Boat tilts in a lock

This is one in a series of A Guide to Narrow Boat Problems.

Problem
Boat tilts in a lock
Cause
Caught on cill (see Boat caught on a lock cill) or mooring rope is too tight.
Single handed boaters are most vulnerable as they will need to leave the boat tied up in a wide lock while they open the paddles. A longer than usual centre rope might help here, so the solo boater can hold on to the rope while attending to the lock mechanism. Failure to watch the centre rope and tying it too tightly will cause the boat to tilt - and tilting can lead to a serious danger.
Solution
There are three solutions:
Loosen centre rope, close paddles. In emergency cut centre rope.
If it is not yet an emergency untie the centre rope immediately.
Closing the paddles will decrease the urgency but will take a minute or so to take effect.
If the rope has been awkwardly wound or tied around a bollard it may now be too tight to undo, in which case cutting it may resolve the issue.
If you have crew, one person should deal with the rope while the other closes the paddles.
Avoidance
Crew must pay attention at all times in locks, whether on board or at the lock gates. Simply looping a rope once or twice round a bollard in a lock and crew holding it while paying it out, either on or off the boat, should suffice to keep it stable. For wide locks go in with another narrow boat. This will share the locking load and tend to keep the boats parallel.
Use the engine to keep the boat steady in the lock while watching for water surges. Open paddles slowly and in stages to minimise surges. Avoid a surge of water by opening the ground paddles gradually - ideally the paddle opposite the boat first, if there is only a single boat in the lock. You then reassess the situation before completely opening the ground paddles. Don't use the gate paddles until the boat is above their level. This should avoid water in your bow.
Be particularly careful if you have loads such as coal - or even passengers - on the roof, as this makes the boat less stable.
Use a Boatman's Hitch or a Round Turn and Two Half Hitches to moor up.
Single handed boaters might also consider an extended length of centre rope and carrying a sharp and stout knife for emergencies.
You don't want this to happen ...

Also for river boating think about your moorings in case of flood. Ideally you'll have a marina or a floating jetty to even out the highs and lows of water level. However if you are in an area likely to flood, care must be taken to allow for water levels, not tying moorings too tightly and placing mooring ropes at 45 degrees to the bank where possible. This allows the boat a little more flexibility to rise. This picture is from a boat that was moored on The Ouse at York in 2012.

Boat caught on a lock cill

This is one in a series of A Guide to Narrow Boat Problems.

Problem 
Boat caught on a lock cill or other large obstruction in a lock, such as a hay bale.
Cause
Lack of concentration allowing force of water in lock to move boat onto cill when lock is emptying - and lack of observation that it has begun to tilt. The cill is a ledge on the lock doors. If the boat is caught on it it could tilt and sink or drop and crash.
We also know of a boat caught on a submerged hay bale in a lock.
Solution
Close lock paddles immediately. Start to fill lock slowly. Wait till lock is filled and boat is level to move boat away from cill. If the other end of the boat is too low, filling the lock could submerge that end with dreadful consequences. Call for help immediately.
Avoidance
Pay attention to cill markers and avoid them. Fill or empty locks in a controlled way. Watch out for obstructions at all times.

Read this report of the flooding and sinking of narrowboat Barbary Partridge, by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch.

Boat Stuck in River Nene

Since we moved from the Ouse to the Nene we've become increasingly aware of the unpredictability of the river and have faithfully signed up for Floodline advice.
Here's what can happen if you don't ... This is Ditchford lock near Northampton. But we note that Gurnamore got stuck on Thursday 1st Nov - and we received our flood warning at 9.35 on that day. Were the warning notices in place by the time they arrived? Had the locks already been "reversed" and the helmsman noticed too late? Here's a description on reversing locks, by the Environment Agency.

John has often quizzed me about "what I would do if ..." and here's a real poser.
The real answer is that you wouldn't set out if there is a Floodline warning and if the river is moving uncomfortably fast. I understand the owners of Gurnamore thought they'd signed up for Floodline but had not done so for the Nene. Perhaps this is a case for blaming the division between the EA and the CRT. Of course the Nene and the Middle Levels are used not only for leisure boating but also as a drainage system taking water from the East Midlands out to The Wash and surges of water are common. The EA has a different job from the CRT.

Evidently the boat was going downstream, west to east in this aerial view, heading for the lock to starboard then - perhaps because he was travelling too fast with the stream and would have hit the guillotine - slewed over to port, maybe hit the edge of the island and the force of the stream swung him round across the line of the green weir floats. Thank heavens he didn't keep on going ....
I feel sorry for the unhappy couple and their frightening experience, but am bound to say that if the water gets too fast or the conditions too challenging, it's far better to moor up and sit it out - even on the Nene, where good moorings are few and far between. Easy to say of course; tempting to plough on regardless; so hard to judge how fast the stream is while you're afloat; and if you're already scudding along at 6mph can your full power in full reverse actually stop you? I'm sure we couldn't stop in a straight line ....

* For more on this, including a video clip go to ITV News.
* For more pictures and for details of the two owners (who abandoned ship safely) read The Daily Mail.
* For details of the River Canal Rescue operation read this article.
* For detailed advice on coping with a narrow boat in fast river conditions read the thoughtful comments on Canal World. They are the best answers to John's quiz.
And anyone who thinks it's easy to cope in these conditions should read those comments very carefully indeed. There but for fortune go you or I ....

Three Hazards 3. Collision

Of course it's always the other guy's fault (or the tree's or that stationary lamp post that came up and hit you ...). But this is my third (and final) hazard experienced in a single trip down the Ouse.
We were a short way north of St Neots in a fairly narrow stretch of river with reeds at the edges when some distance ahead of us appeared a cruiser, bobbing a bit, as they do, like corks, as it came round a bend. I edged a little nearer the reeds but there was enough space to our left for him to pass and we each maintained our course.
Then, suddenly, for no apparent reason, just yards ahead of us, he swung violently in front of us, his midships straight in front of my bow. I went into full speed reverse and stopped while he continued to turn anti-clockwise. I was stationary as his turn took him round 180 degrees so he was facing the opposite direction, parallel with me, his stern starboard bumper nudging my stern port side.
I was too shocked to say anything, though I distantly heard his wife saying that they couldn't find reverse gear! I set off again, leaving him wallowing - the nearest I've ever been to a serious collision.
My wife, who had seen it all from the bow, came back to share a word or two and she confirmed that he must be an incompetent idiot. Neither of us had the presence of mind to catch either the name or number of the boat. Both of us, however, can confirm the sequence of events.
What do we make of it? He had to have been on the look out or he wouldn't have made it round the bend. Even if his throttle had been stuck full on, he could have made it past us - it was narrow but there was room for two. If his throttle had been stuck he wouldn't have ended up alongside us - he'd have been past us or right in the bank. And why swerve so violently in front of us? I have never seen a GRP cruiser hit full on by a narrow boat bow but I was only a foot away from finding out what happens.
I suppose he panicked (but why?) and he could very easily have dropped himself, wife and two children into the river - and sunk the boat.
What Learning Points can I draw from this? Only that you should allow room for all vessels and be prepared for the unexpected. I did the only thing possible - full reverse and steer straight. But I wish I'd clocked his number. I imagine a 1 ton GRP cruiser is more likely to suffer than a 12 ton steel narrow boat, but I have no wish to test this again - as I know surprising things can happen ....