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Mad Harold
United Kingdom
228 Posts |
 Posted - 23 Jul 2017 : 13:19:44
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Having lived and worked in the Colne Valley for over forty years,it is a part of our country that I have grown to love. The Huddersfield Narrow is my local waterway,and I do enjoy cruising it despite it being a challenging canal due to frequently low water levels,tight lock entrances,and some poorly maintained locks.
Coming down yesterday,I tied up before a lock and put the kettle on, while the lock was filling and a bloke with a lock handle came along,and as I was in no rush,I offered to let him go in first.A hulking great narrowboat hove into view with a young woman at the helm going [I thought] much too fast.When I enter this lock there is much bumping and rubbing even with the fenders up.[I can't get in fenders down] I once tried and got firmly wedged. I watched this narrowboat enter the lock expecting it to crash through the bottom gates,but no,it entered the lock with no scraping,and was brought expertly to a halt in the middle of the lock.I was green with envy and full of admiration when it exited the lock in the same manner.
Am I so bloody incompetant? I asked myself,so I did a bit of measuring,and found the lock entrance was exactly seven feet.The Norman 20 is supposed to have a beam of six foot ten,but mine measures seven feet and a quarter inch,rubbing strip to rubbing strip.This made me feel a bit better about my miserable locking,and I suppose as the rubbing strip wears getting in and out of these locks will become easier.
Having modified my outboard mount to cope with shallow water,I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do about the width.Removing the rubbing strip is not an option,so I will have to endure the the scraping in and out of locks if I want to keep cruising my favourite part of the country,or,buy a narrow [er] boat. |
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cliveshep
Thailand
1324 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jul 2017 : 09:11:44
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Or take a grinder to the lock walls!
Your Norman is old, look at your own waistline - there is your answer!
Other than that comment I have no answer as unless you practise the old butty trick of chains around the hull to pull the sides in a bit you won't be able to improve your girth, well, your boats girth of course.
Yours might be like my own - beyond repair lol.
Finally living the dream!
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jud
United Kingdom
113 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jul 2017 : 17:02:36
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some of the lock walls on our ditch (staffy) bulge inwards halfway down.
(just a thought.)
btw, what is the 8 ball smiley supposed to be doing? |
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A narrower boat?
