How to take boat to france

[barge sara]

Best way to get a narrowboat to France as far as I'm concerned though is to pulverize it, put it in a box, and consign it to Circle Transport or some other courier firm. Too many of the bluddy things here already.

[DHutch]

By all accounts it does happen.

 

Ive not seen as much info on it as i would sort perhaps expect, but then again even finding info about crossing the mersey is few and far between and we've doing that in ten days time.

 

When my parents went to france before i was born they did a week on a narrowboat that had apparently come across the channel as a pair on a quite day, along with the rest of the fleet. At twenty miles you would consider it a short days boating if it where on a canal. Limehouse to brentford is 15miles.

 

 

 

Daniel

[Albion]

Hi gang Has anybody sailed their boat across the English channel to the french system? I have heard that 3-4 boats are tied together with a large boom and they either motor across under their own steam or get towed by a trawler. I also believe that a company does this. Does anybody know about this? Bob Smith Wild Rover

 

Ummm, I'm a bit puzzled why you've opened a new thread on this when you asked virtually the same question and got a load of answers here:

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=30773

 

Roger

[bargemast]

Don't listen to the doubters (they once said that the earth was flat...)

 

as they don't want to die yet

 

Just make sure the cratch is waterproof (gaffer tape the doors, and make sure to clear out the welldeck drains), all your windows are waterproof (more gaffer tape).

 

and more gaffer tape to tie the boat to the sky

 

They can't stop or change direction to avoid you silly bugger on your narrowboat

Wear a vest (it can get cold you see), and bring a VHF radio (to call the big ships when they get to close, or the coast guard when you run out of fuel).

 

It can be cold on the deck of the ferry, with your VHF you can listen to the information exchange between the ships while on the ferry

 

Carry enough fuel.

 

Pick a quiet day to cross. Tuesday afternoon is usually o.k.

 

on the back of a trailer prefairably

 

Ohh, don't forget to bring an up to date map.

 

the truck driver will have a good map (and/or GPS) for the road

 

 

Dear Luctor,

 

I may be wrong, but I don't think that you've done many channel-crossings in a (narrow) boat, as the most important part of the preparation of such a trip is to start with a perfectly clean tank and perfectly clean fuel, becaus boats that have spend most of their cruising on the inland waterways will have muck on the bottoms of their tanks that will come loose at sea and block the filters. The statistics will tell you that most engine breakdowns at sea are due to fuel problems.

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't say that it can't be done but you really have to be very well prepared and believe the weather forcast is often wrong. I've done quite a lot of scary things sofar in my life that I wouldn't do again, and I will NEVER volontier to be part of the crew on a channel crossing narrowboat.

 

Peter.

[Guest]

Ummm, I'm a bit puzzled why you've opened a new thread on this when you asked virtually the same question and got a load of answers here:

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=30773

 

Roger

 

Possibly because he posted it in the wrong forum -

 

as to the original question - the other guy that is well known for doing this is Chris Coburn aboard Narrowboat Progress but the preparation was considerable and he had back up with him - not least the camera crew filming the crossing for the Discovery channel program Waterworld.

 

If you want to see what's involved check out the relevant episodes.

 

A picture to give you a flavour is

 

Here

 

 

If we ever do it, and we are considering it, ours will be transported by road/truck/ferry.

Edited June 10, 2010 by NB No Deadlines

[luctor et emergo]

How about tieying lots of empty 45 gallon drums along the hull?

[Grace and Favour]

How about tieying lots of empty 45 gallon drums along the hull?

 

 

Why not tie oil drums to the chassis of a Robin Reliant and pretend you work with that twerp Jeremy Clarkson?

[Paul Evans]

Put the boat on a low-loader and lash more oil drums to the tractor and trailer?

[soldthehouse]

I was under the impression that it was a reasonably common occurence even if not every week of every year, in fact it is on my list of to do's.

Edited June 10, 2010 by soldthehouse

[luctor et emergo]

Or fill the cabin with helium baloons...

[Guest wanted]

Don't listen to the doubters (they once said that the earth was flat...)

 

 

Just make sure the cratch is waterproof (gaffer tape the doors, and make sure to clear out the welldeck drains), all your windows are waterproof (more gaffer tape).

 

Wear a vest (it can get cold you see), and bring a VHF radio (to call the big ships when they get to close, or the coast guard when you run out of fuel).

 

Carry enough fuel.

 

Pick a quiet day to cross. Tuesday afternoon is usually o.k.

 

 

Ohh, don't forget to bring an up to date map.

 

Tuesday afternoons! are you quite mad, So close to school kick out time, it'll be well busy. I'd wait until Wednesday morning.

[carlt]

In fact it is on my list of to do's.

Do it, but not in a narrowboat.

 

As I've said in a previous thread, I've gone out on a sea that was dead flat, with no wind, and come back in a Force 6, that wasn't forecast with waves breaking over the wheelhouse.

 

Great fun in a boat designed to put to sea in an Atlantic hurricane, but I wouldn't have been happy with the Met Office, if I was out in a flat bottomed, slab sided narrowboat.

 

If you want to do it buy yourself a small sea going boat, take the relevant training, kit it out properly and follow your narrowboat, which is safely sat on the ferry.

 

If the saltwater bug hasn't got you then Ebay the sea boat and get your money back.

[soldthehouse]

Do it, but not in a narrowboat.

 

As I've said in a previous thread, I've gone out on a sea that was dead flat, with no wind, and come back in a Force 6, that wasn't forecast with waves breaking over the wheelhouse.

 

Great fun in a boat designed to put to sea in an Atlantic hurricane, but I wouldn't have been happy with the Met Office, if I was out in a flat bottomed, slab sided narrowboat.

 

If you want to do it buy yourself a small sea going boat, take the relevant training, kit it out properly and follow your narrowboat, which is safely sat on the ferry.

 

If the saltwater bug hasn't got you then Ebay the sea boat and get your money back.

[Biggles]

Would my 60 x 12 chined hull fair any better?

 

Biggles

[carlt]

Would my 60 x 12 chined hull fair any better?

 

Biggles

Do you mean three-chined.

 

A flat-bottomed narrowboat is a two chined boat but yes, if your hull has some shape (and strength) then it would fare better.

 

A 3-chined hull would be better than a 2-chined (most narrowboats). A multi-chined hull would be best.

[Morat]

Not that I'm planning to take a NB to sea.. but wouldn't ballast be a pretty vital consideration? Especially making sure that it can't shift?

[WJM]

Why limit yourself to France? You could always go to America instead.

 

http://iwn.iwai.ie/v29i2/ifrances.PDF

[blackrose]

By all accounts it does happen.

 

Ive not seen as much info on it as i would sort perhaps expect, but then again even finding info about crossing the mersey is few and far between and we've doing that in ten days time.

 

When my parents went to france before i was born they did a week on a narrowboat that had apparently come across the channel as a pair on a quite day, along with the rest of the fleet. At twenty miles you would consider it a short days boating if it where on a canal. Limehouse to brentford is 15miles.

 

How far is it through the Thames estuary from the Medway and around the Kent coast to get to Ramsgate or Dover?

 

I think that's the difficult bit because you cannot choose your days so easily and by the time you get out of the estuary the conditions may have changed. For the actual crossing it's straight across and I assume you could wait for the perfect day as long as you don't mind paying harbour fees.

 

 

 

Do you mean three-chined.

 

A flat-bottomed narrowboat is a two chined boat but yes, if your hull has some shape (and strength) then it would fare better.

 

A 3-chined hull would be better than a 2-chined (most narrowboats). A multi-chined hull would be best.

 

When I was at Limehouse the other week waiting to go out onto the Thames, I was talking to one of the retired lockkeepers who told me he was taking his GRP cruiser across the channel to France. I think he'd done the crossing in various boats before and he seemed like a bit of an old seadog.

 

For some reason I asked him if my widebeam could make it across and to my surprise he said he wouldn't even hesitate to take it across. I told him it was hard chined and slightly underpowered but it seemed to make no difference to his opinion.

Edited June 11, 2010 by blackrose

[Guest wanted]

How far is it through the Thames estuary from the Medway and around the Kent coast to get to Ramsgate or Dover?

 

I think that's the difficult bit because you cannot choose your days so easily and by the time you get out of the estuary the conditions may have changed. For the actual crossing it's straight across and I assume you could wait for the perfect day as long as you don't mind paying harbour fees.

 

 

 

 

 

When I was at Limehouse the other week waiting to go out onto the Thames, I was talking to one of the retired lockkeepers who told me he was taking his GRP cruiser across the channel to France. I think he'd done the crossing in various boats before and he seemed like a bit of an old seadog.

 

For some reason I asked him if my widebeam could make it across and to my surprise he said he wouldn't even hesitate to take it across. I told him it was hard chined and slightly underpowered but it seemed to make no difference to his opinion.

 

So, when are you off then? need a crew?

[colin stone]

How far is it through the Thames estuary from the Medway and around the Kent coast to get to Ramsgate or Dover?

 

We left Brentford at approx 4pm after the high water and reached Queenborough, just south of Sheerness at 10pm and had been motoring pretty hard on the ebb tide. Had to slow down a while to get under Hammersmith Bridge. Approx 60 statute miles (sm). Ramsgate would have been a further 40 sm and Dover 50sm, and against the tide for several hours. Stayed at Q until the next high water and left at 0330 am next day after some nosh and shut eye. At 0300 checked wx forecast with my team at work, I have access to a 24hr met forecasting team. Went via the inshore channels past Margate, going further out will add at least 2 hours. Arrived Dunkirk at 1300 for lunch. Q to D 90 statute miles.

 

 

 

A NB should be able to do it with some preparation - air intakes, front end etc and a calm day. Forecasting the calm day will be a difficult bit - when we went I had been monitoring the wx forecast models for the previous 2 weeks - but you do need a 3 day period of high pressure and low winds to flatten everything out before going.

Edited June 11, 2010 by colin stone

[saltysplash]

How far is it through the Thames estuary from the Medway and around the Kent coast to get to Ramsgate or Dover?

 

I think that's the difficult bit because you cannot choose your days so easily and by the time you get out of the estuary the conditions may have changed. For the actual crossing it's straight across and I assume you could wait for the perfect day as long as you don't mind paying harbour fees.

 

 

Last week our trip from Rochester to Ramsgate took 6 hours in an ex pilot cutter at an average fuel saving speed of 9knts.

 

A horrible trip with a north east wind blowing 5-6 on an outgoing tide. several times we were scooping water onto the bow and tossing it back over the wheel house. screen wipers couldnt cope with the amount of water.

 

Turning right at North Foreland presents further problems as you then end up beam on and instead of going up and down you start rolling side to side.

 

Meeting up with our mates on the Dunkirk Little ship Mary Jane at Ramsgate they told us of their trip the day before in absolute flat calm conditions with a baking sun.

 

So flat calm can be found but conditions do change very quickly and on a falling tide theres not many bolt holes once you get past whitstable should you find yourself in trouble

[blackrose]

So, when are you off then? need a crew?

 

If I ever felt really suidical and wanted a mad adventure before I died I might consider it - but otherwise no!

[Laurence Hogg]

I dont know why you are asking this again, if you search the threads the answers have been given before, however.

Chris Coburn and myself have spent many hours at sea aboard "Progress", the boat has been over the Channel several times without incident. "Progress" has two independant fuel systems, a fully watertight bolted on front deck and splashboard, vents are closable and watertight as are doors, there are other mofifications too. The boat carries a life raft, full VHF equipment and backup, there are of course flares and the usual safety stuff. Margate harbour is the usual set off point but expensive to moor in so if you can avoid an overnight that is beneficial. Either take a pilot or make sure you have experienced crew who can read the road.

 

The idea of tying boats abreast is at best suicidal, the guy who went to the Danube tried that and nearly lost the boats, also going over in a boat festooned with garden boxes aloft (Narrowdog) is also very stupid, waves can and do break over the bow and come down the roof, anything thats on there not fixed down will join the steerer - enough said.

 

Not a journey to be taken without a suitable modified boat, remeber your diesel will be swilling about and any crap thats in your tanks will be disturbed. The force of a wave burying your bow for the first time will be like nothing you have experienced inland, so be warned, adventure cruising is rewarding but keep it safe.

[Guest]

I dont know why you are asking this again, if you search the threads the answers have been given before, however.

 

Well if we want to have a pop at a relatively inexperienced poster for not searching the forum we might as well mention that virtually the same answer you have just given was posted eariler in the thread.

 

Post #30

[blackrose]

Well if we want to have a pop at a relatively inexperienced poster for not searching the forum we might as well mention that virtually the same answer you have just given was posted eariler in the thread.

 

Post #30

 

Laurence & Chris are just trying to give us the benefit of their experience and show us how it should be done:

http://www.nb-progress.com/images/Progress%20on%20wier.jpg

Edited June 11, 2010 by blackrose