french canals

sailaboutvic

sailaboutvic

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please all take note it may safe you time ...
I came thought the canal in Oct this years and I think everyone who is conceding using them must check their depth very carefully the map you get with the inland waterways pilot book are misleading if they say there 1.8 or what every they may say that is meant the most amount of water you will find not the minimum so don’t make the mistake I made , as in my case 1.8 became 1.3 and we had to turn back , I would suggest strongly that you contact the French water authorities and confirm with them that the canal you are going to use has enough water for your boat .

One other thing make sure you have a inlet water filter on one canal we had to clean out our filter ever 15 mins , yes I know unbelievable .
 
As I went through Seine. Marne/Saone/Rhone route and found nothing in the saildrive water intake filter, I also am anxious that you, Sailaboutvic, spill the beans about your route.If it is the Canal du Midi, you were ill advised.
 
Our experience on Canal du Midi was that shallow depths and blocked strainers are part of the same problem. Vigorous motoring to get past/off shallows stirs up the bottom, which at least in May comprises quite a lot of dead leaves. Many of them get into the strainer, so that about 5 - 10 minutes later the overheat alarm goes off.
 
Sorry for the delay in reply guys ..

My route was from ST Louis to Le Havre tho we ended up at Calais .

Their a map that comes with the inland waterways of France , which shows draught , "ie the max amount of water not the draught of the boat " we draw 1.5 so the map show a 1.8 we thought we where safe to use these canal ,
the Rhone and Saone where fine but then we entered the canal de Bourgogne and our problem started the water was full of leaves bit of trees pine needles every 10 mins or so we had to empty the water filter after the first day and 16 locks we started to touch the bottom , the lock keepers said that there was 2 mts of water in the canal “” maybe once “” after the third day 76 locks and 88 k we reach the tunnel once out the other side we hit hard on the bottom and 5 mins later we hit again and I had to empty the water tank and put my crew ashore to pull us off , the lock staff wouldn’t let us go any further at that point till the manage came in on Monday . we sit Sunday out on Monday we was told that there was 2 mts of water and if we got stuck there we would get stuck further on as there was less water when I pointed out that the map is showing 1.8 draught I was told that that was the most of water we would get and it could go down to 1.3 “ so much for the map “ we dip the water where we hit and found that there was only 1.4 so much for there 2 mts . any way we turned back miles apond miles of nothing , the side are sloping so it hard to go along the side to stop if your lucky you can drive you keel into the mud to get off onto the bank at night but there not much about anyway , forget about a going for a drink to the nears pub ,there isn’t one the pilot book say’s it the most attractiveness route ,” if you like fields and trees “. anyway after reaching the Saone again we turned left and used the canal de la marne a le Saon and headed to Calais tho Lateral a le marne , canal aisne and canal rosise a aisne where once again we was stop and told we had to go back as the lock had a problem “ night mare or what “ so back we went for 14 k till we reach river Aisne then the canal du nord . maybe it because I’m a sailor and love the sea but for no love or money would I use the canals again I rather go the way I came on the out side and wage war with the north westerly wind .

one other thing you need to consider very carefully if you have a problem with the prop or bearing under the boat there no where for miles where you can get it lifted out .

I will say one thing though , that is the lock keepers where always on time and very helpful ..

If there any other info anyone like please mail .

Hopfully I be heading back out to the med next year . happy new year guys ….and safe sailing …

Sailaboutvic
 
Really sorry to hear of your experiences and very sorry that's it has (perhaps understandably) put you off the waterways.
I've seen "Through the French Waterways" and thought it a reasonable book although it's not on our own booklist http://www.tagweb.co.uk/grehan/_books.html - but if what you say is true, then that map is misleading and dangerous. Again, our own info - see http://www.tagweb.co.uk/grehan/_guide-vnf.html#dims - is that the Bourgogne 'goes down' to 1.4m, and ours is based on a number of sources, including the VNF. Even saying that, later in the season - in some years - depths can reduce below the minimum and naturally leaves can accumulate on the river/canal bed. Filter cleaning has to be a regular activity - http://www.tagweb.co.uk/grehan/_guidance.html#clogged
We did the Rhone-Saone-Marne-Seine route this year and found some shallow bits on the Marne a la Saone (but not a problem for us) although conditions were ok once the Marne was reached.
Yes, there are some areas where one is pretty alone in the countryside without much in the way of villages or village facilities like bars, but for us that's part of the attraction.
I guess the only bright spot in your account was that the eclusiers were helpful and that is the usual story (but people being people, not universally so).
 
Thanks for that great reply Sailaboutvic, and contributions from twisterowner and vyv_cox.

Looks like I was lucky that Decies was blocked on the Bourgogne route that year! I would advise early May /June travel in any case for water levels to be at their best!
Now back to the builders!
 
The problem with all pilots

is that they're out of date before they get to the printer.

All the European canals rely upon the commercial traffic (peniches) to plough a groove in the bottom and thus maintain depth.

Peniche traffic has been falling, especially in the minor canals, with the result that they silt up.

I regularly used to ground coming out of the Ecluse de Brault, and that was with a raised keel - allegedly the canal maritime was suitable for seagoing commercial vessels.

In most cases the grounding is on semi-liquid mud, and you can plough your way through it.

The canals are OK if you have a lift-keel yacht, but the only boats who can be comfortably at home in them are going to be shallow-draught power-boats.
 
We took the route Marne a la Saone > Canal de l'Aisne a la Marne > Canal du Nord > Calais this August. Kalessin draws 1.7m. The only time we touched bottom in the middle of a canal was on the Canal du Calais just after we passed what seemed to be the northernmost point reached by peniches. So it certainly seems to be the case that the peniches ploughing along the bottom keep the depths up.

We avoided the Canal de Bourgogne specifically because I was not confident, from what I had heard, that the minimum depth would be sustained, as there is no commercial traffic. Sounds like a good call!

Otherwise, as posted elsewhere, we saw a fairly consistent 0.7m under the keel, ie a depth of 2.4m in the middle of the canals. The edges were often too shallow for us to reach the bank, but we always managed to find a mooring somewhere eventually. (There was one stretch where I started to have visions of us motoring gently up and down between locks all night....)

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and loved the peace and quiet, although we did start to run low on food at one point (every time we found a boulangerie it was closed for August).

One thing to be grateful for in a mast-down yacht is that you don't have to think about air draught. The motorboaters we met mostly didn't worry about depths but they worried a lot about hitting bridges.

We've now had a good look at the keel after dragging it through quite a lot of mud and some harder stuff on canal bottoms, and although there are a few chips it looks basically completely sound, which is reassuring.
 
Very sensible and you were using canals with lots of peniche traffic.

The peniches keep canal-depths constant, effectively acting as dredgers.

Quite different to the Canal du Midi, nothing but leisure traffic on that.

So to argue from your experiences, that all French canals have adequate depth is probably unsafe.
 
Some up-to-date info on canals in France.
VNF (who run them) are short of money. The only canals getting proper maintenance are the grand gabarit canals such as the Canal du Nord. The only "Freycinet" canals getting adequately (barely) maintained are those chosen to connect the big rivers with the big canals. Most Freycinet canals have been declasse (like the railways in England after Beeching) and are looked after by regional or departmental authorities. Typical examples of these latter are Nivernais, Bourgogne, du Centre, de Calais, Somme and other small branches. The only deep water (sic) route between Med and Channel is via the Marne a la Saone which is nominally 1.80, but that is only in the centre and only when canal is busy. My guidance is to assume a max draught of 1.50, but many boats get through without bother drawing 1m 80 indulging in a little agriculture (ploughing mostly).
Generally the eclusiers are helpful and they will let through extra water to get you off a shoal patch. Better, though, to maake the journey behind a loaded barge a Chargee), but you will be going slowly and from morn till night.
As a rule, the water level is lower in the autumn because the water loss in thde summer is great and some canals have to close for insufficient water. After a winters rain there is usually at least 10cm more water
It is probably fair to say that one has to know the canals well to get best value. But then, that applies to the Greek islands and the West Indies too.
You will avoid getting too much fouling of engine intakes if you go less fast. Speed stirs up the gunge on the bottom.
 
Add to my previous, speed not only stirs up the gunge on the bottom of the canal, but it also causes squat which can increase your draught by up to a foot.
At speeds less than 3 knots, which is generally the speed limit for good reason, there is little squat.
 
peniches

A couple of incidental points -
a) If you get behind a (slow) peniche chances are that you won't easily get past it on (some) canals and if you do you may find that it gets past you the next morning because on (some) canals they're allowed longer (earlier/later) operating hours than plaisanciers, and commercial traffic goes into the ecluse first. From personal, and slightly frustrating, personal experience this year. Eventually we got to know the peniche skipper we followed for three days - he said he'd be happy to let us past but it wouldn't do us much good. He had to spend one night at anchor in the middle of the Marne a la Saone because he couldn't get near the bank, which upset him, his wife and their bunch of little terrier dogs. Best to relax, lie back and enjoy it. Vive la France!
b) There is some large boat traffic on the Midi - for example hotel barges but also some occasional traditional commercial peniches. But I guess (well, obviously), not nearly as frequent as in past times.
 
Re: peniches

Grehan is right. It is virtually impossible to overtake a peniche in the canals because of interaction. It's a good life: lie back and enjoy it.
If on passage, make no plans with ETA's It all takes longer than you think it should. Allow 30 minutes for Freycinet locks, could be less, may well be more.
And always carry plenty of stand-by provisions. We were once stuck for eight days miles away from a town because of a broken lock gate.
 
We did the same route as you this year in the opposite direction and you're quite right - the lock-keepers are in denial about lack of depth. We have a yacht with a draft of 1.5m and encountered long stretches on the Yonne side of the tunnel that were 1.3/1.4m, occasionally 1.2! We just managed to get through using full throttle but it was pretty nerve-racking. I would suggest that any boat with a draft of more than 1.2m should avoid the canal de Bourgogne. And the facilities are pretty minimal as well!
 
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