Can a sea going dutch barge sail on uk canal network?

[Lucy52]

That broad gauge didn't seem to catch on.

 

[penfold]

The narrow boat was a very efficient solution for that, so why spend more making canals for bigger craft? If your motive power is Dobbin on the towpath, there's a natural limit to how much can be towed.

Carrying the thought onward; while battery electric HGVs are not terribly practical yet and self-driving is some way off, canal boats could be readily adapted to both right now, perhaps the time is ripe for a canal renaissance if a practical means of automating locks can be devised.

 

[sailorman]

I am not an expert, but I have a feeling it won't fit in any of the locks, it is too wide for the narrow canals and too long for the wide canals. Happy to be corrected.

agreed

 

[sailorman]

The maximum beam for many of the locks in the UK canal network is 7 ft. Many of the larger locks will only handle a beam up to 10 ft.

The common reason given for this is that the UK was first to develop canals so ours relate to an older concept.

When you learn that the Duke of Bridgewater, Britain's greatest canal developer, visited the Canal du Midi, linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean across France without the need to sail round Spain and through the Gibraltar Straits for much larger vessels to learn how to build canals and their all important water supply systems, the commonly given reason for the miniscule capacity of our canals doesn't stand up - I suspect it was due to the small ambition of British canal developers.

The vessel you are considering sounds quite attractive but, to enjoy her, you would need to bas yourself in Holland, Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary all countries that the vessel could access without going to sea through their integrated canal systems.
A good suggestion as the netgerlands are well set up foruser friendly bloating
Peter.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Carrying the thought onward; while battery electric HGVs are not terribly practical yet and self-driving is some way off, canal boats could be readily adapted to both right now, perhaps the time is ripe for a canal renaissance if a practical means of automating locks can be devised.

Locks are readily automated; the ones on the River Cam, for example Bottisham lock, can be operated by a single push of a button. But controlling the water supply might be a better reason for having manned locks. If water needs to be conserved in summer, then grouping boats through locks is a viable water saving strategy, but not achievable by automation.