First one of the Autumn?

[Dinz]

Hire boat came past this afternoon.

Engine running quite hard for his speed.

Chap on towpath tells him to put in reverse for a squirt.

He does so and then goes off at a normal pace leaving a swirling flurry of dead leaves and silt.

Are we the first and can we claim the donut?

[ditchcrawler]

No, problems on the T&M 2 weeks ago with Canalbreak/Canaltime/ hire a canalboat or whatever they are called this week

[matty40s]

No, one of our forum members with a new boat found this out this week, and having read about it on here, managed to come out with the solution too.

[bottle]

Just been through Braunston tunnel and had to do a quick reverse blast...twice.

 

There was quite a lot of floating leaves right the way through.

[johnmck]

Early last week on the Leicester line between Crick and Welford for us. Still don't understand the dynamics, but a blast in reverse sorts it.

[Ricco1]

Earlier today from Bosley to Fools Nook, only 2 miles, had to do it 6 times.

[Thorfast]

I had to carry out this tactic last week on the Shroppie, several times, especially in those big cuttings.

I expect the same this week as we do the last leg from Market Drayton to Tattenhall.

[dave moore]

A quick " chuck back" ( short blip into reverse ) will dislodge the vortex of fallen leaves that disrupt the flow of water around the blades. I learned this many years ago and used it a dozen times or so yesterday on a short trip from Glascote to Hopwas and back to celebrate a friend's retirement. The autumnal colours through the woods after Hopwas were stunning!

 

Cheers

 

Dave

[MHS]

I think the problem varies in severity, depending on the boat swim shape, weed hatch and prop.

 

Our previous boat with an Axiom prop was very slow in heavily leafed stretches.

 

Our current boat, a Mike Christian/Tim Tyler shell with the 43hp Beta marine comes with a bigger prop, and hasn't yet caused us any issues.

[dave moore]

It's been a minor problem on every boat I've steered for many years. I can't offer any useful comment on the Axiom propeller, never knowingly steered a boat with one fitted. It really is no big deal to chuck back and remove the offending vortex, just few second's worth...you are back underway before you know it. British Rail had " Leaves on the Line "..." Leaves round the blades " is our excuse!

 

Dave

[bassplayer]

I thought a large prop running slowly with lots of torque would help but I still ended up reversing up a few times today. I recon all the leaves congregate under bridges to conspire against us...

[jam]

Earlier today from Bosley to Fools Nook, only 2 miles, had to do it 6 times.

You will be doing it a few more times before Marple, as I found out last Saturday

[junior]

Have to do it after every single bridge hole, narrows etc and quite often several times in between.

 

Worst place this week was definitely Macclesfield to Congleton inc. Bosley.

[nicknorman]

Lots and lots of leaves on the N Stratford at the weekend. Lost count of how many reverses.

[MHS]

When faced with a thick carpet of leaves while on our previous boat, I would get the boat straight, then put it in neutral at the last minute, and drift through it.

 

Worked well until you get in the long wooded sections on the Shroppie.

[Top cat]

I've used the chuck back technique to clear leaves for many years, last week I tried just putting the prop into neutral and coasting for 10 sec , leaving out the revers and that seemed just as effective most of the time. Which cuts the wear on the clutch by half.

 

Top Cat

[cuthound]

It's not the leaves on the surface that cause the problem. When a leaf falls in the cut it initially floats, and then over a period of days gradually sinks.

 

This turns the cut into a kind of leaf soup, and it is the lower ones that get to form a ball around the prop, which "chucking back" temporarily clears.

 

Eventually the leaves all reach the bottom and the problem is resolved.

 

God knows how long the leaves take to rot down, 'cos even in summer an emergency stop on a shallow canal can fetch black leaves to the surface.

[Iain_S]

I've used the chuck back technique to clear leaves for many years, last week I tried just putting the prop into neutral and coasting for 10 sec , leaving out the revers and that seemed just as effective most of the time. Which cuts the wear on the clutch by half.

 

Top Cat

 

We found that when the gear change cable on Copperkins broke. Stopping the engine for a few seconds, then re-starting in gear cleared the leaves.

[dmr]

The autumn colours on the Thames are superb this year and a bloke on the BBC last night said its the best year for a long time.

Did have some prop troubles on the Thames a couple of days ago and suspected leaves but a blip of reverse did not fix it. However a trip down the weedhatch suggested it was something leftover from Brentford!.

 

..............Dave.

[Laurie Booth]

Lots and lots of leaves on the N Stratford at the weekend. Lost count of how many reverses.

I can't get out of the arm at Lady Lane.

[Sea Dog]

Lots and lots of leaves on the N Stratford at the weekend. Lost count of how many reverses.

As a rule of thumb, count the floating leaves as you go by and divide the total by 32,476 to work out how many times you reversed. Course, that's only an approximation.

[Flyboy]

I can't get out of the arm at Lady Lane.

Why?

[Jess--]

Been struggling with leaves these last few days, although I think we have also damaged the prop. Picked up a sleeping bag and it stopped the engine dead from 1800 rpm. Since then we seem down on power (have checked through the weed hatch and everything is clear and feels fine)

[Mike Todd]

Came through Milton Keynes today. Not sure which was worse, the leaves or the number of moored boats demanding slow passing.

[Ricco1]

My day hire boat was 'dumped' a mile from base today. Hirer said it had lost all power. It was just leaves, I showed them how to deal with the problem before I left them to it. I think the truth is that they spent too long in the pub, didn't want to get back in darkness after I'd stressed how important it was to get back within daylight hours