Heybridge to Lea

[Matthew Knowles]

I'm currently moored on the Chelmer and Blackwater but actually reside in Derbyshire. One day my contract in Chelmsford will run out and I'll want to get the boat home. As I see it there are 3 options:

 

1) Crane it onto a truck, drive it north, crane it out in Derbyshire.

2) Crane it onto a truck, drive it a short distance, crane it onto the Lea/Stort, sail home.

3) Sail it around the coast, up the Thames and home.

 

Clearly, the bulk of the cost of 1) is the cost of the crane so this option seems more sensible than 2) since the truck is the cheaper element to this. However, without knowing what it would entail I'm unable to evaluate option 3). What would I need? How much would it cost? How would I do it?

 

Any ideas?

 

Matt

[carlt]

1) Crane it onto a truck, drive it north, crane it out in Derbyshire.

2) Crane it onto a truck, drive it a short distance, crane it onto the Lea/Stort, sail home.

3) Sail it around the coast, up the Thames and home.

If your boat is seaworthy then 3) has got to be the fun option.

 

2) is second place (fun wise)

 

3) is probably most sensible.

 

If you're thinking of the Thames route then I assume it's a narrowboat, so 2) would be my favourite.

[Matthew Knowles]

If your boat is seaworthy then 3) has got to be the fun option.

 

2) is second place (fun wise)

 

3) is probably most sensible.

 

If you're thinking of the Thames route then I assume it's a narrowboat, so 2) would be my favourite.

 

Yes it's a narrowboat. I assume I'd need a VHF radio, someone to use it, a Thames pilot etc?

[the grinch]

if you opt for option 3 then give me a call i can crew!! and i have VHF radio

[GUMPY]

I'm currently moored on the Chelmer and Blackwater but actually reside in Derbyshire. One day my contract in Chelmsford will run out and I'll want to get the boat home. As I see it there are 3 options:

 

1) Crane it onto a truck, drive it north, crane it out in Derbyshire.

2) Crane it onto a truck, drive it a short distance, crane it onto the Lea/Stort, sail home.

3) Sail it around the coast, up the Thames and home.

3 is possible and has been done however you need to get the weather window exactly right, calm sea and winds less then force 2.

It can be done in one hit if you have a decent boat see here

http://www.tuesdaynightclub.co.uk/Tour_01/Medplus8.html

It is a very long day and Neil has said that he wont do it again.

 

Last time we tried to get back from the Crouch we had to abandon it at Southend as I wasn't sure that we would make Limehouse before it shut this meant a very bumpy ride across the estuary to the Swale which was unpleasant to say the least.

 

If you do it in two hits and get your timing right you should be able to cross to the Swale, overnight there and then on up to London on the next tide.

You will need to know about tides and navigation and have the correct charts etc.

It is a proper sea going passage even though you are in sight of land all the way.

 

Here's a thought, have you been out of Heybridge onto the Blackwater? I would try that on a very calm day and see how you feel you may decide that its all to scary being out on big water. If you do decide to give it a try make sure you have a decent anchor with you and some charts and you understand what they say as there is a lot of mud in the Blackwater and it would be embarrassing to say the least to be stuck out there for 12 hours.

[carlt]

If you opt for option 3 you need to spend a lot of money on making you boat seaworthy.

 

That bit of coast is my stomping ground and the calmest of days would swamp a narrowboat.

 

This was taken when it was at its mildest (going past the blackwater).

 

[Matthew Knowles]

If you opt for option 3 you need to spend a lot of money on making you boat seaworthy.

 

That bit of coast is my stomping ground and the calmest of days would swamp a narrowboat.

 

This was taken when it was at its mildest (going past the blackwater).

 

 

Hmm, this is partly what I was wondering. Clearly it would cost £2k ish to get the boat out of the Chelmer and into the Stort/Lea. If I was going to pay a good chunk of this getting the boat sea worthy, insurance, etc just to drive it around the coast for a day or two then options 1) and 2) become more viable.

[Tim Lewis]

Hmm, this is partly what I was wondering. Clearly it would cost £2k ish to get the boat out of the Chelmer and into the Stort/Lea. If I was going to pay a good chunk of this getting the boat sea worthy, insurance, etc just to drive it around the coast for a day or two then options 1) and 2) become more viable.

 

At todays's depressed prices it shouldn't cost anything like £2k to move a boat by lorry /crane. It's only an hours drive between the Chelmer and the lea and there yards on the Lea that have cranes that will put you in (Don't think the crane at Heybridge will lift a narrowboat, assuming that is what you have).

 

Tim