The Danger of Weeds

[Queequeg QuintParticipant @queequegquint38270]

My favorite river has been overrun with weeds. Last night, my Ambassador got trapped within 30 seconds of driving. Alas, I was not aware of the weeds as it was so dark, and this river has *never* been overrun with weeds in the past 10 years.

Ambassador's mighty 70mm 5-blade prop picked up lots of weeds. I used the Illusion boat to rescue the Ambassador, but even that had a hard time. Illusion uses a 55mm prop, so it did not pick us as many weeds. Driving on this river last night was like driving through a swamp!

Here is a picture and a video:

Click here for video:  Trapped by Weeds

Edited By Queequeg Quint on 25/08/2021 17:59:21

[Queequeg QuintParticipant @queequegquint38270]

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Well worth taking note and looking out for. Its that time of year again when algae and weeds grow very quickly.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Common issue, Q, especially when we get some blazing sun for a week.

Bushy park is suffering from a lack of maintenance, due to Covid and the laying off of staff apparently.

The water management is done by contractors and dare say they either have no staff or the park doesn’t want to pay. Our main issue is that there is no water flow due to clogged streams…a relatively easy thing to clear, but???

Generally it’s not too bad, and we now have loads of..things…that are weed resistant!

Ashley

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

At Kirklees the only way to have any effect is to actually clear the grids ourselves. If we didn't the flow would stagnate and the situation would become a lot worse. This is obviously the council's job but there simply isn't enough of them to do it.

At least we haven't had a blazing summer this year, which always makes it even worse.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

My bilge pump powered Valiant ignores weed like it wasn’t there at all.

I drove it into a mass of weed last year and it only stopped when physically it just could not push the mass along.

other than that, airboats, hovercraft and to an extent paddlers have to be the go-to choice.

Ashley

[Rich Griff 2Participant @richgriff2]

Or RC aircraft etc…

I used to take an old fishing rod with me and cast over a stuck boat…but the quarry pit lake is a different matter.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

perhaps the new hi-tec approach would be to use a drone to either physically dangle a hook on the boat and tow it, or drop a hook and line on the boat so it could be pulled ashore!

I have tried using an airboat to rescue stuff, but the light weight and lack of rudder authority showed it was a no go. Even just towing the traditional cork and string to entangle the mired craft was beyond it as well.

A twin pump boat (no rudder) would probably be the optimum recovery vehicle for weed ?? (keeping a line on it, just in case)

A photographer man with a drone appeared a few weeks ago and took some drone footage. I thought the park was a no fly area but he said no, and produced a map on his phone, and Bushy is is a fly-zone. I think one would have to check the park bylaws though.

Ashley

[Rich Griff 2Participant @richgriff2]

Wessex hovering over lifeboat with a winch man and rescued person, that would be good !

All to scale of course.

Weed still a problem in closest quarry pit but no weed in the "divers quarry lake" which is a good 10 mins further away….

Will have to ask the divers if they could film the boat going past from under water…

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