Guillotine locks?

[Tom766]

Evening all,

So, we have a full two weekends narrowboating behind us now and it's been a massive learning curve, what with getting wedged into a very narrow single lock and having a blocked engine water intake on day one

Jill and I are navigating our boat from Cropredy, where we bought her, to the Middle Level via the Oxford canal, Grand Union and the river Nene.

Just looked up the next stage, Gayton Marina to Northampton area....we are going to have to negotiate Guillotine locks for the first time

Any advice as to how to deal with these locks would be really helpful.  Thank you in advance.

Tom.

[rusty69]

Just done the Nene. Fenders down. Push button ones are fine. Wheel ones are hardwork. Be careful with the Abloy key, its a bit delicate. Leave the guillotine up when exiting. Watch out for the shoals. Some paddles inoperable. 

Link:

https://mobile.twitter.com/paulseparovicea?lang=en

Good luck

 

ETA Gayton locks down to Northampton are singles. Watch out for Lionel. 

 

Pps don't forget to book Stanground lock 24 hrs notice  required 48hrs better. 

Edited August 2, 2017 by rusty69

[Tuscan]

Just be aware that the nene floods quickly after heavy rain and the EA will use the locks as flood control and you need to stay tied up. We were stranded for several days once.

[rusty69]

Levels:

https://www.riverlevels.uk/nene-wollaston-wansford-wansford

Stoppages/advisory  :

https://teamup.com/ks42748cc81f4df974

Edited August 2, 2017 by rusty69

[MoominPapa]

This is how we do Nene locks going down with a crew of two.

1) Drop bank crew on lock landing: they go and close the guillotine whilst the steerer secures the boat to a bollard. (Nene lock are always left empty with guillotine up,)

2) Once guillotine down, bank crew goes to top gate on opposite side from lock landing and opens paddle, steerer goes to top gate on LL side and does same.

3) When lock is full both open their gates. (Many Nene locks have awkward approaches from the landing, it's generally good to have both gates open.)

4) Steerer, goes back to boat and moves it into the lock on the side where the ladder is at the back of the lock. If this is the side where the bank crew opened the gate, they change sides via the bridge next to the guillotine during this.

5) As the boat goes into the lock, steerer drops a rope round the rearmost bollard and steps off, using the rope to check the boat. They close the gate and paddle on that side then get back on the boat, leaving the rope round the bollard and taking it back to the boat. (No multiple turns, just looped round the back of the bollard.

6) Bank crew closes the other gate and paddle and proceeds to guillotine,

7) Steerer now has the rope going from one dolly, round the bollard and back to a turn around the other dolly,  engine in idle, forward gear  to keep the rope taught. Ensure there are no knots or crosses-over, the steerer has to be able to pay out the rope as the boat descends.

8) When steerer is ready bank crew lifts guillotine and lock empties. steerer pays out rope as the boat descends to keep the back deck level with the rear ladder.

9) When lock is empty, bank crew lifts guillotine fully then proceeds to rear ladder and descends to the boat.

10) Steerer retrieves rope from around bollard and exits the lock. No need to use lower landing.

 

Using this technique, it's important to make sure the that there's no chance of the rope binding and hanging up the rear of the boat as it descends.

 

For Gayton to Northampton, none of this applies: the locks down to Northampton are standard narrow canal locks and in pretty good nick these days. the first three river locks have V-doors at both ends. The first guillotine is at Weston Favel.

 

Cheers,

MP.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2017 by MoominPapa

[Tom766]

Lots of good advice

[Ssscrudddy]

Yay for the Nene. Any excuse to post this.

Peterborough to Northampton, time lapse, 2 hours video for 32 hours cruising, Youtube playlist 8 videos. HD.
 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbtETsWfJ0KLd0L-T7CiheRr01hblI5L
 

 

Edited August 3, 2017 by Ssscrudddy

[MoominPapa]

Nice approach to Wansford top lock landing. It's an awkward one is that.

 

MP.

 

[rusty69]

The Nene landing stages are definitely more suited to  shorter boats. 

[starman]

The lock landings are frequently short and awkwardly angled but, as you're going downstream, the guillotine locks are pretty straightforward and semi-automatic too - the guillotine bottom gate opens only slightly to let the lock empty before you can raise it fully. And you leave them open too. Which means, as Moominpapa says, you'll have to shut each one on arrival and fill lock. Do them his way and you won't go far wrong. 

On the Nene moorings can be limited so plan your days more than on the canals. 

 

[rusty69]

14 minutes ago, starman said:

On the Nene moorings can be limited so plan your days more than on the canals

Friends of the river Nene is well worth joining if you intend to spend much time on the river. 

[Tom766]

Wow, that was my next question. will it be more difficult to plan stops on the nene, dont really want to use my stakes but have to..

Can anyone tell me how short I can get a Nene licence for?  We only want to go through from the Grand Union to the Middle level, trouble is we will have to do that stretch over a few weekends.  Could we just keep our heads down and save buying a pointless long licence?

[rusty69]

4 minutes ago, Tom766 said:

Wow, that was my next question. will it be more difficult to plan stops on the nene, dont really want to use my stakes but have to..

Can anyone tell me how short I can get a Nene licence for?  We only want to go through from the Grand Union to the Middle level, trouble is we will have to do that stretch over a few weekends.  Could we just keep our heads down and save buying a pointless long licence?

One day. 

Edited August 6, 2017 by rusty69

[Tom766]

Ahh thats a relief. Thank you..

[rusty69]

5 minutes ago, Tom766 said:

Ahh thats a relief. Thank you..

Clearly your boat requires a licence for the duration it is on the river.

Not sure that by keeping it in one of the marinas or boatyards you don't need a licence, but would probably cost more anyway.

It is cheaper to buy a weekly license than 7 consecutive day licenses. You can also buy a months license. 

[Tom766]

cool, a month should do I hope....

[rusty69]

We can do it in three days  at a push, however 5 is much more relaxing. 

Edited August 6, 2017 by rusty69