Catching The Cill...........

[Pav]

Hi Everyone,

Going down the last lock at Hurleston last week, whilst coming off the Llangollen and onto the Shroppie , I caught the cill

 

It would appear that I am trying to experiance all the bad bits of boating as early on as possible following my 'swim' last year!

 

At the time I caught the cill I could have really kicked myself........

 

.......However, I have been amazed at the number of folk that I have since learned of, who have also caught cills.

 

This got me wondering just how common an event this actually is.

 

So come on forum members..........

 

......Time to own up.

 

Regards,

Pav.

[WJM]

Never sat on the cill (yet!), but I once closed the top gates with the rudder trapped tightly between them. That was scary!

[blackrose]

Never cilled it, but I once got my bow fender caught under a beam in the gate while going uphill.

 

(First boat, first week)

 

That was scary too.

[Proper Job]

Not the cill, but an interesting one a few weeks back at Shipton Wier lock on the Southern Oxford.

 

Those that know the lock will know that it is 'Octagonal' in shape. If you plan it right you can get three boats in at once along side each other. About 55' on each side and 70' down the middle.

 

We put three boats in, with 'Ocelot' on one side, a 70'er in the middle and another 'small' boat on the other side. The lock emptied (about 18" drop), the 70'er went out first, then the other small one and then it was my turn.

 

It was at this point that I realised Ocelot was sat 6" further out of the water than normal. Well and truly on the bottom.

 

Embarrassingly, I had to flood up with a boat coming up and then work myself down (this time in the centre slot).

 

Note to self: Side slots in Shipton are silted to a depth of 4 feet with the lock full. Do not use them with a 3 foot draught.

[magpie patrick]

Not the cill, but an interesting one a few weeks back at Shipton Wier lock on the Southern Oxford.

 

Those that know the lock will know that it is 'Octagonal' in shape. If you plan it right you can get three boats in at once along side each other. About 55' on each side and 70' down the middle.

 

We put three boats in, with 'Ocelot' on one side, a 70'er in the middle and another 'small' boat on the other side. The lock emptied (about 18" drop), the 70'er went out first, then the other small one and then it was my turn.

 

It was at this point that I realised Ocelot was sat 6" further out of the water than normal. Well and truly on the bottom.

 

Embarrassingly, I had to flood up with a boat coming up and then work myself down (this time in the centre slot).

 

Note to self: Side slots in Shipton are silted to a depth of 4 feet with the lock full. Do not use them with a 3 foot draught.

 

Caught Ripple's front fender when going down Marsden Locks, so front stopped going down: Only noticed when I got back on and the auto bilge pump went off....

 

Not sure the Oxford Diamond locks have silted, as they were built for seventy footers, and thus only one boat at once, the sides shelve anyway coz there wasn't intended to be a boat in that bit.

[MoominPapa]

Never caught the cill, but have caught the front fender in the top gate whilst going up one of the locks in Berko. By the time we dropped the paddles the stern was up, the bow was down, and the gate was about to pop out of the socket. Oops.

 

MP.

[Proper Job]

Not sure the Oxford Diamond locks have silted, as they were built for seventy footers, and thus only one boat at once, the sides shelve anyway coz there wasn't intended to be a boat in that bit.

It's definitely silt.

 

When you're the first to go through them in the winter and the water is clear from the Cherwell, you can see that the bottom of the lock is flat all the way across. The gate paddles and boats keep the central section surprisingly clear of silt. It just never dawned on me how much builds up at the sides.

 

We often put more than one boat through at a time as it's so slow to fill and empty (despite only an 18" drop).

[magpie patrick]

It's definitely silt.

 

When you're the first to go through them in the winter and the water is clear from the Cherwell, you can see that the bottom of the lock is flat all the way across. The gate paddles and boats keep the central section surprisingly clear of silt. It just never dawned on me how much builds up at the sides.

 

We often put more than one boat through at a time as it's so slow to fill and empty (despite only an 18" drop).

 

Nothing to do with this, but just out of interest, when you put three narrow boats in side by side, how much width is left? I know the locks are alleged to make up for the shallow fall, but I've never worked out their volume...

[GSer]

Yep I did!

 

At Monkey Marsh lock on the K&A, the turf sided lock at Thatcham. I had been single handing since Kintbury, I got into the lock and a family on a hire boat had waited for me to share the lock, great I thought, a bit of help.

 

I looked for the cill marker and noted its and the boats position, the lock was emptied then the hire boat moved off, then when I tried to move all there was was a sloshing sound and it appeared I had sat on the cill by about 6 foot The 'marker' I had spotted was just the top of the ladder rail (i think, it was a while back)

 

Luckily for me it was a deep set cill and only hoiked the stern up by a couple of inches, embarrasing though, especially as I was asked earlier by the hirers how I managed on my own and my answer was that concentration was the key to safe navigation IMO In fact i'm sure I heard them giggle as they sailed away

 

Paul

[n.b.Goldie]

Yep, I've caught the front button too, whilst going down Stoke Bruerne top lock. It sure was scary feeling the stern going down as the bow stays where it is!! Crew had presence of mind to drop the paddles and refill before we 'went down'.

 

As is usual nowadays the fender was secured to the boat with enough chain to tow a battleship with. Since that lucky escape I now hang the button with only two chains and have put a weak link in one side via a piece of 'rotten rope'. I have since been advised by an ex-working boater (ret'd) that front fenders should be lifted and the bow placed against the lock gate and kept there by running the engine in gear at idle. The boat's bow then just slides up or down the gates rubbing board. Tried it and it seems to work and it takes the worry out of catching the cill when going down the lock.

[Proper Job]

Nothing to do with this, but just out of interest, when you put three narrow boats in side by side, how much width is left? I know the locks are alleged to make up for the shallow fall, but I've never worked out their volume...

It's pretty much three times standard width. ie 21'.

 

Both Shipton and Aynho weir locks are indeed built that shape to compensate for their short drop (around 18").

 

I would think that they are the equivalent volume of around a 4' drop in a standard lock (obviously having 3 boats in doesn't help with the extra water equation)

Edited May 26, 2009 by Proper Job

[sueb]

Hi Everyone,

Going down the last lock at Hurleston last week, whilst coming off the Llangollen and onto the Shroppie , I caught the cill

 

It would appear that I am trying to experiance all the bad bits of boating as early on as possible following my 'swim' last year!

 

At the time I caught the cill I could have really kicked myself........

 

.......However, I have been amazed at the number of folk that I have since learned of, who have also caught cills.

 

This got me wondering just how common an event this actually is.

 

So come on forum members..........

 

......Time to own up.

 

Regards,

Pav.

I hope you reported this incident to BW. They need to know if their cill signs are working.

Sue

[Smelly]

I've never cilled a boat, but I've hung up on the bow fender and once got the rudder stuck behind the paddle riser as I was going up Appley Bridge lock... That was scary as I couldn't see where it was stuck and my inquisitive nature meant i wasted precious seconds trying to figure out why the boat wasn't rising instead of closing paddles...

[Dominic M]

It's pretty much three times standard width. ie 21'.

 

Both Shipton and Aynho weir locks are indeed built that shape to compensate for their short drop (around 18").

 

I would think that they are the equivalent volume of around a 4' drop in a standard lock (obviously having 3 boats in doesn't help with the extra water equation)

Surely Aynho is designed to hold the same volume as the next lock down - Somerton Deep. Otherwise there would be an itsy bitsy teeny weeny problemo, non?

[Proper Job]

Surely Aynho is designed to hold the same volume as the next lock down - Somerton Deep. Otherwise there would be an itsy bitsy teeny weeny problemo, non?

Agreed, but the math doesn't stack up. Luckily its a fairly long pound and the amount of water that leaks around the gates overnight make up for the usage during the day (if BW are reading this - it's your excuse as to why you're not fixing the leaks - you can send the cheque in the post)

[magpie patrick]

Surely Aynho is designed to hold the same volume as the next lock down - Somerton Deep. Otherwise there would be an itsy bitsy teeny weeny problemo, non?

 

Probably, but it doesn't, that's why I was asking

 

You actually get this problem all the time with uneven lock falls (you should see the pound above Bath Deep on a busy day!) but where there a bywashes water can at least get past the lock, at these it can't because any surplus water from the next lock up disappears down the river

 

Proper job knows the falls better than I do, but if Aynho is a foot drop and Somerton Deep is twelve feet then Aynho would have to be rectangular and 84 feet wide to cope, clearly it isn't quite that big.

 

I suspect that it was often left with half a paddle up at either end in working days, although I've no evidence for it.

[Greybeard]

Coming through Stenson Lock yesterday afternoon I managed to get the stern button caught under the top of the gate while the lock was filling.

 

Couldn't work out why the the boat was at a strange angle.

 

Pulled forward and with a bang it popped free - much to the amusement of the other boat I was in the lock with, the couple we'd just spent the weekend with - not to mention the umpteen onlookers who frequent that lock.

 

Also got a finger wagging from SWMBO.

 

Note to self - less talking and more concentrating in the locks!

 

GB

[david and julie]

Hi Everyone,

Going down the last lock at Hurleston last week, whilst coming off the Llangollen and onto the Shroppie , I caught the cill

 

I cilled ours on these locks but did manage to resolve it in time.

 

I was steering and my wife was working the locks - it was her that insisted on this - she was really struggling and fell over due to the ground being wet and slippy so I got off to help her. Unfortunately, at the same time we were also having trouble with the morse control lever - it had gone very slack - as I jumped off the boat I must have caught the lever and it went into reverse. The boat was ticking over so must have started creeping back, I never noticed as I then had my back to the boat opening the paddles. I nearly had an arrest when I turned round.

[Nine of Hearts]

I cilled the Cat coming down Stockton (I think, somewhere on that stretch of the GU, anyway). Single handing as per, so it's always a bit hard to keep tabs on exactly where she is, especially in broad locks. Didn't realize anything was amiss until the angle got quite pronounced [an-gel]. Dropped the paddle and re-floated her in double quick time and thought I'd got away with it, until I saw that my tiller was sitting slightly higher than it should. A nice man in a nearby boat offered technical assistance^* to restore this to it's original configuration, and no lasting harm was done.

 

^* He hit it with a hammer.

[Hobbler]

During my time at Hurleston it used to happen at least a couple of times every week but there were also very many near misses. It always amazed me as to how many steerers seemed to be totally oblivious of what was happening to the boat in the lock and had their attention elsewhere - looking at guide books or chatting to gongoozlers being typical activities .

[Night Hawk]

Hi Everyone,

Going down the last lock at Hurleston last week, whilst coming off the Llangollen and onto the Shroppie , I caught the cill

 

It would appear that I am trying to experiance all the bad bits of boating as early on as possible following my 'swim' last year!

 

At the time I caught the cill I could have really kicked myself........

 

.......However, I have been amazed at the number of folk that I have since learned of, who have also caught cills.

 

This got me wondering just how common an event this actually is.

 

So come on forum members..........

 

......Time to own up.

 

Regards,

Pav.

 

Goodness...wasn't Linda the BW lady on her rounds?

[Cinimod]

Have to confess, yes we have caught the cill... guess everyone has to do it at least once, fortunately the cill was low...

[RLWP]

I don't remember catching the cill - yet, but I have got the boat stuck under a bolt head in Bancroft Basin lock, hung on a chain by the tee-stud in Tewkesbury lock, and regularly break the top chain on the button fender

 

Richard

[Pav]

Goodness...wasn't Linda the BW lady on her rounds?

 

Not at 6.30am, but she was helpful when she later came on duty.

[blackelle123]

Yep! we did it. On the very first lock we came to after picking the boat up and moving everything we owned aboard. We had had little or no experience with narrowboats (totally our fault) and made the mistake of sitting to far back in the lock. The water started to disappear and we just hung there, with the bow pointing down at an alarming angle. Hubs realised just in the nick of time and remedied the water level.

I have never been so scared in my life, thought that I was going to lose everything (personal property, our only home and our lives) at the first lock we came to - lesson learned!!!!

We are still learning - but thats life isn't it!!!