Monday 7 October 2013

A dopey moment

The Golden rule of going down in a lock is to stay well forward of the cill .

                                                           There are markers on the canal side to indicate where the cill is .

So.....Why did I catch our rudder on the cill today............. We were descending in the top lock of the Buckby flight with another boat. I was busy talking to the guy on the other boat and not concentrating , then all of a sudden I felt the tiller arm lift up. We were on the cill.. I immediately put Inca it into gear and we shot forward off the cill. The rudder had lifted up out of its cup. We managed to get it back in but now the steering is very stiff........ 

 And no I had not been drinking.........

We have removed the top bearing cap and greased the top bearing but it is still not very good. We will give it a couple of days and see if it frees up. If not it could be an expensive crane out job...Mind you it could have been a lot worse.

                                        Not so Happy Day

                                   

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4 comments:

  1. Unknown8 October 2013 at 21:48

    Hi Gary/Carolyn,same happened to us years ago when we were coming down thru cranfleet lock onto the trent in my mates 70ft working boat.I got a pair of goggles put a torch in a clear plastic bag got me shorts on and dived in,relocated the rudder into the bush with a little help from up top and it was fine.Mind you I was 30years younger then.
    Hope it frees up but I guess it may have bent the post or distorted the bush.Best of luck with it and hope you find somewhere reasonably priced tohaul it out if you have to.

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    Replies
    1. Gary9 October 2013 at 06:45

      Hello Stan
      I did consider getting in and doing what you did. But after looking at the colour of the water plus after seeing all the dead animals etc that go floating by I decided not to. The tiller is a lot easier now but not right. It is usable and now winter is coming we won't be cruising that much. We are booked in for blacking in March so we will take a look at it then.

      All the best

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  2. Unknown10 October 2013 at 09:08

    Hi GP...been a while but have just caught up on your Blog...all going well apart from the lock gate incident...should it be called " lock-gate gate " ????. Bonus on the Tesco delivery....our nearest one at Lee Mill has 2 for £10 on casillero el diablo....we had Merlot and Pinot Grigio ...they will be sampled tomorrow as it's curry night and we all know the best accompaniment for Curry (other than lager) is vino tinto .....
    what other freebies do you get apart from apples and plums on your travels....
    Harvest season has begun down here on the apple front and Mrs Dave is still busy selling her now top 50 national award winning cider...the one picked as one of the top 50 foods in the country is the Devon Blush - which has added blackberry ....much like your crumble...
    Anyway...have more happy days on the cut, enjoy the season and find a good spot for fireworks night...All the best to you and Mrs GP..

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  3. Gary13 October 2013 at 07:55

    Hello David and Mrs David

    Good to hear from you

    Tesco have had some good deals on the Hardy range , so we have given them a bit of a go. Not bad for a fiver a bottle.

    We will try and pick up some blush if we can find it anywhere up here. Have you any idea of who stocks it ?

    Got some nice crab apples and some Damsons.

    Be good

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