Assistance required!

[Tony Brooks]

And if you start flue like symptoms in the next month its the doctors double quick & tell them what you have been doing. Weils disease is not nice and can be very serious.

[Alan de Enfield]

12 minutes ago, rawsondsr said:

After 5 hours in the water, i've got it off, covered in cuts and scratches now as well, all i need to do now is remove it from the water to prevent anyone else getting fouled up - a passing boater said 'just leave it, let it be someone else's problem', err, no, im getting it out - up a nearly meter high bank, one way or another!

 

Well done - an achievement.

Is your anti-tetanus up to date, and monitor yourself for the next couple of days for signs of Wiel's disease (carried by rats urine in canals & rivers)

 

A canoeist on the Thames contracted it last year just from water splashes - you have been 'submerged' and have cuts and grazes.

 

What are the first signs of Weil's disease?

In humans, Leptospirosis can cause a wide range of symptoms, including:

• High fever.
• Headache.
• Chills.
• Muscle aches.
• Vomiting.
• Jaundice (yellow skin and eyes)
• Red eyes.
• Abdominal pain.

Edited August 4, 2018 by Alan de Enfield

[rusty69]

1 hour ago, nicknorman said:

I’m sorry you are getting no practical help from this forum. Fortunately there is another forum where people are more helpful and a member there (long since banned from this forum for not fitting in) is moored at Bulls Bridge with bolt cutter, hacksaw etc. He has “history” with mattresses, having had a bad case of it last year on the Rochdale. He has offered to try to help you and I will send you a PM with his name and phone number.

Oops too slow 

[rawsondsr]

Hauled it via rope to a shallower section of bank, made a ramp using planks that had been dumped, but still unable to drag it out, with another boater pulling with me, so put a stake round the wire to hold it at the bank, gonna have to leave it sadly, going yo report it to crt

[Laurie Booth]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

And if you start flue like symptoms in the next month its the doctors double quick & tell them what you have been doing. Weils disease is not nice and can be very serious.

A friend of mine died from it.

 

[David Mack]

16 minutes ago, Laurie.Booth said:

A friend of mine died from it.

 

As did former Olympic rower Andy Holmes.

[alan_fincher]

One very well known woman in the world of historic boats lost her previous husband to Weils Disease.

I know I should be more careful about wounds sustained by boating, but quite wrongly try to believe the risks are low.  The risks are actually very genuine.

[rawsondsr]

when i get back, i'll be getting my jabs done, as a precaution, and keeping an eye on me, just in case.

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, rawsondsr said:

After 5 hours in the water, i've got it off, covered in cuts and scratches now as well, all i need to do now is remove it from the water to prevent anyone else getting fouled up - a passing boater said 'just leave it, let it be someone else's problem', err, no, im getting it out - up a nearly meter high bank, one way or another!

 

I pulled one out of the lock at Bath with my son's help and two boat hooks, pull it up a little way and let the water drain, then a bit more from one end

[Lily Rose]

This tale of mattress woe, and anything else in the water that could potentially cause someone to lose their life to Weills Disease as a result of trying to remove it, just goes to reinforce my belief that people who throw stuff into rivers and canals, or leave it on the towpath to probably end up in the water , are absolute scumbags (a much stronger word is probably even more appropriate) with no consideration for anyone else.

 

This also applies to people who throw rubbish out of their cars. I recently passed some litter pickers by the side of a dual carriageway, literally risking their lives to pick up rubbish that similar scumbags in cars etc could not be bothered to keep hold of until they got to their destination and a bin.

 

Bastards!

 

[David Mack]

23 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

This tale of mattress woe, and anything else in the water that could potentially cause someone to lose their life to Weills Disease as a result of trying to remove it

While not disagreeing with your overall sentiment I think it is worth pointing out that the admittedly small risk of Weils is not limited to those who get cuts and scratches underwater. Any of us who handle ropes that have been in the canal, or get sprayed by water from leaking gates, spurts from lock walls, sudden fountains from ground paddle air holes and the like are also at risk, especially if we have any cuts or scratches. So proper handwashing, keeping wounds clean and covered, and use of antiseptics on scratches is a good idea.

Edited August 4, 2018 by David Mack

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, David Mack said:

While not disagreeing with your overall sentiment I think it is worth pointing out that the admittedly small risk of Weils is not limited to those who get cuts and scratches underwater. Any of us who handle ropes that have been in the canal, or get sprayed by water from leaking gates, spurts from lock walls, sudden fountains from ground paddle air holes and the like are also at risk, especially if we have any cuts or scratches. So proper handwashing, keeping wounds clean and covered, and use of antiseptics on scratches is a good idea.

Indeed - as per my earlier post pointing out a canoeist who caught it, it is thought, from water running down his paddles and into a cut on his hand.

[Lily Rose]

Just to clarify, I was not suggesting Weills Disease can only be caught whilst attempting to remove stuff wrapped around the prop. However, it is one potential risk that it would not be necessary to expose yourself to (and with a high risk of getting a cut that increases the risk of disease) if it wasn't for filthy fly-tipping scummy bastards.

 

I would also like to make it clear, should it be necessary, that I don't believe litter pickers on dual carriageway and motorways are the only people who risk their lives at the roadside. However, they are risking their lives doing a job that would not even be needed if it was not for thoughtless/ignorant high speed litterbugs.

 

 

[Stilllearning]

It first came to my attention as Rat Catchers Yellows, and is a nasty disease. Well done for removing the mattress and for being aware of the dangers of the disease. Mortality can be scarily high from some forms of the illness, so, e eryone, take care out there. I thought I had it years ago, but it just turned out to be hepatitis.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Lily Rose said:

 

 

This also applies to people who throw rubbish out of their cars. I recently passed some litter pickers by the side of a dual carriageway, literally risking their lives to pick up rubbish that similar scumbags in cars etc could not be bothered to keep hold of until they got to their destination and a bin.

 

Bastards!

 

I cleared up between Saltersford and Barton Tunnel the other night, from the cars that while packed just drop it out of the door

[Dyertribe]

Glad you got things sorted. 

[Jim Riley]

It's worth using spray skin on cuts scratches and grazes on your hands, seals the wound. 

Last time I posted about it on here a couple of years ago, I got the usual "tie him to the pillory and pelt him with nastiness" comments from some of the (unwashed) locals???. 

[MtB]

6 hours ago, rawsondsr said:

when i get back, i'll be getting my jabs done, as a precaution, and keeping an eye on me, just in case.

 

I'm not sure you can get immunised against Weill's Disease. 

 

I know someone who competes in the Devizes to Westminster canoe race. These peeps spend a whole day saturated in canal water splashes so I asked her what precautions kayakers take against Weill's Disease. She looked vaguely perplexed and said they take no precautions, and it just isn't a problem in the world of kayaking. All a bit strange I thought.

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I'm not sure you can get immunised against Weill's Disease. 

Correct you cannot.

 

But dogs can, not that that helps much.

 

Ed - correction it transpires a human vaccine with limited effectiveness is available in some countries but not the UK.

Edited August 4, 2018 by MJG

[Phil Ambrose]

23 hours ago, rusty69 said:

Oops too slow 

At least he tried .

Phil 

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, Phil Ambrose said:

At least he tried .

Phil 

Yep, full points for that! 

[Derek Porteous]

On 03/08/2018 at 18:44, Dyertribe said:

How about a trip to B&Q for some pliers, hacksaw and bolt cutters as suggested?

A tad cheaper methinks..

BTW why the garden shears??????

Having picked up what I think was a pram canopy (with wire ) in Oxford, and struggled for two hours to clear it, I wondered whether I should buy some bolt croppers. Always had them when I sailed (to cut away rigging should the mast come down) but never really considered them on a narrowboat. However, given the restrictive access down a weed hatch, how useful are they?

 

Edited August 5, 2018 by Derek Porteous