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Nearly came to grief because of a log


Jennifer McM

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When 'things' happen in a lock they happen very quickly.

 

We had an argument with a floating log behind a lock gate on the HNC. After a struggle I fished it out with the keb.

It is now split and I will take great pleasure in burning it in a winter or two!

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2 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

When 'things' happen in a lock they happen very quickly.

 

Not kidding! It's so easy to 'jump' the wrong way and make things worse! 

1 minute ago, Matt&Jo said:

Glad your all okay and tye boat didnt sink

So are we.... ??

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Similar to what happened to us in the bottom off side lock of Hillmorton.

Stern held up on the port side, never found by what. Assumption was a water soaked log floating vertically under the hull.

Odd how steerers forget they have a horn in these circumstances.

Edited by Boater Sam
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32 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

Odd how steerers forget they have a horn in these circumstances.

Exactly, honking the horn never entered my head. A blast on the horn would have been much better than my 'hysterical scream'! 

 

Thanks for that reminder - now to re-programme my instincts ?

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Crikey, that was lucky. So easy to happen as well. Years ago I was in an old (and soggy) wooden narrowboat, passed through the lock, no problems, left the lock, boat slowly filling with water, turned out that as the boat came into the lock a piece of floating plywood had jammed between the brickwork and the soggy bow and shoved itself through a plank like a knife. Ah, those were the days when boats had character.

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1 hour ago, Boater Sam said:

Odd how steerers forget they have a horn in these circumstances.

 

And equally odd how folk lockside are able to blithely continue chatting and ignore a steerer frantically hooting horn, in my personal experience. 

 

My experience of hanging up in a lock and having everyone ashore ignore me/unable to hear me yelling/hooting starkly illustrated to me how completely helpless you are on the boat if things start to go wrong. The only place to be when locking is on the lockside, NEVER on the boat.

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1 hour ago, NB Lola said:

Excellent account, and warning to us all.

Yes and yes!!

 

Years ago, (like 40) when we were very new, my OH who was steering shouted that the boat was going down, and I responded, 'It's supposed to, we are descending the flight of locks' . I had missed the point - or at least missed that the pointy end was going down whereas the blunt end was staying put!!  OH climbed to the top off the cabin,  leapt to the side, wrestled the windlass from me and stabilised the situation. In our case it was a moment's inattention which put us on the cill - but as you so rightly say, these things happen in seconds.  

 

So glad all was well and you were able to re-tell the story (exceptionally well - if that doesn't sound patronising). 

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2 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

Blasting the horn when in a lock is our signal to drop the paddles as quick as you can and ask why later.

 

Have you ever tested this without giving the crew advance warning, from the bottom of a deep lock?

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2 hours ago, Dr Bob said:

Wow!

Well done Jennifer on sorting it out. That's certainly one to look out for....and be ready for. I will remember the horn advice.

Thanks for posting this.

 

 

Do test and see if it works, because it didn't work for me when I needed it in a deep and noisy lock.

 

I had to get off the boat in a helluva hurry and fix the problem myself.

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4 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 

Do test and see if it works, because it didn't work for me when I needed it in a deep and noisy lock.

 

I had to get off the boat in a helluva hurry and fix the problem myself.

No distress flare available in case of emergency? 

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Thanks for this.  It's always good to have a reminder of the things which can go wrong.  As ever, the best advice is to remain vigilant and don't wander off or be distracted by gongoozlers. 

9 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

And equally odd how folk lockside are able to blithely continue chatting and ignore a steerer frantically hooting horn, in my personal experience. 

 

My experience of hanging up in a lock and having everyone ashore ignore me/unable to hear me yelling/hooting starkly illustrated to me how completely helpless you are on the boat if things start to go wrong. The only place to be when locking is on the lockside, NEVER on the boat.

Were the folk lockside part of your crew or just members of the public?  Or were you single-handing?

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7 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 

Do test and see if it works, because it didn't work for me when I needed it in a deep and noisy lock.

 

I had to get off the boat in a helluva hurry and fix the problem myself.

Good information Mike. I will try it. I will tell Mrs Bob first. Not planning any locks till next week.

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Only came close once and yes it is amazing how quickly things happen, we once got caught in a potrusion in a big hydraulic  lock on the A&C where you just wouldn't expect a NB to do so. The boat tilted sufficiently to dump a laptop onto the floor from a table.

 

Thankfully the emergency stop buttons do appear to work.

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12 hours ago, Victor Vectis said:

Blasting the horn when in a lock is our signal to drop the paddles as quick as you can and ask why later.

 

12 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Have you ever tested this without giving the crew advance warning, from the bottom of a deep lock?


I took him to mean that the crew of the boat already had a pre-agreement about the action.

Hence I can't see why it wouldn't work.

 

But I agree that getting people who are not part of your crew to do the right thing when an emergency occurs is a much bigger challenge, (even when it is their boat they are about to sink, not yours!).

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3 hours ago, Dave_P said:

Thanks for this.  It's always good to have a reminder of the things which can go wrong.  As ever, the best advice is to remain vigilant and don't wander off or be distracted by gongoozlers. 

Were the folk lockside part of your crew or just members of the public?  Or were you single-handing?

 

Other boaters who were ‘helping’ me as a single hander. 

 

Other boaters often tell me as a single hander to stay on the boat and they will work the lock for me. They have the best of intentions but their focus is really on getting me through and out of their way, so the welfare of my boat is not uppermost in their minds. 

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Very happy for you that no damage was done in that lock. It can be really frightening.

 

I had a similar scare when going down on river Nene. Those locks are ferocious for a single boater.

The welded cover over the exhaust at stern got caught on the lower chain. As the water was lowering, the boat started tipping over. I was lucky it was a shallow lock, otherwise don't even want to think what would happen next. I managed to kick the stern of the chain with a huge bounce afterwards. No damage done, but Ashton lock will be remembered forever.

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On 08/06/2018 at 09:59, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Other boaters who were ‘helping’ me as a single hander. 

 

Other boaters often tell me as a single hander to stay on the boat and they will work the lock for me. They have the best of intentions but their focus is really on getting me through and out of their way, so the welfare of my boat is not uppermost in their minds. 

I hear ya!  Sounds pretty familiar actually

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On 08/06/2018 at 06:22, Dave_P said:

Thanks for this.  It's always good to have a reminder of the things which can go wrong.  As ever, the best advice is to remain vigilant and don't wander off or be distracted by gongoozlers. 

Were the folk lockside part of your crew or just members of the public?  Or were you single-handing?

That is very true . How often I see people open a paddle then walk away to look at something somewhere or stand in a group back to the lock talking

 

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