To add my little bit to the noisy 'traditional' engines, will someone please tell me why those with such noisy engines have to have both side doors wide open so we can hear their racket?
I was unlucky enough to share the broad locks on the Trent & Mersey with one of them, but having a somewhat shorter boat, and both at the front going up, I was nearly opposite its engine room, so in addition to the silencer-less noise of the silencer-less exhaust reverberating off the lock sides, I also had to suffer the noise of the engine itself.
I had the idea to go in the lock on the other side of the boat, that would be somewhat quieter I thought, but that side hatch was wide open too, which I had not noticed! By the time I got to Swarkstone Lock I had had enough, so stopped back and let it go on its own.
If the Canal & River Trust want the canals to be 'a haven of peace' as it tells us, there should be rules about having silencers on boat engines and the side doors of engine rooms firmly closed. Then, and only then, will the canals be the 'haven of peace' that the Trust would like to believe, but I can assure with the racket of those engines they most certainly are not.
Alan Mackay