river rhine/danube

[nipen]

Has anybody used the rivers rhine/danube to get to the far end of the med. we are lightly crewed and we draw 6ft & have a keel stepped mast. thks for your help

 

[boatbuilder]

Look for a book by Rod Heikel on the subject.

 

[Grehan]

You can find Rod Heikell's book on Amazon -
>> "Danube - A River Guide" Rod Heikell <<

 

[Amphitrite]

6 ft sound a lot to me for that - you'll have to stick to the (fast running) middle channel of the Rhine, and I am not sure about the drafts for the "Rhein-Main-Donau-Kanal", the connection between the two rivers. Cannot really comment on the Danube though.
How big is your engine?

H.

 

[nipen]

many thx will do. ni/pen

 

[nipen]

Many thx will have a look. Nipen

 

[nipen]

Thanks for your prompt rely. We have a new volvo 20/20 saildrive.

 

[johnneale]

I went from Portsmouth to Istanbul via the rivers/canals of Europe. No problems as far as Budapest on the Danube. Bouyage on the Danube in Bulgaria/Romania could be better. I think your 6' draft is pushing it. Most of the large barges draw only about 1 metre. The river depth is very dependant on rainfull higher up, which means that if you have enough depth, - you will have a hell of a fast current (with you). See my article in PBO issues 449/450 May/June 2005. You will have to take your mast down when you enter the river system, but you can get up up at the Rousse YC in Bulgaria (all downstream bridges from there are 12 metres plus.
Constanza on the Black Sea is a great place to wait for the weather to take you south to Istanbul. From there, you island-hop with no more than 60 miles between
islands/ports etc. We still in Greece - see no reason to leave just yet.

 

[Guest]

Very interesting info. Can you tell us what your draft (sorry, your boat's draft!) is?

 

[johnneale]

Parambala draws only 2'. We went Portsmouth-Le Havre. River Seine to Paris. Minor French canals to the Moselle at Toul. Down the Moselle to Koblenz (on the Rhine).
Up the Rhine to Mainz - (had to battle against a 6.2 knot current for a mile at the RhineGorge (Bingham Hole). River Main from Mainz to Bamberg. Main-Donau Canal and into the Danube just before Kelheim. All downstream now - we wintered in Vienna.
The next year was pretty straightforward - all downhill. Looking back through the log, I noted that we saw several decent sized yachts in Vienna (that had come from Germany) and some more in Belgrade. The river gets very wide after that, bouyage is poor and we found deeper water only by looking at the ripples on the surface (denoting shallows) - We had only about 2 knots current behind us at the time, but even so it would have been difficult to get off if we had run aground. The bottom is soft mud. The barges going upstream also create quite a wash in shallow water.
If you do decide to do it, - it helps to speak German. The people (and bargees) are all very friendly. Dont do the Danube Delta (very shallow), but at Cernavado in Romania take the Black Sea Canal to Constanza.

200 miles on you come to Istanbul.
2750 miles Our total travel time was 67 days

 

[david_bagshaw]

done the rhine up and down with 2mtr draft

have to be careful in summer and autumn as levels drop and many stopping places usable in the spring are dry

elwis.de for the german site on river info.