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Basingstoke canal Stoppage


Tim Lewis

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The latest navigation notice says:-

 

We have now carried out an inspection of the lower gates at Lock 18 after they were damaged by a visiting boat on Wednesday. Sadly, they are not repairable even on a temporary basis due to the extensive damage caused to the heal post (it’s spilt over half of its length) - so will need to be replaced with a new set of gates as soon as possible.

 

These will need to be built to order by our lock gate manufacturer as each set of gates is unique, with every lock chamber being subtly different. We have been given an estimate of 6 – 8 weeks for construction of the new gates. We are really sorry that this means that the Deepcut and Brookwood lock flights are now closed until we can get the new gates made and fitted.

 

Graham

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The Basingstoke Canal Authority are managing to get everyone who needs to off the canal today and next Monday by roping them through the damaged lock 18 with crews off just incase the gates give. 

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Well, maybe if they had used Oak instead of Notty pine they would of stood up better to a bit of bashing.

 

Most of the bashing is done to get the badley fitting top gates open,  or trying to get two boats out with all the lock gates sealing compound the Basingstoke canal use that gets behind the lower gates and grows daily after they reseal the gates when the last boat of the day goes through!

So if you have two boats going down, there is a tendancy to have to refill the lock and back one boat out. The answer given to me by a basingstoke Canal Ranger was," well, thats the way it is!"

I also think that the rules to empty every lock after use, wether going up or down goes a long way in subjecting the pine to premiture aging!

 

Nipper

 

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Bother!! We are going to reach the Basingstoke in about a fortnight and were determined to go all the way. Hoping we can wind before the stoppage. Must have been one hell of a bash.

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Hello there. It is very unfortunate indeed that the Deepcut and Brookwood flights of the Basingstoke Canal have had to be closed because of a broken gate. To say that the Society, and the Canal Authority (BCA) who do an excellent job in keeping the Canal operational, are gutted is an understatement. In this case, a boater lost concentration and slammed into the gate, knocking off the beam and splitting the heel post in such a way that it could not be repaired temporarily and replacement is the only option. The timing could not have been worse.....

 

I don't know where nipper got the idea that pine is used for lock gate construction. They would not last 5 minutes. 

 

Rest assured that the BCA will do their upmost to reopen the Canal as soon as possible. However, the problem is that the Counties that own the Canal do not have the economy of scale of the C&RT and have had to go to their suppliers for replacements, who have had to obtain materials and fit the build into their busy schedule, which accounts for the delay. Had there been some gates lying around (as was the case a couple of years ago, when gates destined for one lock were used to replace the gates in another) the BCA could probably have had the Canal open again in a week.

 

See the Basingstoke Canal Authority FB page for navigation updates and more information. The Hampshire and Mytchett pounds will be open as usual, and during the stoppage the Canal will be navigable for 7 miles to Brookwood Country Park through 11 locks.

 

Martin Leech

Vice-chairman, The Basingstoke Canal Society.

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On behalf of Accessible Boating I would like to thank the canal authority for getting our holiday boat, Madam Butterfly, through the damaged lock. She was just below the lock when boat coming down broke it. The Canal Authority rang us up and suggested that we could get through with a small risk that the boat might get a bit scratched if the gate broke. We needed it on the Hampshire pound for our next group so agreed. 

 

In this case our customers were very experienced boaters and actually quite enjoyed the event.

 

Fortunately the stoppage is not affecting us as our customers tend to stay above Deep Cut. 

 

Cheers Graham

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's definitely underused! Ever so slow and clogged. But pretty. We can hire canoes at Odiham for the day from Galleon Marine to explore some of the far end. They also do hire boats but the price of a long weekend was more than I wanted to add to my Basingstoke budget!! Worth noting for others in future though if you don't want to go up then down Deepcut.

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  • 2 weeks later...

 Update from the BCA the wood for the new gate has been delivered from France and is now with the gate builder. However manufacture and fitting will still be several more weeks ?

Just a thought - we are stuck the wrong side of the closure until the gate is fixed, just poodling between Mytchett and Odiham kicking our heels. If anyone was booked onto the Basingstoke and is close enough and would like to sample the delights if this beautiful and under-used canal (certainly now!) you are welcome to join Annie and I on Ceilidh for a day's cruise - perhaps cross it off your bucket list. Just pm me...... 

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Aha. We met you when we were Canoeing the other week! We then spent a week broken down on the Wey and are now heading for Godalming and back to Weybridge for the weekend. Offer also returned if you fancy a zoom up the Wey later this week. 

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  • 5 months later...

Just to close this thread - we've just escaped after 6 months being stuck on the Basingstoke.

 

We (Nbs Ceilidh and Legend) came on at the at the end of May, each with a month's licence. A few days later Lock 18 gates were damaged and required replacing. This took 2 months, by which time we were in the middle of the drought. There was insufficient water to fill the pounds that had been drained to enable the repair, a situation that got worse as first the Hampshire pound then the Surrey pound were closed to Navigation. It looked like we were going to be entombed on the Basingstoke until April - 10 months. 

 

Lovely though the Basingstoke is - we feel we've 'done' it now, so were pleased to hear the Deepcut flight was re-opening last week. We have just made good our escape up to the K&A after a bit of a Thames cruise to try and get some use from our (unrefundable) gold licences. - Phew! 

Edited by KenM
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Glad to hear you got off and that the canal is up and running again. It is a fantastic canal...really enjoyed everything about it when we went on it last autumn. Was there no way you could have been cranked out at Odiham or somewhere?

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On ‎13‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 17:37, KenM said:

Just to close this thread - we've just escaped after 6 months being stuck on the Basingstoke.

 

We (Nbs Ceilidh and Legend) came on at the at the end of May, each with a month's licence. A few days later Lock 18 gates were damaged and required replacing. This took 2 months, by which time we were in the middle of the drought. There was insufficient water to fill the pounds that had been drained to enable the repair, a situation that got worse as first the Hampshire pound then the Surrey pound were closed to Navigation. It looked like we were going to be entombed on the Basingstoke until April - 10 months. 

 

Lovely though the Basingstoke is - we feel we've 'done' it now, so were pleased to hear the Deepcut flight was re-opening last week. We have just made good our escape up to the K&A after a bit of a Thames cruise to try and get some use from our (unrefundable) gold licences. - Phew! 

Was the stoppage on the K & A there before you went on it or did you break that canal as well ?

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13 hours ago, Dave123 said:

Glad to hear you got off and that the canal is up and running again. It is a fantastic canal...really enjoyed everything about it when we went on it last autumn. Was there no way you could have been cranked out at Odiham or somewhere?

Thanks. Yes a lovely canal but it's great to be moving again. Boats are meant to navigate not be tied up for long. 

Several places available for a lift out but that would have cost ££. Would have been OK as a last resort though. 

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