You have time, it is a fairly slow process. When downbound you start with the operators looking at you at eye level, they will hand you a coil. The problem can occur when you put the coil on deck, as it is payed out it gets tangled on something. We kept a close eye and made sure there was 8 or 10 feet clearly free on the lazy end at any moment. That gives you 30 seconds or more to tend to it if it begins to get tangled.
Going down the St. Lawerence, some of the locks have a sliding float in the lock wall you tie off to. That was far easier to use, but of use only for small boats, and the locks were built for (and are paid for) by large ship transits.
We had an issue with the St Lawrence lock w/ floating bollards.
I was aware of the fact that the lock had floating bollards but didn't realize for recreational size boats you only could access one so bow & stern lines had to be long enough to reach a mid=ship bollard and return.
Lock tender picked up my bow line form my wife / mate using a looong boat hook and secured that around the bollard & returned it.
Next took my stern line and when he realized it was too short simply dropped it in the water and informed me I needed a longer line. Thge line wrapped in the prop before I could retrieve it and the fun /chaos began.
I was finally successful attaching a longer line & getting secured to the bollard. Untangling the original line from the prop and retrieving it took some time but I was finally able to do it w/o going swimming in the lock.
Just be aware and prepared with long enough lines at both ends to at least reach mid ship and return to bow & stern.
Also a best practice for anyone tending lines to have a good sharp knife handy. especially when downbound... In NY canals witnessed a boater friend get the weight at the bottomof a loose line jammed in the cleat and line was too short for the lock drop. Their bow was well above the lower waterline and the bottom weight jammed in the cleat... fortunately the skipper had a sharp knife and was able to cut the line before it did damage to his boat.
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