Aug 7th Lock Trip
 

Just to give everyone enough time to do some hunting / gathering / shopping ... For the Allegheny River trip through the lock on Aug 7th, each kayaker will need a 75 foot piece of rope. I would suggest polypropylene of at least 3/8 diameter.

Lock Rope
 

This may be a good time to get a new throw bag for some of use without. I wouldn't want to deal with a tangle of 75 to 80 feet of loose rope in my boat.
NRS has a 3/8 x 75 throw bag. I don't think one lock trip would damage it, although I might be wrong. But for me it seems worthwhile just to have the longer rope available.
What do you think Mark?

I love a throw bag, especially should I find need to be on the receiving end of one, and I would hope that everyone carries one. I can't say what kind of wear & tear would come to ones rope from being used for locking through, but I can't imaging it being much. There are a variety of rope throw bags out there. NRS can be a little pricey, but I have always gotten good quality stuff from them. There are less expensive throw bag options on Amazon, and good ol' WalMart has 75' pieces of poly rope for about $13 (without any bag) in the sporting goods section.

I like the throw bag idea
Looking forward to this trip

Lock rope
 

Star supply in ytown has 3/8 poly rope 100ft for $9.95.

Lock trip
 

We have never gone through a lock in a kayak before. I don't know which lock this is and how the process going through works with a kayak. I witnessed some scary scenarios growing up going through the Montgomery dam on the Ohio. Looking back, I think most of them were due to Intoxication. I'm hoping that's not an issue anymore. It was always a stressful event. Can anyone shed some light on the actual process. I'm familiar with a lock worker lowering a hook for the rope.

More info Please
 

I too would like a bit of preliminary info about this trip. Is going thru a lock the main (scary?) event? Why the 75 ft rope? --KenM

My understanding is that no vessel can be floating freely in the lock chamber. Boats will either be "secured" to the bollard on top of the lock wall, or should there be more boats than bollards, kayaks / canoes would park sided-by-side and hold onto one anothers boat, while at least one boat is "tied off". I put "tied off" in quotes, because I'm told not to literally tie the rope to your boat, rather hold onto the rope and let it play out and collect back in as you are raised / lowered in the chamber. 75 feet is needed to cover the distance of the raise / lower in the lock chamber. There is a good Youtube video, "Locking Through: A Guide for Navigating Pittsburgh's Locks and Dams" ... it shows kayaks locking through. This trip will be dependent on weather; if there is rain in days leading up and flow is too high on the day of, I will change the trip to something near-by (hopefully). Locking through is the point of / attraction for this trip; it will be an up and back, with a lunch stop on an island up-river of the dam. As trip leader, I will note this trip is not for novice paddlers, as one must have good control of their boat, and I believe USACE will require PFD's to be worn ... and if they don't, I will. There is a paddle club, Morgantown (WV) Area Paddlers, (on FB) that does a few lock trips each year, and that was the genesis for the idea of this trip.

Link to Video
 

Which lock
 

Which lock will we be going through? Do they put other river traffic in with us? I’m not concerned about pleasure boats, it’s the tug boats and barges that scare me. I was in a lock one time in a large day cruiser and they put barges and a tug in with us. It’s is scary how massive they are up close and personal. I would have peed my pants if I was in a kayak.

Kathy Murtha