Boat sunk in Clifton Hampden Lock

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, OldGoat said:

I get ticked off by my friends on the Thames for making guesses - thereby fuelling the fire, but - hey why not...

It's an unusual lock with no apparent cill at the top gate. It's also shallow with 3ft (?) drop - so there may be some considerations that we don't know about. Even if the lock was pumped out there's a possibility that the hopper has a broken back, so you may not be able to refloat it.

If there was zilch freeboard as the facebook pics: showed, you'd still have to lighten the load, thus  a crane is still needed to lighten it / or remove the boat anyway. It'll need a 200 ton crane to lift much at that radius.

There are a number of commercial folks on the Thames who know what's what and hopefully the local waterway manager will have contacted the experts.

 

I have a general  message for visitors and those locals who argue -

ALWAYS use two lines when working up or down a Thames lock, one at the stern and one at the bow - even if it's inconvenient DO IT. If you're lockside  you have a chance to correct a situation with fore and aft lines - with (say) just a centre line you have less control and WATCH what's happening.

 

Thames locks are very safe with good lockgear - but 'we' have to monitor what's happening even if the lock is staffed. Your boat, Your responsibility

 

Follow the general rules and you'll have an enjoyable trip. We've been on the River for 30+ years and it's great - just be sensible....

My guess, but afraid to assume - do you have any information?

Who was working the lock, I wonder if they are to blame, reading another thread on here "Lack of Platforms"

[dmr]

2 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Who was working the lock, I wonder if they are to blame, reading another thread on here "Lack of Platforms"

You are correct here, I reckon "helpful amateur lockies" is a much bigger issue on the Thames. We have met a few "lock gongoozelers" who want to help and have just about worked out what the buttons do, but know zero about getting a boat through a lock. Have also seen a few boaters making a real mess of things, including opening the gates whilst pedestrians were crossing them. The Thames really does need lock-keepers, but everybody on this forum knows that. Then again a couple of the lock keepers were not too good, one in particular (now gone) who believed that if boaters could not get their ropes sorted in time he would just fill the lock anyway!

 

..............Dave

[ditchcrawler]

3 minutes ago, dmr said:

You are correct here, I reckon "helpful amateur lockies" is a much bigger issue on the Thames. We have met a few "lock gongoozelers" who want to help and have just about worked out what the buttons do, but know zero about getting a boat through a lock. Have also seen a few boaters making a real mess of things, including opening the gates whilst pedestrians were crossing them. The Thames really does need lock-keepers, but everybody on this forum knows that. Then again a couple of the lock keepers were not too good, one in particular (now gone) who believed that if boaters could not get their ropes sorted in time he would just fill the lock anyway!

 

..............Dave

And others who press the button and wander off into the hut

[RLWP]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

And others who press the button and wander off into the hut

 

[dmr]

6 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

And others who press the button and wander off into the hut

Are you still on the Weaver?,  Barnton cut moorings just above Saltersford lock, there is a tree in the middle that shades most of the boat. Tie up tight as one of the dredging tugs goes past much too fast and much too close, but still worth it for the shade.

 

..............Dave

[Alan de Enfield]

7 minutes ago, RLWP said:

 

 

I've got a button.

[RLWP]

4 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I've got a button.

I think you are out of luck

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, RLWP said:

I think you are out of luck

That's pretty much the standard response.

[Nut]

sorry for being a little clueless on this How did he sink ?

was it the fact the sluices opened too quickly and flooded his boat as his work boat moved forward  as in he was not tied off on his centre rope or ropes  ?

Edited July 7, 2018 by Nut

[WotEver]

1 minute ago, Nut said:

sorry for being a little clues on this How did he sink ?

was it the fact the sluices opened too quickly and flooded his boat as his work boat moved forward  as in he was not tied off on his centre rope or ropes  ?

He had very little freeboard. Looking at the photos maybe 6”. The inflow of water from the top paddles/sluices pulled his boat forward into the top gates. The bow got caught on the gates and the rising water soon started entering the boat, sinking it in less than 60 seconds despite the top paddles being closed and the bottom ones opened. 

[cereal tiller]

1 hour ago, WotEver said:

He had very little freeboard. Looking at the photos maybe 6”. The inflow of water from the top paddles/sluices pulled his boat forward into the top gates. The bow got caught on the gates and the rising water soon started entering the boat, sinking it in less than 60 seconds despite the top paddles being closed and the bottom ones opened. 

Afloat again ,normal Service resumed.

[Nut]

2 hours ago, WotEver said:

He had very little freeboard. Looking at the photos maybe 6”. The inflow of water from the top paddles/sluices pulled his boat forward into the top gates. The bow got caught on the gates and the rising water soon started entering the boat, sinking it in less than 60 seconds despite the top paddles being closed and the bottom ones opened. 

cheers  now I know

[john6767]

The email has came out that the boat has been removed and the lock is open again.

[MtB]

 

So does anyone know how it was achieved?

 

Re-floating a loaded boat with only 6" freeboard can't have been easy. 

 

On the other hand with the boat mostly submerged the crane on site would not need to lift the full dead weight of the boat. It only needed lifting until the gunwales just broke the surface then pumps could finish the job. So the big 200 tonne crane mentioned earlier may not have actually been needed. 

[furnessvale]

1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

So does anyone know how it was achieved?

 

Re-floating a loaded boat with only 6" freeboard can't have been easy. 

 

On the other hand with the boat mostly submerged the crane on site would not need to lift the full dead weight of the boat. It only needed lifting until the gunwales just broke the surface then pumps could finish the job. So the big 200 tonne crane mentioned earlier may not have actually been needed. 

Probably made so much easier by the lifting points routinely fitted to such vessels.

 

George

[ditchcrawler]

11 hours ago, dmr said:

Are you still on the Weaver?,  Barnton cut moorings just above Saltersford lock, there is a tree in the middle that shades most of the boat. Tie up tight as one of the dredging tugs goes past much too fast and much too close, but still worth it for the shade.

 

..............Dave

We moored there the other night, next morning the two tugs, one with a load passed each right opposite the boat, gave me a stability problem, I was having a wee

 

[OldGoat]

3 minutes ago, furnessvale said:

Probably made so much easier by the lifting points routinely fitted to such vessels.

 

George

'We' probably will never know - EA are not known for broadcasting details of events - especially as there was no personal injury reported.  Something like this one is very unusual. On another forum a poster intimated that he had passed a crane (size not mentioned) and a low loader  on the access lane yesterday evening. No mention of any large pump equipment.

All was cleared by this morning - so either there was fiendish action  or that the resolution was quick and effective.

It's not beyond the realm of possibility that merely tipping the boat bow-wards  (sp.) would drain I enough for it to be refloated and moved out of the way.

Mebe EA will publish an incident report (probably not - as there was no injury to persons mentioned).

[dmr]

 

12 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

We moored there the other night, next morning the two tugs, one with a load passed each right opposite the boat, gave me a stability problem, I was having a wee

 

I should have complained to CaRT, the orange one came past much too fast and much much too close, think the driver was on the phone and paying no attention to the river. The driver of the blue one is a proper gentleman boater. My concern is that if I complain they will likely both get told off.

 

...............Dave

[Grassman]

8 hours ago, OldGoat said:

'We' probably will never know - EA are not known for broadcasting details of events - especially as there was no personal injury reported.  Something like this one is very unusual. On another forum a poster intimated that he had passed a crane (size not mentioned) and a low loader  on the access lane yesterday evening. No mention of any large pump equipment.

All was cleared by this morning - so either there was fiendish action  or that the resolution was quick and effective.

It's not beyond the realm of possibility that merely tipping the boat bow-wards  (sp.) would drain I enough for it to be refloated and moved out of the way.

Mebe EA will publish an incident report (probably not - as there was no injury to persons mentioned).

 

We will be passing through there tomorrow so if there is a lockie on duty I will try to find out some details. Mind you there probably won't be one and even if there is he probably won't know any details.

[Grassman]

 

We passed through there yesterday. I didn't really find out anything different to what we'd heard. The lockie confirmed that the work boat had just the single hander, that there was no lockie on duty, and that the boat wasn't secured properly and consequently surged forward and the bow caught on the lock gate.

 

He said it was true that the crane didn't turn up on Friday, and when it did on Saturday it was the same type that they use to lift the lock gates. The boat was lifted, drained of water, then re-floated and towed to Abingdon.  He said it was a miracle that there was virtually no pollution caused.

[Andy Soper]

Be careful what you wish for!

 

The kneejerk reaction of the Safety Elf could be to turn off public power and revert to hand-winding (actually more dangerous as you cannot close the sluices quickly hand- winding whilst the close button is as fast on public power as it is on lock-keeper power).

 

Lockies do go into the hut during locking to fill out the traffic log - but they will have checked that is all going to plan before leaving the pedastal - and don’t think they aren’t watching you!

 

Double (and triple manning eg one lockie for three locks) is the real crippler as volunteers can only work when the lock-keeper only has one lock to man.  When double manning volunteers are sent home and the LWK spends most of his time travelling between sites - no supervised service.