Untied on the Thames!

[drunkensailor]

I'm spending a few weeks moving around on the Thames.

It's all gone wonderfully. Drifter is as reliable as a bond film at christmas, apart from a dodgy connection on the horn switch, off to buy a new one in a bit as it's stopped raining, and I've met some lovely people.

The only low point has been being untied at Christchurch Meadow, Reading on Saturday night.

I heard some voices and the boat rocking, but slept through it.

Next thing I realise I am woken by a knocking noise. I look out of the window and think, bugger, someone's cruiser's come undone but actually it's me bumping into a cruiser further downstream.

No harm done, but a few frantic minutes where I was rushing round the boat trying to find the keys and mooring back up wearing only my boxers was no fun either. Could have been quite nasty the week before.

I'm pretty sure this is an isolated incident, but perhaps something to be aware of if you decide to moor up there. From now on I'll always use my anchor when I moor in a town.

[chris w]

I always believe that if the b*gger who does this ever got caught, he/she should be summarily shot without waiting till dawn. What they may think is an amusing prank could lead to a fatality (hopefully theirs) on a river.

 

Chris

[Sir Nibble]

From now on I'll always use my anchor when I moor in a town.

That's a lot of trouble. Get a short length of chain and a padlock.

[drunkensailor]

That's a lot of trouble. Get a short length of chain and a padlock.

I'd do that, but to be honest the reason I have a boat is so I don't have to be in town! Was only there because I was meeting someone.

[BlueStringPudding]

Similar thing happend to us and two other boats moored in Warwick next to bridge 49 (though admittedly canal not river so less scary).

 

We woke up to the sounds of our gas locker shutting (!) and the boat rocking only to find the boat in front of us drifting off with it's mooring pins pulled out. Our mooring pins were hammered in like there's no tomorrow, (even we struggled to get them out) so the sneaky oiks who tried to unpin the lot of us gave up on us. But poor sod in front wasn't so lucky. Kev legged it down the towpath and managed to grab a trailing rope and start pulling them back in.

 

He'd brought them almost entirely back in before the occupants woke up - of course thinking that Kev was the vandal trying to do something nasty to their boat!! Took some explaining that he was actually trying to help them as they were drifting off towards the bridge - but eventually they believed him and were very thankful!

 

Boat behind us had lost one pin but were okay.

Edited July 17, 2007 by BlueStringPudding

[Hekaterine]

Aye, it's happened to us as well - twice in 24 hours as I have posted elsewhere. We weren't near a big town either - first time was at Polesworth and the second a few miles along the cut from Polesworth where we'd moored up outside a pub for lunch.

 

We always use chains and padlocks now - I wouldn't sleep otherwise.

 

Idiots abound, eh?

[BlueStringPudding]

Aye, it's happened to us as well - twice in 24 hours as I have posted elsewhere. We weren't near a big town either - first time was at Polesworth and the second a few miles along the cut from Polesworth where we'd moored up outside a pub for lunch.

 

We always use chains and padlocks now - I wouldn't sleep otherwise.

 

Idiots abound, eh?

 

If you're using mooring pins, a chain doesn't help much as they go for the pins first. I find a burly "Kevin" helps, wot hammers the pins in to the point that they may never come out again.

[Hekaterine]

No, we either moor where there are hoops or we wrap the chain round the corrugated metal thingy* at the side of the cut.

 

*Obviously, this is not a technical term

[AjaxKM]

We have 3 dogs onboard at anyone time a passing mole farting sets them off keeps the vandels at bay

[g0n]

Similar thing happend to us and two other boats moored in Warwick next to bridge 49 (though admittedly canal not river so less scary).

 

We woke up to the sounds of our gas locker shutting (!) and the boat rocking only to find the boat in front of us drifting off with it's mooring pins pulled out. Our mooring pins were hammered in like there's no tomorrow, (even we struggled to get them out) so the sneaky oiks who tried to unpin the lot of us gave up on us. But poor sod in front wasn't so lucky. Kev legged it down the towpath and managed to grab a trailing rope and start pulling them back in.

 

He'd brought them almost entirely back in before the occupants woke up - of course thinking that Kev was the vandal trying to do something nasty to their boat!! Took some explaining that he was actually trying to help them as they were drifting off towards the bridge - but eventually they believed him and were very thankful!

 

Boat behind us had lost one pin but were okay.

Straight out of Arthur Ransomes 'The Big Six'!

[chris w]

"Honest, Officer, I was just putting it back..........."

[Jason Wilson and Family]

I'm thinking if and when I have a boat I'm going to be fitting a motion sensor a camera and a damned bright security light. The light will stun them long enough to get outside and the motion sensor and camera will record the beating.

 

Or I suppose the motion sensor could trigger a snapshot and the light would give them their cue to leg it... but the firt setup would feel better.

[BlueStringPudding]

.No, we either moor where there are hoops or we wrap the chain round the corrugated metal thingy* at the side of the cut.*Obviously, this is not a technical term

We didn't even have a corrugated metal thingy... this was pure bankage we were moored on..

.We have 3 dogs onboard at anyone time a passing mole farting sets them off keeps the vandels at bay

. Hear that, Moley? Watch what you eat or you might get the wrath of AjaxKM's hounds!?.

Straight out of Arthur Ransomes 'The Big Six'!

.Oh, did I mention he wasn't wearing very many clothes at the time?

I'm thinking if and when I have a boat I'm going to be fitting a motion sensor a camera and a damned bright security light. The light will stun them long enough to get outside and the motion sensor and camera will record the beating.Or I suppose the motion sensor could trigger a snapshot and the light would give them their cue to leg it... but the firt setup would feel better.

..You'll have fun with a motion sensor - every time the boat rocks, a cat wanders past, a moorhen sneaks up a mooring rope, a leaf falls from a tree.... Edited July 17, 2007 by BlueStringPudding

[Jason Wilson and Family]

I'm sure there's be a way to time it so the object needed to be in the same range for a bit... wonder how else it could be set. At least having a time lapse camera pointed at your pin with the lights on a sensor would giv you an edge on the prats that mess with your pins.

[NB Willawaw]

Its a shame we have to go to all this trouble and stress just because the locals cannot keep their hands off other peoples property.

I must admit the lowest effort solution is chains and padlocks on the corrugated bank pilings.

[Jim Batty]

Its a shame we have to go to all this trouble and stress just because the locals cannot keep their hands off other peoples property.

I must admit the lowest effort solution is chains and padlocks on the corrugated bank pilings.

 

A number of years ago I happened to be on the bridge at Marlow at about midnight when I saw a cruiser floating side-ways beneath it towards the weir. A bunch of kids dashed off down the towpath towards town all excited and idiotic. Nothing to do but bellow and bellow at the boat until a groggy fellow came out, started the engine and steered away with about 15 feet to spare. Could have been a very serious incident indeed.

 

Jim Batty

[denboy]

I'm thinking if and when I have a boat I'm going to be fitting a motion sensor a camera and a damned bright security light. The light will stun them long enough to get outside and the motion sensor and camera will record the beating.

 

Or I suppose the motion sensor could trigger a snapshot and the light would give them their cue to leg it... but the firt setup would feel better.

My Web cam came with some software on cd that turns the web cam into a security camera it not a bad bit of kit and you can set an audio alarm that has allsorts of animal noises from a single dog to wolves herds of elephants too many too list

 

I think this is the software dont know if it works on other cameras im not to pc mindedhttp://vgear.com/cs/support/download/result.asp?Cat=I01&CatName=Drivers%2FUtilities&ProdID=AMVG1-010-066&SubID=AMVG1-010-066&PName=V%2DGear+TalkCam+Beauty

Edited July 17, 2007 by denis boyle

[redfastlad]

My Web cam came with some software on cd that turns the web cam into a security camera it not a bad bit of kit and you can set an audio alarm that has allsorts of animal noises from a single dog to wolves herds of elephants too many too list

If you moor up in Newark opposite the castle chain yourself to the metal ladders ,as 2 boats have been untied this year and one was trapped accross the arches of the bridge requiring a tow from BW to rescue the boat and occupants

[denboy]

If you moor up in Newark opposite the castle chain yourself to the metal ladders ,as 2 boats have been untied this year and one was trapped accross the arches of the bridge requiring a tow from BW to rescue the boat and occupants

 

 

Know what you mean had trouble there last year better to go below the bridge away from the park

Edited July 17, 2007 by denis boyle

[tobytimothy]

Similar thing happened to me earlier this year up on the Llangollen canal. I moored up between bridge 33 & 34, which for anyone who knows it will probably think it is a perfect spot to moor overnight. Two other narrowboats had also thought the same thing and all three of us were approx 200 metres apart, mine being the middle narrowboat. At about 3 oclock in the morning I was awoken by the sound of someone clambering on the boat. Jumping out of bed I got dressed, however this took some time. Eventually getting outside I discovered my aft line & my centre line had been cut and the bow line almost cut. In the moonlight I could see two youths walking along the towpath the other side of the boat nearest to Trevor. I went up the cut and discovered the solo owner of that particular narrowboat up too. His lines had been cut and his mooring stakes had been thrown in the canal. He explained that he should have realised that he should have moored elsewhere because he explained that a main road runs across bridge 35 and youths use the towpath as a shortcut from bridge 35 to get back to the rough estate near Trevor. He also wasnt very impressed because his dog had slept through it all! In fact while we were talking outside his dog was still asleep!! After light came up I walked back to the first boat and discovered its ropes had also been cut and the boat was adrift across the canal and was being moved by the flow of water on the canal. The crew were obviously still asleep! Eventually I was able to raise them and explain to them what had happened.

 

I have always been very careful about where I have moored in the past and had thought this particular location was ideal. However it proves that everywhere can be deceptive!!!

[WJM]

I always throw an anchor over the outside gunwale whenever I tie up on a river - with the rope as invisible as I can make it. It is worth bearing in mind if you are chaining up to fixed rings that rivers can rise and fall very dramatically and a locked chain might become a real problem in an emergency.

[AjaxKM]

The more I read this thread the angrier I get bloody mindless idiots need flogging grrrrrr