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Aston flight boat jammed


nicknorman

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Blimey, sounds drastic - coping stone and bricks to be removed to free boat - anyone know what happened? Was Dean trying to get up the locks?

 

 

 

 

Aston Lock Flight

 

Friday 4 October 2013 - Friday 11 October 2013

UPDATE (04 October 2013): The boat is lodged in the lock and despite every effort we have unfortunately been unable to free it. To release the boat, brickwork and coping stones will have to be removed and subsequently re-laid. The flight will not therefore re-open until at least the end of business on Friday 11th October, though an update will be given mid-week.

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Stoppage history:

A boat is stuck in Aston Lock 5 and the flight is therefore closed until further notice.

 

Navigation is still possible via Saltley / Garrison Locks (Birmingham & Warwick Junction Canal).

Edited by nicknorman
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I suspect we'll find it was one of those pesky "historic boats" with middle aged (or old aged) spread. Alternatively the boatman might have dropped his hat down the gap and this jammed the boat.

Oh, the expanding boats, bring back braces.....

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I suspect we'll find it was one of those pesky "historic boats" with middle aged (or old aged) spread.

Its not impossible, as I think quite a few may be about those parts at the moment.

 

You should be grateful - as BW/CRT let locks end up at under 7 feet wide, at least we are likely to isolate the problem long before you try taking your skinny little slimmed down boats through them!

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It's my friend Pete's new boat en route to Gas Street Basin from Streethay Wharf. Hull was built in 1900 but much altered. It's now 40' long with a cruiser deck and newish cabin. I believe it's also been overplated. Not sure what he's going to do now. He's in his mid eighties so doesn't cruise far anymore. If he can get it to the Birmingham pound, I doubt it will ever leave.

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There always has been one lovk narrower than the others in this flight but can't remember which one.

I think "Pete" may now know!

It's my friend Pete's new boat en route to Gas Street Basin from Streethay Wharf. Hull was built in 1900 but much altered. It's now 40' long with a cruiser deck and newish cabin. I believe it's also been overplated. Not sure what he's going to do now. He's in his mid eighties so doesn't cruise far anymore. If he can get it to the Birmingham pound, I doubt it will ever leave.

Now other than you said "cruiser stern" I was starting to wonder from your description if it was this one, which I owned about 40 yeas ago.

 

That one is seriously wide, and I could well have believed it!

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It's an interesting point I hadn't thought of before. Over plating must increase the width. 2x 6mm = 1/2 inch as a minimum.

On most boats the top guards/rubbing strakes are the widest points, and overplating wouldn't usually go that high, so max beam wouldn't be affected.

 

Tim

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It's an interesting point I hadn't thought of before. Over plating must increase the width. 2x 6mm = 1/2 inch as a minimum.

Yes, but over-plating very rarely extends hugely higher than the normal waterline.

 

Even if a narrow boat has little narrowing towards the base plate, (which very many do, of course), you will usually find that rubbing guards higher up already make the boat wider at that point than (say) 12mm added lower down by overplating.

 

Quite often an existing baseplate already projects sideways by more than 6mm anyway.

 

EDITED TO ADD:

 

I see Tim as usual is more succinct than me, hence I was beaten to it!

If that's the case Alan then the seller clearly states it as being 7ft wide - maybe a bit economical with the truth.

Very

 

I think it measured about 7' 2" across the back, where it could not be pulled in. Unless something has been cut out, and rejoined, you couldn't change that!

Edited by alan_fincher
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So let's be clear, it was a historic boat with rivets and side fenders and the steerer is now hatless.

 

and his name could be Dean :)

Have they tried all the obvious..pouring grease down the sides...etc :)

A truck once got stuck under a bridge..no one could get it out...eventually a little kid said..."let the air out the tyres" which worked. :)

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Surely if the boat can sit at that angle, it's not that it's too wide for the lock, but that it has caught on something one side and then rotated thus jamming it.

I agree!

 

From that picture it looks highly unlikely to be a "boat too wide" problem.

 

They are surely very generous locks anyway?

 

Plus it going up in the lock, and typically a lock is wider at the top than the bottom.

 

It's quite hard to imagine what has happened though - it is almost like the lower side caught under something on the way up, and the other side continued to rise, until it got jammed because of the increased width of being on a tilt. However I'm surprised then if you take enough of the water away, and apply force to the higher side, that it can't be persuaded to splash back down again.

 

There's something I'm missing here, I imagine!

Edited by alan_fincher
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I feel so sad for this gentleman. Its not nice for anyone to be in that horrid situation.

 

Agreed, but as none of the canal seems to have gone in the boat, I guess you could argue it is a lot better than some things that happen to boats in locks.

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Yes, I would have thought "annoying" and "frustrating" but not sad, since it doesn't look as though there is any lasting damage to the boat.

I wonder who pays for all of this as it won't be cheap to do all this work

Well who should pay for it depends on why it happened.

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