Solo Boat in a Double Lock

[Kane Brennan]

I have only done a few double locks as the majority on the Trent and Mersey are single locks. As we are a couple, in a situation where we are the only boat in a lock, should we both be getting out so one of us can manage the boat with rope on a bollard whilst the other does the gate. 

Because when we are coming up a double lock with no other boats around, one of us gets out whilst the other does the lock, no matter how incremental we do the gates or whether its the side the boat on or not. I find the boat just swings around bouncing off each wall, whilst it is a real fight to keep it straight and off the gates.

I have decided next time I am just going to get off and tie the rope off and feed it either way as it goes up or down, so it stays on one side of the lock. Well down it doesn’t really bounce around, it is only up.  
 

[Paul C]

I would say getting off is a good approach, so long as you can get off the boat (ie with a ladder). Obviously you'd need to get tight on the side. The alternate is to put the centre line around a bollard and get it back to the stern so you can hold it, but this relies on there being a suitable bollard and your centre line being long enough to reach.

 

Also on most (NOT ALL) locks, opening the paddle the opposite side to the boat will "pin" it to the wall, which helps.

[Rincewind]

Paul beat me to it!

You need a longer rope!

from the boat, up and round a bollard then back down to the steerer taking in the slack as it rises!

[Arthur Marshall]

It'll still swing about even if you tie it up, depending on the length of the boat. My 40 footer is virtually uncontrollable in the lock if there's no one on the boat. Doesn't seem to do it any harm.

[ditchcrawler]

39 minutes ago, Paul C said:

I would say getting off is a good approach, so long as you can get off the boat (ie with a ladder). Obviously you'd need to get tight on the side. The alternate is to put the centre line around a bollard and get it back to the stern so you can hold it, but this relies on there being a suitable bollard and your centre line being long enough to reach.

 

Also on most (NOT ALL) locks, opening the paddle the opposite side to the boat will "pin" it to the wall, which helps.

On the GU I open the ground paddles on the same side as the boat and find the water flow hits the far wall pushing the boat back against the side.

[Mike Tee]

^^^^ then open the gate paddle on the opposite side of the lock and it will continue to hold the boat on that side - by then you can start on the other ground paddle and gate paddle.

[ditchcrawler]

1 minute ago, Mike Tee said:

^^^^ then open the gate paddle on the opposite side of the lock and it will continue to hold the boat on that side - by then you can start on the other ground paddle and gate paddle.

Spot on

[LadyG]

I usually singlehand, and sit the boat at the back, with a long centreline round a forward bollard, once round if going down, or even twice round the bollard going up, with a long tail towards me., . I am on the opposite paddle, if that is an option.

I have a box knife in my pocket.

When I am on the boat and others are operatihg, I sit on the opposite side, for preference, near the back. The large wide locks Up North shift a lot of water fast, but I just use the engine to hold my position., and make sure any plastics are not abreast.

Having tried looping a rope on a bollard when I am on the boat,  I don't find I have sufficient strength to hold the boat if it moves,  the angles are wrong, and, importantly, I can't see what the other person has done with my rope, I dont want it secured to the lock.

I dont want my boat to thrash around.

Edited April 3 by LadyG

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

3 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I have a box knife in my pocket.

Why?

 

 

[LadyG]

Just now, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

Why?

 

 

Well, there is a rare chance I might need to cut a rope if it jams and the boat cants over, also I have seen a newby tying his plastic boat tight to a bollard before dropping the level, that's not going to end well

[Arthur Marshall]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

On the GU I open the ground paddles on the same side as the boat and find the water flow hits the far wall pushing the boat back against the side.

I find that works fine till the boat gets about halfway up, then it swings and clunk. Curse of a short boat, I suspect.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

but you’re not a newbie,

unless you’re saying you’re a rescue service for any newbie that has a hang up 🤷‍♀️

[Arthur Marshall]

3 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Well, there is a rare chance I might need to cut a rope if it jams and the boat cants over, also I have seen a newby tying his plastic boat tight to a bollard before dropping the level, that's not going to end well

I remember one bloke tying his boat firmly to the bottom of the ladder in the bottom staircase at Chester, starting to fill from the middle lock while walking up to fill the top lock.

By the time he got back...

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

…LadyG had swiftly cut him loose with her box knife?

[Francis Herne]

34 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

but you’re not a newbie,

unless you’re saying you’re a rescue service for any newbie that has a hang up 🤷‍♀️

It's always possible for something to go wrong.

 

For instance those square wooden posts tend to rot/wear just above ground level to leave a tapered slot that's tried to grab my rope.

 

I don't usually carry a knife, maybe I should. There's one in my 'ticket drawer' though.

Edited April 3 by Francis Herne

[Ken X]

We have two approaches depending on the lock and how fit the boss is feeling. Usually I drop her off and enter the lock. I chuck up a long center line which she passes behind (not round) a bollard and drops the end back to me where I hold it, possibly with a turn around a cleat as the lock fills.

If she is having an off day, I drop her off, enter the lock and nip up the ladder with the centre line and stick a turn or two on a bollard whilst I fill the lock and she watches the boat. When full we use the centre line to retrieve the boat.

Means you need a long centre line, which requires you to manage it carefully otherwise bad things can happen, but it works for us.

[dmr]

For a different perspective, we try to use ropes only as a last resort in known difficult locks. Ropes are a distraction and something else to go wrong. One person on the boat using engine to hold the boat in position, one working the paddles and using them to try to control the boat. Going down is easy, just need to keep forward of the cill and watch for other hangups. Going up needs careful and gentle use of appropriate paddles to avoid moving the boat too much, only fully open paddles once boat is at least half way up.

The trouble with ropes.....

Going down the boat can get hung on the rope, so rope needs constant monitoring and adjusting, so distracting you from other tasks.

Going up....in a deep lock rope has limited effect due to poor angle, rope must be very tight to work so needs constant adjusting when attention should be on boat and paddles.

Ropes ok if you have additional crew dedicated to rope handling.

Single handing is obviously very different.

To be fair though, we are a heavy full length boat so the technique of a centre line looped round a bollard back to the steerer does not work well for us, for others it does.

[ditchcrawler]

16 hours ago, Francis Herne said:

It's always possible for something to go wrong.

 

For instance those square wooden posts tend to rot/wear just above ground level to leave a tapered slot that's tried to grab my rope.

 

I don't usually carry a knife, maybe I should. There's one in my 'ticket drawer' though.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 4 by ditchcrawler

[Peugeot 106]

When we were newbies we used to open the paddles too quickly and many was the time in the first week that  boat ended up diagonal and banged around
procedure now going up Trent and Mersey

drop wife off before lock she opens gate if required

I drive in and climb ladder with centreline from roof. I pass it between ladder handrails if I can and round a bollard and make sure the boat is tight against the side.

From now on wife makes sure it is always tight. (If it gets away from the wall the chances are it will swing) She isn’t required to pull the boat but must keep the centreline tight at all times. 

Then I operate paddles ground same side as boat etc

i leave the lock and my wife hopefully has time to shut the gate and hop on the stern. I may hop off to help start the gate

My boat is only 25’ and can jam if it goes diagonal. I see no reason at all for it to bang around if the paddles are opened sensibly. The other danger is that if the flow suddenly goes up or down the lock a short boat can get quite a speed on before it hits the gate so you need to keep the centreline tight

 

you don’t need to spend hours tending the paddles you soon get the hang of just letting enough water in to avoid banging. Just keep watching the boat

1 hour ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

Why?

 

 

I think a knife is actually quite sensible especially if you are on your own. You could get one with a beer bottle opener! The only trouble is that lock knives are illegal if you forget to leave them on the boat when visiting Windsor Castle. Don’t ask me how I know, I nearly ended up in the dungeons. 
I hate folding knives. Quite a few sailors strap a bread knife to the base of the mast in case they need the sails down in a mega hurry

[LadyG]

11 hours ago, Francis Herne said:

It's always possible for something to go wrong.

 

For instance those square wooden posts tend to rot/wear just above ground level to leave a tapered slot that's tried to grab my rope.

 

I don't usually carry a knife, maybe I should. There's one in my 'ticket drawer' though.

When things go wrong, it can happen fast, as in the rapid reversal of my NB in to the rear door resulting in new rudder.

It was discovered that previous owner had cut the rudder stock at some stage and "welded' it back together......

[Kane Brennan]

Thanks everyone, we have done 100s of locks now, but we are nearer to Lichfield on Trent and Mersey so everything in every direction is single locks. 

We only encountered them to and from Paul Barbers to get a new base plate fitted. So basically after Burton and up to Erewash, then back again. Spent an hour working out how an electric lock works. 

But I get it, opposite side paddles, feed a rope round the bollard and back to me at the stern if I need to. Ours if 52ft. So there should be enough length for the water to pin to the wall. 

[IanD]

14 minutes ago, Kane Brennan said:

Thanks everyone, we have done 100s of locks now, but we are nearer to Lichfield on Trent and Mersey so everything in every direction is single locks. 

We only encountered them to and from Paul Barbers to get a new base plate fitted. So basically after Burton and up to Erewash, then back again. Spent an hour working out how an electric lock works. 

But I get it, opposite side paddles, feed a rope round the bollard and back to me at the stern if I need to. Ours if 52ft. So there should be enough length for the water to pin to the wall. 

 

No!

 

*Same* side ground paddle first, the water goes under the boat and bounces off the opposite wall and holds the boat to the adjacent wall.

 

(if you open the opposite side ground paddle first the water goes under the boat, bounces upwards off the wall next to it, and forces the boat away from the wall).

 

Then *opposite" side gate paddle (if there is one) once the water has come up to it, the water from this flows across and pins the boat to the wall.

 

Then opposite side ground paddle and same side gate paddle (if there is one).

Edited April 4 by IanD

[Mike Tee]

I'm going to totally confuse things now! In general in a wide lock, Yes to all the above, but I have seen a navigational note on the wide locks on the T&M that the ground paddles are built differently and to pin the boat against the side, open the opposite ground paddle first.

We haven't been that way for many years so can't remember anything about them, but the warning is listed in the Canalplan route guide website.

[Hudds Lad]

This advice all becomes irrelevant if you enter a manned-by-volunteers double lock and they whack both ground paddles up as soon as you're in (i'm looking at you Braunston bottom) and then proceed to chat to dog walkers and ignore you  

[Momac]

Being river based and where the locks are somewhat larger than on most canals we always have a rope on bow and  stern as per the image below.

This is unlikely to be practical if single handed but worth bearing in mind for those locks where  controlling the boat is a challenge.