‘You aren’t allowed to move before 8am’ - anyone got the link?

[cheesegas]

Hi all. On the GU at the moment, wanted to get an early start on a very locky day so I set off at 7am, intending to fill up with water shortly after. Got to the water point not long after, and there’s a very shiny narrowboat with all the brass Gardner badges, flags etc on the lock landing, where the water point is.
 

At this lock there’s only space for one boat on the landing/water point, so I pulled up alongside, knocked and then tied my centre line to his centre line ring. A bit annoying as the water point is a bit of a distance from the bank. 
 

Anyway, as I walked across his stern, Angry Man popped his head out the hatch and started shouting at me, saying that I’m not allowed to move before 8am, he was due to leave at 8am, and the usual old chestnut…‘I’ve been boating for more years than you’ve been alive so trust me, I know!’. This was eventually settled when he agreed to move off early, which he did very very slowly, taking his sweet time…but not before accusing me of scratching his paint. Which was impossible as I had plenty of fenders down and didn’t touch him.
 

Couldn’t find anything definitive on the CRT site about what time you can move your boat but I’m pretty sure it’s mentioned somewhere, I just can’t find it! Does anyone have the link to hand, just in case it happens again? Thanks. He must be getting mixed up with the 8 til 8 engine/generstor rule whilst stationary…

[john6767]

Boating, on normal CRT canals, is a 24/7 activity, be is wrong

[frangar]

We often set off at 5am or boat late….its hilarious watching curtains twitch. 
 

We love finding people moored in stupid places because they don’t expect anyone to be moving….sadly there are a lot of people with all the gear and no idea. 

[Arthur Marshall]

45 minutes ago, cheesegas said:

Hi all. On the GU at the moment, wanted to get an early start on a very locky day so I set off at 7am, intending to fill up with water shortly after. Got to the water point not long after, and there’s a very shiny narrowboat with all the brass Gardner badges, flags etc on the lock landing, where the water point is.
 

At this lock there’s only space for one boat on the landing/water point, so I pulled up alongside, knocked and then tied my centre line to his centre line ring. A bit annoying as the water point is a bit of a distance from the bank. 
 

Anyway, as I walked across his stern, Angry Man popped his head out the hatch and started shouting at me, saying that I’m not allowed to move before 8am, he was due to leave at 8am, and the usual old chestnut…‘I’ve been boating for more years than you’ve been alive so trust me, I know!’. This was eventually settled when he agreed to move off early, which he did very very slowly, taking his sweet time…but not before accusing me of scratching his paint. Which was impossible as I had plenty of fenders down and didn’t touch him.
 

Couldn’t find anything definitive on the CRT site about what time you can move your boat but I’m pretty sure it’s mentioned somewhere, I just can’t find it! Does anyone have the link to hand, just in case it happens again? Thanks. He must be getting mixed up with the 8 til 8 engine/generstor rule whilst stationary…

He obviously didn't know enough to know he shouldn't moor on water points or lock landings, so I think you can safely ignore him. 

I too like an early start, though 6am is about my earliest these days.

[SLC]

Refer to Boaters Handbook. Do not run engine or generator outside the hours of 8am to 8pm.

Sadly, many of the other rules or guidance in there is often breached.

[frangar]

2 minutes ago, SLC said:

Refer to Boaters Handbook. Do not run engine or generator outside the hours of 8am to 8pm.

Sadly, many of the other rules or guidance in there is often breached.

When stationary!  Doesn’t mean you can’t be boating….however much some think it does. 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

6 minutes ago, SLC said:

Refer to Boaters Handbook. Do not run engine or generator outside the hours of 8am to 8pm.

Sadly, many of the other rules or guidance in there is often breached.

Which also no doubt has paragraphs about not mooring on lock landings and water points. 

[David Mack]

Was Mr Angry Man taking water when you arrived? If not he shouldn't be moored on a water point. Of course, if he had arrived to fill up with water a little before you he must have been boating before 8.00 himself. As a stickler for rules, I'm sure he hadn't been moored there all night!

[Stroudwater1]

There was some crazy incorrect CRT response to this question recently. Of course you can boat all hours. The start of and end of the day are often the best, mist coming off the water quiet or orange Skys.
 

TBH mad dogs and boaters boat in the midday sun in heatwaves 

[NB Saturn]

 

7 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

There was some crazy incorrect CRT response to this question recently. Of course you can boat all hours. The start of and end of the day are often the best, mist coming off the water quiet or orange Skys.
 

TBH mad dogs and boaters boat in the midday sun in heatwaves 

 

The generator bit is in the license terms and conditions

 

Item 5.4: “You must not run your boat’s engine or generator between 8pm and 8am while moored, unless you are navigating.” (my underlining)

 

the boaters handbook says

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wafi]

1 hour ago, cheesegas said:

I’m pretty sure it’s mentioned somewhere, I just can’t find it!

It isn't mentioned anywhere because, as everyone else has already pointed out, it's not a thing.

 

If you did want something to point to if it happens again, best I can think of is the "when stationary" rule that you already know about, with a side comment of "you must be thinking of this".

[cheesegas]

16 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Was Mr Angry Man taking water when you arrived? If not he shouldn't be moored on a water point. Of course, if he had arrived to fill up with water a little before you he must have been boating before 8.00 himself. As a stickler for rules, I'm sure he hadn't been moored there all night!

Nope, no filling of water, he was in his pyjamas and mentioned I’d woken him up - he’d clearly been there all night. 
 

I think he must have stopped overnight, intending to move first thing and was annoyed that someone had found him flouting the rules and instead made up a new bollocks rule to make himself feel better. As I can look a lot younger than I am, I do wonder if he thought he could try and pull the experience card…

 

edit: I don’t really mind about someone being on the water point; he may have had a long day, miscalculated the daylight hours and ended up in darkness after filling up. However, he was a dick about it - if he’d just said ‘good morning’ and offered to take my centre line, that would’ve been fine. 

 

7 minutes ago, NB Saturn said:

The generator bit is in the license terms and conditions

 

Item 5.4: “You must not run your boat’s engine or generator between 8pm and 8am while moored, unless you are navigating.” (my underlining)

 

the boaters handbook says

 

 

 

Thanks! Had a look through the handbook but didn’t think about reading the terms and conditions. The handbook is confusing though, I reckon it should be clearer about the stationary bit of it. 

Edited August 9 by cheesegas

[Rob-M]

37 minutes ago, SLC said:

Refer to Boaters Handbook. Do not run engine or generator outside the hours of 8am to 8pm.

Sadly, many of the other rules or guidance in there is often breached.

When stationary, moving 24/7 is allowed.  Boating at 3am is quite pleasant.

[Wafi]

Hypothetical question:

 

We all know you can't moor on lock landings overnight, but you can while waiting for (or setting) the lock. With lots of flights operating limited hours at the moment, how long before the flight opens is it acceptable to moor on the lock landing? 15 minutes or half an hour feels like it would be pretty uncontroversial, but would it be acceptable to arrive (say) an hour after the flight closes for the day, and moor on the lock landing until it opens the following morning? Let's assume you're not blocking something else like a water point, you haven't "overtaken" anyone who might consider themselves to be in a queue, and you'll be ready to go in good time for when the flight does open.

[Rob-M]

I've done this in the past when I arrived at locks a few minutes before the last entry but the CRT guy putting the locks on wouldn't let me in as he said I wouldn't be out the flight in time as there was a boat going up the lock so he put the padlock on the gates.  I therefore stayed on the lock mooring all night and was first up the flight in the morning, ready to go the moment the padlock was removed.

[NB Saturn]

1 minute ago, Wafi said:

Hypothetical question:

 

We all know you can't moor on lock landings overnight, but you can while waiting for (or setting) the lock. With lots of flights operating limited hours at the moment, how long before the flight opens is it acceptable to moor on the lock landing? 15 minutes or half an hour feels like it would be pretty uncontroversial, but would it be acceptable to arrive (say) an hour after the flight closes for the day, and moor on the lock landing until it opens the following morning? Let's assume you're not blocking something else like a water point, you haven't "overtaken" anyone who might consider themselves to be in a queue, and you'll be ready to go in good time for when the flight does open.

 

Yes I think that’s fine - you’re essentially in a queue waiting for the lock; I’ve been moored up below and above locks in the past 2 or 3 boats abreast waiting for locks to open the next morning because there wasn’t enough mooring space.

[Tonka]

23 minutes ago, Wafi said:

It isn't mentioned anywhere because, as everyone else has already pointed out, it's not a thing.

 

If you did want something to point to if it happens again, best I can think of is the "when stationary" rule that you already know about, with a side comment of "you must be thinking of this".

But then the boat coming alongside will have to turn his engine off before he becomes stationary before 8am

[jonathanA]

I'd have just let the chain off SWMBO and set her on him....  she'd have told him to go forth and multiply and by the time she'd finished tongue lashing him he'd have only been too glad to get out of the way. 🤣

[cheesegas]

5 minutes ago, Wafi said:

Hypothetical question:

 

We all know you can't moor on lock landings overnight, but you can while waiting for (or setting) the lock. With lots of flights operating limited hours at the moment, how long before the flight opens is it acceptable to moor on the lock landing? 15 minutes or half an hour feels like it would be pretty uncontroversial, but would it be acceptable to arrive (say) an hour after the flight closes for the day, and moor on the lock landing until it opens the following morning? Let's assume you're not blocking something else like a water point, you haven't "overtaken" anyone who might consider themselves to be in a queue, and you'll be ready to go in good time for when the flight does open.

I’ve done this a couple of times on the Hanwell flight in summer - arrived when the lock keepers have gone and it’s all chained up, then been the first boat through in the morning. Can’t see anything wrong with that, better than mooring round the corner and walking down to check every 10 mins if the lock keepers are there!

[magnetman]

Since when does Hanwell flight get chained up ? 

 

I've not been there for a few years. 

 

Things must be changing. 

 

 

[Hudds Lad]

As a nice counterpoint, we’ve just moored up on the outskirts of Hopwas. There was one boat on its own so we stopped a couple of boat lengths in front to give it a bit of privacy, chap popped straight out and i was expecting the worst. Nope. He came to explain it was a bit shallow and some had struggled to get in earlier and given up, said to pull back to his boat as much as we liked if it helped as he was mostly in the back and it wouldn’t bother him. Then said he was going to run his engine while he had a shower but not to worry it was only for about 20mins. Thoroughly lovely chap. They are out there  

[magnetman]

 

Is there a situation where people are denied passage unless there is a volunteer on the lock? That's really bad news. I know there is no PRN but locks used to be open all the time unless non functional. 

 

This can only go one way. 

 

 

[cheesegas]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

Since when does Hanwell flight get chained up ? 

 

I've not been there for a few years. 

 

Things must be changing. 

Seems to happen for a week or so if it’s been a dry summer. Passage only from something like 10am-6pm…if you’re lucky. The 20 something mile long arm of the GU drains into it so I’d have thought it would be ok, but obviously not…

 

I did once moor in the middle of the flight going up when the top lock broke and I didn’t want to go all the way down again that evening!

[Jen-in-Wellies]

9 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

Is there a situation where people are denied passage unless there is a volunteer on the lock? That's really bad news. I know there is no PRN but locks used to be open all the time unless non functional. 

 

This can only go one way. 

 

 

The only ones I know like that are the tidal locks on the Trent. All the other Trent locks can be boater operated by watermate key out of hours. Can't remember what the Weaver locks are like. Been too long and the ones we did were keeper operated.

 

Chaining up locks and opening them for limited periods with a keeper seems to be a temporary measure when water is scarce, or the lock is broken and barely operational. 

[magnetman]

The long pound is interesting. Of course this also supplies the water to the Regents section of the Grand Union. 

 

It is fed by the 3 rivers or is it 4 which come down from the chilterns. 

 

So if they are drying up (Gade, Chess, Colne) I am not sure where else the water is coming from. 

 

It is quite common for the long pound to be low.