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STRAND ON THE GREEN BARGE BLOCKS. These blocks are very useful for a quick check/replacement of the anodes, fitting a 'Proptector', checking your steering gear, clearing a bow thruster or checking and touching up a bit of paint work.
The blocks at the Strand on
the Green are between Kew Rail Bridge and Kew road bridge on the North
bank of the River Thames. They can be seen at low water from the tube
train and show up well on Google maps. Better still walk down to the
river bank and have a close look on the low tide before you intend to
use them. The steps down to the river bed can be very slippery take
great care. Better still good boots and a brush and shovel to clear the
way. Ideally you want a mid day low tide to give you the most dry time
in daylight. We reckoned the hull was out the water for about eight
hours a tide. The PLA Official Document:- Undertaking. I hereby confirm, agree and accept the following instructions and guidelines as laid down by the Port of London Authority with regard to use of the facilities at: (1) Strand-on-the-Green Grid (2) Isleworth Piles The Do’s
Back to Home Page Back to Slipping / Dry Dock Page Created 29 January 2010 - Last updated 05 March 2010 |
The
PLA do like to know who is using them and there is a phone number on one
of the posts. The PLA have a 'Undertaking' form that they like you to
sign (reprinted at bottom of this page). The normal stuff about them
being responsible for nothing and you being responsible for everything.
Some of the important points are 'no rubbish' 'no noise' and 'no
residential mooring'. Just as well we only had people on board for fire
watch and to check the mooring lines. All of these constraints are very
reasonable as you are literally in the front gardens of the houses on
the Strand on the Green. I would not like someone jet washing their
barge in my front garden or leaving all their residue behind.
We
came onto the blocks on a falling tide as there is a broken beam by the
second post down stream, you can see that it has a big dip in the middle
from the pictures. To avoid that one and leave the stern gear clear of
any blocks we approached from the London end and used the two down
stream posts. You can see we are overhanging the last block by quite a
lot. There is a gap of about 6' between the last post and the last
block on the grid going down stream. The blocks are about 10' apart.
There is about 40" clearance under the barge when sitting on the beams..jpg)
The
day we were there the high tide was about 5m and there was 2.4 m above
the blocks at high water but on a neap at 3.4m you might struggle to get
on. Check the tide heights and times carefully. Its best to arrive
before high water and hang off the posts until slack water. It will
give you time to check the clearance above the blocks.You really don't
want to be half on and half off the blocks on a falling tide!