Viability of a motorboat in Belgium (Mons).

[boatingdave]

I have a squadron 43 in the UK (currently Portishead not that this is relevant lol....). I spend quite a lot of time either in Mons Belgium or in The Hague Nederland. I’d like to take the boat over to Europe so I can use it more. Really stupid question, loads of canals in both areas but I’ve not seen a lot of conventional mobos’s, well not obvious anyway so am I answering my own question and she is too tall or are there mobo friendly waterways which can be ‘got to’ via the English Channel and be brought down under her own steam (so to speak) rather than a low loader and then be land locked!

 

[Avalon]

It is certainly possible to get to Mons via the inland waterways from the English channel. Once you get there, there is a pleasant marina, with restaurant, in a large basin off the canal to the north of the town.

The issue is that to get there you will need to reduce your air draft to something like (IIRC) 3.5m. On our Princess 35 we were able to do this by removing the radar arch - whether it is doable on a Squadron 43 I don't know. You could try asking on the Thames forum, they have bridges and some large motor cruisers.

You do see a few seagoing flybridge motor boats on the European Inland Waterways, but they are a tiny minority .