Our dredger Pauline has only recently been restored to service at Loxwood after her return from a prolonged stay up at Dunsfold. Her mechanism is buoyed up by removable enclosed steel float tanks – one of which was found to be no longer floating. Leaks to the tank were repaired at the Depot, and Pauline now sits level in the water.
The Dredger Group used Pauline and her restored tug Kermit to complete a detailed depth survey between Baldwin’s Knob Lock and the Roger Dimmick slipway at Drungewick Aqueduct. Depths as little as 0.7m were identified in some places. Pauline will take this down to the canal’s nominal depth of 1.4m - 1.5m, therefore as much as doubling the depth. This will allow tripboats an easier turn in the winding hole below Baldwin’s Knob Lock. It will also enable Pauline herself to get to the slipway, where she will be taken ashore for some much-needed maintenance to her hull.
