On Monday, October 09, 2006 6:55 PM [GMT+1=CET],
jhar1945 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I have just returned from a fortnight's cruise from Anderton to
> Chester and then on the river Weaver (may post a small report later).
> However whilst ascending Northgate locks in Chester (a wide staircase)
> I was gently takien to task by a local BW man who said I was doing it
> wrong.
> The scene was that a crew of 3 (one of whom was 91 and so was kept
> well out of the way) and then self and wife. Wife was operating
> paddles and I was holding boat on ropes (round bollards naturally). BW
> man told me I should have been on the boat holding it still with the
> engine (this is one narrow boat in a wide lock)- I'm afraid I carried
> on holding the boat with ropes whilst the lock was filled gently,
Personally Wendy & I usually use the engine rather than ropes to hold the
boat steady. This does mean a bit of sideways movement, but to very quickly
of the person on the paddles is watching what the boat's doing and taking it
carefully. And if you've got a bow thruster, then you can control the
sideways movement to a large extent.
On some locks the paddles are so positioned that there is a position in the
lock where the boat will be held steady to one side. On the Grand Junction
this is achieved by putting the boat half-way along the lock, opening the
ground paddle on the same side as the boat and the gate paddle on the
opposite side. This works better with a shorter boat. On the Northern GU,
the wide locks will hold the boat in to the side if you only use one top
paddle, on the same side as the boat.
Mike Stevens
narrowboat Felis Catus III
web-site www.mike-stevens.co.uk
Defend the waterways.
Visit the web site www.savethewaterways.org.uk
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