Chichester Marina lock closed for works

[RichardS]

oops!

Indeed.

Richard

 

[maby]

oops! still similar grumbles afoot this year!

In fairness, they did give a lot of notice this year! We took it as a prompt to move out to Swanwick for a year or two.

 

[Mark-1]

Well what a lot of misinformation there is here.
First bertholders were informed of the shutdown in the late summer of 2019 and reminded of it several times since and were offered berthing at other Premier Marinas on a space available and first come first served basis. It is interesting that some of the noisiest complainers (remember the reason for the half a million quid renovation and upgrade it to make things better when the season comes) are those that data show haven't used their boats in the time period concerned at any point since the last lock shut down four years ago.
Now to the bigger lock or two lock question not possible the marina would be drained very quickly. With the present lock the average lock (over the tidal range) is around 350,000 litres - low water springs it's more like 1.4m. On a busy summer weekend with a midday or early afternoon HW the marina staff will "stack" water into the marina raising it by around a metre above datum. Think for a moment how much water that is and the whole lot will be used...Aside from that there is no way on earth PML would get planning permission to extend or build a second lock. No way no how not ever.

Thanks for taking the trouble to post. (Doesn't matter that it's about 2016 - the situation is similar AFAIC.)

Good opportunity to say thanks to you and the other lock keepers. I sail with two young kids and they're always thrilled at the interactions with the "kid friendly" lock keepers - compliments on use of the radio etc. It makes their day and adds more value to my sailing than any of the additional benefits Premier advertise.

Also as one of the minority of berth holders who can lock in/out close to LWS it tickles me to hear I'm pissing 1.4 million litres of water away every time!

Any idea how much confidence there is around the re-opening dates of the 12th/20th March?

@chi lockie

 

[wombat88]

It may be complete heresay but I have heard tell that it is all down to how long it will take to fabricate the bearings for the gates once they have been removed and measured.

I believe the original drawings do not supply sufficient info to make them in advance with any confidence.

It is also said that if push comes to shove and they haven't time for metalwork they will make them out of something else and replace them with a 'proper job' later.

This is the internet and therefore this may be complete and utter rubbish so if anyone has the facts they are more than welcome to tell me that I am talking ***!"

 

[Elessar]

Thanks for taking the trouble to post. (Doesn't matter that it's about 2016 - the situation is similar AFAIC.)

Good opportunity to say thanks to you and the other lock keepers. I sail with two young kids and they're always thrilled at the interactions with the "kid friendly" lock keepers - compliments on use of the radio etc. It makes their day and adds more value to my sailing than any of the additional benefits Premier advertise.

@chi lockie

Absolutely.

The fact that a lockie came on here to stick up for the company he works for (rather than the premier PR machine) says it all and that shows in the service you get.

I use that marina only occasionally but the helpfulness of the lockkeepers has always been great ~ including guiding me by radio for the last half a mile out side the lock (left a bit, right a bit) when I left it a bit late on a falling tide in the dark.

 

[Mark-1]

Latest estimate for opening is the 20th of March 2020.

I walked down there this weekend and the water in the marina is seriously muddy with the gate closed and a vast amount of fresh water flowing in. All those nutrients are going to make life hard for antifouling. (Or maybe the water being 'fresh' for a month will kill a load of stuff off.) I fear the Coral worm will love the conditions.

 

[Rotordude]

There are two things in play here first, the scale of the project while the bearings are indeed the biggie don't forget that in addition decades of old and no longer used wiring are being removed and an entirely new control system is being installed and these things take time. The water salinity issue - clearly the fact that the water hasn't been circulated for a number of weeks combined with the biblical rainfall has led to the salinity level dropping but also keep in mind that the salty stuff is at the bottom and the fresh stuff sits on top so it looks worse than it is. Also salient to that point is that the water being pumped out of the marina (by those giant pumps) is being taken from the top "fresh layer".

 

[Rotordude]

Thanks for taking the trouble to post. (Doesn't matter that it's about 2016 - the situation is similar AFAIC.)

Good opportunity to say thanks to you and the other lock keepers. I sail with two young kids and they're always thrilled at the interactions with the "kid friendly" lock keepers - compliments on use of the radio etc. It makes their day and adds more value to my sailing than any of the additional benefits Premier advertise.

Also as one of the minority of berth holders who can lock in/out close to LWS it tickles me to hear I'm pissing 1.4 million litres of water away every time!

Any idea how much confidence there is around the re-opening dates of the 12th/20th March?

@chi lockie

I know what the expectation is but I don't want to jinx it!

 

[Mark-1]

Thanks, @chi lockie , your posts are always useful!

 

[DJE]

I seem to remember (from when we were building Port Solent) that there is a pumping station to help with topping up the water levels.

 

[DJE]

I think the size of the lock is dictated by the inflow of water into the marina basin. If the lock was too big then I could see the marina drying out or having serious level problems during a busy weekend in the summer.

Just looking at the relative sizes of the Chi marina basin and the lock I bet they loose more water through leakage than they do through operation of the lock. A quick measure on Google Earth makes the basin about 600 times the area of the lock. So dropping the lock two metres will drop the basin by about three millimetres. I suspect the size of the lock was governed by construction costs!

 

[Rotordude]

I seem to remember (from when we were building Port Solent) that there is a pumping station to help with topping up the water levels.

There is at Port Solent but at Chichester it's by free flow and what comes in from the marsh pumps

 

[Rotordude]

Just looking at the relative sizes of the Chi marina basin and the lock I bet they loose more water through leakage than they do through operation of the lock. A quick measure on Google Earth makes the basin about 600 times the area of the lock. So dropping the lock two metres will drop the basin by about three millimetres. I suspect the size of the lock was governed by construction costs!

Nope ahead of a sunny summer Saturday (with aHW around midday let's say) during the previous HW it will get topped up well above normal operating level (like about a metre above) and all of it will get used in by the time free flow hits. There is an amount leakage through the sea walls but it's nothing to lock ops on a busy day.