Clearing the prop with a cabin shaft

[Chertsey]

Or a short shaft

 

Richard

Indeed.

[MoominPapa]

Ok. Long shaft, short shaft and cabin shaft. Got it.

 

MP.

[Timleech]

Ok. Long shaft, short shaft and cabin shaft. Got it.

 

MP.

 

Short shaft = cabin shaft, as often as not.

 

I used to be a dab hand with a shunters' pole, for its intended purpose, but never got on with one as a boating accessory.

 

Tim

[koukouvagia]

 

It looks like it might be a long way to reach from lying on the deck to work the wire cutters on stuff wrapped round the shaft and manipulating any sort of boat hook down that hatch looks difficult too. Is it really that much better?

 

Actually, it's dead easy. My technique is to kneel down in the back cabin and reach in to the weed hatch. The prop shaft is within easy reach. Pop on a pair of long sleeved pond gloves and the job's done. I've got an assortment of bolt cutters, knives and poky things according to what's down there.

 

 

 

I did put a hatch in the back deck, but it was a bit awkward to reach down from this position as you suggest, so this is now covered by a wooden deck and is completely unseen from the outside.

[carlt]

Yes, well how can this be adapted to a wooden boat? How much did it cost? It looks like it might be a long way to reach from lying on the deck to work the wire cutters on stuff wrapped round the shaft and manipulating any sort of boat hook down that hatch looks difficult too. Is it really that much better? Lesser used urban waterways is what we've always done,( and I include most parts of the BCN), no weed hatch.

Bill

Usk had a weed hatch installed by Ken Keay, just in front of the counter block, and was very effective despite lacking the manhole cover that Laurence has.

 

I removed and replaced the prop with the boat in the water and wouldn't have managed it without the weedhatch.

 

Edited to add: It was very much like KKvagia's without the deck hatch.

Edited August 10, 2012 by carlt

[Derek R.]

We had a weed hatch on YARMOUTH, fitted by 'someone', which when opened had just half an inch of dry side - inside the hatch.

It got interesting when a bunch of young lads stepped on the back deck to see what was round the prop.

 

There are minimum requirements now of course.

 

I do remember slinging a scaffold plank at water level and laying on that to reach someone's prop once. Worked well enough, but got pretty wet in the process. Dropping it on a cill would be another practice not yet mentioned. Got to be careful doing that though.

[Laurence Hogg]

Yes, well how can this be adapted to a wooden boat? How much did it cost? It looks like it might be a long way to reach from lying on the deck to work the wire cutters on stuff wrapped round the shaft and manipulating any sort of boat hook down that hatch looks difficult too. Is it really that much better? Lesser used urban waterways is what we've always done,( and I include most parts of the BCN), no weed hatch.

Bill

[/quote

Hi Bill,

From memory the cost was around £550 to do the job, the whole centre deck lifts so you have access within a minute or so, being able to get at problems so fast has greatly reduced the "down time" when encountered.

 

Fitting same to a wooden boat could be done as Carl as said it was with Usk and the old H F Truman.

We keep an assortment of bread knives, mini hacksaw and cutters in the unit so everthings ready at hand and if a pull on a shft hook is required its much easier to do through the hatch than from the side.

 

Here it is with deck lifted:

 

Edited August 10, 2012 by Laurence Hogg

[Hairy-Neil]

Wussies!.

 

 

Mind you, I'm not shore I'm yet prepared to say why I was down the weed hatch of our "modern" boat for the first time of the trip, this morning.

 

It's all too embarrassing!

 

Did the stern rope fall off the tiller pin....

[Derek R.]

Did the stern rope fall off the tiller pin....

 

Well, who'd have thought it!

[pete harrison]

 

Meanwhile picking up on the Buckby topic, here's some real men:

 

Any chance of putting this photograph on again, but bigger please. I have tried to get a larger copy from the N.B.T. Ltd. 2009 gallery but is is similarly sized to the one above.

Edited August 10, 2012 by pete harrison

[Tam & Di]

Just in case someone did get the wrong impression - Tam's advice is with the engine stopped!! In gear and cranked by hand, never done that myself if only due to much single handed boating.

 

Whoops! Thanks for the essential clarification - things could get nasty otherwise - might even lead to "single handed boating" in another sense altogether.

 

Thinking about this thread while engaged in a rather boring painting job today got me to wondering when some enterprising boat builder will offer traditional reproduction blade fulls for those who want to experience the real working boatman's life

[steelaway]

Any chance of putting this photograph on again, but bigger please. I have tried to get a larger copy from the N.B.T. Ltd. 2009 gallery but is is similarly sized to the one above.

 

 

 

Here you are but not a good resolution

 

Alex

 

 

[carlt]

I believe there's a bigger, clearer version of this photo on the forums somewhere along with a selection of captions to go with it.

[Ray T]

The professionals doing it courtesy of A Canal People, Sonia Rolt:

 

 

 

 

Here you are but not a good resolution

 

Alex

 

 

 

Looks as though it could be Hillmorton Locks?

Edited August 10, 2012 by Ray T

[pete harrison]

Looks as though it could be Hillmorton Locks?

The photograph file is titled "Hillmorton-2" on the N.B.T. Ltd. website.

[Ray T]

The photograph file is titled "Hillmorton-2" on the N.B.T. Ltd. website.

 

Thank you, what a guess.

 

I didn't look at the picture code, honest.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Ray T

[Blaker]

Any chance of putting this photograph on again, but bigger please. I have tried to get a larger copy from the N.B.T. Ltd. 2009 gallery but is is similarly sized to the one above.

 

The guy on the left is counterbalancing the plank, which is overhanging the cut, while Dangerous Dave hangs on to Tom Stewart, who clears the blades. Location is the bottom of the middle locks at Hillmorton.

[Laurence Hogg]

Ok, I've just realised that I'm suffering from terminology confusion: I always assumed that the "cabin shaft" was what a lay-person would call a barge-pole, ie the large diameter pole used for pushing. Clearly from this thread, the cabin shaft is what I've always called the "boat hook". In that case, what's the correct term for a pushing-shaft?

 

MP.

The correct term is a "quant".

[Mike C]

The correct term is a "quant".

Umm 'Quant'? - Ive always believed that was a pole for use with a punt and what Moominpapa is refering to is a 'Long shaft' or a 'Shaft'

[Barry]

Umm 'Quant'? - Ive always believed that was a pole for use with a punt and what Moominpapa is refering to is a 'Long shaft' or a 'Shaft'

 

And for poling a broads yacht too

[Derek R.]

Cabin shaft: has a hook.

Long shaft: used for pushing off, also called a pole (small p, fewer around than those with a capital P).

Short shaft: one that isn't long enough.

Quant: Always thought it an East Anglian pushing pole with a forked end.

Punt pole: what it says. To 'pole' a punt.

Boat hook: fitted on the end of a shaft.

Barge hook: bigger bugger with a hole in for padlocking on. None too common.

 

Only my version though.

[onionbargee]

You really need to do this mod to the boat, this has saved us so much effort and time when on the lesser good parts of the system. If you are doing urban waterways like the BCN its almost essential. And lets face it if the boats had evolved further it would be standard now.

 

As fitted to "Barnet":

 

and from inside:

 

Is that high enough to be opened when the boat is loaded ?

[carlt]

Is that high enough to be opened when the boat is loaded ?

he stern of a working boat doesn't go much deeper in the water, when loaded.

[mykaskin]

he stern of a working boat doesn't go much deeper in the water, when loaded.

 

Depends on how much you put on...

 

Mike

[Laurence Hogg]

Depends on how much you put on...

 

Mike

Wrong, thats overloading. All GU boats were designed to run at approx 3ft 3" - 6" when loaded. See LWL on the drawings. Yours is deeper than the rest with LWL at 4ft 6" from memory, but as we know this was not practical.

 

Is that high enough to be opened when the boat is loaded ?

Yes, we took that into consideration.