DaveKamp
Active Member
- Jun 9, 2021
- 189
- Boat Info
- 1970 SRV180, '77SRV220CC, 76 SRV-240FB, another SRV180
- Engines
- Mostly MerCruisers with R-MR-Alpha drives
The only locks on the Upper Mississippi that have floating bollards are those with extreme lift... Upper and Lower St Anthony Falls. I believe Lock 1 USED to have floating bollards, but last time I went through, they did not. Lock 19 at Keokuk had them at one time, but I suspect they've been removed.
Floating bollards are used in high lift only. Most of the lift height of the Upper Mississippi is around 8-10 feet, so lockmasters have weighted drop-lines from the rails, at least on the near-side (the control-house side) of the lock. IF traffic is heavy, you may find yourself mooring on the far-side wall If you do, take a spare mooring line and boat hook at each end of the vessel, and drape it over one of the mooring pins recessed into the wall. As you ascend or decend, alternate moving the line to the next pin up or down as appropriate for the circumstance. It is BEST to have a spare line, and drop it over (with the hook) before retrieving the prior line. Keep in mind (as noted above) there will be little to no turbulence on decending lockage, but an ascending lockage WILL be turbulent. You'll need to move swiftly do manage a pin change while ascending, but as I noted, most of the Upper Miss locks are low-lift, so no worries.
NEVER tie off locking lines, ESPECIALLY to a floating bollard, first, because the line can suspend and capsize a vessel, but even moreso, if a bollard becomes stuck and fails to decend or ascend, and after more water leaves or comes in, the bollard releases, it will tear the side of the boat off or flip it when it does. The proper way (and many lockmasters will correct the circumstance if they see it) is to simply lay your line around the mooring pin and hold the bitter end. If something crazy happens, simply release the bitter end. A falling or jumping bollard presents a quick, violent yank you do NOT want to be tied to.
When locking, one person on rear, one on front, holding lines and poles... don't push the pole or pull the line aggressively... just touch the pole to the wall, or give the rope a slight pull. If you act hard, it will pivot your vessel, causing the opposite to happen at the other end... you push away, the other end swings in to smack the wall. you pull in, and the other end swings out. Just get it to a foot or two away and let it ride steady there.
Lockmasters on all the Upper Mississippi River locks monitor and work on Channel 14. Calling the lockmaster is a simple process, in most cases, one need only listen for a few minutes to other traffic to find out what's going on. Unless there's dredging or lock maintenance in process, there is no 'set schedule' to locking upstream or downstream, it is done on demand. While commercial traffic has priority, lockmasters will usually run groups of recreational craft between commercial lockages unless there's some really necessary circumstance.
If you're planning on making a trip, set your VHF to Channel 22 and have a pen and paper ready for regular Marine Information Broadcast by USCG Western Rivers, they will list navigational circumstances of the entire area, including bridges, dredging, municipal closures, shoals and flooding, etc.
All locks on the Upper Miss have hand-pull signal lines located in the ladder recesses of the near-side lock wall, and signs up on the handrail to identify the presence of the call rope. PUll the rope, then back off far enough so that you can SEE the control building.
When travelling upstream, do NOT moor up close to the downstream gates... back off several hundred yards, lest the turbulence of the released water beat you up.
The MKARNS is different as well. MOST of the locks are high-lift, and will have floating bollards. If I remember correctly (when we took SV Seeker down) there was some variation of bollard styles to try to absolve the 'hanging up' problem they experince from flotsam jams, but I don't recall which ones... (I was rather busy concentrating on maintaining control of a 65 ton twin keel shrouded single-screw beast with three masts and no thrusters, right? ) IIRC we were frequently contacting the MKARNS locks on Channel 16, but at least one was on 13. They ARE identified by VHF channel and telephone number on the MKARNS charts.
Illinois River's highest lifts are Lockport, Brandon Road, Dresden Island and Marseilles. I believe Lockport USED to have floating bollards, but last I navigated through, the walls were smooth. Brandon Road has not, Dresden Island may have once had, but I believe these were removed and walls poured smooth last year. Marseilles has smooth walls. The rest are low lift, with no floating bollards. There's several wicket-dams which during high navigable water levels, are retracted such that one needs not lock, just simply navigate around them, over the retracted wickets. If you don't understand them, contact the lockmaster for instructions. When I last piloted a 58ft houseboat down from Peoria to Grafton, the Peoria and LaGrange locks were monitoring 14.
On ALL lock walls where steel barges pass through, it is best to NEVER touch the walls with anything other than fenders and poles, as the concrete will acquire sharp steel shards from being rubbed by barges. These shards are under the slime, and will open up hands right through gloves. Drop lines may be a big slimy, but most of the time lockmasters will retrieve the lines so they don't spend significant time gathering aquatic life.
When you lock through on the Upper Miss, Illinois, and MKARNS, you'll frequently see three items at each emergency equipment station: A life ring, an axe, and a wooden block on a rope. The intent of the first is obvious. The second is to release a line in a hurry. The third is dropped between a vessel in the event a person falls into the water inside the lock chamber- in hopes that IT will prevent the individual from becoming crushed between the vessel and lock wall.
Law states that in the lock chamber, engines are shut off, and any flames (including smoking) are extinguished. These are both important because a lock chamber is a perfect place for carbon monoxide and fuel vapors to collect in a very short time. Under some circumstances, you may have lockmasters instruct you to turn off sound systems or possibly some other action (or refrain) while locking. Along with engines running and stereos, sound inside the lock chamber can become overwhelming, and the lockmaster will exercise their authority to make certain that voice communications with all vessels (in both directions) are clear. In EVERY case, the lockmaster's orders are not negotiable... please follow them to the letter, so they can proceed with their tasks.
One of the things you may be instructed, is to NOT moor up in one particular spot in the lock chamber. Don't argue, as they usually have a very good reason... on the Upper Mississippi, it isn't unusual for a waterlogged tree to get dragged into a lock chamber. If you happen to lay up along a wall directly above the tree, when water level goes down, you'll be atop it. Sometimes a lockmaster will have you moor in a specific spot because the path departing the lock is obstructed on one side by a commercial vessel laid up against the opposite wall outside the gate. Usually when things like this happens, the lockmaster will either walk over and TELL you, or they'll come over intercom and/or VHF to advise.
As far as lock entrance and exit ettiquette:
Before entering the lock with a GROUP of boaters, look around at the other craft and ask yourself WHO is LEAST MANEUVERABLE, and then WHO appears LEAST EXPERIENCED. Let them go in first and get landed... if you go in ahead, it makes their entrance much more difficult AND it exposes YOU to getting tangled up with them. IF one calls out to the rest requesting something like a 'first entry', don't argue, just let them go in. It very well may be a rented 60 foot pontoon houseboat with a 90hp outboard motor on a windy day... incredibly unmaneuverable... and to get in safe, they might be all over the inside of that lock chamber just to get it positioned.
Do not cast off and approach the gates UNTIL you get an appropriate whistle or horn blast indicating clear to proceed.
Do not enter a lock until you have a green (or yellow) aspect FOLLOWING a horn blast signal to enter. Departing vessels ALWAYS have right-of-way.
When entering and departing a lock, be slow, gentle, and orderly. Boats closest to the departure gates leave first, and don't pass within the lock envelope. Keep the speed at dead-slow until you're well past the wall bullnose. Things get dicy really fast when someone gets in a hurry, and bozos that throttle up before clearing the wall stir up the lock chamber bad, tossing others around and slamming them into the wall.
Finally... if you've never locked through because you're inexperinced or afraid, it's time to DO IT. I'm regularly amazed by how many recreational boaters have never locked through. Ann and I took my 17'er from Bettendorf, Iowa to north of Stillwater MN (the Saint Croix) several times, and on one of the trips we stopped at some harbor along the way (might've been Wabesha, Mn) where we were having dinner when a regular smugly advertised that he'd 'locked through several times' (after Ann and I had locked through something like 9 times THAT DAY...) It ain't that big a deal, but I guess he was the kind of guy that felt it such an accomplishment that threw a party each time he pooped...??
Do it! Boat travel is FUN!!!
Floating bollards are used in high lift only. Most of the lift height of the Upper Mississippi is around 8-10 feet, so lockmasters have weighted drop-lines from the rails, at least on the near-side (the control-house side) of the lock. IF traffic is heavy, you may find yourself mooring on the far-side wall If you do, take a spare mooring line and boat hook at each end of the vessel, and drape it over one of the mooring pins recessed into the wall. As you ascend or decend, alternate moving the line to the next pin up or down as appropriate for the circumstance. It is BEST to have a spare line, and drop it over (with the hook) before retrieving the prior line. Keep in mind (as noted above) there will be little to no turbulence on decending lockage, but an ascending lockage WILL be turbulent. You'll need to move swiftly do manage a pin change while ascending, but as I noted, most of the Upper Miss locks are low-lift, so no worries.
NEVER tie off locking lines, ESPECIALLY to a floating bollard, first, because the line can suspend and capsize a vessel, but even moreso, if a bollard becomes stuck and fails to decend or ascend, and after more water leaves or comes in, the bollard releases, it will tear the side of the boat off or flip it when it does. The proper way (and many lockmasters will correct the circumstance if they see it) is to simply lay your line around the mooring pin and hold the bitter end. If something crazy happens, simply release the bitter end. A falling or jumping bollard presents a quick, violent yank you do NOT want to be tied to.
When locking, one person on rear, one on front, holding lines and poles... don't push the pole or pull the line aggressively... just touch the pole to the wall, or give the rope a slight pull. If you act hard, it will pivot your vessel, causing the opposite to happen at the other end... you push away, the other end swings in to smack the wall. you pull in, and the other end swings out. Just get it to a foot or two away and let it ride steady there.
Lockmasters on all the Upper Mississippi River locks monitor and work on Channel 14. Calling the lockmaster is a simple process, in most cases, one need only listen for a few minutes to other traffic to find out what's going on. Unless there's dredging or lock maintenance in process, there is no 'set schedule' to locking upstream or downstream, it is done on demand. While commercial traffic has priority, lockmasters will usually run groups of recreational craft between commercial lockages unless there's some really necessary circumstance.
If you're planning on making a trip, set your VHF to Channel 22 and have a pen and paper ready for regular Marine Information Broadcast by USCG Western Rivers, they will list navigational circumstances of the entire area, including bridges, dredging, municipal closures, shoals and flooding, etc.
All locks on the Upper Miss have hand-pull signal lines located in the ladder recesses of the near-side lock wall, and signs up on the handrail to identify the presence of the call rope. PUll the rope, then back off far enough so that you can SEE the control building.
When travelling upstream, do NOT moor up close to the downstream gates... back off several hundred yards, lest the turbulence of the released water beat you up.
The MKARNS is different as well. MOST of the locks are high-lift, and will have floating bollards. If I remember correctly (when we took SV Seeker down) there was some variation of bollard styles to try to absolve the 'hanging up' problem they experince from flotsam jams, but I don't recall which ones... (I was rather busy concentrating on maintaining control of a 65 ton twin keel shrouded single-screw beast with three masts and no thrusters, right? ) IIRC we were frequently contacting the MKARNS locks on Channel 16, but at least one was on 13. They ARE identified by VHF channel and telephone number on the MKARNS charts.
Illinois River's highest lifts are Lockport, Brandon Road, Dresden Island and Marseilles. I believe Lockport USED to have floating bollards, but last I navigated through, the walls were smooth. Brandon Road has not, Dresden Island may have once had, but I believe these were removed and walls poured smooth last year. Marseilles has smooth walls. The rest are low lift, with no floating bollards. There's several wicket-dams which during high navigable water levels, are retracted such that one needs not lock, just simply navigate around them, over the retracted wickets. If you don't understand them, contact the lockmaster for instructions. When I last piloted a 58ft houseboat down from Peoria to Grafton, the Peoria and LaGrange locks were monitoring 14.
On ALL lock walls where steel barges pass through, it is best to NEVER touch the walls with anything other than fenders and poles, as the concrete will acquire sharp steel shards from being rubbed by barges. These shards are under the slime, and will open up hands right through gloves. Drop lines may be a big slimy, but most of the time lockmasters will retrieve the lines so they don't spend significant time gathering aquatic life.
When you lock through on the Upper Miss, Illinois, and MKARNS, you'll frequently see three items at each emergency equipment station: A life ring, an axe, and a wooden block on a rope. The intent of the first is obvious. The second is to release a line in a hurry. The third is dropped between a vessel in the event a person falls into the water inside the lock chamber- in hopes that IT will prevent the individual from becoming crushed between the vessel and lock wall.
Law states that in the lock chamber, engines are shut off, and any flames (including smoking) are extinguished. These are both important because a lock chamber is a perfect place for carbon monoxide and fuel vapors to collect in a very short time. Under some circumstances, you may have lockmasters instruct you to turn off sound systems or possibly some other action (or refrain) while locking. Along with engines running and stereos, sound inside the lock chamber can become overwhelming, and the lockmaster will exercise their authority to make certain that voice communications with all vessels (in both directions) are clear. In EVERY case, the lockmaster's orders are not negotiable... please follow them to the letter, so they can proceed with their tasks.
One of the things you may be instructed, is to NOT moor up in one particular spot in the lock chamber. Don't argue, as they usually have a very good reason... on the Upper Mississippi, it isn't unusual for a waterlogged tree to get dragged into a lock chamber. If you happen to lay up along a wall directly above the tree, when water level goes down, you'll be atop it. Sometimes a lockmaster will have you moor in a specific spot because the path departing the lock is obstructed on one side by a commercial vessel laid up against the opposite wall outside the gate. Usually when things like this happens, the lockmaster will either walk over and TELL you, or they'll come over intercom and/or VHF to advise.
As far as lock entrance and exit ettiquette:
Before entering the lock with a GROUP of boaters, look around at the other craft and ask yourself WHO is LEAST MANEUVERABLE, and then WHO appears LEAST EXPERIENCED. Let them go in first and get landed... if you go in ahead, it makes their entrance much more difficult AND it exposes YOU to getting tangled up with them. IF one calls out to the rest requesting something like a 'first entry', don't argue, just let them go in. It very well may be a rented 60 foot pontoon houseboat with a 90hp outboard motor on a windy day... incredibly unmaneuverable... and to get in safe, they might be all over the inside of that lock chamber just to get it positioned.
Do not cast off and approach the gates UNTIL you get an appropriate whistle or horn blast indicating clear to proceed.
Do not enter a lock until you have a green (or yellow) aspect FOLLOWING a horn blast signal to enter. Departing vessels ALWAYS have right-of-way.
When entering and departing a lock, be slow, gentle, and orderly. Boats closest to the departure gates leave first, and don't pass within the lock envelope. Keep the speed at dead-slow until you're well past the wall bullnose. Things get dicy really fast when someone gets in a hurry, and bozos that throttle up before clearing the wall stir up the lock chamber bad, tossing others around and slamming them into the wall.
Finally... if you've never locked through because you're inexperinced or afraid, it's time to DO IT. I'm regularly amazed by how many recreational boaters have never locked through. Ann and I took my 17'er from Bettendorf, Iowa to north of Stillwater MN (the Saint Croix) several times, and on one of the trips we stopped at some harbor along the way (might've been Wabesha, Mn) where we were having dinner when a regular smugly advertised that he'd 'locked through several times' (after Ann and I had locked through something like 9 times THAT DAY...) It ain't that big a deal, but I guess he was the kind of guy that felt it such an accomplishment that threw a party each time he pooped...??
Do it! Boat travel is FUN!!!
