Shroppie shelf

[KezzerN]

Is the Shroppie shelf along ALL of the Shroppie canal?   Are there any places where there is the metal sides where chains can be used or is it all concrete?

[ditchcrawler]

There are several places with rings

Just found this with lots of info on mooring SUCS Visitor Moorings - Shropshire Union Canal Society

Edited March 13 by ditchcrawler

[KezzerN]

11 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

There are several places with rings

Just found this with lots of info on mooring SUCS Visitor Moorings - Shropshire Union Canal Society

 

 

Thank you.

 

 

[Arthur Marshall]

1 hour ago, KezzerN said:

Is the Shroppie shelf along ALL of the Shroppie canal?   Are there any places where there is the metal sides where chains can be used or is it all concrete?

It's not everywhere, just everywhere that's extremely nice to moor. But as above the SUCS have put in a lot of visitor moorings, it's just difficult out in the sticks. With a couple of wheelbarrow wheels you can moor almost anywhere though, but mostly on pins.

[KezzerN]

22 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

It's not everywhere, just everywhere that's extremely nice to moor. But as above the SUCS have put in a lot of visitor moorings, it's just difficult out in the sticks. With a couple of wheelbarrow wheels you can moor almost anywhere though, but mostly on pins.

 

Thanks for the info.  It is that gap between boat and towpath when using the wheels that gets to me: I have visions of me falling down the gap!  Also, if I need to reach onto the roof to re-angle the solar panels the boat rocks alarmingly without the support of the towpath.

[Jerra]

1 minute ago, KezzerN said:

 

Thanks for the info.  It is that gap between boat and towpath when using the wheels that gets to me: I have visions of me falling down the gap!  Also, if I need to reach onto the roof to re-angle the solar panels the boat rocks alarmingly without the support of the towpath.

I use the tube shaped fenders that sink, lowered between the shelf and the boat.  A much reduced gap and no grinding.

[5239]

 

OP,

from what I see the Shroppie Shelf seems to be a natural stone shelf that protrudes out from beneath poured concrete, concrete blocks, bricks or stone blocks which were set as an edging to the bank. 
 

there are plenty of places with Armco to tie to,

(if not silted up),

This week I’ve found myself two new (to me) mooring spots away from the villages,

 

[KezzerN]

23 minutes ago, Jerra said:

I use the tube shaped fenders that sink, lowered between the shelf and the boat.  A much reduced gap and no grinding.

 

 

The rubber type?  I have those but they didn't stop the grinding or banging so I had to put out the wheels.

 

 

9 minutes ago, 5239 said:

 

OP,

from what I see the Shroppie Shelf seems to be a natural stone shelf that protrudes out from beneath poured concrete, concrete blocks, bricks or stone blocks which were set as an edging to the bank. 
 

there are plenty of places with Armco to tie to,

(if not silted up),

This week I’ve found myself two new (to me) mooring spots away from the villages,

 

 

 

Dare I ask where they were or are you keeping them secret to avoid the crowds dashing to them? 😂

Edited March 13 by KezzerN

[Jerra]

1 minute ago, KezzerN said:

 

 

The rubber type?  I have those but they didn't stop the grinding or banging so I had to put out the wheels.

For some (many?) places the ledge is below water so it is a case of lowering the fenders down between the ledge and the boat and then pulling the boat tight on to them.

 

Often they are so far down they are barely seen.  Works for me.

[Tony Brooks]

FWIW I stuck my long and short pole into the canal bed outside the shelf and lashed them to the handrail. My wife and myself had no difficulty stepping over the gap.

[KezzerN]

Thanks everyone for your further input and advice.  Out of curiosity, how easily did the poles go into the bed of the canal and how deep did they go before they wouldn't go any further?

[Tony Brooks]

3 minutes ago, KezzerN said:

Thanks everyone for your further input and advice.  Out of curiosity, how easily did the poles go into the bed of the canal and how deep did they go before they wouldn't go any further?

 

Not easy, and only a few inches. The bow and stern lines needed to be tight and at an angle to prevent the boat surging backwards and forwards. The lashing to the hand ail kept then vertical - more or less. No good if you have upside down angle iron handrails.

[5239]

12 minutes ago, KezzerN said:

 

Dare I ask where they were or are you keeping them secret to avoid the crowds dashing to them? 😂

ha yes,

they are spots used by others but kind of remote enough that you’re unlikely to have some one moor up behind you,

they’re only new to me because I have time to try out some new spots,

High Bridge is a lovely spot. High Bridge is the one with the telegraph poles in it, it’s in all the canal books. 
And below bridge 32 over looking fields. 
 

…anyway, lots and lots of places for you to explore without getting hung up on the Shroppie Shelf. 
I think pretty much all the VM’s are clear of the shelf. 
but yes a couple of wheels incase
 

[KezzerN]

10 minutes ago, 5239 said:

ha yes,

they are spots used by others but kind of remote enough that you’re unlikely to have some one moor up behind you,

 

 

 

I was moored in a remote spot with empty canal for miles and a boat came and moored right next to me!  Why do they do that!

 

[IanM]

2 minutes ago, KezzerN said:

 

 

I was moored in a remote spot with empty canal for miles and a boat came and moored right next to me!  Why do they do that!

 

 

Why were you moored there?  Did you think "this is a nice spot. I think I'll moor here"?  If you did, the chances are they did too.

[KezzerN]

2 minutes ago, IanM said:

 

Why were you moored there?  Did you think "this is a nice spot. I think I'll moor here"?  If you did, the chances are they did too.

 

 

I appreciate they thought it was a nice spot, but when there was a section in front for a long distance, just the same as where I was moored, that had no boats, why not moor a bit further along instead of right up my backside?

[5239]

8 minutes ago, KezzerN said:

 

 

I appreciate they thought it was a nice spot, but when there was a section in front for a long distance, just the same as where I was moored, that had no boats, why not moor a bit further along instead of right up my backside?

yes, it happens,

look for places where there’s limited Armco,

that helps, 

🤷‍♀️maybe,

dunno what the answer is,

play your music loud?

get a generator? 😃

 

[haggis]

40 minutes ago, KezzerN said:

 

 

I was moored in a remote spot with empty canal for miles and a boat came and moored right next to me!  Why do they do that!

 

Possibly they were thinking that mooring near you rather than a few hundred yards away would prevent passing boats having to slow down twice in quick succession 🙂

[IanD]

3 minutes ago, haggis said:

Possibly they were thinking that mooring near you rather than a few hundred yards away would prevent passing boats having to slow down twice in quick succession 🙂

Some boaters like to huddle together for warmth and safety, rather than mooring all alone and isolated where ne'er-do-wells might murder them in the night and steal their boat... 😉 

[KezzerN]

1 hour ago, haggis said:

Possibly they were thinking that mooring near you rather than a few hundred yards away would prevent passing boats having to slow down twice in quick succession 🙂

 

 

It was late afternoon when most boats had stopped moving, and they left at 7am the next morning, so I doubt that was what they were thinking.

 

 

1 hour ago, IanD said:

Some boaters like to huddle together for warmth and safety, rather than mooring all alone and isolated where ne'er-do-wells might murder them in the night and steal their boat... 😉 

 

 

Well they wouldn't get much protection from an oldie like me!

 

 

Edited March 13 by KezzerN

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, 5239 said:

From what I see the Shroppie Shelf seems to be a natural stone shelf that protrudes out from beneath poured concrete, concrete blocks, bricks or stone blocks which were set as an edging to the bank. 

I recall seeing BW putting concrete edging along the GU between Knowle Top Lock and the next bridge, where the towpath is the vehicular access to the top and bottom lock cottages. This would have been about 1973.

Before the work started there was no proper edge, just shallow water. They used a dredger to dig a shallow trough along the line of the proposed wall, then drove in some vertical steel bars either side and fixed planks horizontally as shuttering to form the sides of the wall. Where they had overdug the foundation, the bottom edge of the shuttering was above bed level. Concrete was brought in, poured and trowelled flush with the top of the shutters. After the concrete had set the shuttering was removed and the dredger returned, digging out mud from the shallows and depositing it behind the wall to above towpath level, leaving a soggy quagmire behind. After about 6 months this had dried out and settled a bit, and was roughly level with the towpath. In the process of dredging they did somewhat undermine the new wall and a couple of sections collapsed and had to be redone.

I think the same may have been done on the Shroppie at around this time and the "Shroppie shelf" may just be all the concrete that spilled from below the formwork and into what, after dredging, became deep enough water for boats to moor.

[5239]

That’d help explain things.

I’ll take some photos over the coming days and stick them up on here. 
The narrow sections in the deep cuttings are quite revealing, as the water is drawn from the side/bank with the pull of the boat. 

[Arthur Marshall]

2 hours ago, KezzerN said:

 

 

I was moored in a remote spot with empty canal for miles and a boat came and moored right next to me!  Why do they do that!

 

It's the nesting instinct. I had one who moored right next to me, left his engine running while he took the dog off for a walk with the exhaust pumping fumes straight onto the deck where I was sitting. And then there was the one with the parrot...

Both times, I harrumphed a bit then moved.

[KezzerN]

5 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

It's the nesting instinct. I had one who moored right next to me, left his engine running while he took the dog off for a walk with the exhaust pumping fumes straight onto the deck where I was sitting. And then there was the one with the parrot...

Both times, I harrumphed a bit then moved.

 

 

You wonder what on earth goes through their minds when they are doing that!

[IanD]

9 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

It's the nesting instinct. I had one who moored right next to me, left his engine running while he took the dog off for a walk with the exhaust pumping fumes straight onto the deck where I was sitting. And then there was the one with the parrot...

Both times, I harrumphed a bit then moved.

You could have waited until they'd gone to bed and then got your trombone out around midnight... 😉