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Boat Steering in tunnels


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It might for you, but for a boat coming the other way it will likely reflect straight off the water and into his/her eyes! Thats why the advice is always to point your headlight slightly up.

It's not a problem where I usually boat. If I meet somebody in the narrow tunnels near me somebody is in the wrong and will have to reverse out

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It's not a problem where I usually boat. If I meet somebody in the narrow tunnels near me somebody is in the wrong and will have to reverse out

Of course, the signs at both Hyde Bank and Woodley tunnels tell us they are fit for two way traffic (unless recently changed).

 

So no problem, Chris, wind 'er on and hope the light at the end of the tunnel is not Alton coming the other way. smile.png

 

George ex nb Alton retired

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If I meet somebody in the narrow tunnels near me somebody is in the wrong and will have to reverse out

 

Are those two somebodies the same somebody? As written, your post might come across a bit like if you meet somebody, they're gonna have to reverse, which I suspect is not really your message. unsure.png

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Of course, the signs at both Hyde Bank and Woodley tunnels tell us they are fit for two way traffic (unless recently changed).

 

So no problem, Chris, wind 'er on and hope the light at the end of the tunnel is not Alton coming the other way. :)

 

George ex nb Alton retired

Well George, if Woodley can be described as wide enough for two way traffic I could be described as slim

Are those two somebodies the same somebody? As written, your post might come across a bit like if you meet somebody, they're gonna have to reverse, which I suspect is not really your message. :unsure:

Yes, of course I should've said one of us is in the wrong and will have to reverse

Edited by captain birdseye
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Not sure on that one, its only a little tunnel (424 yards, is that just a long bridge??rolleyes.gif ) so is there an issue with it? I'm happy to go through any tunnel, intending to get through Harecastle this season and Standedge and Foulridge next season, the only one I would say caught me out was Braunston because I was being dazzled by the spotlight on an approaching boat and didn't see the kink (well, not until I hit it anyway!).

 

I'm all for making things easier, and this little adaptation does seem to do that.

One thing about Standedge ... no risk of being dazzled by a muppett coming the other way...... and no risk of being a dazzling muppett yourself!

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I had some very strong black sunglasses I found in a charity shop...and I would wear them for a few minutes to dim down my daytime vision before the tunnel. I found that a low powered bow light angled up...and then the interior lights would help.

 

My 'opinion' was that I must always watch every single second of the trip...as a moments distraction could take the boat off centre and cause problems. I think that watching the wall on my starboard in the soft glimmer...would keep me straight.

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First things first, if you have enough power on you hardly need to steer in a tunnel as the boat will self centre (exception Standedge to a degree), read interesting stories of Idle lasses boating through tunnels! I find that a good wide beam headlight (fog light) and the small amount coming from the engine room doors is normally enough. However these days I like having a small led touch to hand at the tiller, for those sudden step changes which have been introduced in the roof height in places like Harecastle and Preston Brook, which always catch me out for one, I always think I'm past the lowering bit and discover I'm not :-(

--

Cheers Ian Mac

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First things first, if you have enough power on you hardly need to steer in a tunnel as the boat will self centre (exception Standedge to a degree), read interesting stories of Idle lasses boating through tunnels! I find that a good wide beam headlight (fog light) and the small amount coming from the engine room doors is normally enough. However these days I like having a small led touch to hand at the tiller, for those sudden step changes which have been introduced in the roof height in places like Harecastle and Preston Brook, which always catch me out for one, I always think I'm past the lowering bit and discover I'm not :-(

--

Cheers Ian Mac

I'm not sure of this 'self centreing' business with sufficient power, I suppose that it may depend upon the draught of your boat. I found that in Harecastle there was a shallower bit (my boat is 2'10" draught) which tended to drag the stern of the boat across, more power would just make matters worse. If you go through Gorsty then it WILL just be on tickover since it is both narrow and quite shallow, more power will bring the boat to a stop (assuming that the stray rope, plastic bags and mattresses haven't already done this mad.gif ) And speaking of step changes, the one in Gorsty is quite impressive from a headroom of about 4 feet down to a headroom of less than a foot (at the sides), that keeps you on your toes!

Edited by Wanderer Vagabond
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I'm not sure of this 'self centreing' business with sufficient power, I suppose that it may depend upon the draught of your boat. I found that in Harecastle there was a shallower bit (my boat is 2'10" draught) which tended to drag the stern of the boat across, more power would just make matters worse. If you go through Gorsty then it WILL just be on tickover since it is both narrow and quite shallow, more power will bring the boat to a stop (assuming that the stray rope, plastic bags and mattresses haven't already done this mad.gif ) And speaking of step changes, the one in Gorsty is quite impressive from a headroom of about 4 feet down to a headroom of less than a foot (at the sides), that keeps you on your toes!

But you dont need to steer in that one, there is nowhere to go except down the middle.

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First things first, if you have enough power on you hardly need to steer in a tunnel as the boat will self centre

 

Well good luck if you were to try that with our "Sickle" - let go of the filler even for a moment, and there will be near sparks coming off the wall.

 

A bit of an over-generalisation I think!

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But you dont need to steer in that one, there is nowhere to go except down the middle.

I can't disagree with that,but would you try to go through Gorsty at anything other than tickover? We were only on tick-over last time and and showed our true altrusim by collecting all of the stray rope in the tunnel so that it wouldn't cause a problem to anyone else rolleyes.gif . It involved stopping halfway through for a forage down the weed hatch to clear the crap. in fairness I actually like Gosty in a masochistic sort of way, I do enjoy a challenge cool.png

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I can't disagree with that,but would you try to go through Gorsty at anything other than tickover? We were only on tick-over last time and and showed our true altrusim by collecting all of the stray rope in the tunnel so that it wouldn't cause a problem to anyone else rolleyes.gif . It involved stopping halfway through for a forage down the weed hatch to clear the crap. in fairness I actually like Gosty in a masochistic sort of way, I do enjoy a challenge cool.png

Its worth it for the cheap diesel at the end.

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Well good luck if you were to try that with our "Sickle" - let go of the filler even for a moment, and there will be near sparks coming off the wall.

 

A bit of an over-generalisation I think!

Yep every boat is different, however as a general rule faster is better in a tunnel.

 

I'm not sure of this 'self centreing' business with sufficient power, I suppose that it may depend upon the draught of your boat. I found that in Harecastle there was a shallower bit (my boat is 2'10" draught) which tended to drag the stern of the boat across, more power would just make matters worse. If you go through Gorsty then it WILL just be on tickover since it is both narrow and quite shallow, more power will bring the boat to a stop (assuming that the stray rope, plastic bags and mattresses haven't already done this mad.gif ) And speaking of step changes, the one in Gorsty is quite impressive from a headroom of about 4 feet down to a headroom of less than a foot (at the sides), that keeps you on your toes!

Harecastle isn't shallow! we draw 3'4" and I didn't notice anything when we came through in September. The only place its bad for depth is outside the North end, even now they have "dredged" it. I was disappoint last time we came through that it took nearly half an hour, but the engine didn't really get going until we were a good third of the way in, it being awoken from its slummbers to go straight into the tunnel, doesn't like that, can't set the heater in the right place, so you have to keep on bobbing down and fettling it.

This was all due to having missed the passage the previous day due to someone talking well over an hour to come south. The first thing they did on coming out was open the throttle up! They had come through on minimum tickover. It was one of those rear occasions when I got livid, called them selfish mean boaters. The nearest pub is miles from the south end. I have to say the tunnel keepers were great they turned up early to get me in spot on 8am. But I missed my night out in Congleton :-(

 

Gosty Hill I'd forgotten about the step in there, yep that's a big one! And your right about power in there also, you can pull all the water out from under oneself, one really is like a cork in a bottle there. I can remember waiting for ever for a train of S&L boats to emerge in the 60's

 

As an aside I was contacted this morning by Craggs who quoted me for Farm diesel at 36.7p/l if I took 3000l. Some sellers are desperate to get rid of expensive stock, before they are left holding very expensive stuff no one will buy.

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.

 

 

Gosty Hill I'd forgotten about the step in there, yep that's a big one! And your right about power in there also, you can pull all the water out from under oneself, one really is like a cork in a bottle there. I can remember waiting for ever for a train of S&L boats to emerge in the 60's

 

 

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Yep every boat is different, however as a general rule faster is better in a tunnel.

 

Harecastle isn't shallow! we draw 3'4" and I didn't notice anything when we came through in September. The only place its bad for depth is outside the North end, even now they have "dredged" it. I was disappoint last time we came through that it took nearly half an hour, but the engine didn't really get going until we were a good third of the way in, it being awoken from its slummbers to go straight into the tunnel, doesn't like that, can't set the heater in the right place, so you have to keep on bobbing down and fettling it.

This was all due to having missed the passage the previous day due to someone talking well over an hour to come south. The first thing they did on coming out was open the throttle up! They had come through on minimum tickover. It was one of those rear occasions when I got livid, called them selfish mean boaters. The nearest pub is miles from the south end. I have to say the tunnel keepers were great they turned up early to get me in spot on 8am. But I missed my night out in Congleton :-(

 

Gosty Hill I'd forgotten about the step in there, yep that's a big one! And your right about power in there also, you can pull all the water out from under oneself, one really is like a cork in a bottle there. I can remember waiting for ever for a train of S&L boats to emerge in the 60's

 

As an aside I was contacted this morning by Craggs who quoted me for Farm diesel at 36.7p/l if I took 3000l. Some sellers are desperate to get rid of expensive stock, before they are left holding very expensive stuff no one will buy.

Don't you find that a draught of 3'4" restricts your route options a bit? Llangollen would be pretty much a no-go although if you'd like to lead around Birmingham then you can catch all the plastic instead of me (although you'd never get down the Rushall!).

 

In fairness though I'm not really with you when shouting at slow boaters. If you were behind him you may have grounds for complaint . I put up an earlier thread about a boater travelling on tickover through Blisworth Tunnel causing a massive backlog behind him who were not very happy (I wasn't one of them since I'd encountered him earlier and set off quick when I saw him preparing to head for the tunnel). If someone wishes to go through Harecastle on tickover then so be it, perhaps that is the speed he was happiest at in tunnels, perhaps he has vision problems in the dark, who knows? Provided that he is the last boat of a convoy then I don't really have a problem with it. It could even be said that if he caused you to miss out on the fleshpots of Congleton he was doing you a favour huh.png . I still subscribe to the theory that if you need to get somewhere quicker you need to use a car!

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Don't you find that a draught of 3'4" restricts your route options a bit? Llangollen would be pretty much a no-go although if you'd like to lead around Birmingham then you can catch all the plastic instead of me (although you'd never get down the Rushall!).

Its not depth which stops us using the Llangollen but the fact that Hurlston isn't standard gauge 7'&1/2", Interestingly that nearly applies to Rushall as well, but we can just get through there. As to depth 99% of the BCN is fine, the bottom of Spon Lane is a nightmare (although I'm informed its been dredged in 2014) yet to test it. Titford Pools are bad. The branch to Anglsey is slow beyond Ogley, and the New main line has been a roller coaster for Years. (again I believe it too has been dredged in 2014). The Branch to Swan Village needs doing. The only length of the BCN I don't really know about is between Rushall to Tame Valley Junctions which we haven't done in years. The rest we did last in 2013, including the Rushall, which was half dredged at the time, ( I believe they have now finished it). The odd Bridge hole at the top of Brades could do with clearing. Other than the odd length of casts off wire sleeving, the BCN isn't too bad on the blade, but we have a boat which doesn't normally pick things up on the blade. In my experience some boats don't and some are really prone to it, its down to hull and swim shape.

The other canal, which is a must do is the Chesterfield, another canal people say is shallow it isn't it just has a very narrow deep channel, so it is slow, and again it was width not depth which defeated us, at Morse Lock above Worksop. It really is the most beautiful Canal.

Worse canal for Depth and general care is by far, on the whole System, is the Lower Peak Forest. 7mls takes us at least 6hrs, and its full of rubbish. When I came along there this last September on top of stemming up in a lot of bridges, I got a Car tyre over the blade, such a shame as its a very pretty canal for most of its length.

 

As to ranting at slow tunnel traverses, when you know the tunnel keeper has asked them to be quick, as a condition of letting them go in late ie they arrived after the 3pm deadline, (which I didn't), and they have promised they will be quick, then to take well over and hour is taking the Michael! If people wish to travel slowly that's fine, but they should not lie about it!

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Its not depth which stops us using the Llangollen but the fact that Hurlston isn't standard gauge 7'&1/2", Interestingly that nearly applies to Rushall as well, but we can just get through there. As to depth 99% of the BCN is fine, the bottom of Spon Lane is a nightmare (although I'm informed its been dredged in 2014) yet to test it. Titford Pools are bad. The branch to Anglsey is slow beyond Ogley, and the New main line has been a roller coaster for Years. (again I believe it too has been dredged in 2014). The Branch to Swan Village needs doing. The only length of the BCN I don't really know about is between Rushall to Tame Valley Junctions which we haven't done in years. The rest we did last in 2013, including the Rushall, which was half dredged at the time, ( I believe they have now finished it). The odd Bridge hole at the top of Brades could do with clearing. Other than the odd length of casts off wire sleeving, the BCN isn't too bad on the blade, but we have a boat which doesn't normally pick things up on the blade. In my experience some boats don't and some are really prone to it, its down to hull and swim shape.

I think that I'd stand by claim that you wouldn't do Rushall now. The water in the pound between locks 2 & 3 has been lowered and with my 2'10" draught the mile between the locks took me over an hour and involved 2 groundings. We then did the bit from Rushall along to Tame Valley junction and, other than picking up a mattress, the depth was fine.I'd agree that the bottom of Spon Lane was a nightmare but fortunately the lock gate was open so I didn't have to go to the lock moorings (just as well since getting within 6 feet of them was stirring up foul smelling mud and grounding). Titford Pools was OK but only because I'd been advised by a local to wind just below Jarvis Bridge and not to try to get onto the pools themselves. We got up through Hurleston alright but needed a bit extra water letting in to get over the cill out of lock 2.

 

I think mine must be one of those boats susceptible to collecting rubbish since my worst record on the BCN was coming from Walsall Town basin down the Walsall Canal and up through Ryders Green, I had 6 trips down the weed hatch that day and on each occasion there was an absolute mass of plastic around the prop and prop shaft.

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