Motor boat for the French Canals?

[Tranona]

I plan anyway to sail my Co26 to the Morbihan next summer. I think the canals will have to wait a while.

If you want a little taste of French canals you can do the Brittany canals in your Contessa. In through the barrage at St Malo, mast down at Dinan then motor through to Redon. On the limit of draft but should be OK. The original owner of my 26' Eventide did it twice, completing a circuit coming back round Ushant.

 

[Seajet]

If you do that, and particluarly if going the whole way south, keep the stowed mast as low as possible re air draught; our barge was a low coachroof job designed for tunnels, but at some simple little bridges in Burgundy we had to duck as the VHF aerial scraped underneath...

View attachment 47451

 

[zikzik]

Thats not a bad suggestion Tranona. Mrs Zik and I have discussed doing that journey in the past. And St Malo is very likely to feature in next years stopovers, as we like it there.

I guess there will be an indication of min headroom once I start looking. It would be nice to set it so we had a decent amount of room in the cockpit. And now I write that. The Beneteau Antares 8.60 can only be driven from inside. I don't think I would like that for long on the summer sunshine!

 

[Seajet]

Zikzik,

if you want info' from people who've actually been on the French canals, feel free to PM me; I spent a season there and chums at my club have gone through a few times.

 

[parbuckle]

It was possible to hire canal cruisers I did from Dinan about ten miles south of St Malo I cant remember the cost as it was over thirty years ago and I suppose nowadays one would need RYA stuff but all the locks were manned then and restaurants were excellent . I think you do need a holding tank with the correct pump out equipment and an engine with water heating facility is sensible as your running it for many hours.

 

[zikzik]

Seajet. I have just download "narrow dog..." Via Amazon kindle for £3.99. And am going to start on it now.

Thanks for your offer of first hand info. I will take you up on your offer soon.

 

[Tranona]

Have a look at www.french-waterways.com which is run by grehan who posts here regularly. Mine of information on using the French canals

 

[Seajet]

Zikzik,

you're welcome to chat but there's a chap on the forums who knows far more about the canals, I think on the ' liveaboard ' section.

 

[Seajet]

Yes Tranona that's the bloke !

One tip;

wherever we we went in Burgundy it was a different water connection at each place - I'm talking of tiny harbours and villages - so I developed a wide range of adaptors & connections.

If I was on a yacht passing through I'd use a handy jerry-can.

I never knew any incident of poisoning, but boiling it frst seems a good idea if poss.

 

[DownWest]

It was possible to hire canal cruisers I did from Dinan about ten miles south of St Malo I cant remember the cost as it was over thirty years ago and I suppose nowadays one would need RYA stuff but all the locks were manned then and restaurants were excellent . I think you do need a holding tank with the correct pump out equipment and an engine with water heating facility is sensible as your running it for many hours.

If you rent a boat, then no driving licence required. Odd, but practical.

 

[ghostlymoron]

We used Grehan's guide last year - it's very useful.

Have a look at www.french-waterways.com which is run by grehan who posts here regularly. Mine of information on using the French canals

 

[zikzik]

Thanks. Looks like a very useful site