Locking down, solo

[Guest]

First of all, congratulations Moley on wining the photo of the month competition, great picture - I voted for it!

 

Topic ...

Just went out for the day to give the batteries a good charge before laying up for the winter. Went from my marina at Otherton on the S&W, out to Calf Lane and back. Five locks up going out and the same locks coming home are of course, locking down.

Three of them have bridged exits in this direction (so you cant keep hold of a line) and you can't do any fancy tricks like flicking the rope under and catching it the other side, when the bridge is the A5 Watling Street!

How do those of you who run solo handle it?

 

Peter

[DHutch]

I think the key to fast single handed locking is nobbling a frend/relative/grandchild/bystandeder to do half the work for you.

 

No, Serously, urrm, its hard work and there not easy solution.

- You can flick the rop under most bridges, and then catch it, if you lucky.

- Or else some of them even have a split in the center to pass a (tow) rope though.

 

 

Daniel

[Bones]

i run fast and have a gentle forward depending on the lock/position/etc

[nigel carton]

I just exit the lock and stop the boat, just a few feet from where the gates will shut, leave a rope on the side, jump up, shut the gates, then get back on boat and go, some thing like that.

[colinjw]

Hi Peter,

 

I do just as Nigel says but usually without the rope ashore. If the boat is stopped dead in the water, it will not move far anyway.

 

If the boat is just clear of the gates, there is normally quite a few feet betwwen the stern and any steps up to the gate. This hasn't failed me yet but for peace of mind I suppose I should start thinking about taking a rope ashore (remember, I have plenty....lol).

 

Colin

[Bones]

Hi Peter,

 

I do just as Nigel says but usually without the rope ashore. If the boat is stopped dead in the water, it will not move far anyway.

 

If the boat is just clear of the gates, there is normally quite a few feet betwwen the stern and any steps up to the gate. This hasn't failed me yet but for peace of mind I suppose I should start thinking about taking a rope ashore (remember, I have plenty....lol).

 

Colin

 

me too - but on reflection perhaps the way you put it is a bit better than the way I did - which I realise makes no sense now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nigel carton]

I've never had a boat run away from me... yet, but thats got to be embarresing when it happens

[Yamanx]

I've done a fair amount of single handed locking and going up is easier, in my opinion, to going down as the gates open in your favour.

 

I really love spending time on the boat by myself for short periods and dont mind going single handed at all, provided I dont have to be somewhere.

 

My going down method, narrow locks, is as follows:

 

I let the boat nudge up against the lock gate and get off the front. This is because I have been stuck on the bottom on some canals when pulling to the side, so I aviod it if possible.

 

I leave the boat on tick over and in drive, set the lock.

 

Its then possible to push the boat backwards against its drive, yes it is, enough to clear the gate.

 

Let the boat drive itself into the lock, on its way past, I take the centre line and pull on it to slow the now speeding up boat so it just nudges the far end gate, or jump on and use reverse to slow it.

 

Close the gate, open the paddles and let the water out, the boat is still in forward drive and is up against the far end.

 

Close one set of paddles and open the gate, you have enough pressure with the gate to push the boat back against its drive, yes you do. On the odd ocassion I have had problems trapping the bow behind the door, especially if the lock is a bit wider than normal. But for 99% of the time no problems.

 

This next bit requires a good bit of timing and varies from lock to lock.

 

Close the last set of paddles and open the gate, let the boat drive itself out, as soon as the boat clears the gates close them, leg it down the steps or whatever and onto the back of the boat just in time as it goes past!

 

Going up, now thats a different story.

[colinjw]

I've never had a boat run away from me... yet, but thats got to be embarresing when it happens

 

Hi Nigel,

 

I had the boat drift out of my reach once when locking up but fortunately the very slight breeze blew it back in. Equally fortunately. there were no gongoozlers about....phewww!

 

Now when locking up, I always take a long stern line ashore with me when going up.

 

Colin

[Bones]

I love going it single handed - the peace and quite is wonderful, and there is no worry about crew. My crew - (when they decide to come along) are so accident prone and inificient, they only inhibit any cruising so I insist they sit inside or on the bow and don't try to help. They bring out cups of tea but generally stay out of the way... sometimes they disappear across a field with a camera and return up the canal red faced and puffing with excellent pictures to show me (after cruising) of what they have seen.

 

Its certainly relaxing, and without any need to be anywhere particularly I love it, with or without a crew... although Somerton Deep Lock gets to me!

[Guest]

. . . leave a rope on the side . . .

Nigel

? not sure I understand, you mean just hanging over the edge? Surely, if you can reach a rope, you can reach the boat bits - rail - stern seats - stern rail. Perhaps I've not understood you, after all you do an awful lot of solo miles, so you should know what your talking about.

 

Colin

" . . . taking a rope ashore (remember, I have plenty....lol)"

LoL

 

Yamanx

" . . . as soon as the boat clears the gates close them, leg it down the steps or whatever and onto the back of the boat just in time as it goes past!"

On locks with a bridged downhill exit that often means legging it all the way back to the other end of the lock and up the other side, to close the second gate!

My boat is 30' long so it doesn't take very long to clear the exit and be on it's way, without me if I'm not there in time!

 

Peter

[Guest]

I love going it single handed - the peace and quite is wonderful, and there is no worry about crew. My crew - (when they decide to come along) are so accident prone and inificient, they only inhibit any cruising so I insist they sit inside or on the bow and don't try to help. They bring out cups of tea but generally stay out of the way...

Bones,

When there are other boats about, dont you get funny looks/comments from other boaters helping out at the locks, because you seem to have able bodied crew sitting about doing nothing, while the other boaters are helping you?

Reason for the question is because my OCM has a spinal problem and arthritic hands as well, so she is often on hand but not hauling ropes/pushing gate arms/winding paddles. She sometimes takes the tiller, but she also has a lung condition (allied to the arthritus) so often needs not to be at the bottom of a lock in diesel fumes. We sometimes get some funny looks from the people in the queue who are helping with the lock.

 

Peter

 

pls excuse the deviation

Edited December 6, 2005 by Guest

[bottle]

I did travel behind an elderly couple, a few years ago, and he did all the work as his wife was disabled. She did manage to be able to work the boat into and out of the lock.

 

To facilitate him closing the second gate from the same side as the first, he had along pole with a boat hook on one end and a spade handle on the other (Y shaped not T). the pole was long enough to reach the other gate he would 'hook on' and just lean back thus saving the long walk round.

[Bones]

Bones,

When there are other boats about, dont you get funny looks/comments from other boaters helping out at the locks, because you seem to have able bodied crew sitting about doing nothing, while the other boaters are helping you?

Reason for the question is because my OCM has a spinal problem and arthritic hands as well, so she is often on hand but not hauling ropes/pushing gate arms/winding paddles. She sometimes takes the tiller, but she also has a lung condition (allied to the arthritus) so often needs not to be at the bottom of a lock in diesel fumes. We sometimes get some funny looks from the people in the queue who are helping with the lock.

 

Peter

 

pls excuse the deviation

 

No, I don't get funny looks. As a fellow boater I will often give a hand to people and I just persume whoever is resting has been doing them until now for the last 50 locks. I think if I did get comments I would just say they are busy or 'locks aint their thing'. Personally I quite like helping another boater out at the lock, its a good opportunity to chat so the more people sitting around the better!

[Keeping Up]

Hi Nigel,

 

I had the boat drift out of my reach once when locking up but fortunately the very slight breeze blew it back in. Equally fortunately. there were no gongoozlers about....phewww!

 

Now when locking up, I always take a long stern line ashore with me when going up.

 

Colin

When going up a narrow lock, I just let the boat drive itself forward out of the lock (helping me push the gate open as it does so) and as it passes me I change it from forwards into reverse at tickover speed. It exits the lock, travels about a length or so, then comes back to me. By that time I've shut the gate so I just get on and put it into forwards again.

 

I once told an amused gongoozler (who was laughing that my boat had gone without me) that I'd trained it to come back when I whistle. As it stopped I whistled, he looked at the boat and saw it coming back: the look on his face was priceless.

 

One day something will go wrong, like something on the prop for example, and I'll lose it - but until then it's just so satisfying when it works properly!

[Yamanx]

Yamanx

" . . . as soon as the boat clears the gates close them, leg it down the steps or whatever and onto the back of the boat just in time as it goes past!"

On locks with a bridged downhill exit that often means legging it all the way back to the other end of the lock and up the other side, to close the second gate!

My boat is 30' long so it doesn't take very long to clear the exit and be on it's way, without me if I'm not there in time!

 

Peter

 

On narrow locks I manage to step across from one closed gate to the open one, so far no problem

 

I do confess to having slowed the rate the boat moves out of the lock by squashing the gate against the boat, this slows the boats progress plenty enough to get around, over or under bridges etc. But I didnt have to worry about paint work.

[colinjw]

On narrow locks I manage to step across from one closed gate to the open one, so far no problem

 

I do confess to having slowed the rate the boat moves out of the lock by squashing the gate against the boat, this slows the boats progress plenty enough to get around, over or under bridges etc. But I didnt have to worry about paint work.

 

Hi yanmax,

 

As regards your very last sentence:

 

I have not long painted mine (the tumblehome and rubbing strakes).

 

Colin

 

p.s. But there again, the battle scars are a sign of a non-status boater I suppose.

[DHutch]

On narrow locks I manage to step across from one closed gate to the open one, so far no problem

 

I do confess to having slowed the rate the boat moves out of the lock by squashing the gate against the boat, this slows the boats progress plenty enough to get around...

Yeah, we also step accross narrowlocks (infact, i can clear a 7ft lock given a few meters of run up)

 

But we like our paint, so thats not happening...!

- We have more than enough batle scars to prove we non-status!

 

 

Daniel

[nigel carton]

Hi Peter,

 

bit difficult to explain in words, when the boat is 'just' out of the lock chamber and stationary, I jump off and lay either the centre or stern rope on the path, steps on the grass. When I get used to a certain flight, I'm quite happy not to leave a rope at all but I never take my eye off the boat for one second.

when I get a spare day, I would be more than happy to come out with you for the day and do a bit of lock work. Not crewed a Sea Otter before, bet they handle really well!

 

Nigel

 

PS Dan

 

Christmas is getting close and I've done bugger all yet.... PANIC!

[DHutch]

Christmas is getting close....

SHHHhhhhhh

...and I've done bugger all yet.... PANIC!

SHHHhhhhhh again (same here)

 

 

[Bones]

Yeah, we also step accross narrowlocks (infact, i can clear a 7ft lock given a few meters of run up)

 

But we like our paint, so thats not happening...!

- We have more than enough batle scars to prove we non-status!

Daniel

 

I wouldn't like to use the clearing a 7ft lock with a run up as a stratergy for boating - if I missed, slipped or just got it wrong the only person to hear my cries would be me if I was on my own - and if I was with my crew the panic that would ensue would probably result in the lot of them jumping in after me and making matters worse!

[DHutch]

I wouldn't like to use the clearing a 7ft lock with a run up as a stratergy for boating - if I missed, slipped or just got it wrong the only person to hear my cries would be me if I was on my own - and if I was with my crew the panic that would ensue would probably result in the lot of them jumping in after me and making matters worse!

No, i dont make a regular thing out of it, becuase as you, if it went wrong, espcially if you alown

- Also, im carefull about not doing it just infront of the boat or somthing daft like that.

 

N.B. Kidds, do not try this at home....

 

 

 

Daniel

[Guest]

I did travel behind an elderly couple a few years ago . . .

 

Bottle - my missus is a year older than you (Not saying how old I am!)

 

when I get a spare day, I would be more than happy to come out with you for the day and do a bit of lock work.

 

Nigel - You would be very welcome. Lets PM each other after the winter, ok?

 

Peter

[nigel carton]

Peter,

 

That will be great

 

Nigel

[bottle]

Bottle - my missus is a year older than you (Not saying how old I am!)

Nigel - You would be very welcome. Lets PM each other after the winter, ok?

 

Peter

 

 

Peter

 

Are you that 'elderly' gentleman with the pole I described, It was not my intention to upset.

I only told the tale as I admired their tenacity in carrying on boating and enjoying it.

They (you) have my admiration and respect, I only hope, I will have the same strength as they did (you do) to carry on boating as long as possible.

The pole conversion is brilliant and could be used to good effect by anyone.

 

Happy boating and long may it continue.