first stressful day boating on saturday

[paulstoke1975]

I had booked my passage through harecastle tunnel for 830 on Saturday morning and i started to leave my pontoon in festival park marina at 715 only to to be met with a shaking tiller and what felt like my propeller dragging on the bottom of the cut,

 

i thought id got to close to the slipway, as managed to get going but the tiller was rattling like mad, i managed to get out of the marina and moored alongside the china gardens pub thinking i was looking at a huge bill to have pulled the boat out of the water and a massive repair to what i thought was a damaged prop, after throwing a massive wobbler luckily for me a guy who works in the marina was walking past with his dog and after explained my troubles suggested that "90% of the time your tiller shakes its propped"

 

something wrapped around the prop,

 

after removing the weed hatch cover i found a old mooring rope wrapped around the prop with a metal D coupling attached, after ten minutes with a knife a was free again but missed my passage trough the tunnel,

 

after sulking for a few hrs i had another gentleman who is becoming a real life saver bring my boat back into the marina and give it the once over to make sure i havent done any damage.

 

my point to this post though is for anyone getting into boating without experience is to spend a bit of time in a marina or near other boaters who can advise you when its goes wrong .

 

the internet is great but experience is infallible.

 

 

 

 

[The Lockie]

Hey it happens!! It's only stressful because you don't know what's gone wrong the imagination then takes over and you think the worst.

 

Next time it happens you now know what to do!! It's a voyage of discovery this boating lark ;-)

[paulstoke1975]

Hey it happens!! It's only stressful because you don't know what's gone wrong the imagination then takes over and you think the worst.

 

Next time it happens you now know what to do!! It's a voyage of discovery this boating lark ;-)

im taking it out in the mooring weather permitting,

 

hopefully it will be a better day

[Pennie]

Sounds like you didn't panic. Both times my prop has had something big caught I've had a panic attack before even surveying the damage - First time it was just stones hitting the underplate because of shallow water; second was a twig that stopped the prop dead.

[David Schweizer]

Do you have to book to go through Harecastle? I never have, I have always just turned up and booked in on the day. Sometimes it is only a short wait, and sometimes you have to wait a couple of hours. I would have thought that at this time of year you would not have to wait very long for a passage.

[Rob-M]

Isn't Harecastle only open certain days of the week this time of year unless passage booked...?

[paulstoke1975]

Do you have to book to go through Harecastle? I never have, I have always just turned up and booked in on the day. Sometimes it is only a short wait, and sometimes you have to wait a couple of hours. I would have thought that at this time of year you would not have to wait very long for a passage.

in the winter you have to phone up 48hrs before to book passage, i coudnt cancel my slot through the tunnel as i didnt have reception on my phone either

[David Mack]

Do you have to book to go through Harecastle? I never have, I have always just turned up and booked in on the day. Sometimes it is only a short wait, and sometimes you have to wait a couple of hours. I would have thought that at this time of year you would not have to wait very long for a passage.

 

You do until 6 March:

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/5989/harecastle-tunnel-opening-times-2016

[matty40s]

Do you have to book to go through Harecastle? I never have, I have always just turned up and booked in on the day. Sometimes it is only a short wait, and sometimes you have to wait a couple of hours. I would have thought that at this time of year you would not have to wait very long for a passage.

its only bookable mon wed and fri at this time of year - and you have to book 48 hours in advance (ie thursday for a monday passage)

I was lucky with one boat move, got there early sun evening and was passed in the mist by another boat - that was booked in. Stuck to them in the morning and the tunnel crew let me through - even though the booking line didnt want to let it happen.

[The Lockie]

im taking it out in the mooring weather permitting,

 

hopefully it will be a better day

Enjoy. Weather should be a lot calmer too

[patty-ann]

Well at least you've done the weed hatch thing..I dread having to delve in there cos went in the first time to clear the lurgys that live within I broke the closing thingy and had to get it re welded...

Enjoy your trip...

[John V]

Don't fret....it happens everywhere and all the time.

Sometimes the rope is a bit bigger and sometimes it's harder to get to !!!

 

 

rope from Aicertron's prop by mudlarker2, on FlickrAlongside by mudlarker2, on Flickr

 

And incidentally.....Yes.......we did cruise with fenders down

C

Edited February 9, 2016 by John V

[Phil Ambrose]

Bet it would take more than "a twig" to stop that dead (soz Pennie)

Phil

[Barge Maria]

 

er.... your definition of a twig is a bit different to mine Pennie!!!

 

Edited February 9, 2016 by Barge Maria

[Jess--]

so far my worst has been having to unwind a double sleeping bag from the prop, it stopped the engine dead and kicked the rudder hard over.

 

luckily it happened approaching a lock landing so the boat was barely moving.

[crossley]

About 5 years ago I got a call from work to go to orskov shipyard in frederickshaven north Denmark.an offshore standby boat, the Grampian frontier, had got a mooring rope caught between the propeller hub and the p bracket. It wound the rope around the shaft, acted like a screw thread and literally pulled the tailshaft and shaftline back and burst the gearbox casing,pulled the output shaft and thrust blocks through the back of the reduction gear casing.it stopped the engine dead. It was an insurance job, a new

gearbox, shaftline repairs,etc.I was there to check over the main engine and change main and big end bearings at the insurance companies insistance. The final bill was over a million pounds.

It happened again a few years later to the same vessel and is not uncommon in the north sea.

Maybe it didn't have rope guards on the shafts, I can't remember now.

I've been lucky upto now with my boat, not had a serious propeller foul as yet, only the usual plastic bags and leaves. It seems to munch its way through most smaller things and spits out bits of wood and twigs.

I await a serious jam up with some trepidation!

[Paul C]

Didn't someone on the forum get a keep net trapped around their propellor, and eventually they needed to call out a diver to get it off (it was a GRP boat with an inboard engine and no weed hatch I think)?

[Mike Todd]

Didn't someone on the forum get a keep net trapped around their propellor, and eventually they needed to call out a diver to get it off (it was a GRP boat with an inboard engine and no weed hatch I think)?

Narrowboats did not generally have weed hatches until wimpy leisure boaters came along. Even in the 1970's hire boats often did not have them. I was shown by a former boatman what to do - dropping the skeg on a cill. Not the best way to a sleepful night but it worked - especially as this was in the middle of the Wolverhampton 21 and it was a whole heap of wire wrapped tightly around.

 

If we start on the thread on a my-clogged-prop-was-worse-than-yours competition will may well break the record for thread length and make Pillings Lock look like a short story!

[Pennie]

Bet it would take more than "a twig" to stop that dead (soz Pennie)

Phil

Honestly it was about 7 inches and about 1/3 inch across but it had a branch at the top that got caught perfectly to stop it. I was very surprised something so small stop it

If we start on the thread on a my-clogged-prop-was-worse-than-yours competition will may well break the record for thread length and make Pillings Lock look like a short story!

 

that could be funny lol.

 

I think I win for the smallest thing to clog the prop

[paulstoke1975]

I got the boat out this morning managed a mile and half and my gear selector cable snapped , I got mechanic rescue me £50 lighter but still happy , travelled another 2.5 mile and a lift bridge is being repaired and I failed to spot it on crt stoppages , no where to turn the boat so in the morning I've got to pull the boat backwards for a mile and half to the winding hole at the foxley arms pub Doh!

[David Mack]

Narrowboats did not generally have weed hatches until wimpy leisure boaters came along. Even in the 1970's hire boats often did not have them. I was shown by a former boatman what to do - dropping the skeg on a cill.

We don't have a weedhatch. We just pull stuff off using a boathook, standing on the bank with the boat a few feet out from the bank. I've never needed to drop the skeg on a cill, although a couple of times I have hung a long way over the side of the counter, with someone holding my legs, so I can reach the prop with my hands.

[ditchcrawler]

I got the boat out this morning managed a mile and half and my gear selector cable snapped , I got mechanic rescue me £50 lighter but still happy , travelled another 2.5 mile and a lift bridge is being repaired and I failed to spot it on crt stoppages , no where to turn the boat so in the morning I've got to pull the boat backwards for a mile and half to the winding hole at the foxley arms pub Doh!

The gear change is mended so use reverse

[paulstoke1975]

The gear change is mended so use reverse

I will do when possible but I was worried if doing 2 mile in reverse will stress the engine ?

[David Mack]

I will do when possible but I was worried if doing 2 mile in reverse will stress the engine ?

Engine will be absolutely fine. The gearbox maybe less so. Some gearboxes can run indefinitely in reverse, others only for limited periods.

[ditchcrawler]

Engine will be absolutely fine. The gearbox maybe less so. Some gearboxes can run indefinitely in reverse, others only for limited periods.

Its OK he will be in forward three quarters of the time straightening up.