Kennet & Avon Canal Fobney Lock Sunken Boat

[billS]

I believe Nuneaton and Brighton are heading upstream somewhere between County and Fobney locks - could be a boring weekend!

[Hanhb]

Latest notice from CRT is that the lock will be closed until Tuesday morning as they are having difficulty removing the boat. Sounds like they are giving up for the weekend and will try again on Monday!

 

We are due to be going through on Tuesday. Does anyone know what the queue of boats waiting to go through is like or if there's likely to be a long wait for it once it opens? Can't imagine anyone expecting to have been going that way this week is too pleased.

 

Very sad for the folks whose boat it is, thank god they got out ok.

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

 

Interesting?

Are weed hatches checked as part of the hull survey, and are they blacked at the same time as the hull. ??

Mine is blacked at each blacking

[Sea Dog]

You have clearly never been in a damage control trainer!

Ah, the memories come flooding back! I can almost taste the softwood wedges.

[AllanC]

Mine is blacked at each blacking

Good. That's just one more thing to check when I look at boats.

[BEngo]

Ah, the memories come flooding back! I can almost taste the softwood wedges.

Cannot beat a good Gunter Batten!

 

N

[billS]

Ah, the memories come flooding back! I can almost taste the softwood wedges.

 

Bloody hell! Wrong hole sailor!

[Guest]

I believe Nuneaton and Brighton are heading upstream somewhere between County and Fobney locks - could be a boring weekend!

 

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/coal-barges-stuck-reading-lock-11740509

 

Mr Wyatt explained the coal boats, called Brighton and Dunedin, had come from the Midlands where they collected coal and carried it down the canal to sell to boaters on the way.

 

Who's error I wonder, Mr. Wyatt's or a journalist with poor hearing?

[IanM]

I imagine that's the name of one of the other boats stuck there and today's journalists just wanting to get their stories out there without checking the facts.

 

Very similar to one of the bigger papers the other week posting an article of how the MoD spent x millions (might have even been billions) on a 5 inch gun to which the journalist had written "which is the length of a toothbrush". Needless to say that got corrected fairly quickly after the comments section was filled with people taking the pi**

 

Edited August 12, 2016 by IanM

[Guest]

I imagine that's the name of one of the other boats stuck there.

 

Do you think so?

 

Is there another coal boat called Dunedin?

 

Besides if Brighton is there it's a pretty dead cert. Nuneaton is too. (Given Brighton is a butty and Nuneaton the motor)

[twbm]

Brighton and Nuneaton are indeed waiting below the lock to move on.

 

Possibly the speaker had a blocked nose - although in that case the butty would have been 'Bridon'.

[rrt2]

Just got home from Brighton and Nuneaton which are moored on the lock landing below Fobney lock.

 

The boat in the lock was still there last night with some locals trying to raise it. The police were called and and the unauthorised raising was stopped.

Canal and River rescue were on site yesterday morning ( Saturday ) and with none of there staff available had subcontracted the job out to another firm who decided that they did not want the job. When canal rescue have enough of there own staff available they will raise the boat.

 

The only boats waiting at Fobney are our pair with the others that are waiting being held in Reading and somewhere above Fobney ( maybe Burghfiel but I do not know for sure ).

 

The only road access to the lock is over a long bridge with the Kennet flowing under it. The bridge has a 3 Tonne weight limit and the access to where you can get a crane is very poor as well.

 

The plan is to put ground anchors in and winch the back of the boat up and get as many doors etc shut then put pump (s) in and raise it.

 

As has been said it went down very quickly and did not get flooded from the top gate paddles.

 

At least the lady steering was not hurt and managed to get off and out of the way when it went down.

[MtB]

The plan is to put ground anchors in and winch the back of the boat up and get as many doors etc shut then put pump (s) in and raise it.

 

As has been said it went down very quickly and did not get flooded from the top gate paddles.

 

 

Thanks for the report Barry.

 

I can't imagine pumping it out to raise it is going to work, unless they can find and fix the reason for it going down in the first place.

[billS]

 

The boat in the lock was still there last night with some locals trying to raise it. The police were called and and the unauthorised raising was stopped.

 

That's intriguing. What were they actually doing?

[spadefoot]

 

That's intriguing. What were they actually doing?

Trying to reclaim their swimming pool perhaps?

[rrt2]

As of last night crane now coming in by water and expected today.

[Sarahr]

I have just received an email from CRT saying the sunken boat has been removed and Fobney lock is now open

[MtB]

This is correct. I rode my bike past this evening and it's back to normal.

 

A row of scroats sitting on the balance beam drinking and smoking, and now a bloke who appears to have commandeered the lock landing to refit the interior of his boat!

[junior]

Seem on Facebook that the weed hatch was the cause of the sinking.

[Jrtm]

Dad said its ment to be removed tomorrow

[Jrtm]

But this was at 11am so prob wasnt open then.

[rrt2]

 

 

A row of scroats sitting on the balance beam drinking and smoking, and now a bloke who appears to have commandeered the lock landing to refit the interior of his boat!

Having spent a few days there with Nuneaton and Brighton, I took the time to approach the youngsters who congregate there.

I found them to be both friendly, pleasent and good to talk with. They asked about the boats and what we did.

At no time did I feel in any way uneasy being there on my own.

[JV44]

If it's the guys that are normally at the lock they look worse than they are ,in fact we often have banter with them and they are happy to help open the gates

Was the boat a red one ex hire ? If so he shot past the island on his way down midnight on Saturday ,spent Sunday pressure washing his boat there ,seemed friendly enough had a massive mastif type dog ?

[alan_fincher]

I don't think this was posted, before, but may be wrong?

Reading Berkshire News Linky

Very dramatic, and very sad for those involved.

 

However it gives no clue to the reasons, because the video doesn't start until well after the boat is near inundated, and a very fast sinking is inevitable

 

You would need footage taken before that point to give any clue as to how quickly it got to that unrecoverable position.

[Laurie Booth]

Every boaters nightmare, thank God no one got killed.