How far up the Thames with a bradwell 18ft can I get good overnight spots

I've been on the Non tidal Thames on 1 month Visitor licenses in one of my boats for the last 5 years (august spent on the River each summer).

The boat does have a bss but proof of this has never been asked for on arrival at Teddington. I'm pretty sure it is in the t&c's that you agree your boat complies with safety regulations but I don't think it specifically mentions bss.

Basically you will be able to get a visitor license without a bss. What the outcome would be if your boat was involved in a fire in a lock or something I don't know.

You can get more than one month visitor license but they are quite costly .

I've never bought a visitor license for the canals as my boats have full canal licenses anyway. I would expect the same arrangement to apply.
 
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If you are a visitor you can effectively 'self certify'. The contract you sign actually stipulates that you agree your boat is up to BSS spec. The things they are most interested in are the toilet arrangements and any gas instillations.
 
They won't inspect your gas setup at Teddington as the lock staff are not qualified to do that.

They will seal your toilet if you declare that it pumps overboard ( as you should )

The SPR you sign also confirms that you have a minimum insurance cover of £1M 3rd party
 
teddington_lock said:
They won't inspect your gas setup at Teddington as the lock staff are not qualified to do that.

They will seal your toilet if you declare that it pumps overboard ( as you should )

The SPR you sign also confirms that you have a minimum insurance cover of £1M 3rd party
Click to expand...

Umm, I don't have a toilet, is that a problem right there?
 
steve yates said:
Umm, I don't have a toilet, is that a problem right there?
Click to expand...

A number of locks have sanitary stations for bucket and chuckit users, some also have public loos.
We'd rather you didn't dump that sort of waste overboard.....
(Far too many folks doing that already...)
 
I took my Contessa 26 (without mast) up from the Medway as far as Oxford. You could maybe take your mast off at Limehouse or check with Greenwich YC.

The Co26 has just over 4ft draught and we hit bottom a few times and it was sometimes not possible to get to the edge of the river. We found that in heavy rain, the lock keepers open the sluices and the water can be *lower*, maybe so they don't get called out in the night. Fortunately we were accompanied by a trimaran which has very shallow draught and could just squeeze through the narrowest lock.

Well worth doing though! You can get some ideas from the photos and information in my article here:
http://www.hooness.org.uk/article_detail.php?ArticleID=16
 
I don't think the toilet issue is that relevant for visitors really (edit to add i mean if you don't have a toilet i don't think it would cause a problem when obtaining a visitor license) but I agree with the elsan/pp advice as that is obviously the best setup for a small cruising boat.

Its interesting that the ea put all of the onus on the customer to declare the fitness of their boat for inland waterways use (locks etc). I think a lock keeper can stop you if they believe that the boat presents an obvious danger. But they never do.


Its nice how the system works because it encourages visitors even if their boats do not fit the safety requirements .
 
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Ok, that makes sense. I had a portaloo, I skipped it. Bucket is simpler, but I would really be expecting to use shoreside facilities on a trip like this. I have a pee bottle for ordinary use, the bucket is for emergencies or long crossings.

I was really asking if the lack of a loo was a deal breaker regs wise, I have no intention of dumping waste into a river or canal.
 
Visitors ain't the problem on the Thames. It's the liveaboards turning it into a sewer with midnight dumping! No wonder the carp are becoming supersized!
 
If you have evidence of that I'm sure the ea would be interested.

I think its a made up problem myself. As I understand it the occasional small discharges do not cause a problem. The problems occur when a boat with a holding tank discharges all the contents. This sort of situation would seem to me to be more likely to be a vessel whose owners was saving the cost of a pump out rather than someone living on a boat and chucking their waste in the river each day. I suppose there may be some liveaboards doing the former but I think they may be a small group.

I'm not advocating it (overboard discharge) and have always used elsan or pump out services myself in 22 years living in boats.

But I don't think it is a major problem.
 
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Where do you think the slumboat sewage goes ?

The EA aren't interested in the slightest, they've got the largest itinerant community on the lower Thames camped on the doorstep of a 24hr manned site that is camera'd up to the max , don't you think they could do something if they did care. They can't just rock up and demand entry , as soon as someone states it is their home then it needs to be 'booked' seven days in advance , rules of the warrant.

When they were in the trees above the weir at least you had half a chance of it going over the weir and being dispersed. Now they are in the lock cut past the weir , where there is very little flow where does it go ? Fine while it's cold but come the summer when it is stirred up by boat movements ...

Bear in mind there are upwards of 20 people living on them , that's a fair bit of effluent
 
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Outinthedinghy said:
I don't think the toilet issue is that relevant for visitors really (edit to add i mean if you don't have a toilet i don't think it would cause a problem when obtaining a visitor license) but I agree with the elsan/pp advice as that is obviously the best setup for a small cruising boat.

Its interesting that the ea put all of the onus on the customer to declare the fitness of their boat for inland waterways use (locks etc). I think a lock keeper can stop you if they believe that the boat presents an obvious danger. But they never do.


Its nice how the system works because it encourages visitors even if their boats do not fit the safety requirements .
Click to expand...

In theory yes , a lockie could stop you. They wouldn't though because there would be no back up from management.

I've been through all this , what qualifies a lock keeper to decide what is safe or not ? They aren't BSS examiners , sure we used to do a half day course but that covers the basics like looking for giant propane tanks rolling around on deck or petrol cans with jury rigged pumps with crocodile clips to batteries.

It'd never stand up if it went to court, and so the lock keepers don't do it.

One of the lockies at Teddington got it in his head to try and refuse passage to a Westminster boat on a party because it had a BBQ on the back deck. He was laughed out of town and told not to be so silly while technically being in the right.
 
Yes the slum boat is possibly a problem (assuming everyone on board uses the facilities on the boat - alternatives are available) but dash300 just said liveaboards midnight dumping turning the river into a sewer. As I said I don't think its that much of a problem.
 
Where are the alternatives ? Anglers putting a stop to the undesirables using their facilities , lock toilet is only open daylight hours.

There's plenty of human excrement and paper in the bushes on the island and the common if that's what you mean ? I guess it's not in the river !

I suppose it's not a problem if you don't live / work nearby.
 
Don't listen to those who say you'll only get as far as London Bridge with mast up. VicS has very usefully given the link to the PLA's table of bridge heights. I can't remember the exact air draft of the Bradwell 18, but I recall it's about 6m? So even at Highest Astronomical Tide you'll have 2m spare at London Bridge.

You only start to get problems at Westminster Bridge. At High Water Springs. But you should just squeeze under at HW neaps. It's not until Hammersmith that you get to a bridge you can't get under at high water neaps. So tie up and wait six hours. Heading up starting at low water you'll get beyond Richmond. (ignore Snapper in the bridge list, it connects Eel Pie Island to the north bank, just pass South of the island & you'll avoid it).

So I reckon you choose a nice neap tide (makes sense through London anyway). A couple of tides to get to town (you're very welcome to pick up a buoy at Gravesend if there's one free). Overnight/wait a tide somewhere downstream of Hammersmith. Then head on up all the way to Teddington. Where you'll probably be stopped by the footbridge, but someone there can advise.

Nowhere in town will be comfortable to wait a tide. But I reckon it could be done. And I wish I'd done all these calculations while I was running my own Bradwell 18! But she'll be back sailing soon, and I'm very tempted by the sound of that trip!
 
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My experience of taking my Achilles 24 from Essex to Reading was that Gravesend was the most wonderful, welcoming, hospitable club I could imagine - they made my journey possible, and I'm so grateful to them (they were so wonderful that I did briefly consider joining them even though I live in Bristol. That plan didn't come to pass, but they couldn't have been more helpful).
 
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