I would agree with that. On the very busy Llangollen some of the bridge and
lock mooring Armco is bashed into horrible shapes as boats fly in to eject crew
in their race to Llangollen and back. It's got much worse (we think) in the
last few years as boats have, on average, got much bigger. In fact some
moorings, like that a the lift bridge 45, are so bent that they are Health and
Safety hazards and should have their Armco replaced - as should a lot of
unfixed stuff on this busy canal.
As for mooring we use chains if the Armco is the older variety with bolts and
a chunk of screw thread visible or the hooks if it's the newer sort with
bolts/threads concealed. In each case the chain/hook is located on the far side
of the bolt from the boat with (normally the doubled) rope passed through the
chain/hook and secured back on the boat making 4 thicknesses of rope from boat
to shore. After a few boats pass we can normally take a foot or more of slack
out of the ropes and later even more as they get stretched. But even so there
is always some slack as we are on rubber fenders and they contract as boats
pass. At night we slacken the ropes if the fenders are squeaking as I am a very
light sleeper.
Roger Millin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Bruce wrote
> OTOOH, I've been boating since '75, the last four years as a
genuine
> cc'er. We've been tying to the Armco ever since it started being
widely
> used for bank protection, and I can recall maybe one occasion when
the
> piling has been distorted by our so doing. We use chains passed
through
> next to a ground anchor point whenever possible, so that the chain
> cannot be dragged between the Armco barrier and the piling.
>
> IMHO, pins are capable of doing vastly more damage to unpiled bank,
and
> the longer the pin, the worse the damage. How many times do you see
> wash wall coping stones toppled into the cut as a result of the
> leverage of a pin behind it?
One other benefit of mooring to the Armco that hasn't been mentioned
in the debate so far is that the piling hook/chain/ring method
prevents any trip hazard to passing pedestrians and cyclists. It also
means that you don't have to put out those untidy white plastic bags,
empty washing-up-liquid bottles or tennis balls to mark the pins. A
further advantage is that the lack of pins with this method allows BW
unfettered access to mow the towpath.............um......err......OK
then, maybe this isn't so much of an advantage as towpath mowing
seems to be as rare as hen's teeth, but in a Utopian world.......
>
> I reckon, with others in this debate, that most of the damage to
Armco
> is as a result of impact - some boaters seem to think that the way
to
> lose forward way is to point the bow at the bank and brace
yourself...
Yep, absolutely, 15 to 20 tons coming in at even 2mph will do far
more damage than any pull that affects an already securely tied boat.
Roger
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