Boat size K and A

[tove]

I would be really interested to hear from anyone who has taken a fairly large vessel down the Kennet and Avon canal. I know what the official dimension limit statistics are but would be eager to hear from boaters about their personal experiences.

Has anyone ever tried to take a boat as large as the official width and length resistrictions?

Would love to hear your stories. Many thanks.

[grahame r]

One lock in the Caen Hill Flight has a notice saying it's too narrow to take 2 narrow boats and boats should go through singly. We were held up for the best part of a day by a pair getting stuck at Seend Bottom Lock last week. So if you're thinking of taking something wider than 14 feet please warn us so we can be somewhere else.

[davidb]

This shows a typical lock width, the barge is 13' 6" wide exactly.

 

Any wider would be a real challenge, cheers, David

 

Edited June 27, 2013 by davidb

[Chris Pink]

One lock in the Caen Hill Flight has a notice saying it's too narrow to take 2 narrow boats and boats should go through singly. We were held up for the best part of a day by a pair getting stuck at Seend Bottom Lock last week. So if you're thinking of taking something wider than 14 feet please warn us so we can be somewhere else.

 

There's loads of locks a pair of 7 foot boats will get stuck in. Almost all of them you would have trouble breasted up. Most you can get a pair in one at a time provided the lumpy bits are fairly benign. Lock 37 isn't, Seend bottom isn't, BOA isn't, lock 9 is a problem. I won't take a full pair through any of them any more, it's easier to do the lock twice.

 

There's many where the gates don't open properly. You can get a 71'6" boat through everywhere but would have trouble with 2 that length because you often have to use the other gate.

 

The gauge is 13' 2" x 70' and that is fairly sensible. Any bigger will cause issues and 14' x 71' 6" won't go.

 

 

It's easier on the eastern side especially once on the Kennet the locks are plenty big enough.

Edited June 27, 2013 by Chris Pink

[Timleech]

What about draught?

 

Tim

[Chris Pink]

What about draught?

 

Tim

 

The rocky section is probably the worst bit (Avoncliff to Limpley Stoke) but that's intermittent. I've never had problems with 3'3" but some places the lack of dredging is an issue. All the locks are, in theory, 5' over the cill but the channel has been compromised in many places.

 

You do see some large barges making the transit but I would imagine they are not hard chined.

[tove]

Thanks everyone for your input. Very helpful. Especially Davidb, many thanks. (Love your boat!) Actually I was thinking more along the lines of 13' x 65', so by the sounds of it I should be OK.

Don't worry Grahame R, I certainly won't be taking a 14 footer down there any day soon!

[Gillie]

Make sure you are not too deep then ..a couple of years ago a widebeam got stuck on the cill going into Bulls Lock , got off somehow backwards and was stuck there for best part of a month!

 

We have been stuck on the cill (again going up) of Burnt Mill Lock 65 Great Bedwyn more than once, last time had to let loads of water in to raise the level up, which pushed me out with an almighty force and had to work really hard to get back in!...Great fun

[dmr]

There is a new and huge hotel boat making its way to the K&A, in fact its probably there by now.

 

http://www.wessexrose.co.uk/

 

You could keep an eye on the www to see if there are any reports of trouble.

Bath narrowboats also run (or ran) a big trip boat and it was somewhat unpopular with some K&A boaters, though this was in part because it went too fast.

Its not just a case of if your boat actually fits: if your boat handling skills are not adequate to handle a big boat on a waterway that is narrow and busy in places then you might become a bit unpopular.

 

.............Dave

 

[MtB]

I remember hearing a dutch barge style boat approaching on the K&A once, somewhere east of the Bruce Tunnel IIRC. The engine seemed to be working hard and it was accompanied by a separate, high pitched 'roaring' noise a bit like a jet fighter plane makes. As it got nearer it became clear the roaring crunching noise was the boat dragging it's arse through the gravel of the river bed!

 

 

MtB

[luctor et emergo]

There is a new and huge hotel boat making its way to the K&A, in fact its probably there by now.

[it is, and is is hughmongous, but boated with skill]

http://www.wessexrose.co.uk/

 

You could keep an eye on the www to see if there are any reports of trouble.

Bath narrowboats also run (or ran)[run] a big trip boat and it was somewhat very unpopular with somemost K&A boaters, though this was in part because it went too fast. [The John Rennie, locally known as the 'Rennie Rapide'...]

Its not just a case of if your boat actually fits: if your boat handling skills are not adequate to handle a big boat on a waterway that is narrow and busy in places then you might become a bit unpopular.

 

.............Dave

 

[Chris Pink]

Much as I hate to disagree, I believe that Stuart steers the Rennie these days with skill and courtesy.

 

It also fits many narrow places because it is v-bottomed.

 

The Wessex Rose was in Bath two weeks ago so obviously made the trip. Again I would be surprised if it was hard chined.

[Gillie]

Am sure when Danny used to drive the J Rennie it went much too fast..and in the dark too!!

 

Was the Wessex Rose as huge in real life as it looked in the pictures??

[billS]

I read somewhere that the perception of size depends on the angle which you look at it at.

[magpie patrick]

I read somewhere that the perception of size depends on the angle which you look at it at.

 

So from one angle Juno won't fit, but from another a channel ferry would?

 

Back to the matter in hand, Chris Pink knows these waters better than most, and I would say, as I usually do, the Kennet and Avon is not a full size wide beam waterway the way that many are. It was built without reference to narrow boats travelling in pairs, with a notional maximum vessel size of 13 feet 8 inches by 70 feet, not 24 feet by 72.

[dmr]

I read somewhere that the perception of size depends on the angle which you look at it at.

 

Yes indeed, when its heading directly towards you it looks very big!

 

..............Dave

[dmr]

Much as I hate to disagree, I believe that Stuart steers the Rennie these days with skill and courtesy.

 

It also fits many narrow places because it is v-bottomed.

 

The Wessex Rose was in Bath two weeks ago so obviously made the trip. Again I would be surprised if it was hard chined.

 

Prepare to be surprised!

Follow the link in my post (9) and have a look in the gallery section that shows several photos of this beast out of the water.

I am not convinced that its the optimum shape for the K&A.

 

..............Dave

[billS]

 

! am not convinced that its the optimum shape for the K&A.

 

..............Dave

Good lord - what an eyesore. It looks like it's made of lego.

[GUMPY]

Prepare to be surprised!

Follow the link in my post (9) and have a look in the gallery section that shows several photos of this beast out of the water.

I am not convinced that its the optimum shape for the K&A.

 

..............Dave

It passed here on the GU and was really slow and struggling and its not really shallow.

It has obviously designed to give maximum space and will be as hydrodynamic as a brick.

[sassan]

Didn't have any problems with the bath narrowboats trip boat when we were there earlier this year (ok, sometimes noisy music, but we lived in St Augustine's reach in Bristol Harbour for 5 months, so this was nothing).

 

The K&A trust's boat (Barbara McEllen) however, is a VERY different matter! HUGE! FAST!

 

To the point where the often have a crew member following it along the towpath to re-moor all the boats who've had their pins pulled out by it, but not always. You can often see a trail of destruction following it!