River Trent Marinas

[tinkicker0]

....And lower Ouse/ Upper Humber also.

Since I have the boat on the trailer at home this winter and getting a bit bored with Naburn and the Upper Ouse, pondering my options re a relocation next season.

Nothing wrong with Naburn, very good marina and very picturesque surroundings, but looking for wider vistas and a speed limit in excess of 6 knots.

So what are my options? Hull Marina seems pretty enough but seems expensive and is a bit far away for that spur of the moment summer evening couple of hours spent sat on the boat and Viking at Goole is a bit industrial looking for my taste.

Also what re the pros and cons re tides, locks ect, is the water still accessable via navigable channels etc at low tide - I do have the Boaters Association Trent Falls to Naburn lock chart book. What other pitfalls are there?

The water in the upper Humber / Trent, is it freshwater, brackish or salt? I have mag anodes fitted at the moment so they may require swapping and my engine block is raw water cooled, so is the river water as chock full of silt close up as it appears from the bank?

Also any slipways for visitors on this stretch of water for maybe a days suck it and see trial?

Lots of questions, most not included here yet so feel free to digress.

Cheers
Mark

 

[kashurst]

Going down the ouse you can lock in a canal at Selby after that next stop is goole. after that it Hull. there are no waiting pontoons along the way - you need to anchor, or in a few places you could lift the outdrive and sit on the bottom when the tide goes out. Once you get to the humber estuary its beautifully wild and remote and you will usually find a few boats at anchor at the top of the river trent waiting for the tide to rise.

I used to berth at farndon marina on the trent and liked it a lot. there is more to see and do on the trent, and there are pubs you can easily moor up to outside etc. newark marina is also good and very helpful. there is another one i think called kings marina in Newark itself but that's not so easy to access as there are locks within a very short distance in both directions.

the river trent is much easier to navigate than the ouse as it isn't quite as shallow. you do need the TBA guide to do it safely. there are four or five towns, rivers villages on the tidal stretch too.

Piloting the humber you need up to date charts from associated british ports every month as its never the same twice. I winged it once with a previous chart and nearly came a cropper - its big, fast flowing and tricky in places, needs care and you need to do a thorough pilotage plan before you go. don't be put off its great fun to do as its a challenge. Talk to Ray at the marina in York he has done it loads of times over the years. You can access hull marina lock 3 hours either side of high water. there is a waiting pontoon but it dries out at low water.

Hull Marina to Cromwell lock near newark is between 4 and 6 hours (best I heard was 3 1/2 hours but they must have been flying along!) going the other way you always have to wait for the tide somewhere on route - or you can overnight at Keady or West Stockwith canal basins

the humber estuary is great for a good blast to clean out the intercoolers etc. hull marina is OK but the lock can be unreliable and you obviously can only get out when weather and tide permit. Hull itself I think has improved over the years and is good for a weekend. Grimsby is well named - very friendly but not what you would call pretty. Its a good trip down from hull to grimsby by boat. I've seen dolphins and loads of seals. Pretty sure the water in hull marina is salty so you would need zinc if your staying a long time. For short weekend/week visits magnesium will be fine. I used an aluminium alloy last few years - that seemed to work ok (Ray got them for me)

If you fancy a change have a drive down and have a nosey around. I used to go to hull a few times a year for a long weekend to do some proper sea boating - usually in the spring. but I found the river good when the weathers a bit rubbish or you don't have the time.

PS I forgot there is a small yacht club at Brough that has a slipway I think.
PPS if you have a petrol engine check your range and that Hull marina still sells petrol

 

[kashurst]

another idea have you thought of taking the boat to the clyde estuary in Scotland for a holiday. the sailing is really good, loads of marinas etc and most accessible at any state of tide.

 

[tinkicker0]

Thanks Kas, very comprehensive. Yes it is a petrol boat which can be a problem, got 100 miles range so maybe 30 - 35 miles radius from base to be safe unless I fill my outboard tanks too.
Naburn petrol prices are eyewatering so I tend to use the outboard tanks to fill the boat with supermarket fuel anyway.

Great Heck boat club is a few minutes cycle ride away from the house, and they have a nice basin, but again its on the Aire and Calder Navigation so low speed limit and the sea lock at Goole to get out on the river.

What is the speed limit on the Trent? I know there used to be a couple of reaches where it was legal to open the taps, are they still there? It would be nice to be able to scour the plugs clean now and again. Chugging along at 6 knots does tend to soot em a bit.

Never had a misfire yet but it is only a matter of time.....

Ta again.

 

[kashurst]

once north of Gainsborough I don't think there is a limit. From Cromwell to Torksey lock I think its 8 kns.
After Torksey I don't recall a limit ;-).
If you go and play on the tidal bits make sure you are happy with your anchor and chain/rope and you and crew are comfortable using it. If you conk out you don't want to be drifting far. If the boats not been bounced about for a while there's a good chance of something irritating happening (loose connection, dodgy plug, bunged up filters(my favourite))

 

[photodog]

Limit is something like 6 or 8 knots on the Trent once inside Trent lock up to Nottingham... There were a couple of areas that you can open up a bit...iirc near Farndon and upstream of the bridge at Gunthorpe at least....

But saying that we did manage to get 25knots out of our Fairline 36 sedan on a regular basis.....

There are several decent marinas right around Newark.... Fardon, Newark, and the newish one near the sugar factory... there are also several smaller ones further along... we have two here near Gunthrope bridge...

Lots of decent pubs to visit... Nottingham has a great festival at the start of the summer with fireworks....

Plus if your on the Trent then we can have drinky boaty adventures...

 

[moonraker 36]

you can tow your boat to west stockwith and lauch their.they have a slipway.
you can then lock out on to the tidal trent and have a run up to gainsbrough or torksey.just to get the feel for the river.if your ok with the tidal ouse you wont have too much trouble with the trent.just dont cut the corners..
as people have stated allready no spd limit below gainsbrough.
it dose tend to get nicer the further up you go.

 

[Momac]

Speed limit on the non tidal and tidal Trent is 8mph downstream and 6mph upstream.
Below Gainsborough there is no speed limit , but you need to slow passing West Stockwith and Keadby locks.

The Trent Series Charts are essential and you do need to take notice of tides on the tidal Trent. There are shallow areas that are to be avoided at low water. The incoming tide below Gainsborough is quite strong and its just a waste of fuel motoring against it. Same with the ebb really but the water flows out a lot slower than it comes in.

I wonder if the moorings at Torksey might suit you. No slipway but good access to the Trent subject to depth over the cill due to tide. Toksey lock is a piece of cake, a much easier lock than West Stockwith.

Trent water is clean compared to the aptly named Ouse.

 

[nedmin]

River Trent is much better than the Ouse both from debris and things to do.As stated no speed limit below Gainsboro except when passing West Stockwith,probably the nicest mooring on the Trent.Except for periods of drought there is always 6ft of water in the channel,even at low water.Just 3 places where you dont keep to the outside of the bends which are marked on the chart.The upper tidal Trent is a geography lesson ! Where you see rocks on one side and a shelving bank on the other you need to be about 6/8ft off the rocks,if the banks shelve both sides keep in the middle apart from the 3 places above.Very pretty as you go up river.Nice to enter the Fosse Dyke and go to Saxilby and Lincoln,altho mooring at Lincoln is now a prob.If youve got bikes there is a cycle track from Woodcocks pub where you can moor for free.or there is a bus from there to Lincoln.

 

[carlton]

you can tow your boat to west stockwith and lauch their.they have a slipway.
you can then lock out on to the tidal trent and have a run up to gainsbrough or torksey.just to get the feel for the river.if your ok with the tidal ouse you wont have too much trouble with the trent.just dont cut the corners..
as people have stated allready no spd limit below gainsbrough.
it dose tend to get nicer the further up you go.

That slipway suggestion is a good tip if you fancy doing a suck-it-and-see.

TK - good to hear you're planning (or even planing!) on giving the boat a proper blast - you'll enjoy it much more than plodding along at 6 knots.

 

[Trundlebug]

I'm at Farndon and it's a great place to be.

A good friendly club (Farndon Boat Club) with lots of experienced boaters who make an annual trip to Hull in a big group, ideal if you haven't done it before.

Good facilities including slipway and lift out, chandlery and Knots (formerly the Fjellgar) floating restaurant / bar. Several other good pubs nearby too, accessible either by car or boat, as well as scenic weekend or overnight halts at Hazelford, Gunthorpe, and East Stoke.

Speed limit as listed above, although there are slower sections of 4mph in Newark Dyke, there are also water skiing sections. The only caveat being there can be lots of anglers after 14 June who glower at anything that moves, and make gestures if anything makes a wake higher than 1 inch (it goes over the top of their waist high waders, and they do insist on standing in a depth 1 inch from the top...). Generally not a problem if you don't look at them!

Torksey or West Stockwith (where there is a slipway) may also be good alternatives but you're more limited by tide times.

If you want the latest information on the Trent, the TBA has recently revised the Tidal Trent chart completely. It is now in "Google Earth" style format so you can see exactly what it looks like from Cromwell down to Trent Falls.
Available here if you're interested http://www.theboatingassociation.co.uk/Merchandise.html


A revised Ouse chart in this format is also currently in progress, to be followed later by the non tidal Trent.

Drive down and check out the area by car first, see what takes your fancy.
I'll be pleased to show you round Farndon if I'm there

 

[tinkicker0]

Thanks all, very grateful to you all.

I have requested a mooring tariff from Farndon, looking on google maps it appears to be 62 miles door to door, so a bit far for weekday evening quick visits but doable for weekends now the big lad is no longer with us. No need to do a late evening and early morning flyer to put away and let the dogs out at 6am of a sunday morning.
The basset is shaped like a large fender, so we can take her with us and hang her off the side.

Time will tell if they have vacancies or not and whether the fees make my eyes water.

 

[Momac]

It's a long way from Farndon to anywhere you can legally go fast.
But there is petrol at Farndon Marina.

 

[moonraker 36]

the water ski section people keep mentioning are only un-restricted speed limit for members only.

the river around the farndon aera is very nice.

guess you live in eastriding area with you being close to heck basin.
so car jurney to fardon real easy,just down the a1 to newark.around an hours drive.