68ft narrow boat on the K&A

[Aron]

Hello guys. Me and my partner are hoping to purchase our first narrow boat in the next couple of weeks, we are viewing a lovely boat that is on the Kennet and Avon that is 68ft, we would be moored around this area as we need to stay local to the Bristol. 
 

Would we have trouble with locks with the boat being 68ft? 
 

Thanks 🙂
 

 

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, Aron said:

Hello guys. Me and my partner are hoping to purchase our first narrow boat in the next couple of weeks, we are viewing a lovely boat that is on the Kennet and Avon that is 68ft, we would be moored around this area as we need to stay local to the Bristol. 
 

Would we have trouble with locks with the boat being 68ft? 
 

Thanks 🙂

 

Nope. I boated for many years on the K&A in a 68ft boat. No problems with length at all.

 

Bear in mind to stay 'in an area' you will need to rent a 'home mooring' to avoid the beady eye of CRT falling on you and chasing you around.

 

 

[dmr]

Depends how you define trouble 😀 Getting longer boats through locks needs a bit more care and attention, and leaky gates can be an issue, but full length boats have often used the K&A. Till recently we spent every winter on the K&A with a boat just under 71 foot.

There are a few shorter locks which we found tricky to share, but at 68 It won't be a problem.

[Aron]

Thanks so much for the quick reply’s 👍

 

That’s great, we really like the boat and have been looking for quite some time and only just found something that seems pretty perfect for what we’ve wanted.

We did think that would be the case as we would be in this area until early summer then we would both be in a position where we can travel the 

Canal system 👌 

 

We were aware that you had to move on every 14 days for continuous cruising but wasn’t to sure how far they expect you to go before you were safe to moor up again without being bothered by the CRT.

 

Thanks again the help guys, we really appreciate it.

 

[David Mack]

68 foot - no problem. Staying local to Bristol - big problem. You will need a proper paid for mooring to stay in the Bristol area. Also be aware that your CRT licence covers you for the K&A Canal and the Avon below Bath, but you need to pay separately to use the Feeder Canal and Floating Harbour in Bristol.

[magnetman]

7 minutes ago, Aron said:

in this area until early summer then we would both be in a position where we can travel the 

Canal system 👌 

 

 

 

Worth being aware that there is quite a lot of the Northern canal system which is impossible to access with a 68ft Boat. 

 

I don't know all of them or exact details but you won t be able to do the Leeds to Liverpool canal, the Rochdale or the Aire and Calder. There may be a few others.

 

 

I had a 55ft narrow Boat for 12 yars and got around but ironically never made it to the shorter ones anyway. Got as far as Chester and the Welsh canal then returned back south. 

 

It depends what you want to do. 

 

57-59ft is generally regarded as a 'go everywhere' size. 

 

 

[dmr]

8 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

Worth being aware that there is quite a lot of the Northern canal system which is impossible to access with a 68ft Boat. 

 

I don't know all of them or exact details but you won t be able to do the Leeds to Liverpool canal, the Rochdale or the Aire and Calder. There may be a few others.

 

 

I had a 55ft narrow Boat for 12 yars and got around but ironically never made it to the shorter ones anyway. Got as far as Chester and the Welsh canal then returned back south. 

 

It depends what you want to do. 

 

57-59ft is generally regarded as a 'go everywhere' size. 

 

 

 

You can do the L&L into Liverpool (from Wigan) but can't do Wigan to Leeds. Liverpool is worth visiting.

The Rochdale easily takes full length boats (I am on it now), but both the Rochdale and Huddersfield narrow are "there and back" routes as the Calder and Hebble is 57  foot.

Essentially its the Eastern half of Yorkshire that is out of bounds, pretty odd really as Yorkshire generally does things well but really messed up with its locks 😀

[magnetman]

Thanks for the corrections. 

[dmr]

I believe there was a promise that if the Rochdale got built (and to full length) that the Calder and Hebble would rebuild their locks to full length, but they failed to honour this. This would have opened up a lot more full length boating.

What is good is that the Rochdale was restored to full length even though its a cul de sac. I believe this took a bit of a battle and the Tuel Lane deep lock has both short and "full length" gates. We will try to pop down there in the spring just to keep those long gates working 😀

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

 

You can do the L&L into Liverpool (from Wigan) but can't do Wigan to Leeds. Liverpool is worth visiting.

The Rochdale easily takes full length boats (I am on it now), but both the Rochdale and Huddersfield narrow are "there and back" routes as the Calder and Hebble is 57  foot.

Essentially its the Eastern half of Yorkshire that is out of bounds, pretty odd really as Yorkshire generally does things well but really messed up with its locks 😀

 

That will be because shorter locks were cheaper than the longer ones ... 😂😂

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

I believe there was a promise that if the Rochdale got built (and to full length) that the Calder and Hebble would rebuild their locks to full length, but they failed to honour this.

Interesting idea, I wonder if we could find any proof?

 

[dmr]

23 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

Interesting idea, I wonder if we could find any proof?

 

I can't remember where I read that.

I believe that a lot of old Rochdale paperwork still exists, some in Manchester and some at Ellesmere port, but maybe stuff like that never got properly recorded, a bit like how modern day property developers (and other men in suits) don't like to write down their promises 😀

I do think its a bit odd that the Rochdale people spent all the extra money to build a wide and full length canal over the hills if it was only going as far as Sowerby Bridge. Also interesting that many of the locks have recesses for "57 foot gates" but these were never fitted.

I wonder if Pluto knows?

 

[GUMPY]

4 hours ago, Aron said:

We were aware that you had to move on every 14 days for continuous cruising but wasn’t to sure how far they expect you to go before you were safe to moor up again without being bothered by the CRT.

 

 

[booke23]

4 hours ago, Aron said:

Hello guys. Me and my partner are hoping to purchase our first narrow boat in the next couple of weeks, we are viewing a lovely boat that is on the Kennet and Avon that is 68ft, we would be moored around this area as we need to stay local to the Bristol. 
 

Would we have trouble with locks with the boat being 68ft? 
 

Thanks 🙂
 

 

 

No issues with locks. The only issue is some of the winding holes are shorter than 68ft (55-65ft), but there are plenty of 72ft winding holes. 

[Aron]

15 minutes ago, GUMPY said:

 

 
 

I did think that was the case 😂

Edited December 29, 2023 by Aron

[matty40s]

3 hours ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

Interesting idea, I wonder if we could find any proof?

 

They burnt that long before the internet was invented...

[David Mack]

4 hours ago, dmr said:

What is good is that the Rochdale was restored to full length even though its a cul de sac. I believe this took a bit of a battle and the Tuel Lane deep lock has both short and "full length" gates.

At Shop Lock in Todmorden the original hinged bottom gates had been replaced by a guillotine gate to allow for road widening. When the canal was abandoned the gate and the gate gear above lockside level had all been removed. As part of the initial restoration hinged gates were fitted in the upper bottom gate recesses, so the lock was only usable by boats up to about 58 feet long. Not a problem at the time as the reopened section was isolated and only navigated by smaller craft. As part of the full reopening through to Manchester the guillotine was reinstated and the hinged lower gates removed.

At Tuel Lane the "short" gates were installed to reduce water consumption through the double depth lock for most craft. The "long" gates are only used for boats long enough to need them. As a result the "long" gates are rarely wetted, and the timbers have shrunk, so the gates leak like a sieve.

2 hours ago, dmr said:

I do think its a bit odd that the Rochdale people spent all the extra money to build a wide and full length canal over the hills if it was only going as far as Sowerby Bridge. Also interesting that many of the locks have recesses for "57 foot gates" but these were never fitted.

Built to take 72 foot craft as used on the Bridgewater Canal to which it connected. 

I believe the locks on the east side were originally built with two sets of gates to save water when used by Calder & Hebble craft, but the "short" gates were abandoned quite early on. A number of the chambers have subsequently been modified so that the coping runs straight above the "short" gate recesses.

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, GUMPY said:

 

 

 

 

 

Too late ...................

 

 

 

[MtB]

6 hours ago, Aron said:

We were aware that you had to move on every 14 days for continuous cruising but wasn’t to sure how far they expect you to go before you were safe to moor up again without being bothered by the CRT.

 

 

Well around here (eastern K&A) through a lock to the next pound once a fortnight seems the be order of the day. 

 

I'd suggest as a rule of thumb, watch how little the local CMers move and make sure you move a little further than them each time, and a little more frequently. CRT generally focus on the worst offenders.

 

Another skool of though is if you have to ask, you're not moving far enough. 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

33 minutes ago, MtB said:

Another skool of though is if you have to ask, you're not moving far enough. 

 

 

Or maybe too far and wondering why you see the same boats in the same place when you return 

[1st ade]

11 hours ago, MtB said:

I'd suggest as a rule of thumb, watch how little the local CMers move and make sure you move a little further than them each time

Now if everyone moved a little further than their neighbours it wouldn't be long before the canal is full of continuous cruisers! (which is no bad thing)

[mrsmelly]

21 hours ago, magnetman said:

 

Worth being aware that there is quite a lot of the Northern canal system which is impossible to access with a 68ft Boat. 

 

I don't know all of them or exact details but you won t be able to do the Leeds to Liverpool canal, the Rochdale or the Aire and Calder. There may be a few others.

 

 

I had a 55ft narrow Boat for 12 yars and got around but ironically never made it to the shorter ones anyway. Got as far as Chester and the Welsh canal then returned back south. 

 

It depends what you want to do. 

 

57-59ft is generally regarded as a 'go everywhere' size. 

 

 

You certainly can do the Aire and Calder in a tiny 68 footer with several others at the same time in the locks. Max length is iirc stated as 200 foot boat by about 20 foot beam. The locks are much longer than that in the main but the boat size is kept at only 200 feet due to skew bridge at Knottla.

[peterboat]

On 29/12/2023 at 15:00, magnetman said:

 

Worth being aware that there is quite a lot of the Northern canal system which is impossible to access with a 68ft Boat. 

 

I don't know all of them or exact details but you won t be able to do the Leeds to Liverpool canal, the Rochdale or the Aire and Calder. There may be a few others.

 

 

I had a 55ft narrow Boat for 12 yars and got around but ironically never made it to the shorter ones anyway. Got as far as Chester and the Welsh canal then returned back south. 

 

It depends what you want to do. 

 

57-59ft is generally regarded as a 'go everywhere' size. 

 

 

A & C is for very big boats, you can get to the east side of Leeds in them.

[magnetman]

I was probably thinking of the C&H.