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Old 04-19-2013, 07:45 AM   #14
Woodsong
Guru
 
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City: Atlanta
Vessel Model: Bayliner 4550 Pilothouse
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,630
David-
Yes I know Earl- had him checking out my hino's last spring and he is going to be up again on my boat for some pre-season work here in the next week or two. He knows his stuff!

Don...I used to carry a sharp knife but have landed on a slightly adapted way to tie off. I basically just go from midships cleat to around the bollard and then loop back to my midships cleat, warp it once around the cleat and then usually hold the end of the line in my hand. I figure if the bollard gets stuck it's not too easy to cut through 3/4" line quickly so if I ever have a pin get stuck I can just play out more line and/or undo the line. But...it does require me standing there @ the pin.
As far as shutting down engines...I personally don't do that. Gas boats often/sometimes will just b/c of the CO concerns. With diesels I don't worry about that and I have had a situation or two where having engines already powered up was a good thing. Not happened to me but I've seen a few people not paying attention and have their lines come off the bollard and then floating loose in the locks. Having engines on entire time keeps you prepared should you need them. So my vote is if you are diesel powered, keep the engines on. If gas, I'd probably turn them off on the TN River locks due to the depth of the locks. As Don mentioned Wheeler in over a 90' drop, Chickamauga Lock is like 50-60 or something.
Winds are definitely something you will want to watch. This is why I always recommend people have fenders down on both sides b/c you just don't know how things are until you are well into the chamber. You don't want to be in the middle of the chamber and have to be moving fenders around at the last second, especially if other boats in the chamber too. A couple of weeks ago we were going upbound through Chickamauga lock so we were locking up. Winds were a steady 20 mph going from my starboard to port. Common sense would say that the wind will just push us easily to the port side for a quick and easy tie off. Ha! Got in there and I'll be darned if the winds weren't bouncing around so much inside that deep chamber that the winds were pushing us hard to the starboard side. Being prepared to go to either side will make your locking experience as stress free as possible.
Angus is correct too- you can call ahead and talk direct to the lockmaster. They monitor vhf channel 16 and we use that to hail them then they ask us to switch to 14. I learned quite a bit ago if I am planning a trip to call before I leave the dock to see if they know of any tows or commercial traffic or any other anticipated delays for the lock. They usually have a good idea of the commercial traffic schedules and can often give you a good idea of how busy their day will be. Several times making that call in the morning has meant the difference of rushing to get underway only to have to idle in front of a lock for 2-3 hours while a tow goes through and being able to prop my feet back up at the dock and have another cup of coffee and enjoy the morning.
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