R. Seine unstep mast and transport help please

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Legasea

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Your wise advice would be greatly appreciated….
We have currently been overwintering in Cherbourg and plan to spend the rest of the year in the French canals and down to the Med.
We were planning to get the mast lifted at Rouen but it appears they only do commercial now.
Thought of Honfleur but it just appears to be a Telehandler forklift that I think would be insufficient for our 13m mast and I am possibly looking to store it until I can find a “shared load” on mast transport.
Le Havre is a possibility but I don’t know anything about the setup there.
The last option as I see it is to unstep here in Cherbourg, doing an overnight on the motor and then the daybreak tide up the river.
Is anyone wishing to combine a load of mast transport or a mast coming back up from the Med?
I’ve been quoted around £1500 from two companies, boatloads and Fastmast so we looking to share a load if possible as we are very flexible.
I thought there would be a number of masts making that trip each year or is there another company I should be talking to?

TIA

Mark
 
Legasea said:
Your wise advice would be greatly appreciated….
We have currently been overwintering in Cherbourg and plan to spend the rest of the year in the French canals and down to the Med.
We were planning to get the mast lifted at Rouen but it appears they only do commercial now.
Thought of Honfleur but it just appears to be a Telehandler forklift that I think would be insufficient for our 13m mast and I am possibly looking to store it until I can find a “shared load” on mast transport.
Le Havre is a possibility but I don’t know anything about the setup there.
The last option as I see it is to unstep here in Cherbourg, doing an overnight on the motor and then the daybreak tide up the river.
Is anyone wishing to combine a load of mast transport or a mast coming back up from the Med?
I’ve been quoted around £1500 from two companies, boatloads and Fastmast so we looking to share a load if possible as we are very flexible.
I thought there would be a number of masts making that trip each year or is there another company I should be talking to?

TIA

Mark
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Does the canals have draft fit your craft.
 
Yes on that we are not so bad….an old Beneteau First 35 with a shoal keel. Officially a draft of 1.35m but with all our kit onboard I work on 1.5m
 
Suspect the volume of traffic southbound has dropped dramatically since Brexit and the Schengen restrictions on travel for UK citizens. Carrying the mast with you used to be common although 13m on an 11m boat is not so good. With your draft you could do the Canal du Midi if the objective is just to get to the Med rather than cruise the main canals.
 
please don’t mention the B word…..90 days is still enough time to make it comfortably to the Med. It’s more the 18 month rule for the yacht that concerns me but I don’t want to go off on a tangent.
We did consider canal du Midi but 1.6m on a good day with a stone bottom and lower arch bridges I didn’t fancy our chances compared with hopefully what many say is a beautiful way to see France.
TBH I’m not entirely sure on the mast length as never had chance to measure it myself.
In documentation we have an air draft of 17m. I’ve always allowed for the VHF on top but that was probably being very prudent. The compression post is just over 2m.
When in marinas comparing we do have a large mast for our size.
It looks like it’s actually 13.79m so wanted to be comfortable and not battling with a mast in the locks especially as hopefully save a tidy sum on marina fees.
Will still need to find some safe mooring or marina to leave the boat to pop back home a few times
 
I had the mast down at the inner basin @ Le Havre and then transported to Port Napoleon. It was some years ago so I’m afraid that I don’t have the contact details. If you opt to go via the Canal du Midi, on another trip I had the mast down at Paulliac just north of Bordeaux and then delivered to Agde - again, apologies but no recollection of details. FWIW the Canal du Midi is wonderful but at 1.5metres draft, we did run aground quite a lot!
 
LittleSister said:
I have not done it myself (though looked into it quite a few years back) but I recall people on here talking about a yard, or yards, lifting and storing masts on the Canal de Tancarville (behind Le Havre and connecting it to the Seine).
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It’s definitely an option. I think there’s a boat lift with crane in the marina in Le Havre and another at the other end of the canal by the old Tancarville bridge. I’m assuming airdraft is not a problem on that canal…would need to check. Has the advantage that we could start our journey closer to Rouen
 
Cspirit said:
I had the mast down at the inner basin @ Le Havre and then transported to Port Napoleon. It was some years ago so I’m afraid that I don’t have the contact details. If you opt to go via the Canal du Midi, on another trip I had the mast down at Paulliac just north of Bordeaux and then delivered to Agde - again, apologies but no recollection of details. FWIW the Canal du Midi is wonderful but at 1.5metres draft, we did run aground quite a lot!
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Cheers…..it’s a one way ticket to the med for us. Part of the retirement package…I turn 60 this year
 
Legasea said:
It’s definitely an option. I think there’s a boat lift with crane in the marina in Le Havre and another at the other end of the canal by the old Tancarville bridge. I’m assuming airdraft is not a problem on that canal…would need to check. Has the advantage that we could start our journey closer to Rouen
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I seem to recall there are (or were back then?) some limitations on bridge opening times (or was it having to let the ships through/out of the canal first, or something like that) that meant one might lose some of the time advantage of starting further into the Seine. Perhaps one couldn't usually start into the river at dawn, if that's what you wanted to do (as I did because my small, slow boat back then needed all the daylight it could get.) Sorry, I don't remember very clearly now what the issue was, or even for sure whether there was one. (A search should find a number of relevant old threads.)

I do recall it being said that one advantage of the Canal was that it avoided the entrance to the Seine, which could be very uncomfortable without a mast.
 
having never been on the helm of a yacht without a mast I’m interested I the drawbacks. I’m mostly concerned about relying on a single power source.
Is the ability to hoist the main in a chop literally outweighed by the fact the keel has a lot less pressure on it reducing roll?
I only ask because we are just thinking of crossing the bay from Cherbourg without a mast
 
It's 26 years ago so not exactly current advice, but we had our mast put back up in the marina at Le Havre. I think the crane belonged to the club?

The canal wasn't an option back then, it was only available to commercial vessels.

Exiting the Seine and going out to sea with the mast tied on the deck in a northerly F6 was a bit sketchy.
 
Legasea said:
having never been on the helm of a yacht without a mast I’m interested I the drawbacks. I’m mostly concerned about relying on a single power source.
Is the ability to hoist the main in a chop literally outweighed by the fact the keel has a lot less pressure on it reducing roll?
I only ask because we are just thinking of crossing the bay from Cherbourg without a mast
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I never gave a thought about crossing the channel on a wind-less day using the Honda 30 on my previous boat.

For you, I suspect that the boat motion will be a bit different without the mast so best to pick a "quiet" period.
 
absolutely…..it’s amazing we can remember what we did 25 years ago but not yesterday.
I think I’m getting the feeling that those that have had the mast unstepped and are carrying the mast onboard as in your case and it sounds challenging in open water.
I’m more and more learning to getting the job done where I am in Cherbourg and crossing to the waiting pontoon outside Honflleur (I still can’t exactly locate the pontoon, only that it’s east of the lock entrance but then you appear to be into the commercial port and cruise terminal with what appears to be 3 major docks passed the harbour control tower)
I’m possibly less likely to get a shared load for the mast down to the med but I’ll keep trying
 
Boathook said:
I never gave a thought about crossing the channel on a wind-less day using the Honda 30 on my previous boat.

For you, I suspect that the boat motion will be a bit different without the mast so best to pick a "quiet" period.
Click to expand...
It’s the order of the day! but there’s only a few days each month we can make it up the Seine to Rouen with tides and daylight hours. It’s blowing now and for a while but fingers crossed it might all fall into place early April
 
Legasea said:
having never been on the helm of a yacht without a mast I’m interested I the drawbacks. I’m mostly concerned about relying on a single power source.
Is the ability to hoist the main in a chop literally outweighed by the fact the keel has a lot less pressure on it reducing roll?
I only ask because we are just thinking of crossing the bay from Cherbourg without a mast
Click to expand...
I can tell you the mast of my 32' half-tonner broke mid channel during a JOG race way back in the 90's. We had to motor some 30 odd NM back to the solent in a lumpy sea, doing so with a keel and no rig was not a pleasant experience at all - we needed to have a bucket handy to share between the 6 of us !
 
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