Going through tunnels

[roland elsdon]

the wheel gets reinvented a lot on the forum...

remember people canals were built for boats that were

a) legged and loaded or just loaded, or steered by people who didn't care a lot, or were unrigged when empty.

the boats that the canals were built for did not have solar panels bicycles piles of wood or coal on the top. The unrestricted view from the front of an unloaded unrigged open workboat is a joy.

we used to have the headlight on the engine hole bulkhead...chaos if the cruisers were going too fast in the tunnels.

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Follow earlier advice regarding lighting the tunnel, all will be well. 

 

 

Edited October 17, 2017 by Goliath

[roland elsdon]

Don't know either why b with) gives me a silly thing. 

[cuthound]

Do you have ventilation mushrooms or something else sticking up near the front of the boat on its centre line? If not rig something up.

Then as soon as the other end of the tunnel is in sight, line up the mushroom, aeriel whatever with the light at the end of the tunnel and concentrate hard on keeping it tbere, using frequent small steering corrections.

It will help for the shorter tunnels, and for most of the length of the longer ones.

[Ray T]

~

Edited October 18, 2017 by Ray T

[Dave Bebb]

Thank you like you said i thought it was a good idea but looks like its not, not done any drilling holes in the boat or fitted the wheels so just going to go a bit faster in the one way tunnels , the boat is a Liverpool boat ft 58 a we love her 

[mross]

On 18/10/2017 at 08:50, cuthound said:

Do you have ventilation mushrooms or something else sticking up near the front of the boat on its centre line? If not rig something up.

Then as soon as the other end of the tunnel is in sight, line up the mushroom, aeriel whatever with the light at the end of the tunnel and concentrate hard on keeping it tbere, using frequent small steering corrections.

It will help for the shorter tunnels, and for most of the length of the longer ones.

I place a dim, camping torch on the top of the cratch.

[furnessvale]

2 hours ago, mross said:

I place a dim, camping torch on the top of the cratch.

For what it is worth, my headlight is an old (very old) car foglight.

The light is distinctly yellow with age and doesn't penetrate very far, thus does not dazzle oncoming boats.

What it does do is give a distinct horseshoe of light around the front of the boat.

Steer down the centre of the horseshoe and all is well (obviously not when immediately passing an oncoming boat).

George

[RLWP]

10 minutes ago, furnessvale said:

What it does do is give a distinct horseshoe of light around the front of the boat.

Steer down the centre of the horseshoe and all is well (obviously not when immediately passing an oncoming boat).

George

That's pretty much what we do. Our front light is angled down to hit the water not far in front of the boat. The light then reflects off the water and up onto the roof of the tunnel

Richard

[Boat&Bikes]

1 hour ago, RLWP said:

That's pretty much what we do. Our front light is angled down to hit the water not far in front of the boat. The light then reflects off the water and up onto the roof of the tunnel

Richard

Our light is directed upwards and I find that having the tunnel roof well lit works. Are you sure your light reflecting off the water doesn't dazzle oncoming boaters? Just a simple question without any criticism implied.

Ian.

[RLWP]

7 minutes ago, ianali said:

Our light is directed upwards and I find that having the tunnel roof well lit works. Are you sure your light reflecting off the water doesn't dazzle oncoming boaters? Just a simple question without any criticism implied.

Ian.

No, I don't know that, I've never seen our boat in a tunnel.

The light will be pointing at much the same angle as yours, only down not up, so it's going to be the same for direct light. And as the light bounces upwards and it is dark beyond the light-up roof area, I can't see it's blinding anyone

It's also ancient and yellow, not a modern halogen light pointing straight down the tunnel like some I have met

Richard

[Jess--]

I have 2 lights on the boat.

1. the usual tunnel light at the front which gives a circle of light ahead of the boat.

2. a bright LED light at the back of the boat (positioned so the cratch blocks the light from oncoming boats in the distance), with this on tunnels are almost like daylight (the led light gets turned off as other boats get closer so that hopefully they never get dazzled by it)

for speed I tend to go though tunnels at what would be a fast cruising speed on the open canal, just fast enough that the tiller becomes heavy to move as I find my boat is very reactive to rudder input at this speed, I reduce this to a little above tickover when passing oncoming boats to prevent being sucked into the wall.

[Boat&Bikes]

2 minutes ago, RLWP said:

No, I don't know that, I've never seen our boat in a tunnel.

The light will be pointing at much the same angle as yours, only down not up, so it's going to be the same for direct light. And as the light bounces upwards and it is dark beyond the light-up roof area, I can't see it's blinding anyone

It's also ancient and yellow, not a modern halogen light pointing straight down the tunnel like some I have met

Richard

The problem is that you don't get to see your own boat coming. I asked the question as I have thought of directing my light as you do. I assume you have not been moaned at to often about dazzling others so it's fine. Maybe il give it a whirl and see what oncoming boaters say. Off topic I'm flipping bored and supposed to be out cruising but its so windy, thought best to stay tucked up safe for the day.

Ian.

[Boat&Bikes]

4 minutes ago, Jess-- said:

I have 2 lights on the boat.

1. the usual tunnel light at the front which gives a circle of light ahead of the boat.

2. a bright LED light at the back of the boat (positioned so the cratch blocks the light from oncoming boats in the distance), with this on tunnels are almost like daylight (the led light gets turned off as other boats get closer so that hopefully they never get dazzled by it)

for speed I tend to go though tunnels at what would be a fast cruising speed on the open canal, just fast enough that the tiller becomes heavy to move as I find my boat is very reactive to rudder input at this speed, I reduce this to a little above tickover when passing oncoming boats to prevent being sucked into the wall.

Our last boat used to be terrible for passing other boats in tunnels. Once it got near the wall it glued itself there and could take forever to get it away. Present boat is much better. 

Ian.

[Jess--]

2 minutes ago, ianali said:

Our last boat used to be terrible for passing other boats in tunnels. Once it got near the wall it glued itself there and could take forever to get it away. Present boat is much better. 

Ian.

I find that my boat will pull the back end into the most closest restricted part of the canal (shallow water / tunnel wall) with the power wound on, with less power the effect is reduced massively.

I assume this is caused by my prop pulling water fairly equally from left / right, but if there is less water on one side this lowers the water level on that side and my boat moves to the lower water level, every boat I have steered has done this a to a certain extent but some seem worse than others, in my experience the more slender the underwater profile (long swims etc) the more they are affected.

[RLWP]

31 minutes ago, ianali said:

 I assume you have not been moaned at to often about dazzling others so it's fine. Maybe il give it a whirl and see what oncoming boaters say. Off topic I'm flipping bored and supposed to be out cruising but its so windy, thought best to stay tucked up safe for the day.

Ian.

I have never had anyone mention our light

Richard

[furnessvale]

31 minutes ago, Jess-- said:

I find that my boat will pull the back end into the most closest restricted part of the canal (shallow water / tunnel wall) with the power wound on, with less power the effect is reduced massively.

I assume this is caused by my prop pulling water fairly equally from left / right, but if there is less water on one side this lowers the water level on that side and my boat moves to the lower water level, every boat I have steered has done this a to a certain extent but some seem worse than others, in my experience the more slender the underwater profile (long swims etc) the more they are affected.

Not quite.  It is the aeroplane wing effect.  Water on the shallow side rushes through the reduced gap quicker.  This reduces the water pressure and, just like the air going over an aeroplane wing has reduced pressure creating lift, this creates a sideways pull akin to lift, which draws the stern to the shallower side.

George

[RLWP]

11 minutes ago, furnessvale said:

Not quite.  It is the aeroplane wing effect.  Water on the shallow side rushes through the reduced gap quicker.  This reduces the water pressure and, just like the air going over an aeroplane wing has reduced pressure creating lift, this creates a sideways pull akin to lift, which draws the stern to the shallower side.

George

Bernoulli, innit

Richard

[furnessvale]

13 minutes ago, RLWP said:

Bernoulli, innit

Richard

Indeed!  You have just taken me back 50 years to my HNC in civil engineering!

George

[Paul C]

Bizarrely, its known in some circles as "the canal effect".

[Dave Bebb]

8 hours ago, mross said:

I place a dim, camping torch on the top of the cratch.

Think I will invest in one of those LED front lights or evern two