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lock handspike


jddevel

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Excuse my ignorance new to the canal life and I see that a hand spike s required on the Calder. Where is the best place to get one- any chandlers?

 

I have one that I have had for years. They are easy to make yourself.

 

Tim

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we bought one from Shire Cruisers but we never used it ,so you are welcome to it for the cost of postage(awful feeling it may cost more to post than to buy but when i get new bathroom scales tomorrow I can weigh and cost for you)

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I'm sure a bit of 3 x 2 softwood would improvise for a single passage, but anything that is not a proper hardwood may be quite battered after not operating that many.

 

The leverage actually creates pretty strong forces on the surfaces that engage with the mechanism, and even the proper item quickly looks quite worn, unless you are very careful how you use it each time.

 

They are under £20, I think - I'd definitely recommend buying, even if only making one passage.

 

That said, I'm wondering if I've just managed to sell mine along with a boat - I can't imagine where else it might be......

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A few years ago my son was on the boat with his mates in Leeds. For some reason he had to go to the BW office and I asked him to pick up a handspike as we were heading that way. He had no idea what it was and assumed it was some form of key. He was a bit taken aback when he was handed one and was more than a bit nervous taking it into a Leeds pub with him.

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I agree, we uses a piece of 2*2 softwood (drift wood from a few weeks earlier) and it did the locks up to Ledgard bridge and back fine, and I am sure you could get a week out of both ends of a 2*3 softwood.

 

Should be doing it often, it would be worth getting a better solution.

 

 

Daniel

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South+Pennine+Ring+Easter+09100.JPG

 

"Some of the original paddle gear has been replaced with more standard gear but there are still several locks that cannot be operated without a hand-spike. Hand-spikes can be bought at boatyards in the area or you can make your own from a piece of 4" x 2" or 3" x 2" hardwood about 3' long, tapered to about 2¼" x 1¾".

Hard wood is needed as soft wood will quickly become chewed up."

 

http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/calder/handspike.htm

Edited by Ray T
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Indeed. Shire Cruisers have great ones for about a tenner I think. A pick axe handle would also probably work I think.

 

I think a friend said he paid fifteen quid there last year. I paid twenty at Stanley Ferry marina.

I think a pickaxe handle would need the end shaved down, the handle for a rubber pavers' maul would be much closer. Some discussion a while ago on this very subject.

 

Tim

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South+Pennine+Ring+Easter+09100.JPG

 

"Some of the original paddle gear has been replaced with more standard gear but there are still several locks that cannot be operated without a hand-spike. Hand-spikes can be bought at boatyards in the area or you can make your own from a piece of 4" x 2" or 3" x 2" hardwood about 3' long, tapered to about 2¼" x 1¾".

Hard wood is needed as soft wood will quickly become chewed up."

 

http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/calder/handspike.htm

How does one of these work then? I've never encountered one.

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How does one of these work then? I've never encountered one.

 

Similar to a capstan except it is horizontal. Put the spike in a slot in the right hand drum and pull towards you. There is a ratchet to stop it falling. Repeat until paddle is raised.

 

To let paddle down release ratchet and paddle falls. The ratchet is the white bent length of metal in the picture.

 

Much easier to do than to describe.

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I spent £5 on a piece of hardwood from a timber yard, I shaped a handle onto it but you don't have to .. works fine. I was pleased I had taken it on a hire boat from Canal Cruises of Riley Green, because the one they gave me was too big and so didn't work!

 

DSCF0040.jpg

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