Single handed locking - hazards.

[nicknorman]

I don't do much single handing but just came up Atherstone this morning. A good technique for going uphill seems to be to get the boat into the throat of the lock at the right speed (fairly slow) in neutral and then step off the back with rope and windlass, onto the steps conveniently placed for the purpose. The gates can then be shut as the stern clears and a bit of rope pull / round bollard to stop the boat just short of the top gate. But I had a "near miss" incident which I thought I would relate. We have a trad stern and longish tiller which, although it won't catch on lock walls (tends to self-centre) means that to step off the boat from the driving step, the tiller needs to be one way or the other. On one of these locks I just pushed past the tiller to step off but mistimed it slightly so that I momentarily started to get caught between the wall of the lock steps and the end of the tiller that I was just passing. I felt slight pressure from both sides but cleared the tiller just in time! Had I been slower or later I think I might have been impaled by the tiller because although it is of course rounded and wooden, it is chunky and 20 tonnes of boat doing just 1mph creates a lot of force.

 

I'd be interested to hear about any other non-obvious pitfalls to single handed locking. Falling in / off and the like, cilling the boat / trapping the bow etc are all obvious, but it is the non-obvious ones that get you!

[WJM]

I single-hand a lot and that is exactly how I go uphill too.

 

I regard a hinged tiller as an essential. Among it's many benefits it would allow you to avoid the situation that you describe.

Another single-hander's essential is a windlass holder attached to your belt. It allows you to climb ladders with both hands free.

Edited September 11, 2014 by WJM

[magnetman]

A Canalworld member Chris J W had a nasty accident a few years ago stopping the boat with a centre line. The naff welded U shaped loop on the roof parted and the rope catapulted the shackle which hit him in the shoulder.

 

So lucky it wasn't the face!!

 

I have done several hundreds of locks single handed over the years including narrow wide and Thames locks.

 

The single biggest hazard is Other People imo

 

 

For the tiller - you take it off and put it beside the slide. Thats why it is detachable

 

 

Where is Chris J W?

[WJM]

A good defence against the accident with the centre-line accident described is to have two centre-lines (left and right) attached to the fixture. Apart from the obvious advantage of eliminating the need to flick the line from side to side, the unused line would likely prevent a severed stud from flying around at any speed.

Removing the tiller is not a realistic option, not when you are working quickly.

Edited September 11, 2014 by WJM

[twbm]

if the boat is set to be nudging the top gate under low revs, be extra vigilant that the bow doesn't get caught under anything - with no one on the boat to keep her back or notice the tilt it can soon get out of hand. Perhaps a bit obvious but .....

Edited September 11, 2014 by twbm

[Dharl]

we have a long tiller for cruising and also a short length on for locks which I suspect is designed for such a situation. TBH I normally only use the shorter one as find it a bit more comfortable, also does make it easier for stepping on an doff with the centre line.

 

Met one single handed who showed that in single locks by keeping the engine in slow ahead the boat wil first sit against the cill safely and then move up to the gate when the water fills up. When the water level equalises it also opens the gate for you too!

 

Still got to work on the best procedure for down hill and wide locks too....

[DaveP]

I've had the boat drift backwards and the rudder catch in the mitre of the bottom gates. So I got into the habit of pushing the tiller over to ensure that the rudder wasn't lined up for another incident.

 

This then caused the tiller bar to snag on the lock side whilst descending one time - fortunately I was in the habit of not having a pin inserted so a few rapid kicks enabled the bar to be rolled off the wall and the boat freed.

 

So, next step was to remove the tiller bar at each lock entrance; didn't help when the boat drifted backwards and the swan neck was trapped under a projecting internal walkway on a bottom gate. Luckily the crap welding at it's base gave way before submerging the boat.

 

All incidents were ultimately caused by not paying attention to the boat in the lock - by being too depp in conversation with others standing around.

[Dharl]

yep that's always the key...don't get distracted....

[Paul C]

I think the biggest danger is, that any kind of accident which would be trivial or minor with a crew there too (ie someone to help, grab a rope if you missed it, be on the boat thus not needing to worry about the boat floating off etc) could end up being more serious if you're single handing and had to wait for assistance from the next boater or passer-by to come along, which might be a number of hours.

[Robbo]

One of the rules to follow on boats that should never be broken is three points of contact when getting off/on boat. If you break this, one day you will fall in.

[John V]

IMHO the problems single handing with locks are as nothing compared to managing the (some) swing bridges on the L&L where there is no landing (sometimes not any access from the water) on the off side where you have to operate the bridge. This does involve some inventive solutions which vary from one bridge to the next!

[WJM]

Another single-hander essential - a proper professional's lifejacket. If you do fall in there may be nobody to drag you out.

[Barry]

if the boat is set to be nudging the top gate under low revs, be extra vigilant that the bow doesn't get caught under anything - with no one on the boat to keep her back or notice the tilt it can soon get out of hand. Perhaps a bit obvious but .....

 

That's why I take a centre line with me, to keep the front off the front gate and the back off the back gate while I open the paddles. Pretty easy with a short boat.

[Rich]

A Canalworld member Chris J W had a nasty accident a few years ago stopping the boat with a centre line. The naff welded U shaped loop on the roof parted and the rope catapulted the shackle which hit him in the shoulder.

 

So lucky it wasn't the face!!

 

 

Some years ago, when fairly new to boating, we were advised that the best way of locking up on the K&A with only one boat in the lock was to keep the boat as far back in the lock as possible but clear of the gates, tie the centre line to the back bollard and leave the engine in gear on tickover. We tried it once and while it worked well with no dramas I didn't feel at all happy with all that pull on a relatively small weld so we stopped doing it.

[Paul C]

When single handing uphill in broad locks, I tie the boat up (via the centre line, so it lies at a diagonal which may increase and decrease in angle as the roof of the boat reaches the same height of the bollard, then goes beyond). Downhill, I use a rope but don't tie it to anything, I'll alternate between operating the paddle and babysitting the rope, to make sure the boat doesn't drift out of control.

[David Mack]

We have a trad stern and longish tiller which, although it won't catch on lock walls (tends to self-centre) means that to step off the boat from the driving step, the tiller needs to be one way or the other. On one of these locks I just pushed past the tiller to step off but mistimed it slightly so that I momentarily started to get caught between the wall of the lock steps and the end of the tiller that I was just passing. I felt slight pressure from both sides but cleared the tiller just in time! Had I been slower or later I think I might have been impaled by the tiller because although it is of course rounded and wooden, it is chunky and 20 tonnes of boat doing just 1mph creates a lot of force.

 

Surely in this situation you push the tiller across to the opposite side from that you are getting off, so you can step out from the hatches, and you are then on the back deck alongside the tiller, and so not at risk of being speared by the end.

 

 

I've had the boat drift backwards and the rudder catch in the mitre of the bottom gates.

 

Your stern fender should project back beyond the back of the rudder (and the swan neck), so that if anything gets caught in the gates its the fender, which will be pretty obvious.

[Kae]

One lock of the audlem flight in particular, the lock ladder is incredibly shallow. Your foot will slip off it and you will sit down onto the boat and bruise your arse.

 

Just sayin'.

Edited September 11, 2014 by Kae

[bassplayer]

The biggest hazard I've had is going down in the short leaky Huddersfield wide locks in a 58ft narrow boat. Once you're in, there's no hope if you can't keep the boat off the cill. Shutting off the bottom paddles,if there was a problem, wouldn't help! ....and that was with 2 of us!

[matty40s]

The biggest hazard I see is that following retirement Nick has had to lay the Butler off, it was he who used to hold the tiller away whilst Nick alighted.

[nicknorman]

Surely in this situation you push the tiller across to the opposite side from that you are getting off, so you can step out from the hatches, and you are then on the back deck alongside the tiller, and so not at risk of being speared by the end.

 

Absolutely, and that is what I probably did on most of the preceding locks and all the ones after! But I hadn't previously realised how potentially dangerous taking the lazy option of just pushing past the tiller could be.

 

Anyway some interesting thoughts thanks. I think that the optimum technique depends on the boat length, and the characteristics of the lock design - for example the Coventry locks are slow fillers and the top paddles can be whacked up with the boat in the middle of the lock (our 59' boat I mean) without it moving much, whereas up the road on the T&M the forward suction is very strong and you would either want to be against the top gate or well tethered back. On our boat, leaving it in fwd tickover is a bad idea because with a big engine and big prop there is too much thrust.

The biggest hazard I see is that following retirement Nick has had to lay the Butler off, it was he who used to hold the tiller away whilst Nick alighted.

A butler is for life, not just for Christmas.

[trackman]

The tiller issue is one reason why CN has a tiller string fitted by our builder, the son of a working boatman.

It's fastened on one side inside the rear hatch opening and has a loop on the free end. Slip this over the tiller handle and it holds the tiller just off centre.

This keeps it from catching on the lock side when descending a lock. Having only one string, off centre, means that if the boat should drop back into a cill or gate, the rudder will usually just turn aside instead of getting hit or stuck.

Going up single locks we always let the engine on tickover hold the bow against the top gate, like Dharl says. We always keep a close check to ensure it doesn't catch on anything as it rises of course. This technique is brilliant whether solo or two handed. In the latter case we can both get off to share the lock work and speed things along.

[Paul C]

Absolutely, and that is what I probably did on most of the preceding locks and all the ones after! But I hadn't previously realised how potentially dangerous taking the lazy option of just pushing past the tiller could be.

 

Anyway some interesting thoughts thanks. I think that the optimum technique depends on the boat length, and the characteristics of the lock design - for example the Coventry locks are slow fillers and the top paddles can be whacked up with the boat in the middle of the lock (our 59' boat I mean) without it moving much, whereas up the road on the T&M the forward suction is very strong and you would either want to be against the top gate or well tethered back. On our boat, leaving it in fwd tickover is a bad idea because with a big engine and big prop there is too much thrust.

 

A butler is for life, not just for Christmas.

 

All locks are a little different but with a 59' boat singlehanding (in fact any length, single handing) keeping the boat at the front of the lock is a pretty good universal rule to use. If I'm on my own I always put the boat at the front. And the tiller.....straight ahead. If we're working the locks as two of us, and go up at the back of the lock (boat is 45' so we can do this, since there's 25' or more of water in front and the boat doesn't really get affected too much by the water flow coming in) then a tactical angling of the tiller can be done to avoid catching the rudder in the gates. But then there will be someone on the boat, not someone just about to jump off it. And in any case, the rear button should do the job of protecting the rudder anyway.

 

The only thing worth mentioning is the front fender can get caught on certain types of lock gates so its wise to keep an eye on it. Even with the boat in idle forwards, its possible to push it back a bit and avoid any hanging up. And even if it did, the chains have a 'weak link' in them (actually, the chain isn't continuous, there's a link which is tied cord) and this would stretch or break, instead of the boat hanging up and possibly sinking. When going down, it often catches, but harmlessly flops up a little bit then flops back into its original position.

[nicknorman]

The tiller issue is one reason why CN has a tiller string fitted by our builder, the son of a working boatman.

It's fastened on one side inside the rear hatch opening and has a loop on the free end. Slip this over the tiller handle and it holds the tiller just off centre.

This keeps it from catching on the lock side when descending a lock. Having only one string, off centre, means that if the boat should drop back into a cill or gate, the rudder will usually just turn aside instead of getting hit or stuck.

Going up single locks we always let the engine on tickover hold the bow against the top gate, like Dharl says. We always keep a close check to ensure it doesn't catch on anything as it rises of course. This technique is brilliant whether solo or two handed. In the latter case we can both get off to share the lock work and speed things along.

The tiller string sounds like a good idea but isn't really necessary on our boat because the rudder spindle slopes, and having most of the rudder mass aft of the pivot point means it tends to sit straight. If I was going to remember to attach a string, I could probably more easily remember to move the tiller in the opposite direction to the disembarkation side!

 

With our engine / prop you wouldn't be able to push the boat back from the gate in gear, and the I think the force of pushing the fender hard against the gate would wear it fairly quickly as well as risk detaching it. Anyway so far I haven't found the need because the boat gets sucked fwd anyway, so I just start at the front, it gets pushed back slightly with the initial surge, then comes fwd onto the gate again.

[Keeping Up]

Anyway some interesting thoughts thanks. I think that the optimum technique depends on the boat length, and the characteristics of the lock design - for example the Coventry locks are slow fillers and the top paddles can be whacked up with the boat in the middle of the lock (our 59' boat I mean) without it moving much, whereas up the road on the T&M the forward suction is very strong and you would either want to be against the top gate or well tethered back. On our boat, leaving it in fwd tickover is a bad idea because with a big engine and big prop there is too much thrust.

 

At least most of the T&M locks north of Fradley have gate paddles as well, which can be safely opened as soon as you like, and their push balances out the pull of the ground paddles so that our boat (67ft) can be made to stay wherever it has been put, front back or middle, or even deliberately moved back and forth at will.

 

One hazard I've found with a long boat, particularly on staircase locks, is that the top gates can leak so badly as to flood the rear deck while you are concentrating on opening the bottom gates. On several occasion I've found several inches of water on the back deck, enough to be flooding into the cabin through the low-level vents which had to be put in the doors to make them safer.

[Wanderer Vagabond]

The one little snag that caught me out recently was at Red Bull locks above Harecastle. It could be said that it was my own fault (aren't all these things!) but I failed to notice that the previous lock user hadn't fully closed the top side paddles. They weren't glaringly obviously open, but just enough. As I emptied the lock and I loosened the centre rope that had been holding the boat it began to go backwards which, from where I was standing, was a bit counter intuitive since the water was running out of the bottom gate paddles. I even managed to open the bottom gates which shouldn't really be possible with water still coming in the lock. Unfortunately the boat went back far enough for the rear button to hit the cill bumper plate into which it jammed due to the design. I couldn't move the boat forward either under engine power or with assistance from the ropes and bargepole so thought 'well let's shut the paddles and gates and start again', it was when I did this that I realised that the top paddles must still be open as, with the bottom gates shut and paddles down the lock started to refill. Before I could get the top paddles shut the chains holding the rear button broke and the boat drifted clear so the only actual damage was a broken chain which was easily fixed but the moral seemed to be that even when the paddles look closed it is always worth double checking.