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Sunk boat K&A


J R

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An Alvechurch hire boat has sunk on the western end of the K & A in lock 11 (Bath). Good news is that no one hurt. Caught the backend on the cil when draining lock. It will need a crane to lift it out, so the lock will be closed for several days.

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That's the lock that nearly collapsed last year . A more common problem is catching the bow or tiller under the walkways on the bottom gates, which On some of the locks here are INSIDE the lock.

 

I wonder if the crew was sober...

Edited by luctor et emergo
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That's the lock that nearly collapsed last year . A more common problem is catching the bow or tiller under the walkways on the bottom gates, which On some of the locks here are INSIDE the lock.

 

I wonder if the crew was sober...

That is terribly alcoholist of you! What is the world coming to, if a gang of lads can't down 15 pints apiece and go for a quiet day's boating without their sobriety being questioned!

 

George ex nb Alton retired

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Showing my ignorance here, but why do boats so often capsize when this happens? They are normally very stable so even though the back is balanced on the skeg I would have though the stability from the front would keep them upright. If the front then sinks that would sit on the bottom, or do they capsize in the time that the front is in the process of sinking?????

 

...........Dave

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The boat sits on the skeg ( the narrow sticky-out bit that supports the bottom of the rudder) and as this is usually only 4-6 inches wide there's nothing much to stop the boat rolling over if the lock is wide enough, made worse if the bow goes down to the extent that the pointy bit at the front is also resting on the bottom of the lock or if the boat has a natural list either way due to, say, excessive quantities of undrunk lager stored onboard.

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Showing my ignorance here, but why do boats so often capsize when this happens? They are normally very stable so even though the back is balanced on the skeg I would have though the stability from the front would keep them upright. If the front then sinks that would sit on the bottom, or do they capsize in the time that the front is in the process of sinking?????

 

...........Dave

 

The cill is curved and so is the back of the boat, so if it catches, depending on where precisely it does so, the boat might simply tilt forwards, but often with 1 narrowboat in a broad lock, will tilt (side to side) too, as is this case. Even if just the front tips and the sides don't, due to the long length of narrowboats, they will typicaly take on water fron the front and sink once water starts coming in.

 

Seen a boat (after it was righted and driven home) which had been cilled in a lock, basically the interior is trash and will need stripping out and burning. So for UK boat hire (the hire firm who own the boat), that's basically the season's income lost for this boat. Luckily being a large hire fleet, they should be able to shuffle boats around and the subsequent hirers won't miss out on their holidays. If it happened to a smaller firm it would mean a loss of business.

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Showing my ignorance here, but why do boats so often capsize when this happens? They are normally very stable so even though the back is balanced on the skeg I would have though the stability from the front would keep them upright. If the front then sinks that would sit on the bottom, or do they capsize in the time that the front is in the process of sinking?????

 

...........Dave

Might it be the alcohol that had been drunk it was a stag do!!!

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Bunch of idiots have ruined the weekend for many. The hire company deserve it, they should know better.

 

Well the one time I was at that end of the canal for a few weeks, their sheer number of rowdy, inconsiderate single sex "parties" was an eye-opener.

.

Edited by billS
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Sad news, that was same boat we hired in October sad.png

 

I remember that at the time they gave us a very good briefing on the locks, in particular on the danger of the "Silly Cill" and showed some nasty pics of what had happened to one of their vessels a few years previously that ended in similar circumstances. There was a MAIB report about it at the time too.

 

Am hiring again from the same base this weekend coming, though planning on heading East and not West this time....

 

 

Don't think it would have been Rigby Team, or if it was a very small one as the boat only sleeps 2+2 blink.png ....maybe a Churling Team perhaps..? biggrin.png

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Seen a boat (after it was righted and driven home) which had been cilled in a lock, basically the interior is trash and will need stripping out and burning. So for UK boat hire (the hire firm who own the boat), that's basically the season's income lost for this boat. Luckily being a large hire fleet, they should be able to shuffle boats around and the subsequent hirers won't miss out on their holidays. If it happened to a smaller firm it would mean a loss of business.

 

I've seen one of the hire companies near us re-float a boat and have it hired out again before the end of the week.

Either they're very efficient workers or they just have a huge stock of febreeze.

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I've seen one of the hire companies near us re-float a boat and have it hired out again before the end of the week.

Either they're very efficient workers or they just have a huge stock of febreeze.

 

I guess it depends how far the boat goes underwater, for example if it was just the front, and for a short time, then a couple of days with a dehumidifier, a good wipe down, and a new carpet (probably carpet tiles) would get it out again, though I dare say the floor would probably rot over time. The one I saw had been underwater sufficiently, for all the interior panels to have soaked up enough water to require being ripped out and disposed of.

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I remember when one of Concoform's hire boats went over a weir and sank, after a month underwater they still reckoned it was worth fitting a new GRP cabin top and doing a complete refit. It remained as part of their fleet for many more years.

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I've seen one of the hire companies near us re-float a boat and have it hired out again before the end of the week.

Either they're very efficient workers or they just have a huge stock of febreeze.

In 2007 we hired from a yard on the Broads on the first week the boats went out. That week their brand new flagship cruiser went out and got holed taking in lots of salt water on Breydon.

 

We saw it as it was recovered. A week later when we arrived back at the yard after our two week trip it was being relaunched ready for hire again.

 

It's amazing how quick they can turn them around.

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In 2007 we hired from a yard on the Broads on the first week the boats went out. That week their brand new flagship cruiser went out and got holed taking in lots of salt water on Breydon.

 

We saw it as it was recovered. A week later when we arrived back at the yard after our two week trip it was being relaunched ready for hire again.

 

It's amazing how quick they can turn them around.

 

Time is money! A Hire Boat sitting on the hard for a large number of weeks is lost revenue, the quicker they can get a turnaround then the quicker it is back earning her keep!

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Not to mention the Insurance will not be paying out for loss of profits/ additional costs if the owners do not move expeditiously to repair it, (unless of course it is assessed as a constructive total loss.)

 

N

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