Boat stuck in Gosty tunnel

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, Dave_P said:

Does that not have a naked flame?

It may have, but might just be giving off a comforting hearty glow and a few fumes he was already used to. Could be worse - he could have been a modern Bargee and been wedged in the tunnel by the pile of old tyres on his roof, one of which might have been quietly smouldering away in his hand-made stove, filling the tunnel and shrouding the entire area back to Old Hill railway station with dense black smoke! This does, however, guarantee that everyone would have known he was there (should they not already have heard the petrol generator in his saloon rumbling away to keep his bilge pump running).

[Brogden]

On Tuesday 4th April I was single handing nb ISAAC on the Dudley no 2 canal. Having already gone through gosty hill, I was on the return route. The boat was brought to a halt by a sodden log that was below the waterline. Well and truly wedged, after two hours I admitted defeat in removing the log myself. I swam to the northern portal and was rescued by CRT who arrived within the hour. First with a car, and then a work boat. After a massive amount of work, they split the log and freed me. Massive thanks and respect to the guys who also got very wet and dirty.

couple of points.  I hadn't seen a boat moving for two days on the BCN, and certainly not on the Dudley no 2

the tunnel is at least 6 feet deep. I never found the bottom. The mud is horrendous and impossible to walk through. 300 m is a long way, there is no phone signal, and so I took my phone in a waterproof bag. The water is foul. Not an incident I wish to repeat  at 56 my heroic days are over. 

 

ive spoken to crt about having a booking system for tunnels like this. Book in and out. If you don't phone they come and have a look.

i am sad that this has happened again, but glad they are ok  

 

[MtB]

58 minutes ago, Brogden said:

On Tuesday 4th April I was single handing nb ISAAC on the Dudley no 2 canal. Having already gone through gosty hill, I was on the return route. The boat was brought to a halt by a sodden log that was below the waterline. Well and truly wedged, after two hours I admitted defeat in removing the log myself. I swam to the northern portal and was rescued by CRT who arrived within the hour. First with a car, and then a work boat. After a massive amount of work, they split the log and freed me. Massive thanks and respect to the guys who also got very wet and dirty.

couple of points.  I hadn't seen a boat moving for two days on the BCN, and certainly not on the Dudley no 2

the tunnel is at least 6 feet deep. I never found the bottom. The mud is horrendous and impossible to walk through. 300 m is a long way, there is no phone signal, and so I took my phone in a waterproof bag. The water is foul. Not an incident I wish to repeat  at 56 my heroic days are over. 

 

ive spoken to crt about having a booking system for tunnels like this. Book in and out. If you don't phone they come and have a look.

i am sad that this has happened again, but glad they are ok  

 

 

This can be done easily without having to stir the behemoth CRT administration machine into action.

Just call a mate and ask them to call CRT if you don't ring them back again in an hour. 

[john6767]

52 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

This can be done easily without having to stir the behemoth CRT administration machine into action.

Just call a mate and ask them to call CRT if you don't ring them back again in an hour. 

When this came up I was thinking about what you could to to guard against this, and came to the same conclusion, call someone before you go in and if you don't call back in an hour, they call out the troops.  I guess CRT could provide that service easily during office hours at least, it is not like there are that many boats going through Gosty Hill.

[ditchcrawler]

Maybe the Coombeswood Trust could do it if they want to attract more boaters to go down to the basin. 

[Theo]

Would the next person going through Gosty Tunnel please phone CRT if they see floating logs there and explain the hazard should the person at the other end of the phone line not understand.

 

Nick

[ditchcrawler]

It would be interesting to find out what the frequency of problems in the tunnel is.

[Brogden]

I think this shows the problem I had. 

I agree. Phoning a mate beforehand would really have helped. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. 

[FadeToScarlet]

This is where I'm glad to have an inflatable canoe on board....

We're going to do the tunnel at the end of the month, and may well do the contact a friend thing.