what key is required for camp hill locks

[dunfixing]

hi what is a water conservation key, that is required for all locks in the west midland area.

Edited September 2, 2017 by dunfixing

[john6767]

It is just the PC name for the anti vandal key, ie the t-bar one with the square socket.

[dunfixing]

ah thanks, I should of known that.

[ditchcrawler]

4 hours ago, dunfixing said:

ah thanks, I should of known that.

Not everyone does http://www.narrowboatworld.com/10165-not-prepared-for-erewash-anti-vandal-paddles

[john6767]

2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Not everyone does http://www.narrowboatworld.com/10165-not-prepared-for-erewash-anti-vandal-paddles

Two points

1. An anti vandal key should be considered a normal piece of cruising equipment.

2. The whole point of these IWA events is surely that they be held on underused waterways which by definition will probably be classified as "remainder" and therefore more challenging to navigate.

A rather pathetic article in my opinion.

[cuthound]

Here is the resoinse from the dark side. It is spot on.

http://www.narrowboatworld.com/10171-perhaps-boating-is-not-for-her

[tizzy]

1 hour ago, john6767 said:

An anti vandal key should be considered a normal piece of cruising equipment.

errm speaking from bitter experience at least 2 keys should be normal cos if you drop one (and you will) you are are stuck ! Thank goodness we were near a CART office 

[Graham and Jo]

I have two now after watching my beloved crew lob the single key across the lock on the BCN challenge.

Cheers Graham

[RLWP]

8 minutes ago, Graham and Jo said:

I have two now after watching my beloved crew lob the single key across the lock on the BCN challenge.

Cheers Graham

We aim for one per crew member. That way we always have at least one left by the end of the challenge

Richard

[Captain Pegg]

3 minutes ago, RLWP said:

We aim for one per crew member. That way we always have at least one left by the end of the challenge

Richard

If you invite Mr Tickle to crew Tawny Owl he would need two so he could do paddles on both sides at the same time. Would be a shamefully inefficient use of his capabilities not to.

JP

[RLWP]

5 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

If you invite Mr Tickle to crew Tawny Owl he would need two so he could do paddles on both sides at the same time. Would be a shamefully inefficient use of his capabilities not to.

JP

He can borrow one from the steerer

On a more serious note, when do people relock the gear? When descending, it would be wise to lock the top paddles after the boat has got lower than the cill. That way, if the boat does cill you can drop the lower paddles and open the top ones PDQ. We rarely do this although it does make sense

Richard

[Captain Pegg]

1 minute ago, RLWP said:

He can borrow one from the steerer

On a more serious note, when do people relock the gear? When descending, it would be wise to lock the top paddles after the boat has got lower than the cill. That way, if the boat does cill you can drop the lower paddles and open the top ones PDQ. We rarely do this although it does make sense

Richard

Rob brings his own when he crews Vulpes. I bet he actually has more than one. May have to start calling him Mr Tickle.

My instinctive answer is to say they all get unlocked at the start and re-locked at the end - only I bet that's not true. The most likely answer is "whenever you remember ".

JP

[Graham and Jo]

22 minutes ago, RLWP said:

We aim for one per crew member. That way we always have at least one left by the end of the challenge

Richard

I can't figure out if you are losing keys or crew members?

Cheers Graham

[ditchcrawler]

9 minutes ago, RLWP said:

He can borrow one from the steerer

On a more serious note, when do people relock the gear? When descending, it would be wise to lock the top paddles after the boat has got lower than the cill. That way, if the boat does cill you can drop the lower paddles and open the top ones PDQ. We rarely do this although it does make sense

Richard

We relock when we leave the lock. if the lock is set for us we unlock the paddles at that end as well.

 

[RLWP]

3 minutes ago, Graham and Jo said:

I can't figure out if you are losing keys or crew members?

Cheers Graham

I only count keys. Crew are expendable

[MHS]

We keep a minimum of 3 handcuffs keys onboard. 

Having previously dropped 1 of our original 2 in the middle of the locks on the Ashton Canal, we vowed to always keep plenty of spares. They're not expensive so currently have 4 onboard. 

[Graham and Jo]

2 minutes ago, RLWP said:

I only count keys. Crew are expendable

I'm going to include that in my pre-challenge motivational speech next year.

As always I seek to gain wisdom from your sound experience.

Cheers Graham

[Horace42]

All the answers have been given as to what it is.

Our key is on a string loop for carrying safely, and with a float in case it falls in the canal.

If you lose one, just about any long enough extension bar of a 1/4" socket set will fit, used back-to-front with a pair of pliers/spanner/grips, etc, or any 1/4" small enough diameter socket - you hammer a stick into the hex end to turn it.

I expect the vandals know this!

[Mike Todd]

18 hours ago, tizzy said:

errm speaking from bitter experience at least 2 keys should be normal cos if you drop one (and you will) you are are stuck ! Thank goodness we were near a CART office 

We actually have three - probably even less risk averse than you! In fact, we have three sets of Watermate and Handcuff keys as it makes it much easier when working through an area that needs them - only two when we are on our own but three is good when we have help.

Not sure what others do but I drill a hole through the t-bar end of the main shank so that it can be attached to a key ring with a float on it. Not sure if it would actually float but makes it a lot easier to locate and less likely to hide it.

[nicknorman]

Just done Camp Hill. There are no anti-vandal locks on the flight. Therefore the only "key" required is a windlass! Some other locks in the area do however require the A-V key.

[Rob-M]

19 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

Rob brings his own when he crews Vulpes. I bet he actually has more than one. May have to start calling him Mr Tickle.

My instinctive answer is to say they all get unlocked at the start and re-locked at the end - only I bet that's not true. The most likely answer is "whenever you remember ".

JP

I've got three thanks, two on the boat in case Mrs M loses one and one in my boating rucksack that I take when I go on other people's boats.

[Tim Lewis]

Numpty edit

Edited September 4, 2017 by Tim Lewis

[tizzy]

Just thought I would add that it pays to shop around for them We paid £5 each at the CART office then a couple of weeks later we saw them in a chandlery for £9 which we thought was a rip-off but if you need on you need one.

We work on the basis of 1 per crew member and a spare !( at the moment we have 4 cos we found one on the Wolverhampton 21  )

[john6767]

Another point is that the square seems to vary in size a bit, we have one that has a slightly smaller square which works better in the rounded off locks that you find on the BCN.  We have one per crew member for the BCN Challenge, but I would agree that you should have at least 2, as there are easily dropped.

[RLWP]

I have one here at home, I forgot to take it out of my pocket at the weekend

Richard