French cannals

[cherod]

Hi , friend of mine looking at good buy in sardinia just now , purchase imminent , But he has no experience if the med , he wants to know if there are any potential pitfalls in leaving sardinia with uk registeted boat , then , he is considering up throo the french canal , marsailles to le harve , his draught is 1.6 mtr ,,, any opinions , advice , thots would be welcome from knowledgeable forumites . Ta R .

 

[Seajet]

I worked on a hotel barge on the canals around Burgundy for a season - we met a few small British yachts but I think drawing 1.6 metres would be right on the edge, pushing ones' luck.

Also what is the air draft, there are some low bridges - is he going to have the mast taken off and taken by lorry as a lot of people do ?

Might well be better off keeping the boat rigged and hiring a good yachtmaster to assist with the Biscay leg from the Med, with luck it should be a reach and he'd certainly learn a lot inc about the boat.

 

[HissyFit]

From this old thread, 1.6m should be fine whereas with 1.7m you'd be ploughing bottom and getting craned out. The usual thing with the mast is to carry it on trestles on deck.

French Canals & Draught

I was going to post the Distant Shores blog, but they were on a Southerly, so wouldn't have ever experienced the bottom.

 

[skipmac]

Have been researching the French canals for a couple of years, planning for a future trip. From several boaters that have cruised them extensively I have been told that the depth can vary a lot depending on the time of year and how much rain in previous months. Very dry year the depths can be substantially less than the posted minimums.

 

[Seajet]

Most boats I knew if over say 28' had the mast taken by lorry - the air draft along the route must be carefully checked.


Our 38 metre barge only drew 1 metre but grounded when the farmers took too much water from the Burgundy Canal - it had a rudder with 33 turns lock to lock to give mechanical advantantage in the silt.

 

[ryanroberts]

Mine came through with ~1.5 a few years back, but as people say there's lots of variation on inland water despite the lack of tides. One time on a narrowboat I had to both flood a pound and grab random strangers to stand on the back for ballast to get under a bridge

 

[doug748]

Lots of problems with weed, it seems, probably not helped by lack of recent traffic:

You would really need to have a prop you could dive on, if using this, very pretty, northern route.

.

 

[ryanroberts]

Never, ever fire up a bow thruster either

 

[Iliade]

Looks perfect for the Waverley. Does anyone make an outboard style stern wheel?

 

[cherod]

Thank you all for your replies ? ,,, does anyone have an insight on any possible problems in taking a boat out from Sardinia ( assuming of course that boat is all legally in order )

 

[LadyInBed]

Thank you all for your replies ? ,,, does anyone have an insight on any possible problems in taking a boat out from Sardinia ( assuming of course that boat is all legally in order )

Please define taking the boat out
Out of the water, out for the day, departing Sardinia.

 

[cherod]

“ out from “ as in departing indefinatly , do you have any current knowledge of those waters ?

 

[cherod]

Please define taking the boat out
Out of the water, out for the day, departing Sardinia.

Well , have you ??

“ out from “ as in departing indefinatly , do you have any current knowledge of those waters ?

well have you ??

 

[LadyInBed]

Well , have you ??

Sorry, no. You could try asking about clearing from Sardinia on the Live aboard forum.