French canals

[Elemental]

This is a bit of forward dreaming/musing, but I'm considering a new boat, around the 40' mark. One plan is to buy a boat here and take it to the Med. via the french canals. I know that the 'charted' depth limits one to a draft of 1.8m but apparently, that varies according to ?? (rainfall/dredging/luck)...

Given that it's a bit uncertain, a few questions spring to mind, the two most obvious to me are

1. Is a 1.8m boat likely to make it through?
2. If one reaches a shallow spot with, say, a 1.7m draft boat, what happens then? Given the vagaries of varying depths, there must be many boats that end up blocked. What do those boats generally do then?

I'm expecting a raft (pun) of semi-humorous responses, but if anyone knows of any factual accounts and resolutions I'd be genuinely interested.

 

[Seajet]

Sea Spay,

I think you'd be pushing your luck at that draft.

I worked on a hotel barge on the Dijon / Burgund Canal / Soane / Cananal du Centre / St Leger route,

although this thing was 280 tons and the max' 38 metres, it only drew 1 Metre

Particularly on the Burgundy canals, we often had to power our way through, as farmers put very large - say 18" dia - pipes and suction pumps into the canal,

Also now and again complete ' pounds ' - stretches between locks - were closed for repairs so we were lucky only to be stuck for a week.

Sorry I don't have a link to a useful site, but you need to find one and keep your eyes glued to it.

The canals are a truly lovely experience,

but with your draft and rig I think go round the outside, obviously choosing the weather.

 

[BelleSerene]

1. Is a 1.8m boat likely to make it through?
2. If one reaches a shallow spot with, say, a 1.7m draft boat, what happens then? Given the vagaries of varying depths, there must be many boats that end up blocked. What do those boats generally do then?

Maintain direction. Increase engine revs. Apart from the odd shopping trolley, it’s all soft mud on the bottom.

I have only sailed as far as Paris (with 1.8m draft), but enjoyed plenty of encounters with the bottom as I moored inventively to give me a wider range of villages to visit. Moor in line with the current. If you contrive a couple of lines to a post or mooring peg or railing and an anchor out abeam to the deep-water side, your imagination is the limit to where you can shack up. (Always fit an anchor tripping line in the Seine.)

There’s a very helpful and extremely knowledgable fellow forumite who goes by the name of Grehan and runs French-waterways.com. Ask him. I see his website currently says about the depths: https://www.french-waterways.com/practicalities/canal-depths/

Also check out a previous thread: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?233777-Mediterranean-through-the-French-canals

I can’t recommend the Fluviacarte pilot guides highly enough. They’re available from Amazon.

All stated depths - where the famously rule-ignoring French even bother to maintain them - apply to the middle section of the canal, not near the banks - hence my own experiences with muddy shallows up to Paris.

 

[Tranona]

Realistically 1.6m is the maximum (and 1.4 in the Canal du Midi), particularly in dry summers like this when water levels can be even lower than shown.

This limits the choice of boats over about 34' (unless you go drop keel or catamaran) but many of the 1970/80s boats such as Moodys (particularly the Scheel keel example) and Westerlys in the 34-37' range have drafts around 5'. The twin keel examples are also shallow but can be difficult to moor close to banks.

In more modern boats you will find a greater range of drop keels, although few were sold in the UK, plus many of the AWBs were offered with shallow fixed keels. My Bavaria 37 which I bought with a view to transiting the canals was 1.4m draft and very spacious. However, again they are not so easy to find as most buyers preferred the greater performance of the deep keel variants.

 

[TQA]

1.8m is well doable.

See this site for possible routes.

https://www.french-waterways.com/practicalities/canal-depths/

Canal du Midi is the one to avoid with 1.8m.

If something goes piton then crane out and truck it South as others have done.

 

[Milestone]

Ah didn't mean to delete that.
I previously posted that we are currently in Decize, with our Colvic which has a draft of 1.8m. We've got about 180kms left of the canals before we enter the river Saone, so we will let you know if get stuck. The only real issues have been weed around the prop and struggling to find a place to stop for the night, as a lot of the banks are shallow fora bit of distance. The most annoying thing is we've brought the most up to date Fluviacarte's and some were printed in 2011, so a lot of things aren't there anymore

 

[Seajet]

I don't remember Decize so guess you're coming from the east; the Saone is gorgeous, with the cattle drinking at the edges and casual fishing nets among lovely scenery.

Chalon is a lovely sophisticated town, not to be missed; beware if alongside the old steps there can be powerful wash from passing peniches and tugs, but I seem to remember a marina of sorts across the bridge on the eastern side ( check that ).

The guillotine lock from there to the Canal Du Centre is a bit deep and daunting, but in fact nothing to it ( we did have to fit blanks over the feeble windows as the inrush is a bit vigorous but your seagoing boat should be fine ) - and that canal is the prettiest I think - tip, a lot of the British barge crews used to gather as much of the over-hanging Mistletoe as they could carry and bring it home in winter to sell - I have no idea about restrictions or laws nowadays !

St Jean De'Losne ( spelling from memory here ) is good if you need anything done on the engineering side, otherwise I'd keep going.

Have a lovely time,

Andy

 

[Sandy]

A lifting keel would be the answer for me. A Feeling 39 or 44 come to mind.

 

[Milestone]

Thanks Andy, I'll try and find that Marina. We're doing the west route down, started at Le Havre, Seine, canal did Loing-Briare-lateral a la Loire, joining the centre soon. Been a great trip so far, except for a gearbox change in Nemours

 

[LadyInBed]

Thanks Andy, I'll try and find that Marina. We're doing the west route down, started at Le Havre, Seine, canal did Loing-Briare-lateral a la Loire, joining the centre soon. Been a great trip so far, except for a gearbox change in Nemours

That's the route I used, the 'guillotine' lock onto the Saone is impressive.

 

[Milestone]

Well I sort have put the commentator's curse on it and spoke too soon

A lock 3 up from us has been damaged by a boat, and have been told that it's out of action for a few weeks, at least a month. We can't turn back as there is another notice saying the depth behind is now 1.6 and will be till it rains! Looks like Milestone may be here for awhile.

 

[Milestone]

Ok bit of an update. We are through the canals and now sat in the med with the masts up. Would I do it again with 1.8 draught....I don't think so. I know this year was unusually dry, so we were unlucky with the levels. The delay in Decize turned into 3 weeks, 2 weeks for the broken lock, the next week as the level was at a maximum of 1.6. In the end the VNF, who knew we were waiting, juggled with the water and told us to try It to Digoin. With only a few scrapes it was a success, just stopping anywhere for the evening was impossible.
We got through the canal du centre relatively easily, but again delayed by 3 days by a broken lock.
The Guillotine lock is amazingly impressive, but once through we thought we had made it to the rivers and no problem with draught...wrong! We had to plough for about 200 meters to the Saone. Great trip though

 

[LadyInBed]

Brave man! Well done.

 

[fisherman]

Always looking for a way out solution. What if....you had an inflatable collar below W/L, you could pump up with a 12 volt tyre pump? Maybe an Avon with the bottom out, replaced with webbing straps under the keel? Need to dry out at the start to fit it.....So you ground, and after a half hour of pumping miraculously rise from the depths and continue, flicking rude gestures at the gloating locals.

 

[Seajet]

I sometimes wondered about putting the inflatable dinghy under the bilge of a fin keeler if caught out aground, snag is one wouldn't have a Plan B escape if it didn't work !

I remember the guillotine lock near Chalon very well, frankly a bit frightening being so far down with high walls - and I don't normally get claustrophobia, maybe going under tons of dripping steel gate had something to do with it.

On the hotel barge I was on I had to bang in plywood blanks covered by towels, over the portlights as the inrush of water was a bit fierce. Loved Chalon though.

 

[GTom]

I am planning to move our Discus (1.4m draft) from the UK to the Med. Canal du Midi appears to be the shortest route - any chance with my draft there? Which season should be the best?
Is CEVNI needed/recognized there?

 

[LadyInBed]

I am planning to move our Discus (1.4m draft) from the UK to the Med. Canal du Midi appears to be the shortest route - any chance with my draft there? Which season should be the best?

see VNF Site
Another link for you

Is CEVNI needed/recognized there?

You didn't define 'there' but CEVNI is required to navigate on VNF controlled canals. The Midi is VNF controlled, so yes

 

[Grehan]

Complete details of canals, licences, etc. here

• https://www.french-waterways.com/hands-on/practical-navigation/

 

[GTom]

Complete details of canals, licences, etc. here

• https://www.french-waterways.com/hands-on/practical-navigation/

Thank you! Canal du Midi seems to be out of the game for me, the Seine-Rhone route is a bit far (coming from the Irish Sea, more: the Mrs would like to spend a season in Southern Britanny), I have to weigh that vs. going around Spain.

Big plus compared to the Sea route, that I could make progress more or less weather independent on weekends. Decisions-decisions...

 

[Grehan]

The bonus is sailing through, mooring up in, Paris !
https://www.french-waterways.com/topics/waterway-journeys/through-france/