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L&L swing bridges


watcher

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All of them seem to have offside bollards, or some other way of attaching a bow or stern rope while you operate the bridge. Only found one that was so bad that I needed to enlist help getting it to move. All depends on your size and strength. Take a short length of rope with you as some will try and swing shut on their own and you can tie these open while you pass the boat through. No different from swing bridges on other parts of the system, just there are so many. Once you have done the L&L swing bridges will hold no more terrors! Your technique for dealing with them will become very slick.

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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8 hours ago, watcher said:

Is it possible to operate the swing bridges on the L&L singlehanded?

Yes, you use ropes to pull the boat.

Full method; get off boat, don't moor up but attach bow or centre line and long stern line to bridge so not to lose them. Open bridge, pull boat through with the ropes.   Close bridge, pull boat back to tow path.   Helps if roof is clear of stuff.

Most manual bridges have chains on them that you can pull close from tow path, so you can just pull the boat to the bridge once you've opened it and then get on, moor up and then close the bridge with the chain.

 

if you have a wheelhouse like I do then use a very long centre rope and route it behind the wheel house and use this as the stern rope as well. 

I take a telescopic aluminium boat hook just in case a rope gets caught in something,etc.

Edited by Robbo
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7 minutes ago, Robbo said:

Yes, you use ropes to pull the boat.

get off boat, attach bow or centre line and long stern line to bridge so not to lose them. Open bridge, pull boat through with the ropes.   Close bridge, pull boat back to tow path.   Helps if roof is clear of stuff.

Most manual bridges have chains on them that you can pull close from tow path, so you can just pull the boat to the bridge once you've opened it and then get on, moor up and then close the bridge with the chain.

 

I found quite a few of these bridge chains on the Leeds and Liverpool to be broken and you can't tell till you try to use them, so I ended up not bothering. This was a few years ago, so perhaps there has been a replacement program since. I've never got the hang of using ropes to pull a boat through, so I steer the boat through under power and tie the stern rope to the bollard on the other off side before closing the bridge. Probably due to the solar stuff on the roof, or the length of ropes I have. Others have better success.

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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3 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I found quite a few of these bridge chains on the Leeds and Liverpool to be broken and you can't tell till you try to use them, so I ended up not bothering. This was a few years ago, so perhaps there has been a replacement program since. I've never got the hang of using ropes to pull a boat through, so I steer the boat through under power and tie the stern rope to the bollard on the other side before closing the bridge. Probably due to the solar stuff on the roof, or the length of ropes I have. Others have better success.

Jen

I hardly have come across any bridges where you can moor on the other side.  I check the chain is attached first :)

i find wind is the enemy.

I use two ropes, stern and bow to pull the boat through, I find I have more control than if I just used one.  As you pull the stern line you find the bow heads towards the towpath.

Edited by Robbo
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6 minutes ago, Robbo said:

I hardly have come across any bridges where you can moor on the other side.  I check the chain is attached first :)

i find wind is the enemy.

Different people have different experiences and find different ways of tackling a problem. On the L&L I didn't find any bridge that didn't have a single bollard, or something other substantial that a bow, or stern rope could be attached to each side of the bridge on the off side, so I ended up doing the entire operation feom the off side. It worked well for me single handing that canal. Wind was a problem, but I could always recover from the boat being diagonal across the cut. Just saying what worked well for me.

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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1 minute ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Different people have different experiences and find different ways of tackling a problem. On the L&L I didn't find any bridge that didn't have a single bollard, or something other substantial that a bow, or stern rope could be attached to, so I ended up doing the entire operation feom the off side. It worked well for me single handing that canal. Wind was a problem, but I could always recover from the boat being diagonal across the cut. Just saying what worked well for me.

Jen

I'm only used to the Leeds side and most you have no place to tie up on the other side.   Most of the automated bridges have now controls on the towpath side which is handy.

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32 minutes ago, Robbo said:

I'm only used to the Leeds side and most you have no place to tie up on the other side.   Most of the automated bridges have now controls on the towpath side which is handy.

It can take a bit if searching. Bollards can be hidden in nettles as the off side isn't ever trimmed. Sometimes using fence posts and even the bridge itself, but always possible on the L&L 'cause I did it :)

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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I have done the whole Leeds and Liverpool single-handed.

My technique for single-handing swing bridges is as follows:

1) If not possible to moor on the operational side pull up at the landing stage leaving the boat untied

2) Cross the bridge taking the bow rope with you

3) Open bridge

4) Pull bow across to you

5) Walk down gunwale and power boat slowly through, stopping with the stern at bridge abutment of operational side

6) Get off boat taking the stern rope with you and close the bridge.

7) Get back on and off you go.

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