Buckby lock 8 (yet again)

[adam1uk]

Well I can't see any new boards in that photo.

It's not necessarily very new -- but it's the bit that's supposed to fill the gap between the top of the gate and the balance beam. Not very well, in this case.

[MtB]

It's not necessarily very new -- but it's the bit that's supposed to fill the gap between the top of the gate and the balance beam. Not very well, in this case.

 

 

Oh I see, that tapered bit of wood bolted into the gap.

 

I'm surprised a bow fender caught in that gap could lift a gate of its hinge, it looks too high to me. Especially not a steel gate like that with virtually no bouyancy. But it obviously happened! Was it a boat with a high prow like a Harborough perhaps?

[alan_fincher]

 

 

Oh I see, that tapered bit of wood bolted into the gap.

 

I'm surprised a bow fender caught in that gap could lift a gate of its hinge, it looks too high to me. Especially not a steel gate like that with virtually no bouyancy. But it obviously happened! Was it a boat with a high prow like a Harborough perhaps?

 

That may not be how it lifted the gate......

 

Another issue with the design of gate Adam has pictured is that if a boat gets diagonal, rather than flat against the side, the fender can miss the rubbing plate on the gate, and get into one of the gate voids, and hence it rises under the top "bar" of that void.

 

Looking at the picture again, I'm wondering if that is more likely.

 

To solve this issue you would need rubbing plates across the whole gate, not just on the restricted width where that set has them fitted.

 

What I describe was certainly the cause of one such incident of gate lifting in the Braunston flight a year or two back.

[MtB]

 

That may not be how it lifted the gate......

 

Another issue with the design of gate Adam has pictured is that if a boat gets diagonal, rather than flat against the side, the fender can miss the rubbing plate on the gate, and get into one of the gate voids, and hence it rises under the top "bar" of that void.

 

Looking at the picture again, I'm wondering if that is more likely.

 

 

I think you're right. A single boat in the lock doesn't even have to be diagonal, it just needs to be two feet out from the lock wall for the bow fender to line up perfectly with the gaps on one side of the rubbing board. And who keeps their boat hard against the lock wall anyway when in an empty lock?!

 

But didn't the OP say this incident happened with two boats in the lock?

Edited September 25, 2016 by Mike the Boilerman

[alan_fincher]

But didn't the OP say this incident happened with two boats in the lock?

 

Unless they are very long boats the situation I describe can easily happen with (say) 2 * 57 foot boats.

 

The locks are a lot wider than two times 6' 10" (or whatever), and if one boat is forward and the other backwards in the lock you can easily get the bow of the lead boat two or more feet across from the side, and into one of those voids.

 

I reckon I could actually manage it with Flamingo (71' 8") and Sickle (40') if I kept Sickle against the lower gate. There is a lot of extra width in most GU locks, particularly at the top, as most are considerably wider at the top than at the bottom, and this incident probably happened with the lock near full, I suspect.

[Nightwatch]

Here on the L&L the lock gates seem to be filled in to prevent the occurance of this.

[adam1uk]

Unless they are very long boats the situation I describe can easily happen with (say) 2 * 57 foot boats.

 

The locks are a lot wider than two times 6' 10" (or whatever), and if one boat is forward and the other backwards in the lock you can easily get the bow of the lead boat two or more feet across from the side, and into one of those voids.

 

I reckon I could actually manage it with Flamingo (71' 8") and Sickle (40') if I kept Sickle against the lower gate. There is a lot of extra width in most GU locks, particularly at the top, as most are considerably wider at the top than at the bottom, and this incident probably happened with the lock near full, I suspect.

There were two boats, but both were probably in the 58ft range.

 

Didn't actually speak to the boater who did it, but the couple on the other boat said they still weren't sure exactly what had happened.