Weed on Canal de Calais

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We are entering the French canal system next week and had planned to enter at Calais. However, a friend has suggested we enter at Dunkirk because when he last transited the Canal de Calais (3 years ago) he found that his raw water strainer required very frequent cleaning because of vast quantities of floating weed. I would be grateful for a more up to date 'weed report' from anyone who has carried out a recent transit of this canal. Thanks.
 
We used this canal many moons ago and never had a problem some of the weeds tend to float which means that the intake is too low in the water to catch them?

but clearing the filters on a daily basis is a good practise any way.

Tom
 
hi,we use a boat with inboard diesel engine, on the sevre niortaise,in the vendee area france.the river has terrible weed problem but no problem to our strainer.we maybe need to empty it 3 times a year.this maybe because our strainer is deep down under the boat.
as the weed floats on the top of the water it tends to flow round the boat and not under neath it.
the weed i am refering to is duck weed which consists of millions of small floating leafs and can bulk up to 3to4 ctms thick.hope this helps
 
cleaning filters

Yes, we clean our filter every day when travelling, sometimes more - and we backwash the inlet pipe using our dinghy pump. Not always urgently necessary (i.e lots of boué). Often obviously preventative (some boué in the bowl, and building up) and therefore a good idea.
It's a real pain having the engine warning hooter go off mid-stream in a river current, or worse, as a canal lock is rapidly filling.
 
Re: cleaning filters

Do you think that having some sort of fine mesh fitted over the intake skin fitting my help?

Would the forward motion of the hull assist in preventing weed from being sucked in?

Just musing!
 
Re: cleaning filters

I too, have mused on this. I think that any attempt to prevent stuff getting in is liable to clog or block, eventually, and then be a damn sight more difficult to unclog! Or be liable to damage, 'cos it sticks out in some way.
No, my conclusion is that the easier it is to check and empty the filter bowl, the better, and the easier to blow out anything that might be lurking in the pipe from the skin fitting to the filter, the better. Fortunately, Grehan is set up like this, with a nice big clear plastic Vetus bowl and screw top and removable plastic basket filter, just inside the engine compartment, at waist height. And we invented our dinghy pump back-flush methodology, in somewhat panicky circumstances, mind you. And we gradually learned how to try to avoid the stuff as much as possible; and to adopt a check and clean preventative regime.
Sounds a bit precious, but it's just normal using-the-boat routine.

BTW We recently passed through an area on the Midi where they'd done lots of bankside grass and growth cutting. Loads of it floating on the surface, but also must have been a fair amount floating below 'cos we still collected lots from, what, 600mm below waterline? This organic stuff is not really a problem, but what was a bit scary was unearthing a semi-shredded plastic bag from the filter basket.
 
Re: cleaning filters

Some years ago the freshwater of our Toronto club's mooring was badly infested with weed, growing up from the bottom and thus close to the engine's water intake. Once, as we motored out and prepared to raise sails, the overheating alarm sounded. Clearing the easily accessible filter basket didn't solve the problem. Fortunately I had a plumber's snake aboard, which did the job nicely. I agree that a screen on the outside of the intake probably isn't a good idea.
 
Plumber\'s snake?

You had one of those on board? . . wow! Amongst the various potentially-useful-but-not-now-so-keep-for-later-you-never-know non-boat-related stuff I have, inaccessible at the bottom of a deep locker probably , a plumber's snake does not (yet) feature!!!
[Just the one-eyed trouser variety. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif] /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: Plumber\'s snake?

Exactly! While moving from house to boat and sorting which tools to take I discovered the plumber's snake. It took up virtually no space and I imagined it might be useful against clogged heads discharge hose. Of course it wasn't. But for weed in the water intake it earned its keep.
 
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