450 locks, 582½ miles, 17 Tunnels, 26 swing bridges and 9 lift bridges since Nov 2006
At about 8.30 this morning the BW dredger went by on its way to lock 17 for the advertised stoppage and repair. There was a couple of boat moored opposite us outside the pub and when they finally surfaced this morning at about 9.30 we asked them if they were moving on and were they aware of the stoppage at lock 17.
They quickly de camped in an effort to beat the deadline which they did with only minutes to spare.
Once in the lock the BW men had a fish around with the dredge bucket to try and locate what was jamming the gate. They found nothing but must have moved what ever it was as the gate now opens perfectly. The next job was to remove the bucket so they could use the boom to support the gate while they removed the top collar and concreted in some new mounting. Initially the weight of the gate kept pushing the BW boat backwards until the hydraulic arms keeping the boat stable locked onto an under water ledge.
Once the weight had been taken off the collar they could then remove the old bolts holding the collar in place. The bolts had worked loose to such an extent that 2 of them pulled out by hand. By the time we left the moorings they were in the process of reseating new bolts ready to be concreted in place.
Our journey to Sells Green was uneventful and on arrival there were plenty of moorings available. Once we were moored and settled for the day it was time for me to check the water in the batteries and check everything in the engine hole.
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