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March of the Widebeams


cuthound

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19 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

Off to wedge myself in hurleston i have evidence ive been up before so crt will see me right

 

The precedent appears to have been set by this so fill your boots...

 

Perhaps instead of going to Braunston next weekend the HNBC should despatch boats to every tight lock on the system. Who's for an easy one, fifth lock up Napton, get stuck on Monday, fixed on Wednesday. Hurleston: 30 years - pah, we'll have it sorted by next weekend.

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3 minutes ago, davidg said:

Perhaps instead of going to Braunston next weekend the HNBC should despatch boats to every tight lock on the system. Who's for an easy one, fifth lock up Napton, get stuck on Monday, fixed on Wednesday. Hurleston: 30 years - pah, we'll have it sorted by next weekend.

I gather from photos elsewhere that "Bodmin" has been firmly wedged in Napton lock 12 today, so maybe the idea has already got under way!

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41 minutes ago, davidg said:

 

The precedent appears to have been set by this so fill your boots...

 

Perhaps instead of going to Braunston next weekend the HNBC should despatch boats to every tight lock on the system. Who's for an easy one, fifth lock up Napton, get stuck on Monday, fixed on Wednesday. Hurleston: 30 years - pah, we'll have it sorted by next weekend.

Didn't seem to help Bodmin that was stuck in Napton lock 12 for most of the day

 

Edited by Rob-M
Should have read Alan's post.
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1 hour ago, Chris Williams said:

Who owns this thing??  Or is that a CRT secret.

The boat looks like the one that has been moored outside Delta Marine services for the last 2 years and being fitted out. If so, the owners have had 2 years to plan how to get it away.

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3 hours ago, frangar said:

Apparently they are getting CRT to remove bits of bridge so they can move this monstrosity.....going to be fun if they want to bring it through Braunston next weekend.......think they might find themselves even more unpopular......that boat is one of the most unsuitable things I have seen on the GU.

Nil Desperandum chaps and chapesses,  if recent history teaches us anything I reckon there's every chance that if he does reach Braunston he'll turn left up the Grand Oxford to Dunchurch where their breeding pools are.

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52 minutes ago, Grahamnewman said:

I think they are all back home now.

No. Several of the boats that attended the HNBC gathering in Hebden Bridge are still stuck the wrong side of Lock 66 (and so won't be at Braunston next weekend). Those that did make it out are either short enough to leave via the Calder and Hebble or managed to escape westwards in the short window between the completion of cill repairs at Lock 49 and the failure of the bottom gate at Lock 66.

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8 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

The vandalised coping stones. Zoom into see. 

 

 

22D471A9-BEAC-43BD-B3A3-FA0501F30371.jpeg

That puts the speculation beyond doubt.  I wonder if the nice chaps at CRT are making plans to widen Braunston Tunnel to accommodate the owner's needs as they make their way to London?  Maybe some nicely crafted grooves to ensure the handrails remain clear..... have your camera ready!

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50 minutes ago, GRLMK38 said:

That puts the speculation beyond doubt.  I wonder if the nice chaps at CRT are making plans to widen Braunston Tunnel to accommodate the owner's needs as they make their way to London?  Maybe some nicely crafted grooves to ensure the handrails remain clear..... have your camera ready!

 

I have to say, the boat doesn't look too wide to fit through there although it was hard to judge from the towpath. The 'fender growth' almost completely conceals the boat from the towpath so just can't see it properly. I'm inclined to think the reason for the coping stone removal is the air draft of the boat meaning it needs to come through hard against the left bank to miss the low side of the bridge deck. As previously suggested by Davidg.

 

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10 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I'm inclined to think the reason for the coping stone removal is the air draft of the boat meaning it needs to come through hard against the left bank to miss the low side of the bridge deck. As previously suggested by Davidg.

 

Possibly Mike but that’s not what I was saying. The walls have batter* on one or both sides so well below water level the bridge hole is narrower than up top.

Anyway the removal of the copings doesn’t seem to have achieved anything as the boat was still there this morning. Several of us would have predicted that outcome; apparently the CRT engineer didn’t.

 

*not the stuff found round fish, or Mars bars.

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14 hours ago, GRLMK38 said:

I wonder if the nice chaps at CRT are making plans to widen Braunston Tunnel to accommodate the owner's needs as they make their way to London? 

I repeat - who is this so important owner, that CRT are moving heaven and earth for.  Someone must know what the Hell is going on.

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4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Are CRT removing the stones, or replacing them after the boat tried to get through. be interesting to know the dimensions of the boat

Based on what happened before, the boat will theoretically fit. In practice, that section works well for narrowboats but is not maintained for widebeams because they don't cruise there

 

The structure of the bridge was wider than the boat I saw stuck, but the channel (maintained by passing narrowboats) wasn't. So it stuck

 

It seems widebeam boats require the channel to be maintained to a greater width than narrowboats

 

Richard

Edited by RLWP
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9 minutes ago, Chris Williams said:

I repeat - who is this so important owner, that CRT are moving heaven and earth for.  Someone must know what the Hell is going on.

Totally agree. I hope the full cost of all labour is being psssed back to the owner for using a craft unsuitable for the waterway. 

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20 hours ago, Grahamnewman said:

I think they are all back home now.

You are wrong by about 12 historic boats unfortunately.

 

Probably less than half of those attending Hebden Bridge managed to get out via Manchester before the failure at Tannersworth Upper Lock, and there had already been a delay of a week for another failure in Rochdale before that.
 

Some shorter boats also escaped via the Calder and Hebble and the tidal Trent, but not possible for the majority at 60 feet and over.

Some that planned to attend Braunston now can not.

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48 minutes ago, frangar said:

Do the users of wide boats like this ever think what might happen if they met a similar sized vessel coming the way? There is a reason that the GUCC dropped trying to operate wide boats! 

Like range loather , toyota landbruiser and other ludicrously wide 4 wheel drives that cannot drive down a normal road without overhanging the central divide, they expect lessers to get out of their way. Pop pop mr toad

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1 hour ago, alan_fincher said:

You are wrong by about 12 historic boats unfortunately.

 

Probably less than half of those attending Hebden Bridge managed to get out via Manchester before the failure at Tannersworth Upper Lock, and there had already been a delay of a week for another failure in Rochdale before that.
 

Some shorter boats also escaped via the Calder and Hebble and the tidal Trent, but not possible for the majority at 60 feet and over.

Some that planned to attend Braunston now can not.

Alan

thanks for that. I thought I had correct informstion. Di you know which boats wont be attending the Braunston Rally?

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18 hours ago, RLWP said:

Based on what happened before, the boat will theoretically fit. In practice, that section works well for narrowboats but is not maintained for widebeams because they don't cruise there

 

The structure of the bridge was wider than the boat I saw stuck, but the channel (maintained by passing narrowboats) wasn't. So it stuck

 

It seems widebeam boats require the channel to be maintained to a greater width than narrowboats

 

Richard

What happened before? Have boats built to similar dimensions passed through this bridge unimpeded? And what are the engineering tolerances on the dimensions?

 

Based on the width reported by the owner - 4m - and the Fraenkel Report* quoted dimensions from Napton to the top of Bordesley - 3.8m - we would appear to have a negative proximity coefficient here. Now the Fraenkel Report dimensions have to be treated with a degree of circumspection, from memory it gives Hillmorton as maximum length 70ft when 71'6" GUCCCo boats had been using the locks for years, but they were presumably based on some sort of survey of pinch points.

 

I'll say it again: The structure of the bridge you can see might be wider than the boat but below water level it's not that the channel isn't maintained, it's the structure of the bridge itself which is narrow because of the batter on the retaining walls. (I've just had a look at some notes on civil engineering structures, 1:8 is typical for brick retaining walls)

 

We were sat down at teatime yesterday with someone who was on the boats when the cement traffic was running from Southam to Sampon Road and asked him if they ever ran through this bridge breasted up,"no it's too narrow" was the reply which would suggest the bridge has been less than 14ft wide since at least the early 60s.

 

*Someone fished it out, also at teatime yesterday - we drink a lot of tea.

 

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