Help moving a boat on the tidal Thames to river Medway

[racergtr]

Hi

I am looking to purchase a 33ft sports cruiser that is currently near Shepperton and I need to get it to Allington lock on the river Medway.
Is there anybody who could help with experience of tidal waters as mine is limited to multiple broads holidays. Boat has garmin plotter and VHF radio.
Happy to pay for the help and I will have a friend with me as well, just really need someone to skipper the boat.

Thanks in advance

 

[simonfraser]

will this 'someone' be insured to skipper your boat ?

suggest you do a few trial trips before you move it any distance

 

[oldgit]

Suggestions with absolutely no idea of your boaty expertise.
When do you want to bring it "home" ? ASAP or just when things look good in the Spring.

Get as much info from THE THAMES FORUM forum as to which locks are closed or likely to be closed ie.
Can you even get to Teddington ? The Thames Forum
River conditions need to be taken into account, No Red Boards.
Doing it in one hit, or over night stops at Teddington and /or Tidal Thames marina.
Depart Teddington to use the tides. A good plan will bring you to the Swatchway around LW to catch the flood up the Mudway.
Daylight is a critical factor.
Questions about the boat................??????
Before even asking what boat it is, whats its story ?
Single or twin ?
How big the fuel tank
Petrol or diesel and going to assume its on outdrive(s.)
Useful if the engine(s) are capable of keeping going throughout the entire trip.
Any boat that has spent its entire previous life bumbling up and down between locks at 8K may suddenly have trouble at 15 or 20 Knots
and going through the Thames barrier is not a good time to find this out.
Fuel and oil filters changed recently and clean as a whistle, am aware that you are supposed to carry spare filters, good luck with changing those out there matey.
Does the VHF and Chartplotter both actually work. would always have a second backup method of plotting and communicating and do NOT mean a mobile phone.
Make a little list of what channels you should be monitoring on each section of the Thames and Medway.

Weather forecast for esturary
Ideally neaps and light winds.
Avoid combinations of big Springs and E or NE winds especially over F5.
Are you familiar with the bit between Rochester and Allington lock and make it easy peasy with bit of sensible timing.

Most important of all in any winter trip does it have a working heater and the abilty to make tea aboard.
Have you also considered that any sensible person would put this on a trailer and bring it back by road.

 

[Gumpy]

Have you also considered that any sensible person would put this on a trailer and bring it back by road.

The most sensible option.

 

[Shifty]

Suggestions with absolutely no idea of your boaty expertise.
When do you want to bring it "home" ? ASAP or just when things look good in the Spring.

Get as much info from THE THAMES FORUM forum as to which locks are closed or likely to be closed ie.
Can you even get to Teddington ? The Thames Forum
River conditions need to be taken into account, No Red Boards.
Doing it in one hit, or over night stops at Teddington and /or Tidal Thames marina.
Depart Teddington to use the tides. A good plan will bring you to the Swatchway around LW to catch the flood up the Mudway.
Daylight is a critical factor.
Questions about the boat................??????
Before even asking what boat it is, whats its story ?
Single or twin ?
How big the fuel tank
Petrol or diesel and going to assume its on outdrive(s.)
Useful if the engine(s) are capable of keeping going throughout the entire trip.
Any boat that has spent its entire previous life bumbling up and down between locks at 8K may suddenly have trouble at 15 or 20 Knots
and going through the Thames barrier is not a good time to find this out.
Fuel and oil filters changed recently and clean as a whistle, am aware that you are supposed to carry spare filters, good luck with changing those out there matey.
Does the VHF and Chartplotter both actually work. would always have a second backup method of plotting and communicating and do NOT mean a mobile phone.
Make a little list of what channels you should be monitoring on each section of the Thames and Medway.

Weather forecast for esturary
Ideally neaps and light winds.
Avoid combinations of big Springs and E or NE winds especially over F5.
Are you familiar with the bit between Rochester and Allington lock and make it easy peasy with bit of sensible timing.

Most important of all in any winter trip does it have a working heater and the abilty to make tea aboard.
Have you also considered that any sensible person would put this on a trailer and bring it back by road.

A lot of good advice there, however we did a delivery from Chelsea to Cowes in one hit using a mobile phone and Navionics no problem at all.

 

[Flynnbarr]

It has always puzzled me why on a boat forum full of people who love boats why the default setting by the usual suspects is put it on a trailer…it’s a boat,they are supposed to do what the OP wants to do !

The OP is sensible enough to realise they need someone to help.
It’s really not a difficult trip and going through central London in your own boat is a cool thing to do.
Contact Halycon,a forum member who does that sort of thing and who could supply you a skipper…..they will go through the process with you to allay any fears you may have….
Get the boat /engines checked over….
Pick a good forecast and an early tide….the earlier the better as it then gets you through central London before the trip boats start as they can make the bit where they all operate rather bumpy !……
Kettle,warm clothes ,a skipper and you will have a really good time that will be a good experience and something you’ll remember for a long time……

 

[oldgit]

From the initial post suspect the skipper was looking for somebody with experience of actually doing that specific trip and of course the poster was happy to cover any expences incurred.
This would include getting to Shepperton either by car, somebody has got to bring the car back home , or by train, which is a pain if you live elsewhere in the UK, need/have to travel to a central London station and then underground/ overground to the marina.
Once at the boats ultimate destination your " help" is also going to have to get back home, this is all the responsibility of skipper requesting help.

Do know somebody ( a forumite ) who I would trust to do this little jaunt, earns his living on the tidal Thames. his boat a Turbo 36 was purchased just round the corner from Shepperton and needed repatriating to the Mudway.
After purchase took about 8 weeks of cancelled plans for a gap in the Red Boards to coincide with dodgy "should we risk it " tidal forecast.
Winter is not the best time to do any of this particular trip. as we found out in Sea Reach.

"The term “get-home-itis” is used by pilots to describe a common cause of accidents, where a pilot circumvents safety procedures, good practice, sound decision making, good sense in order to get home.
"It’s really not a difficult trip and going through central London in your own boat is a cool thing to do."........Cool it might be

Cannot agree with your initial conclusion, might be fine on warm midsummers day with 20 hours of daylight , a forecast F1 moderating and with a boat you are confident of regards servicing and reliability.

This boat is a unknown quantity about to undertake a fairly complex 8/10 hour trip on its tod.
Once past the barrier there is nowhere to run, depends how familiar you are with Holehaven ?
Many of the boats in our club were purchased on the Thames and bought back round here, along with many taken up to the Thames to sell , simply due the better prices acheived up there.
You will not have to wait long for somebody on the pontoons to relate a tale of woe en route usually due to lack of use.

Having been aboard a "fully serviced" boat slowly losing an engine off the North Foreland plus the experience of another "fully serviced" boat, which came back by low loader**, then shredded an impellor on leaving a launching trolley, harbour some suspicions regards boats that have "had the engines checked over." especially from sellers.

"Did post question on the forum years ago about getting one of my boats home and of course there were several posters who replied

"Why on a boat forum full of people who love boats, the default setting by the usual suspects is put it on a trailer…"

It is not the default setting................. most of us would love to bring our new boats back home on its own keel.
There are some well founded solid twin diesel sports boats out there would have no hesitation about this trip under the right conditions, there are rather more single engined petrol boats out there that would rather not clamber aboard.


Love all Halcyon Yachts delivery videos.

 

[Newbroom]

OK, I agree with most of what Old git is saying, This time of the year is as a big a problem as having an unknown boat and history.
As what was asked earlier what type of boat is it and what is known about its history.
I would usually advocate a sea passage but we do do not have enough information to offer unbiased advise.

 

[oldgit]

Perhaps Halcyon or somebody else might come across this thread and care to comment.
Need to take into account the costs of fuel and river licence against a couple of lifts and low loader.
A pesimist might suggest better to have problems close to home port than on the way back in the middle of nowhere.
Perhaps the boat is going to need a lift anyway to A/F and attach salt water anodes ,may already be on the hard for survey .

 

[PlanB]

The key missing information is the condition of the boat and whether it has been surveyed etc, Apart from that, I agree with OG.
As Flynnbar says, it is a really cool trip, but the tidal Thames can be quite daunting and there aren't many bolt holes if there's a problem.
It's also a lot further from Shepperton to the estuary than some may think, especially with speed limits, which will also apply up to Allington.

 

[PaulRainbow]

All pure speculation, as the OP has not revealed the boat he's planning to buy. For all anyone knows, it might be 6 months old, twin diesels.

Anyway, no need to do the trip in one hit, why not stop at one of the tidal Thames marinas ?

As for all of the doom and gloom tales of the Tidal Thames, i've done it a couple of times from the Orwell and i can't see the big deal, just make sure the boat is seaworthy.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

All pure speculation, as the OP has not revealed the boat he's planning to buy. For all anyone knows, it might be 6 months old, twin diesels.

Anyway, no need to do the trip in one hit, why not stop at one of the tidal Thames marinas ?

As for all of the doom and gloom tales of the Tidal Thames, i've done it a couple of times from the Orwell and i can't see the big deal, just make sure the boat is seaworthy.

This. For Gods sake guys, people go to sea all the time and usually come back. I’d make sure the boat is serviced, check the weather, locks and tides, put a paper chart in my bag and set off.

 

[russ]

I think he would be advised to do a PB2 course and his VHF before buying this boat.
Has he trialed and surveyed his potential purchase? Has he ever driven a power boat of this type, especially at low speed, as they handle differently to a broads holiday boat with a displacement hull.

 

[oldgit]

Shame the OP seems to have vanished , much useful knowlege to be gleaned from the forum, from all sides of the debate.
All total speculation, as folks helpfully pointed out, but for those with long dark winter hours to fill , a little Googling could have hinted at possibly the boat described .
The post gave enough clues to fairly quickly uncover what was for sale on Brokers listings in that neck of the woods .
OG would still like to offer assistance to our entrepid poster especially once in the Medway




Here or by PM.

 

[Hambleite]

There will be some professional skippers with route specific experience and others not so.

Whilst going by sea could be a great adventure, my main concerns would be that the boat might be an unknown quantity once in the tidal Thames. My thoughts are:

1. Sea trial - I'm suspecting no performance related sea trial was conducted on the non-tidal Thames. How do you know the engines are up to job of extended cruising, at speed? If the boat was regularly used on the tidal Thames and has been run up to speed in the last 6 months then this may not be an issue - but 100% ask the question.

2. Diesel - when was the tank last flushed / cleaned? Bits of crud don't manifest as a problem when pootling up and down the non-tidal Thames. However when you go to sea, give the tank a good shake, whilst simultaneously increasing the fuel demand exponentially you may uncover a problem at a part of the Thames that is not ideal (Thames Barrier-ish).

3. Systems - do all the systems on board actually work - have they been tested to make sure?

If I was confident that (1) to (3) were safe, then I'd be inclined to pay for the current mornings on the non-tidal Thames and consider the trip after April....

Good luck and happy boating!

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Strewth! A fine weather trip to the Medway, what exactly is the worry? There’s a weather window approaching. I’ll grant you today would be a poor choice, but there's a high coming in. Seize the moment I say.

 

[oldgit]

Strewth! A fine weather trip to the Medway, what exactly is the worry? There’s a weather window approaching. I’ll grant you today would be a poor choice, but there's a high coming in. Seize the moment I say.

And if there are Red boards above Teddington and a lock closed when your weather window pops up
Club out for our very short XMAS cruise yesterday.................... Not bad at all .
A few hours later.

and it was an V. interesting sea trial today, with wind against tide.

 

[Halcyon Yachts]

Hi

I am looking to purchase a 33ft sports cruiser that is currently near Shepperton and I need to get it to Allington lock on the river Medway.
Is there anybody who could help with experience of tidal waters as mine is limited to multiple broads holidays. Boat has garmin plotter and VHF radio.
Happy to pay for the help and I will have a friend with me as well, just really need someone to skipper the boat.

Thanks in advance

We could certainly help if you still need a skipper?

Pete