Jump to content

Winding Holes?

floatsyourboat

By floatsyourboat
in General Boating

 Share

Featured Posts

NickF Rising Star

NickF

Posted
Posted

Old boatman's trick ....

 

If you stem up in mud like you did.

Take your front end rope, and hold it as if you were going to skip with a goodish sized loop between your hands.

Standing up on the front end throw the loop over the bow into the water, and drag it towards the back. This helps to break the suction between your boat's base plate and the mud.

 

You should feel resistance while the ropes dragging through mud then it becomes easier when you reach clear water.

If somebody can gun the engine at the same time all the better. Once free drop the loose end and pull in with the other hand.

 

Another method is to rock the boat from side to side to break the suction.

Thank you! Useful tip! May come in useful one day!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
b0atman Veteran

b0atman

Posted
Posted

Certainly a good point about reverse sending silt into the winding hole.

What engineer came up with that silly design ?aah I see boats where man hauled or horse drawn so no problem at that time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mango Experienced

mango

Posted
Posted

I have often encountered people mooring opposite winding holes and felt sorry for those with longer boats. I wonder if novices are always aware that they should not moor there. I'm not keen on having lots of signs but would not mind having a few more winding holes with signs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mike Todd Veteran

Mike ToddDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Wind. As in the stuff that blows wink.png

I suspect that this is a less easy question to answer than most people suspect. I have oft been annoyed by pompous people on other boats who tell me it is 'wind' (as in 'tinned') rather than 'wind (as in 'bind'). Pronounciation from days before recordings is notoriously difficult to determine precisely, although poetry can sometimes help. Also, accents and pronounciations change much more rapidly than we remember - look back at recordings of how even 'ordinary' people spoke within living memory - put the Queen to shame!

 

It is clear that at some stage 'wind' (as in moving atmospheric air) was once rhymed in the way we now use when we mean turning something around, such as cotton on a bobbin. (eg the winter wind rhyming with mankind in a Christmas carol)

 

Given the heritage of the word as in winding holes, I am more inclined to assume that it derived more from the turning around version of 'wind' rather than the supposed use of a gale to speed up the process. After all, every time boats used a winding hole that at least turned around - only on occasion would the wind be of assistance - not always in the best direction!

 

Excessive pursuit of spurious historical accuracy can be annoying! Call it what you like - I doubt whether it will help with the dredging!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Timleech Veteran II

Timleech

Posted
Posted

In working days, a silted up winding hole was not a problem because the boat was always winded when empty.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

 

On the other hand, on some canals winding holes were treated as sumps to collect silt, they would be dredged deeply at regular (?) intervals, cheaper to dredge one spot than a length of canal.

 

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Proper Job Veteran

Proper Job

Posted
Posted

I have often wondered whether boaters could help by filling a bucket with silt a day and disposing of it responsibly. Winding holes could be a good place to start.

 

Don't you think there's enough silt in winding holes without people putting a bucket full of silt a day in to them ;)

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bettie Boo Experienced

Bettie Boo

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have often encountered people mooring opposite winding holes and felt sorry for those with longer boats. I wonder if novices are always aware that they should not moor there. I'm not keen on having lots of signs but would not mind having a few more winding holes with signs.

 

Kind of "on topic". We were moored above (about 5 boat lenghts) above Iron Bridge lock (77) for a few days and although there is a winding hole marked on the Nicholson's it's obvious just above the lock as there is where the canal is widest.

 

Now there was a narrow boat moored behind us and a couple in front of us, and during the time we were there 3 different boats came down and turned using the winding hole with no issues. The day before we moved on, a narrow boat crewed with an female and 4 males came down and attempted to turn directly beside us.

 

Keeping in mind we take up the better part of 11ft of the width of the canal and she was only about 300 ft short of the actual winding hole, they picked the narrowest part of the canal to attempt a turn. Needless to say it all went to pot, at one point there was a bardge pole being deployed to put up against the side of our boat (I had visions of it going through one of our windows) as they were reversing directly into us. Thankfully at this stage she grabbed the tiller and controls, told them to put the bardge pole away and with much heavy forward and reversing was able to get the boat straightened up although still heading in the same direction they started at.

 

We opened the side hatch, and explained there was a proper turning point just a little further on and or there was enough room to turn just in front of the boat moored in front of us as well (one had done this the day prior), this is when she explained she was giving them lessons of how to handle a boat and she was well familiar with that part of the canal.

 

Hope they were charged too much or their tuitionninja.gif

Edited by Bettie Boo
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ditchcrawler Veteran II

ditchcrawlerDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

How easy is it to suck up silt? Do simple suckers exist or do they have to be so large that they frightfully expensive? Do they need a stirrer to get the silt moving? Is it allowable to just dump it back on the non-towpath bank?

You can't just dump silt without jumping through a few hoops and even then normally the non tow path side is not owend by CaRT

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NickF Rising Star

NickF

Posted
Posted

You can't just dump silt without jumping through a few hoops and even then normally the non tow path side is not owend by CaRT

How about put it in a bag and hang it off a tree or hedgerow ... who would notice a few more?!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Iain_S Influencer

Iain_S

Posted
Posted

(snip)

It is clear that at some stage 'wind' (as in moving atmospheric air) was once rhymed in the way we now use when we mean turning something around, such as cotton on a bobbin. (eg the winter wind rhyming with mankind in a Christmas carol)

 

(snip)

 

Well smiley_offtopic.gif now !

Or could mankind 's pronunciation have changed, as being the kin of man?

 

Iain

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.