Dutch inland waterways - Mast up route

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Ianhampshire

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A friend and I will next week attempt to take his HR40 through the Mast up route of the Dutch inland waterways. The initial plan is to enter the canals at Delfzijl and make our way all the way down to Bruinisee near Rotterdam. Theoretically the route is supposed to have a depth of 2.2 metres however for various reasons this is not always the case apparently. As the HR40 draws 2.0 metres, we are concerned about conflicting suggestions/reports that in places (mainly in the Northern parts) depth can be as little as 1.7-1.8 metres. Has anyone had any recent experience of the mast up route ? Even if the depth in the main channel might be 2.2 metres, is in fact the shallow water problem towards the sides and more importantly in some of the marinas ? Any information you may have would be gratefully accepted.
 
Between the IJsselmeer and Zeeland you will have no problems with 2m draught. I have done it several times with 2.1m draught. A useful leaflet is here http://www.varendoejesamen.nl/storage/app/media/brochures/Engels/Staande-Mast-Route-2014-EN.pdf
I am not so sure of the Delfzijl-Ijsselmeer route. I did part of it in June with a draught of 1.6m and it looked like at least one stretch where we did not have 0.5m margin. You may find more info here: http://www.watersportalmanak.nl/artikel/staande-mastroute-friesland-le
 
I posted a reply an hour ago but it has disappeared!

We did this trip a month or two ago, from Delfzyl to Harlingen. I think that hoping for 2.2m is optimistic but you should scrape through since we saw similar yachts. The Groningen bit is a bit shallower, but as we draw only 1.6m, I wasn't giving it my full attention. The Groningen sector is a bit dull because of high banks, so if it were me, I would hope to start from Lauwersoog. The sea entrance to Lauwersoog has changed a bit in recent years but is well-buoyed and the offing buoy is about NNW from the channel. We did this gat close to LW and I calculated that it carries about 2.8m at datum.

Many marinas on the way are mainly used by motorboats and are shallow, though the ones each end of the Lauwersmeer are OK. The outer marina at Lauwersoog has been greatly improved since last year and is useful if you arrive. after the lock stops, at 7pm. There are many waterside stopping-places, but most are quite shallow. Dokkum reserves a good pontoon for sailing yachts with draft over 1.5m. Leeuwarden might be a bit shallow but you might be OK near the north, or find another boat to raft on.

The route from Leeuwaren to Lemmer had a long diversion recently due to a bridge repair and I don't know if this is still the case, so exiting the system at Harlingen would be my choice. We normally stop there at the yacht club, and a friend with a 46-footer managed, though with shallow draft but I think the berths at the entrance are OK. Don't even think of locking into the Ijselmeer on a Sunday afternoon in the season. The same friend took 4 hours to get through.
 
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