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Roxy in trouble on the Trent

MtB

By MtB
in General Boating

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Davidss Collaborator

Davidss

Posted
Posted (edited)

The location was given as They have run aground and are stuck, about half a mile below Cranfleet lock.

Cranfleet lock is at one end of Cranfleet cut, the other end of which is at the junction of the Erewash Canal, and the River. If they were on the river anywhere near there they would be more likely to give their location as Trent Lock.

So, I think can say they are the Beeston / Nottingham side of Cranfleet Lock.

 

Trent Lock is the most obvious place to launch a small boat from, then travel along the Cranfleet cut.

If anyone was attempting to find them from land then they have to use 'Meadow Lane' changing to 'Pasture Lane', a back road out of Long Eaton that goes nowhere except towards the river. This was the route to the river when someone tried to take a Davison Bros hire boat the weir that Cranfeet Cut bypasses. This was well before the safety chain was in place.

The area is VERY dark, the only lighting is Moon, stars, and whatever you take with you.

A Land Rover is the ideal sort of vehicle, but it does depend on where the boat is.

 

HTH

 

Edited to add that if anyone is navigating by Post Code, NG10 2FZ takes you to Home Farm on Pasture Lane. This farm is now abandoned, as the area has become Gravel Pits, which at least means that where the road is dry it will be good, but where the road is wet it's DEEP!!

Use that Post Code as the Search term on The Hug map site and you can see what the surroundings look like.

make your own judgement on whereabouts half a mile below Cranfleet lock is, and hope Hairy Neil was correct :-)

Edited by Davidss
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Hairy-Neil Veteran

Hairy-Neil

Posted
Posted

Indeed. I've discussed this with Neil already, and this is turning into a textbook lesson in how not to be prepared! No tools to lift the zed drive, no longshaft on board.

 

They are currently turning the interior of the boat upside down hunting for the necessary spanner. Roxy says its in the boat, but they can't find it. If they find it, then they should get free easily.

 

Rox is also worried that there may turn out to be mechanical damage to the zed drive though, due to fouling of the prop with timber just prior to ending up aground.

 

 

Indeed, a broken shaft and no tools. could only find half of the z drive release handle..... We managed to free the boat with a combination of rocking and shoving. All sorted now though and back at the moorings. Thanks for all the offers of help.... :cheers: :cheers:

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Roxy Proficient

Roxy

Posted
Posted

I would just like to say a BIG BIG THANKYOU to everyone for the offers of help and concerns.

 

Neil was driving at the time :rolleyes::lol: when all of a sudden we heard scraping underneath the boat then a massive clunk. Neil immedietly turned the engine off, and due to the wind coming across the Trent it pushed us further aground. It was pitch black which didnt help one bit, although had all my nav lights and spot lights lit. We tried to push the boat off but to no avail, my boat hook has snapped so was quite long enough. Neil then started the engine again and tried to reverse off but we was going nowhere. I then rang Mike the Boilerman up, not sure why just thought he may have advice (sorry Neil) that we hadnt tried, which he did so I passed the phone over to Neil. We tried rocking the boat at which point my kettle fell off the cooker full of water and soaked the floor :(

We mustve stuck there for a good hour and half maybe longer, Neil then said we was probably there for the night, and I started crying which didn't help things but I had to go to work this morning so needed to be home. we then tried again Neil at the wheel and me trying to push the boat off and we got off, but wasnt easy as I could here the engine screaming its head off and the ground underneath my boat scraping it but all I wanted to do was get my boat back to my mooring.

Not really sure how it happend in the first place as Neil is experienced it must've just been very shallow and obviously we couldnt see that as it was dark.

Big thanks to Mike the Boilerman, Mike31 and Starcoster for the phone calls and reassurance bless them, JerryP not many people would be prepared to come out so late with there Landrover so again thankyou for the offer.

Ive never ran aground and still havent Neil did :lol: and it was very scary as I didnt know what to expect, I was traumatised at the time, while Neil just took it all in his stride. Just glad we got back safely in the end.

Unsure of damage to the z drive, we couldnt see for one, Neil and Trouty are on there way back here now, again it will be too dark to see anything so they'll have to have a look first thing in morning, but hoping it'll still be ok to bring her down to Loughborough.

Will let you know.....

God bless

Rachel

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fuzzyduck Experienced

fuzzyduck

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JerryP not many people would be prepared to come out so late with there Landrover so again thankyou for the offer.

 

And a huge special thank you to Fuzzyduck who was prepared to bail out, slip, dismantle , and slap his dnghy onto the top of Jerry P's D90 and come drag you off. Who actually dug out 2 lifejackets, torches and tow rope.

 

:P

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cheshire~rose Veteran II

cheshire~roseDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Glad you got back ok Roxy, I bet it was quite scary at the time although I suspect in daylight it would have seemed much less so.

 

I think you need to get yourself on the tiller of a few old working boats and get some practice at how to get off shallow bits (or not allow Neil on the tiller in future ;) )

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bizzard Veteran II

bizzard

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If Roxy's boat has no protective skeg or keel on the boats hull to protect the outdrive leg and propeller i would run in forwards with the reverse anti kick up lock off as can be done with most outboard motors.But of course remember to re-lock it before going into astern gear.

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Roxy Proficient

Roxy

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And a huge special thank you to Fuzzyduck who was prepared to bail out, slip, dismantle , and slap his dnghy onto the top of Jerry P's D90 and come drag you off. Who actually dug out 2 lifejackets, torches and tow rope.

 

:P

Sorry FD, I did say a big thankyou to everyone, but this is the first time Ive heard this so my apologies. I was scared stiff at the time.

Thankyou for being prepared to come out and help.

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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

Posted
Posted

Not really sure how it happend in the first place as Neil is experienced it must've just been very shallow and obviously we couldnt see that as it was dark.

He is indeed!

 

He was fine with Chertsey, so perhaps bigger boats are more his forte!

 

That said Chertsey doesn't have a Z-drive! :lol:

 

Glad it was no worse, anyway!

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matty40s Veteran II

matty40s

Posted
Posted

 

That said Chertsey doesn't have a Z-drive! :lol:

 

cos it's a proper bote....

 

:cheers:

 

did wonder about the broken shaft and a combination of rocking and shoving........was this to keep warm or free the vessel....

 

sorry couldn't have helped,have had a laptop free 4 days, and not got back to boat until today afternoon.

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