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I'm getting abit old for monkey business. But seriously, I've seen this suggested several times, but have you EVER seen it done? I haven't.

 

My mother, in her younger days, climbed the gates a lot. In particular I remember on the Aire and Calder at Beale Lock in 1973, it was the only way off the boat to work the lock from below.

 

It must be said that at the age of 73, in 2008, Mum was the fastest up a twenty foot ladder in Preston Docks, and the most confident going down it as well.

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Iron staples were always fixed to L&LC wooden lock gates to allow you to climb them, and some of the BW steel gates, installed around 1980, do have suitable holes cut into the framing for the same purpose. It is a feature which seems to have been forgotten on more recent gates, as have the pieces of wedge-shaped wood fitted either side of the mitre post to reduce the tripping hazard when walking across the gates. It is one place where BW have removed a health & safety feature.

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  • 1 month later...

I have seen complaints about the practice of nudging. As you push ito the lock people say that you wear the sealing surface of the lock gates and couse them to leak.

 

Nick

 

PS Movin this to boat handling.

It is possible that modern boats have differently positioned and perhaps sharper protuberances (such as protruding baseplate) than the boats the locks were designed for.

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:o We dont need any signs stating the bleeding obvious. Its about time people accepted their own mistakes rather than all the moaning about danger. Life is dangerous unless we lock ourselves in the garden shed and never go out.......... ;)

 

Even when signs are present people disregard them anyway - don't you think it's surprising how often you have to ask folk to move away from the hydraulic gates on the A&CN in order that they do not get swept into the navigation by the balance beams when you open them...

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What else causes those leaky lock gates at the sealing edge but pushing through with the bow? The cheeks, as the boat rubs it's way through the lock gates.

 

Emptying the lock, ahead of the one your in, when going up between short pounds can lead to the one your in experiencing overspill of the lock gate into the front of your boat.

 

I've tried both of these things, in the past, and now feel they are both potentially destructive.

 

What's a few minutes, here and there, to tie up and open the gates?

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I'm getting abit old for monkey business. But seriously, I've seen this suggested several times, but have you EVER seen it done? I haven't.

 

used to it all the time, getting to old now though!

as for nudging open again done it regularly, wear on the mitre hardly a problem as gate is thick enough to take the wear without leaking, what really causes leakage is single gating out of wide locks and bashing gates open.

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wear on the mitre hardly a problem as gate is thick enough to take the wear without leaking.

 

Until it isn't.

 

Rubbing through changes the angle of the mitre with wear. The trailing edge of the mitre becomes prone and then the leaky bit is under way and becomes progressively worse.

Edited by Higgs
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Until it isn't.

 

Rubbing through changes the angle of the mitre with wear. The trailing edge of the mitre becomes prone and then the leaky bit is under way and becomes progressively worse.

Does that make sense to anyone else because it certainly doesn't to me.

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Does that make sense to anyone else because it certainly doesn't to me.

 

The term mitre was used, following on from a previous poster who had used the term to define the vertical edge of the lock gate that closes against the vertical edge of the other gate.. ( double gate )

 

In other terms - the part of the lock gates that are effected by wear, through contact with boats ( accidental or otherwise ) is an area that suffers leakage problems; caused by the reshaping of the edges of the lock gates that should seal. This question was discussed in a previous thread on wether one should open both gates when entering a double lock. Damage can happen when entering and leaving a lock.

 

I know it is common pratice to use the boat to open the lock gates, but it can put stress on the lock gate fittings and joints. The balance beams are intended for that use. It basically ends up a question of the cost of maintenance, the loss of water and, the time it takes to fill a lock with this type of leak.

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I know it is common pratice to use the boat to open the lock gates, but it can put stress on the lock gate fittings and joints. The balance beams are intended for that use. It basically ends up a question of the cost of maintenance, the loss of water and, the time it takes to fill a lock with this type of leak.

 

Disregarding the question of mitre wear etc., pushing open the bottom gates with a boat actually pushes on the gates around the mid point which causes less strain than using the balance beam, especially if you have to bounce on the beam to overcome leaking top gates.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

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Disregarding the question of mitre wear etc., pushing open the bottom gates with a boat actually pushes on the gates around the mid point which causes less strain than using the balance beam, especially if you have to bounce on the beam to overcome leaking top gates.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

 

I can see the logic of that. Helping someone who's working the balance beam to keep the stress off the gate. I won't venture to guess what may have caused the leak that made emptying difficult. It happens that locks are a bit run down. I suppose sometimes the maintenance lets the boaters down.

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I have seen complaints about the practice of nudging. As you push ito the lock people say that you wear the sealing surface of the lock gates and couse them to leak.

 

Nick

 

PS Movin this to boat handling.

 

It can wear the bottom gate's mitre's going in a wide lock, not if you are breasted up though, and not when exiting the top gates, but gates not going back into their recesses through lack of maintanance is the main cause of wear to the mitre's. Mentioning no names KENNET AND AVON. most all their gates are ruined through this, and leak like sieves.

 

This is what i do most every lock, but if BW / CRT catch you they get their panties in a bunch big style ! I don't see there's any other strain on the gates like they make out. It's good boating, keep it up.

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This is what i do most every lock, but if BW / CRT catch you they get their panties in a bunch big style ! I don't see there's any other strain on the gates like they make out. It's good boating, keep it up.

 

I'm what some people would call ' a non-proper boater', unfortunately having to spend alot of time in a marina. But, when I am able to take the boat out I'd like something left that works. In the mean time, I'll continue to pay for you to do your 'good boating'.

 

I know I'm being really selfish, not wanting my license fee to increase to meet the cost of avoidable lock damage. No point in moaning, I'm being silly. There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I'm also one of those sad bar stewards that stick to the speed limits on the road, because I don't have a mind of my own and don't know it's much safer to drive at higher speeds, above those advised.

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I'm what some people would call ' a non-proper boater', unfortunately having to spend alot of time in a marina. But, when I am able to take the boat out I'd like something left that works. In the mean time, I'll continue to pay for you to do your 'good boating'.

 

I know I'm being really selfish, not wanting my license fee to increase to meet the cost of avoidable lock damage. No point in moaning, I'm being silly. There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I'm also one of those sad bar stewards that stick to the speed limits on the road, because I don't have a mind of my own and don't know it's much safer to drive at higher speeds, above those advised.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you Victor Meldrew, i will have my boats craned out and around the locks future in case i wear 10 thou off them going through.

 

 

You can take your medication now.

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Thank you Victor Meldrew, i will have my boats craned out and around the locks future in case i wear 10 thou off them going through.

You can take your medication now.

 

 

 

You're welcome. Victor. ;) Glad I didn't reply to your paint problem. In fact I did, but I pressed the wrong key and lost it, then couldn't be arsed to do it again. I guess as you can't be arsed, it was the right reply.

 

I do realise that locks are not made of rice paper, but I see no reason why they should be used as dodgems. Don't know if there are any definitive rules. If as you suggest, BW don't see certain use as reasonable, why choose to be contrary.

Edited by Higgs
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I'd suggest it would need to be a very non-busy time for a single hander to be able to walk 4 locks ahead of their boat drawing paddles to reverse the lock, and then walk back to operate in the way you say.

 

If you are turning 4 locks ahead, you would need to be fairly confident that no other boat was even (say) eight locks ahead, and coming down, or (with all the locks up to your lead lock already in their favour), they will probably arrive there long before you.

 

At most flights there are very few places where you can know what is going on 4 or more locks ahead of you.

 

Even with a crew of two or three working very quickly, and even at non-busy times, do we ever set more than a couple ahead.

 

Sods law almost dictates that the only boat you meet coming the other way all day long will be the one that arrives at a lock you have turned well in advance long before you do.

 

 

In a twin gate situation, (narrow or broad lock) if you "nudge" in a straight line dead through the middle, you can never really be rubbing on the sealing surfaces, if you think about what actually is then capable of touching what.

 

If you try barging a double lock, at a bad angle of approach, so the gates don't open at all evenly, then it is certainly possible to damage, particularly if one gate hardly moves, and you rub the seal, because something stops the other one opening totally.

 

it was a very non busy time. I was ascending Tardebigge on a damp, midweek day in early October 2008 and saw nothing else moving all day.

 

Nick

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