Afishionado Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 35 years of boating in Poole Harbour and I have never noticed if there is a hight (overhead clearance) gauge on Poole Bridge. I have been going over the specs of the new boat and see that it has an air draft of 7' 6" (without a radar bridge or radio aerial sticking up). Having chortled in times past at motor cruisers gingerly approaching the closed bridge whilst I slid underneath in whatever I was in, I realise now that I will be in the same boat (no pun intended ) When I had the big Romany in the 70's I had to wait untill the bridge opened because I had a mizzen mast and sail so I never looked for a gauge. Does any one know? Or is it a phone the Harbour Masters office? Mad Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plaicemat Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 2.1 mtrs above Mean High Water Tide Level. 6.88 feet, somewhat less than 7' 6". DUCK. Terry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afishionado Posted January 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 2.1 mtrs above Mean High Water Tide Level. 6.88 feet, somewhat less than 7' 6". DUCK. Terry. Doh! Knowing 'Sodd's Law' on the most intimate of terms I can tell you that whenever we go out or come back one of them will be at a highwater but not at a bridge time!! Mad Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Fox Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Mike, you need a couple of huge livebait tanks, and if you approach the bridge at high water, to fill them. Two cubic metres of sea water weighs a couple of ton, so imagine how much lower you would sit in the water! Under the bridge at any time, no hassle! Am just trying to work out how big a pair of tanks I might need.... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afishionado Posted January 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 (edited) Mike, you need a couple of huge livebait tanks, and if you approach the bridge at high water, to fill them. Two cubic metres of sea water weighs a couple of ton, so imagine how much lower you would sit in the water! Under the bridge at any time, no hassle! Am just trying to work out how big a pair of tanks I might need.... Mike Don't laugh, I had already thought up a scheme and was planning to patent it!! A sorta floodable space between a double skin and then an HP air system to blow it out. Flood Q Dive off klaxon dive dive dive Arooga! arooga! arooga! Mad Mike Edited January 15, 2007 by Afishionado Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazy fred Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 (edited) nowaday,s they use HAT for bridges which is highest astronomical tide so , HAT +2.1mtr Edited January 15, 2007 by crazy fred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afishionado Posted January 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 A whole new discipline to apply then! So someone check that I have this right please. If I was comeing back in and the tide chart showed a hight of say 1.5 meters at that time, I would add my air draft of 2.3 meters and get a total of 3.8 meters. Then add together the bridge clearance of 2.1m and the HAT which I am guessing is 2.1 m as well, this gives me a total of 4.2 m. Therefore I will have an expected clearance of .4 Meter? Mad Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alun j. Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 and a bit more Mike........... Poole tides are predicted up to at least 2.4m. eg. next Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afishionado Posted January 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Thanks Alan, I was just guessing to see if I had the math formula correct. But do you recon I could take 2.4m as a constant for highest astronomical? Mad Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomBettle Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Flood Q Dive off klaxon dive dive dive Arooga! arooga! arooga! Mad Mike .....Mike? Why do they call you Mad Mike? Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazy fred Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 i can hear the slintering of fiberglass aerials Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazy fred Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 i dont think i need to print this in Wing tat 3rd dynasty to confuse you any more mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 What you need Mike ,is the same device as Andy has. It's called a Jack [or Dad ]. You get it to stand on a side rail with the top of it's head at the same height as the GRP mast. [which is the highest point on the Arvor. You then approach what appears to be the lowest point of the bridge,normally between the steel beams,at a good lick !! If your Jack screams at the last minute,you don't have enough room.!.!.!.. Works for us.!.!...............jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afishionado Posted January 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 i can hear the slintering of fiberglass aerials My long dead Uncle who was in HM Submarines during the war told a terrifing tale of when he was a sub lieutenant on his first tour. First I must explain that 'Q' is the emergency dive or rise chamber, flood 'Q' and you go down like a stone. So there he is on his first patrol with a couple of look outs and the first officer all standing in the conning tower as the boat was on the surface running on diesels and charging the batteries. Suddenly one of the lookout shouts "Aircraft bearing 150" or whatever and in a flash the first officer yells "Flood Q! Dive off klaxon" he punches a big red button and from below comes the sound of someone shouting "Dive Dive Dive" at the same time as the klaxon horn going off at full volume. Apparantly all of that took about 2 seconds and there was Uncle Barry on his own in the conning tower with the sub already awash and tilting down. He froze for a second then with water flooding in through the scuppers of the conning tower he jumped feet first down the hatch and as he was closing the hatch water was flooding in over him. What a way to spend a war as they used to say. Mad Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afishionado Posted January 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 i dont think i need to print this in Wing tat 3rd dynasty to confuse you any more mike Thank you for this, it is something I need to brush up on for sure. Mad Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fugazi Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Did the submarine miss the bridge? Gordon H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 I believe there is a gauge (white board) on the bridge pillar to the south when approaching upstream that shows clearance in metres. It looks as if it's had a bash so might be worth checking it's accuracy before relying on it. I presume this would be lowest clearance as you can squeeze between the girders and get another .5 metre or so. Failing that you can call Port Control who should be able to tell you the air height under the bridge. Rich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shropfisher Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 You could always try the method used by the captain of the largest cruise ship in the world, at a cost of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomBettle Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 You could always try the method used by the captain of the largest cruise ship in the world, at a cost of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazy fred Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 now this is what happens when youget it wrong,so be carefull mike http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfTfRD5EVII Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
great white Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 I find it hard to believe that anyone would accelerate to pass under a bridge, on a cruise ship with a pilot onboard. but then again I would not have believed Freds incident if it were not on film. imagine the incident report to the MCA we just clipped the bridge ??? Charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afishionado Posted January 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 now this is what happens when youget it wrong,so be carefull mike http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfTfRD5EVII Toe curlingly unstoppable!!! Ooops! does not go far enough does it Mad Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam F Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 I got distracted by the the U-Tube films to the right of freds post.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plaicemat Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Funny that, me too. Terry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coddy Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 If you watch the film you will see the bridge is being lowered so I don't think the pilot/captain is totaly to blame. Coddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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