Adrian wrote:
> Then I guess you *don't* know the difference between broad and wide
> beam, or why that difference is important. Briefly -
>
> Broad beam is between 2.2 m and 4.3 m - i.e. wider than one narrow
> boat but not wider than a breasted two. Wide beam is wider than
that.
>
> A broad craft has an extensive cruising range in Britain, and, once
> there is a lift at Watford, will have a national one.
>
> A wide craft is limited to the larger rivers, and a few major
canals
> such as the Aire & Calder. It will almost certainly never have a
> network cruising range in Britain, let alone a national one.
Yeah, OK, if you say so.
> That's because, apart from doing the operations in the wrong order
> which causes a chunk of avoidable walking, you are not seeing the
> bigger picture. Leaving gates open actually reduces the overall
> amount of work the boating community does.
Amazing, but please let us have the benefit of your wisdom by
explaining what order you think that it should be done in........and
without stepping over the bottom gate which is risky and my crew
refuse to do, even though I do to save time if I'm locking.
>
> If the next boat at the lock is following you, then whether you or
the
> following boater closes the gates you exit by doesn't matter. The
> same amount of work is done in total.
Yep, agreed if everyone changes over to the new system overnight.
Bit like the change from driving on one side of the road to driving
on the other at the stroke of midnight, like they did in Sweden.
But, apart from other considerations, it ain't going to happen like
that, so doing so is purely selfish under the *presently prevailing
conditions* and inconveniences the present *majority* of boaters.
>
> If the next boat comes from ahead of you, and you have shut the
gates,
> then the other boat has to (re)open them when it reaches the lock.
> There have been two additional gate movements that would not have
been
> required if you had left the gates open. And the other boater has
had
> to stop, rather than boat straight into the lock.
Only if they're solo boating or have to put crew ashore. If you
sailed straight in with your crew aboard it means a potentially
hazardous climb up the lock ladder for them. Not good for safety, so
you have to pull in anyway, gates open or closed.
Your arguments are mainly based around the needs of solo
boaters.........do you do a lot of solo boating on your barge by any
chance? It seems that two barge owners on this list are definitely
for your system and many narrowboaters are not.........wonder if
there's a connection? ;-)
>
> So, accepting your assumption that there there are equal chances
as to
> which way the next boat at the lock is going, on average closing
the
> gates when you leave causes one extra gates movement for each
locking
> occurring throughout the network. That's thousands per day, all
> pointless. Apart from wasting the time and energy of boaters, it
is
> causing extra wear on the gates.
>
> Closing gates really does make it worse for everyone on average.
I do accept your argument under these circumstances:
1. Perfect maintenance of locks, no leaks, no swinging gates.
2. Everyone changes to your system overnight.
So, that's that then. Neither of my two conditions are ever likely
to be fulfilled so I cannot support your argument under present
conditions.........except that it's bl88dy convenient for solo
boaters, of course. ;-)
> But your premise is false. They actually don't work well. They
are
> tedious, inefficient, dangerous, and encourage poor maintenance.
Staggering that so many of us are wrong and yet only the AS view is
correct. Not being prepared to accept one iota of anyone's argument
to the contrary smacks of arrogance or omnipotence.........I
couldn't possibly comment ;-)
If you believe that leaving gates open is going to *encourage*
better maintenance under today's regime (and even worse with the
DEFRA cuts) then you are living much further in cloud cuckoo land
than I thought you were.
>
> No. As I've shown that leaving 'em open saves boaters time and
effort
> on average, it is good sense for boaters to do it to
benefit "everyone
> else" rather than stick to a poor rule which
inconveniences "everyone
> else".
For saves 'boater's time' read 'saves solo boater's time' under
present conditions
>
> The more boaters leave 'em open, the more other boaters will be
> encouraged to, and the sooner the rule will be abandoned.
Keep hoping for the utopian dream of perfection in maintenance then.
Roger
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