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trapped in a lock

adam the wanderer

By adam the wanderer
in General Boating

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jake_crew Rising Star

jake_crewDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted (edited)

Some locks have a reputation for being tight side-to-side, and this is usually more of a problem for older boats which have spread a little. See Chersey's thread about going to Stratford.

 

Or was it that the water level was low so you couldn't get over the sill on entry or exit ?

 

Tell us which lock it was.

Edited by jake_crew
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adam the wanderer Collaborator

adam the wanderer

Posted
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Posted

Some locks have a reputation for being tight side-to-side, and this is usually more of a problem for older boats which have spread a little. See Chersey's thread about going to Stratford.

 

Or was it that the water level was low so you couldn't get over the sill on entry or exit ?

 

Tell us which lock it was.

hurleston junction lock number 3 coming down stuck side to side

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Geordie.narrowboat Contributor

Geordie.narrowboat

Posted
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We had a low pound problem going down the Ashton towards Manchester. We had to fill from three locks above. Was very odd when trying to exit the lock to find she wouldn't budge. Took a couple of hours to fill and needed help from then BW as other boaters wanting to come down behind us were worried about us leaving all the paddles open. When I asked them how else we would achieve this they said BW would have a better way. So, BW duly arrived and guess what, paddle open time!

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Quinafloat Collaborator

Quinafloat

Posted
Posted

hurleston junction lock number 3 coming down stuck side to side

 

Yep, one of the very few locks that I ever got stuck in, luckily for just a few seconds as the boat was moving and freed itself. No fenders down needed to hang up in that lock.

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Paul C Veteran II

Paul C

Posted
Posted

hurleston junction lock number 3 coming down stuck side to side

 

Lightbulb.jpg

 

One of, possibly THE, tightest lock on the canal network! Boats get stuck here all the time (well, a lot of the time) so its not a massive surprise you got stuck here. Also, the pounds in between the locks can lose water and thus their levels go down - an easy job to run some water down and restore levels as required though. By all means if you're unhappy with trying to unstick the boat and/or correct water levels, CRT are able to assist here.

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dor Veteran II

dor

Posted
Posted (edited)

It can happen in the Hurleston flight as some of the pounds are quite small. Boater empties lock and all the water goes over the spillway. Another boater then tries to fill their lock, the one below, and the level of the pound drops significantly. The last proper lock keeper at Hurleston (Linda) understood this (and a lot more) and would watch to see the pounds didn't drop too much by coordinating the lock filling. The current lockie (volunteer?) doesmn't seem to understand this.

 

It can also happen if there are several boats coming up with a slow one in the front. People behind just keep coming, so drawing more water from the pound, and of course won't exit the flight any quicker than if they had just waited.

Edited by dor
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adam the wanderer Collaborator

adam the wanderer

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Older boats like ours were built to 7 foot. Later ones were 6- 10 my boat has been thru Hurleston 3 times. Last time the Shroppie level was low ,are she wouldn't even go in no 1 had to give up

We gave up and turned round wife was upset. i was going to grind some off both sides of the rub rail

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Tim Lewis Veteran

Tim Lewis

Posted
Posted (edited)

It can happen in the Hurleston flight as some of the pounds are quite small. Boater empties lock and all the water goes over the spillway. Another boater then tries to fill their lock, the one below, and the level of the pound drops significantly. The last proper lock keeper at Hurleston (Linda) understood this (and a lot more) and would watch to see the pounds didn't drop too much by coordinating the lock filling. The current lockie (volunteer?) doesmn't seem to understand this.

 

It can also happen if there are several boats coming up with a slow one in the front. People behind just keep coming, so drawing more water from the pound, and of course won't exit the flight any quicker than if they had just waited.

We went through Hurlston a few days ago and I can assure you that the lock keeper was well aware of the problems, it was the boaters who did not understand why they were being held back leading to a lot of whinging about the lockie!

 

Tim

Edited by Tim Lewis
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Peter-Bullfinch Rising Star

Peter-Bullfinch

Posted
Posted

We went through yesterday and the lock keeper certainly wasn't adjusting the levels properly. He could easily have alleviated the dangerously low pound by leaving paddles partly opened at the top to increase the flow. We and others struggled.

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Paul C Veteran II

Paul C

Posted
Posted

One way to avoid getting stuck is to try the other end of the lock, for example if you got stuck going up at the back, then try the front. The reason being, the area the boat got stuck on is probably a spot bulge in the wall, rather than the lock having a completely uniform straight wall and sinply being too narrow. However to do this you'd need to know where the bulge is. If you don't, then pragmatically all you can do is very slowly operate the lock whilst continuously monitoring that the boat is still freely floating, and the moment it jams, reverse the operation (so you don't wedge the boat too tightly and its own weight or buoyancy will release it).

 

Having said that, you probably did the right thing in turning round once you were stuck (and released) - because you'd need to come down the lock to get off the Llangollen.

 

Its possible that the lock and boat are both slightly 'banana' shaped, which means you'd get through one way, but not the other.

 

Boats which are genuinely narrower than the locks they use (ie 95% of boats) don't have a problem with Hurleston locks though.

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Alan de Enfield Veteran II

Alan de Enfield

Posted
Posted

Have you managed to do the Hurleston locks previously ?

 

Is it just a case of the water levels (on that day) being too low ?

 

When next in a lock try and see if when the front of the boat touches the lock wall, you can get the back end to touch as well, is there a 'gap' between the wall and the boat (say) half way down, showing you may have a bit of a banana bend, alternatively if you can get the front end against the wall, the middle against the wall but not the back-end than you may have a banana bend the 'other way'

This assumes that your 'test lock' has straight walls.

 

It is obviously something you need to try to resolve otherwise you will be 'doomed' to cruising the Llangollen for ever (not that thats a bad place if you had to be locked in somewhere)

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dor Veteran II

dor

Posted
Posted (edited)

I thought they were "Fixing" that lock this year

 

 

http://www.canaljunction.com/news/hurleston-locks-pinch-point-may-get-shaved/1483

They did grind some of the south side of the lock, which had caused problems when a boat is rising in the lock as it could catch and get jammed. Straightening out the other bit would require rebuilding the whole side of the lock.

 

See recent images in gallery.

 

Hurleston

Edited by dor
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