Want to move my 8 mtr boat with ouboard from Newhaven to join the canal network . Channel - Thames . Any quicker/ safer way . Grateful 1st timer .
- Thread starter bradleyscott596@yahoo.co.
- Start date
Bru
Well-known member
<sigh>
Did you actually read what I wrote Webby?
Yes, it is
But you won't find 4'6 where the CART figures say you will *unless* that stretch of canal has been dredged fairly recently (and possibly not even then)
And CART do not own any dredgers! All the dredging is (and has been for yonks) subcontracted. And guess what ... CART hasn't got any money
What's more, and since way back in the worst BWB days, since almost all modern leisure canal boats draw less than three feet, there's very little incentive to spend a lot of money on dredging
So you're nominal 4'6" is rather mythical I'm afraid. Most of the system is at *least* a foot shallower than design and in places such as downstream of locks often even shallower
And once again I reiterate that the depths quoted are in the *centre* of the channel. Most canals are saucer shaped in section and therefore significantly shallower towards the bank than in the middle by design even before they've silted up
Gumpy
Well-known member
Listen to what @Bru says, he is a wise man.
I have spent most of my life on the canals and have dragged and I mean dragged boats with a draft the same as yours across most of the Southern system, which with that beam is all you can hope to do without road transport.
There is a ray of hope here insomuch that if you go to the canals of the North East you will find waterways that will be easier to use your boat as they are deeper, however you will also find the occasional 300ton freight ship and they take no prisoners
I have spent most of my life on the canals and have dragged and I mean dragged boats with a draft the same as yours across most of the Southern system, which with that beam is all you can hope to do without road transport.
There is a ray of hope here insomuch that if you go to the canals of the North East you will find waterways that will be easier to use your boat as they are deeper, however you will also find the occasional 300ton freight ship and they take no prisoners
Bru
Well-known member
<blush>
especially as I recall with a cringe demonstrating that canal boating is a contact sport with, if my memory isn't at fault, your good self as the innocent victim
Gumpy
Well-known member
Are you perhaps refering to the incident at Denham?<blush>
especially as I recall with a cringe demonstrating that canal boating is a contact sport with, if my memory isn't at fault, your good self as the innocent victim
If you are it was my bridge I got there first
Bru
Well-known member
Are you perhaps refering to the incident at Denham?
If you are it was my bridge I got there first
I thought it was Wolverton? (ISTR I was helming "Linda" at the time???)
Either way though, I'm forced to concede that it was indeed your bridge! My bad :/
Gumpy
Well-known member
Not the one I was thinking of I had forgotten that one. The one that I remember involved Aldgate and Angel, Parglena appeared in the bridge below Denham Lock, there was a lot of scuttling about on A&A, PA was very unimpresssed at having to give way
Had a similar incident at Galleon Bridge involving a certain Baronet, Onx ended up in the bushes
Bru
Well-known member
I'm innocent on the Aldgate and Angel one. Not me guv.
Don't mention the Baronet grrrrrr!
Don't mention the Baronet grrrrrr!
Billy no mates.
Member
If going onto the canals you will need a BSS certificate, insurance and a license for the boat, that will add about 1k to your budget. Take notice of the good advice here and buy a canal boat for canal use, with that draught you wont be getting near the banks.
Bru
Well-known member
Actually even worse than a fin keeler with the sole benefit of not falling over if the water goes away*
That's because it'll be even harder to get it anywhere near the bank
* Folks naturally assume that the water level remains constant on the canals but it doesn't
There can be significant variations due to water use at locks even under normal circumstances. Heavy traffic could easily drop the levels by several inches
And then there's the consequences of leaks. For example, for many years mooring in the long pound between locks 2 and 3 at Stoke Bruerne because the gates at lock 3 leaked so badly any boat tied up there overnight would be high and dry by morning
A similar problem put us hard around overnight with a loaded pair in Brentford Basin.
And then there's vandalism. We once ended up hard aground under a road bridge in Tipton watching the water disappear with considerable alacrity due to vandals lifting all the paddles at Smethwick and draining the whole pound! We were not best pleased!
laika
Well-known member
Bru
Well-known member
Don't talk to me about bloomin' shopping trollies!
And lifting stops. Then there was the car tyre, the kids paddling pool, rope galore, bloody razor wire (could have been nasty, that one), the sack of dead puppies (ugh) ...
The list is long and incredibly varied :0
Mister E
Well-known member
Many years ago my father bought a plywood cabin cruiser that was already in the canal.
It was an absolute bargain NOT
Then we found out why, it was to wide to get through the locks and to high to get under some bridges.
So we could cruise a distance of about 10 miles at the most.
It turned out he had bought a river boat. I don't know what happened to it but the wrong type of boat in the wrong place is useless.
Canal boats for canals.
River boats for rivers.
Yachts for wide open water.
It was an absolute bargain NOT
Then we found out why, it was to wide to get through the locks and to high to get under some bridges.
So we could cruise a distance of about 10 miles at the most.
It turned out he had bought a river boat. I don't know what happened to it but the wrong type of boat in the wrong place is useless.
Canal boats for canals.
River boats for rivers.
Yachts for wide open water.
ryanroberts
Well-known member
Trent and the yorkshire navigations are the only hope for a boat like that on the canals, not sure you could even get it past osney, certainly not up the lower oxford canal which barely handles traditional narrowboats
Seastoke
Well-known member
Would an outboard even steer a boat like that
Bru
Well-known member
Not without assistance
Our earliest GRP canal boats were both outboard powered and both had an aluminium rudder attached to the outboard leg to aid steering
SandyP
Active member
You've theoretically have ok beam for wide canals, such as Brentford going north, and enough water for your draft, but you'll be sliding along the bottom, something steel can handle but not grp
Before you argue, this is my patch, I'm here now in my cruiser, drawing 8in at the sides and I often can't get to the bank. The 2ft do Central rider makes it even more complicated, and I know my patch
Also you seem to be ignoring the bss requirement
And the ££ for the licence
You do know about the requirement to move every 13 days?
Before you argue, this is my patch, I'm here now in my cruiser, drawing 8in at the sides and I often can't get to the bank. The 2ft do Central rider makes it even more complicated, and I know my patch
Also you seem to be ignoring the bss requirement
And the ££ for the licence
You do know about the requirement to move every 13 days?
syvictoria
Well-known member
I think we've scared the OP away.
Boathook
Well-known member
He hasn't logged in since Wednesday morning though nothing to stop him viewing as a guest. Maybe he has realised that his boat choice wasn't suitable and is now wondering what to do.I think we've scared the OP away.
Gixer
Well-known member
He was going to have a look at the boat for, I believe, the first time on Saturday. Hopefully he’ll come back with what he’s planning to do.