French Cannals - Depth

[savageseadog]

What’s the situation with a yacht drawing 1.5 meters on a wing keel (i.e. when it goes aground, there’s no healing it off and the surface area means its suck fast). Will she make passage successfully or will we be aborting onto a low loader 20 miles in?

 

[jonic]

We did it on the Marne route with 1.5 draft and a sort of wing/bulb keel. We ran aground on two ocassions, but the mud is very soft. We got off by reversing or putting the rudder hard over with high bursts of power and almost wiggling off. Details of the trip Here
(Click on the previous newsletters section)

 

[vyv_cox]

Canal du Midi official depth, from the young lady in the office at Toulouse, is 1.60 metres. We draw 1.4 metres and touched a few times. Never had to resort to heeling the boat. The depth in this canal is very dependent upon time of year. In winter and early spring there is a good deal more than later in the year.

As I understand it with the exception of a couple of smaller canals in the Paris area, plus the Brittany canals, you will not have a problem with your draught.

 

[Jobs_a_ good_ un]

Do you know which canals your heading down
if its the central canal route you will have no problem
ive done it 2 years on the trot only with a 1.03m draft but travelled with a yacht with 1.8 draft he got stuck on mud twice we just towed him off no problem
you need the navicartes for the journey there not that accurate so dont trust them but useful for giving distances etc towns
Pm if you want a chat about the routes
regards