river side on the Avon. It's never flooded in his pub for donkeys years. Shit happens.

[john.k]

The boat will be full of mud and debris ,and difficult to move after the water goes down........was a similar situation here some years ago,the council demolished the boat with explosives  to avoid damage to the bridge.

[ditchcrawler]

5 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

 . Luckily he was onboard for New Year so was able to rush about in the dark and weather to release his rear fender. Happy ending though, and the only casualty was the shackle he dropped in the water. Makes me glad we have to moor bow first.

Maybe he will consider putting weaker links on his fenders now