Oh Dear! Faulty lock sinks N/B

[Keeping Up]

I can't quite work out what's happened here.

 

Is the bottom of the lock chamber actually several feet lower than the bottom gates cill? And if so, how could a leak in the lower gates caused this?

 

 

MtB

Easy, you're looking at a boat travelling uphill; when the bows have crossed the top cill the leakage in the bottom gates empties the pound enough that it grounds on the cill and can't move. The leakage empties the pound and the lock,then the boat sinks.

 

It almost happened to us on the HNC, when one of the locks in the Diggle flight had a faulty bottom paddle. I realised that there was a problem and backed out in time but CRT insisted the problem was that I didn't know how to operate a lock so insisted that we try again with their "help". It was lucky that Pingu had the sense to refill the pound from the lock above so I could back off, rather than the CRT guys who just told me to give it more forwards welly as the water level sunk!

[mark99]

I put a mark on our boatpole which is max draft plus a couple of inches. If you think the cill may be too close to the top, you can dip pole and assess. Good for dipping to get/check a decent mooring depth too.

Edited April 22, 2014 by mark99

[Pete of Ebor]

According to Pennine Waterways, the cause was a 'blown paddle' . Once the paddle has gone, the lock will drain fairly quickly and as soon as the baseplate of the boat lands on the upper cill, then any amount of engine power won't push it forward out of the lock or pull or back into the lock

 

http://waterwaynews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/broken-paddles-cause-lock-incident.html

Edited April 23, 2014 by Pete of Ebor

[dunfixing]

Looking at the lock side weed/water level mark, the upper pound must have been about 10tf down, this should be a warning sign that the lock was unusable.

[Dharl]

I put a mark on our boatpole which is max draft plus a couple of inches. If you think the cill may be too close to the top, you can dip pole and assess. Good for dipping to get/check a decent mooring depth too.

 

 

I like that 'basic Echo Sounder' on a stick plan! Greenie for you

[magnetman]

I thought everyone did that

[NWWaterwaymanagerCRT]

CRT staff were contacted about a boater in difficulty at lock 64 and attended to help refloat the boat, which didn't sink, and to support boaters providing advice to have checks made to engine before using again. The water in the lock fell because a blanked off paddle failed, the cause of this is being investigated. Previous paddle failed a month earlier and this temporary repair was made until new paddle ready. The new paddle was fitted on the day of the incident, rather than Tuesday after as planned, and lock is operating normally.

[Naughty Cal]

It seems to be a common occurance on this stretch.

 

Are there any maintenance plans for the area to try and prevent it happening again?

[kevinl]

Bottom lock at Johnsons Hillock again. I helped do them last autumn and a boat was grounded when we were there. Six locks 4 gates on each so 24 sets of paddles I bet a third were either broken and locked up or simply unopenable and all of the gates were leaking by varying amounts must be spending all the maintenance budget on the Wigan flight.

K

[Neil2]

I'm still struggling to understand this. Supposing you were trying to fill a lock and forgot to close a bottom paddle. The lock just wouldn't make a level with the pound, or it would take ages, and eventually the water in the pound would drain away, so you would be stuck in the lock unable to open the gates. It sounds as if the faulty paddle was acting in such a way, so I wonder how they got the lock to fill at all, and how they even got in a position to open the gates.

 

Have to say ever since doing the HNC I've become paranoid about cill depth, especially in the deeper locks.

[Barry]

CRT staff were contacted about a boater in difficulty at lock 64 and attended to help refloat the boat, which didn't sink, and to support boaters providing advice to have checks made to engine before using again. The water in the lock fell because a blanked off paddle failed, the cause of this is being investigated. Previous paddle failed a month earlier and this temporary repair was made until new paddle ready. The new paddle was fitted on the day of the incident, rather than Tuesday after as planned, and lock is operating normally.

 

Welcome to the forum NW Waterway manager and thanks for the information

[hargreaves07]

Not too sure that the comment about the bottom lock at Johnsons Hillock is ok is correct..

 

I have been past the lock on both Tuesday and Wed of this week. The lock is still leaking badly. It leaks thru the top gate via water coming up probably from the cill or possibly the gate paddle at a rate that looks as if a paddle was stuck open. The lock also leaks badly from the bottom gate straight thru the middle mitre where the gates should form a water tight seal when closed.

 

The leakage is sufficient that although there is a good flow of water down the bywashes in the locks above the bottom lock by the time the water enters the bottom pound it is then drained straight thru the bottom lock. This leaves the bottom pound probably 3ft lower than it should be.

 

There has been a problem there for at least 2/3 years and has been reported to BW/CRT but very bad now.

 

There was a youngish CRT chappie there on Tuesday afternoon looking at it.

 

I think boaters need to be very careful on useing the lock. I would suggest pulling a lot of water down before entering the bottom pound and bottom lock whilst going either uphill or downhill.

 

Dave H

[jonathanA]

an eye witness told me that the lock emptied in seconds but what was shocking was CRT's initial response of 'contact your insurance company to arrange rescue its not our problem' When it was pointed out that the canal was blocked and that was their problem they sent someone.

 

when they did arrive they assumed it was boater mis operation and had to be robustly convinced that it wasn't simply a case of closing a paddle and refilling the lock.

 

apparently the boat was brand new and had only just been craned in at botany bay.

 

since it was a temporary repair that failed I wonder what laibility CRT have towards any repair costs ?

 

To be fair to CRT we'd all be moaning if they had closed the lock instead of doing a temporary repair, but on the L&L canal a temporary repair usually means some time this century...