Canal & River Trust Agrees New Contracts To Give Improved Services For Waterway Visitors

[alan_fincher]

 

 

Here we are on 'the M6 of the canal network' (according to a CRT press release):-

 

 

Mounds of floating pennywort on the bank, which boaters have dragged out.

It took three of us with two kebs a serious struggle to pull that clump of weed onto the bank, where it will probably sit until it rots away.

 

Tim

We found quite a lot near identical to that on the Birmingham and Fazeley a few months back, including one that needed dragging ahead of us through Curdworth tunnel to stop it jamming us to one side.

 

I have recently had to nudge out the way several similar sized ones around the Milton Keynes area on the GU.

 

An increasing problem on lots of canals, I think.

 

EDITED TO ADD:

 

Afterthought - maybe a few of these lashed together would provide an adequate working platform for the tree cutters, if they can't actually borrow proper boats!....

 

 

On the Peak Forest Canal last month, they had what looked like a widebeam platform they'd been working off. A closer look indicated that it 'unfolded' into narrowbeam craft.

 

yes, but that would be highly specialist - I suspect CRT is highly unlikely to possess a lot of these to loan to contractors when they are not using them for anything else.

Edited October 2, 2013 by alan_fincher

[Timleech]

 

An increasing problem on lots of canals, I think.

 

Do CRT have a policy for dealing with this sort of thing ?

Or, do they just leave it until they get so many complaints that they can't avoid doing something?

I think we should be told.

 

Tim

[cheshire~rose]

I think they can put planks onto the top of modern hoppers to make a platform? Obviously these are not powered but a small tug can be used for that.

 

Would it be possible to lower a shredder into a hopper with a crane?

 

When we did the clearing on The Chesterfield last year we just worked from the hopper. The bow and stern have a good expanse of deck to get a secure footing for the work so long as it is steady in the water. Of course there is little room for more than one or two people to work from that area safeley but we found those people cutting were producing so many branches that those of us inside the hopper trying to cut it down to a managable size that we could walk over it in the hopper had our work cut out. A shredder would have been a Godsend!

[Athy]

.

 

I guess you are down to only the types of boats that have a wide stable platform, which several men can work from safely,

.....and you have included a picture of just such a craft in your avatar. Perhaps you could hire Sickle out to CART for this sort of job when you aren't cruising in her!

[alan_fincher]

.....and you have included a picture of just such a craft in your avatar. Perhaps you could hire Sickle out to CART for this sort of job when you aren't cruising in her!

You obviously ......

 

1) Missed the word "stable" in my description.

 

or

 

2) Have never been on board "Sickle" or one of her sister boats.

 

If you wanted to deposit a shredder into the cut if everybody stood on the same side she would be fine - otherwise probably not!

 

Ice boats are intended to roll as much as possible!

[kris88]

On the l&l I've seen fountains trim the towpath grass 4 times in 5 weeks over the top for this time of year I think. But not once in 18 months have I seen anyone cutting the over hanging offside vegetation. So are they promising more of this quality service.

Regards kris

[nebulae]

What happened to the much publisised program of building the new work flats with demountable accomodation pods? These were designed to take a shredder and other machinery in the hold. They were to be distributed around the system and fitted with pods by lorry and hiab as required. They were to be moved to site by push tugs. Seemed a good idea in principle,but needed a major capital program..to fund the provision.(I was told by a B.W. man that vandals have found that the pods burn well) I understood that B.W.B. was a navigation authority.Surely,nature conservation should be funded by Natural England(or whatever its called now) Does CaRT have specific non navigation related funding?Should they be spending money on nature conservation?

[Athy]

You obviously ......

 

1) Missed the word "stable" in my description.

 

or

 

2) Have never been on board "Sickle" or one of her sister boats.

 

If you wanted to deposit a shredder into the cut if everybody stood on the same side she would be fine - otherwise probably not!

 

Ice boats are intended to roll as much as possible!

Good points - although I thought that it was the earlier type of icebreaker, on which men clung to a central handrail and rocked and rolled, which did their job by rolling, whereas your more refined model broke the ice with its blade.

Is it not true that the reason that many tug-style boats had long flush decks was to facilitate people standing on them to do jobs, of which I suspect that vegetation trimming may well have been one?

[alan_fincher]

Good points - although I thought that it was the earlier type of icebreaker, on which men clung to a central handrail and rocked and rolled, which did their job by rolling, whereas your more refined model broke the ice with its blade.

 

Not so.

 

Even the motorised versions had the raised central rail you describe, and a team of men would have done exactly what you say.

 

Tycho still carries the rail and supporting frames, although some of the deck is currently lost being instead 2blue tops" from a River class boat.

 

(Photo: "DerekR" of this forum).

 

 

It was not sufficient to break just a channel down the middle a bit over seven feet wide, you tried to break it much wider, so it didn't quickly reform.

 

There is strong evidence that the Middle Northwich icebreakers actually additionally had large baulks of timber bolted through holes down each side of the boat to increase the effect of the operation. It's hard to see what else the line of holes that is evidenced in some of these boats was for.

 

You are correct that a tug deck was a good working platform - probably most often toallow tug crews to have somewhere to shaft unpowered boats from - some old BCN pictures claerly show such operations.

 

Where you need a secure working platform it is best not to use a boat with large radius round chines, and a vee bottom though.

Edited October 2, 2013 by alan_fincher

[carlt]

 

It's hard to see what else the line of holes that is evidenced in some of these boats was for.

 

 

Outriggers to stabilise the boat whilst using it as a work platform? <tongue in cheek smiley>

[Athy]

In the words of the sage Desmond Dekker, "The more that you live is the more that you learn". Thanks, Alan, for info + photo.

[comfortably numb]

It seems that there is a distinct bias towards spending money on the all things connected with the towpath side of our canals at the expense of addressing the offside and navigational problems. They (CRT) are virtually guaranteed funding from we boaters whatever the state of the canal system so I think they are concentrating on any measures they can take to encourage joe public to contribute.

 

Regarding the stability of working boats when cutting back offside vegetation why can't they fit a form of outriggers to the working boats? carlt suggested it 'tongue in cheek' but why not? Or am I being thick here? Surely the simple fitting of 4 adjustable scaffold type poles at each corner would provide some stability and at least prevent a boat from tipping over so much as to cause somebody to fall off it.