Switching sides - Short list

Trawler. Grand Banks?

I have always liked the look of them. They look salty. If I was going to switch, it would be on my list.
I don't suppose it maters which type the fuel bill will be a shock to any sailor.
 
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Just been through this exercise.
My criteria ended up being:
Airdraft <3m
Draft <1.2m
Beam <3.9m
Single engine

Used Het Wakend Oog brokers in Woudsend, Friesland - excellent but maybe negotiate on the percentage 'walkaway' clause in their contract.
Used Theo van Rijswijk as surveyor - excellent.

The Dutch canals seem to have many opening bridges so airdraft is not generally a problem. Those few towns which do not have opening bridges have <2m high bridges so you just have to give then a miss. The Burgundy canals have low tunnels and in many French rivers the draft can get to 1m. Minimum width of a French lock is 5m so getting a 4.5m boat in without banging could be tricky. My 1/2c worth.
 
How about an Elling E3?
It should tick all the boxes and there are some nice ones for sale from 2000-2005
 
RuiterKruiser said:
Just been through this exercise.
My criteria ended up being:
Airdraft <3m
Draft <1.2m
Beam <3.9m
Single engine

Used Het Wakend Oog brokers in Woudsend, Friesland - excellent but maybe negotiate on the percentage 'walkaway' clause in their contract.
Used Theo van Rijswijk as surveyor - excellent.

The Dutch canals seem to have many opening bridges so airdraft is not generally a problem. Those few towns which do not have opening bridges have <2m high bridges so you just have to give then a miss. The Burgundy canals have low tunnels and in many French rivers the draft can get to 1m. Minimum width of a French lock is 5m so getting a 4.5m boat in without banging could be tricky. My 1/2c worth.
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Ouch!!!
Same as Irish canal system.

I think it's back to the drawing board.
 
The websites I used were
http://www.hwo.nl/
http://www.boten.nl/zoeken/Motorboot/10-15-meter/200000-300000/items-50/Lengte/Aflopend/pag2/
http://www.doevemakelaar.nl/
http://www.barat.nl/nieuwe_pagina_2.htm
http://www.schepenkring.nl/nl/schepenkring-homepage.html
and a few others including Apolloduck.
The Brooms could do the trick.

Not much in English on the Dutch waterways but lots on France e.g. http://www.eurocanals.com/Vessel/dimensions.html

Buy Tom Sommers Eurocanals Guides; they tell a lot about canal and river dimensions.
 
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RuiterKruiser said:
The websites I used were
http://www.hwo.nl/
http://www.boten.nl/zoeken/Motorboot/10-15-meter/200000-300000/items-50/Lengte/Aflopend/pag2/
http://www.doevemakelaar.nl/
http://www.barat.nl/nieuwe_pagina_2.htm
http://www.schepenkring.nl/nl/schepenkring-homepage.html
and a few others including Apolloduck.
The Brooms could do the trick.

Not much in English on the Dutch waterways but lots on France e.g. http://www.eurocanals.com/Vessel/dimensions.html

Buy Tom Sommers Eurocanals Guides; they tell a lot about canal and river dimensions.
Click to expand...


The Dutch make some lovely boats, I'd forgotten how nice they are.
You can get a lot for £50k in a steel hulled boat......

http://www.barat.nl/70.htm
 
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Or just talk to me as we have offices in Holland anyway!:encouragement:
There are many Dutch boats on our website via Yacht-Gallery.com of which we are a founding partner.:o
 
Cashbuyer said:
I would do more research on air draft. In Holland EVERYTHING will have to fold...
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Sorry but this is simply not so. Bridge heights do vary in Holland but a high proportion of their 5,000 km of waterways either have bridges with a clearance of at least 5 metres or are opening bridges - otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to cover virtually all of the country (and a large part of Belgium too) with our 4.95 metre air draft.
 
While in essence I agree with stillwaters, if you can blow up the map here enough http://www.eurocanals.com/OrderCD/nlguide.html
you will see that there are many Dutch canals with draft <1.5m and airdraft <3.5m.

But there are plenty enough waterways in NL not to have to explore these little ones.

My object when looking for a boat was to cruise as many of the waterways of EU as possible and thus draft, beam and airdraft were definitely a consideration.
 
If you want to do the french canals you need a single engine boat otherwise you'll have to a lot of prop cleaning. And as said, no higher than 3.5 mt. I would go for steel because a lot of people are going to bang into your boat, watching the hire boat crowd in the locks is one of my favorite past times. Not the place to be in a shiny plastic boat.
 
stillwaters said:
Sorry but this is simply not so. Bridge heights do vary in Holland but a high proportion of their 5,000 km of waterways either have bridges with a clearance of at least 5 metres or are opening bridges - otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to cover virtually all of the country (and a large part of Belgium too) with our 4.95 metre air draft.
Click to expand...

Well. You learn something everyday.
 
Erik C said:
If you want to do the french canals you need a single engine boat otherwise you'll have to a lot of prop cleaning. And as said, no higher than 3.5 mt. I would go for steel because a lot of people are going to bang into your boat, watching the hire boat crowd in the locks is one of my favorite past times. Not the place to be in a shiny plastic boat.
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I know it can look dodgy but we went through French canals from channel to Med without anybody hitting us. Twin props no problem either, although for dedicated canal work only (not the op's brief) single engine is arguably better.
 
blueglass said:
I know it can look dodgy but we went through French canals from channel to Med without anybody hitting us. Twin props no problem either, although for dedicated canal work only (not the op's brief) single engine is arguably better.
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I think the OP wanted a sea boat that could go down the canal system.

All the s/d British designs drink fuel at cruise speeds because they push a wall of water in front of the bow; of course that's why they are so stable in a rough sea.

Maybe a Scandinavian design would be better, something like a Nimbus with a modern s/d hull that gets nearly twice the fuel economy at 15kts. I think there are hardtop versions that have a low airdraft with single engines, and they seem to have quite a good reputation for seakeeping as well.



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