How do you open lock gates ?

[roland elsdon]

On the Gu We used to put the breasted pair on the gates leave in tickover, and gently empty the lock, shut offside paddle walk over gates, down step and step on motor as it came to the steps .

You had to put stuff on the floor first, because the pull used to drop the bow a lot and things fell over.

Going out bows on gates engine in tickover if singling the pair.

Downhill we sometimes used a thumbline to open the gate, until the day I hung the mast and top plank off the white handrail  at buckby top lock.

Gave up being flash that day.

Now we dont push gates  too wobbly.

You didnt bash the gate, coz the lock was full it was a careful operation . And we had good bow fenders on.

[Theo]

On 25/07/2024 at 11:16, booke23 said:

Is anyone still using the working boat method of bashing into the bottom gate and leaving the boat in gear while you open the paddles and stand there until the boat opens the gates and enters all by itself? Ditto as you then fill the lock......(Asking for a friend) 

Disapproved of becasue the rubbing of the rubibng strakes on the mitre spoils the seal.  Have you noticed how when mitre gates leak its generally at rubbing strake level?

[MtB]

5 minutes ago, Theo said:

Disapproved of becasue the rubbing of the rubibng strakes on the mitre spoils the seal.  Have you noticed how when mitre gates leak its generally at rubbing strake level?

 

And I find it curious how after 100 years of this, they continue making the gate seals the same way presumably because they've "always done it that way".

 

It really can't be that difficult to devise a solution. 

[dogless]

Yet you see similar wear gaps at the same height on narrow locks with two gates ... got to be another reason for the wear hasn't there?

 

Rog

[ditchcrawler]

45 minutes ago, Theo said:

Disapproved of becasue the rubbing of the rubibng strakes on the mitre spoils the seal.  Have you noticed how when mitre gates leak its generally at rubbing strake level?

I thought that was due to going out through one gate

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I thought that was due to going out through one gate

 

On a 7ft wide lock?! 

 

Oh I geddit, we should be blaming the canoes!! 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Do single gates leak because of boats having pushed in?

 

9 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I thought that was due to going out through one gate

it probably is,

there are more folk likely

to leave through one gate (on a wide lock) and scrap about a bit than there are folk who push the gates open. 

Edited July 27 by beerbeerbeerbeerbeer

[booke23]

2 hours ago, Theo said:

Disapproved of becasue the rubbing of the rubibng strakes on the mitre spoils the seal.  Have you noticed how when mitre gates leak its generally at rubbing strake level?

 

Not to mention the risk of demolishing some of the half rotten gates now found on the network..........I know it's not a recommended technique! 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

I’ve rarely seen boats pushing the gates open. 
In fact I can only recall seeing one boat do it. 
Which of course doesn’t mean it don’t happen more. 
And yeah of course my friend pushes them open now and again. 
 

I can only really

conclude the gates leak because the gates on narrow locks have not opened fully into their recess and boats scrape the mitre on the way out and, as what’s been said earlier, folk exit a wide lock through one gate and bash the mitre on the other gate. 
 

Pushing gates open is no longer a common practice . 
Or is it ? 

 

[David Mack]

Pushing a pair of gates open with the boat's bows only damages the downstream edge of the mating mitre faces, because as soon as the gates opened the mating faces are angle away from the boat. So minimal damage is done to the mitre seal, and consequently this does not lead to increased leakage through the mitre. But if a narrow boat enters or leaves a wide lock through a single gate, the mating mitre face of the closed gate remains parallel to the axis of the lock, so any contact between the boat and the closed gate damages the mating face across its full width, and thus creates a small leakage path through the mitre. Since most narrow boats are widest at the top rubbing strike and taper down to the baseplate, the damage to top gates occurs at the top of the mitre posts, above water level, so doesn't cause leakage, but the damage to bottom gates happens around 2-3 feet above the lower water level. Which is why most wide lock bottom gates have water spurting through at this level, and why wide locks tend to self-empty when not being used.

For the same reason it is important to shut top gates after passing through wide locks, especially if you are the last boat of the day. Otherwise the leakage through the bottom gates can result in drained pounds overnight, rather than just drained lock chambers.

[Mike Todd]

15 hours ago, David Mack said:

Pushing a pair of gates open with the boat's bows only damages the downstream edge of the mating mitre faces, because as soon as the gates opened the mating faces are angle away from the boat. So minimal damage is done to the mitre seal, and consequently this does not lead to increased leakage through the mitre. But if a narrow boat enters or leaves a wide lock through a single gate, the mating mitre face of the closed gate remains parallel to the axis of the lock, so any contact between the boat and the closed gate damages the mating face across its full width, and thus creates a small leakage path through the mitre. Since most narrow boats are widest at the top rubbing strike and taper down to the baseplate, the damage to top gates occurs at the top of the mitre posts, above water level, so doesn't cause leakage, but the damage to bottom gates happens around 2-3 feet above the lower water level. Which is why most wide lock bottom gates have water spurting through at this level, and why wide locks tend to self-empty when not being used.

For the same reason it is important to shut top gates after passing through wide locks, especially if you are the last boat of the day. Otherwise the leakage through the bottom gates can result in drained pounds overnight, rather than just drained lock chambers.

Perhaps you could draw attention to this for the benefit of Victor (aka Narrowboat World) who seems to think that leaving gates (or paddles) open cannot drain the upper pound!

 

Time and again, we have arrived at a lock not many minutes after passing the boat that has just left and expecting to have an easy entry only to discover that it is well off full (or empty as the case may be)

 

In an ideal world this perhaps should not happen but, as discussed in this thread, it does and can be explained rationally. Of course, some folk are confused when they encounter locks that were designed to by wash through them, either through the culvert or over the gates. Moreover, AIUI, many canals need some continuous flow over or through each lock in order to keep lower pounds topped up, especially overnight. The trick is to get the balance right so that water is not lost unnecessarily. (Water 'leaking' through a lock may or may not be intentional)

[ditchcrawler]

2 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

Perhaps you could draw attention to this for the benefit of Victor (aka Narrowboat World) who seems to think that leaving gates (or paddles) open cannot drain the upper pound!

 

Time and again, we have arrived at a lock not many minutes after passing the boat that has just left and expecting to have an easy entry only to discover that it is well off full (or empty as the case may be)

 

In an ideal world this perhaps should not happen but, as discussed in this thread, it does and can be explained rationally. Of course, some folk are confused when they encounter locks that were designed to by wash through them, either through the culvert or over the gates. Moreover, AIUI, many canals need some continuous flow over or through each lock in order to keep lower pounds topped up, especially overnight. The trick is to get the balance right so that water is not lost unnecessarily. (Water 'leaking' through a lock may or may not be intentional)

This one was overflowing the paddles, I thought it had a bywash somewhere but didn't actually go looking for it. Its the Perry Barr flight  

 

[StevieN]

On 25/07/2024 at 09:23, Stroudwater1 said:

The vlockie told all of us around it was better for our backs to push from behind. 

Is this new vlockie training, is it how others open locks? 

Thats why your derriere is known as your "Glutinous Maximus!"

🤣