Email: Swinging gates

If I remember correctly, when we passed through Aston Lock a couple of weeks ago, after we closed the bottom gates (going down) and before we had progressed very far, one was already open by itself.

Another lock in the same area: closed the bottom gates (which were open)—difficult to shift—and walked to top paddles to fill. Turn around and see both gates open! With two of us we could not both hold the bottom gates closed and open the paddles (not an unfamiliar scenario) The only solution is to draw a little water and then close bottom gates and hold until there is enough water to hold them closed and then full normally.

Open gates are not always the result of lazy boaters, may be not even mostly.

Mike Todd