Any Tips For the Basingstoke Canal?

[cereal tiller]

 

We are going to take Theodora as far as we can and accept the fact that we might have a goodish bit of reversing. I would hate to miss it if there is the slightest possibility of getting under the low bits.

 

I will see if I can persuade 20 or so heavy persons to stand in the hold for a little trip. Perhaps I will phone a local builder's merchant and see if they can lend me a bag of aggregate and deliver it into the hold. These suggestions are only half joking. I must do some calculations to find out just how much I need to load and in what position (as far forward as possible) to effect the right reduction of air draught.

 

N

Just to add that we came up Deepcut today. It is really very beautiful. Didn't get wet at all today. This was a good thing!

 

N

Agreed, the Deepcut flight is rather magical,is the sunken timber Boat still there?

 

CT

[magnetman]

(Just noticed I got the inches wrong in my last post. I meant 8 inches not six (last post but one I meant)

Edited June 1, 2016 by magnetman

[mark99]

If its any use I roughly measured my air draft as 6 foot but got under the lowest bridge on the Bassy. JUST. We cleared the wey bridge relatively closely but in reality was about 6 ". THEO if you clear the first and second low bridges with 2" to spare you should squeeze under the third with 1/2 to 1".

 

Obviously fill with water at Ash lock water point.

Agreed, the Deepcut flight is rather magical,is the sunken timber Boat still there?

 

CT

Yes indeed. Be aware the hulking great old rusty working flat further up, even though it looks listed right over and mud bound, it does move so don't charge past too close.

[mark99]

Be selfish and get up to the head of navigation first. The water is really clear up there. After first bote passes it churns up. Good food and service at Fox and Hounds. Not bad at Barley Mow. Both have excellent moorings nearby.

[roggie]

We went down there 2 weeks so, didn't manage the first low bridge which was around 5'10" tried to get the chimney off but failed...to been on for over 25 years I guess. I was told the 2 bridges in Fleet are lower. One boat said they had to remove their tiller pin....it's that low. Thames transit is £10 from Teddington and a weeks Wey transit £14 inc borrowing a windless. You have to book by 3 pm Basingstoke passage and will be met by lock keeper at the first lock (almost forget about getting onto lock landings) who will check your paperwork (you pay when you book), they want insurance docs and proof of BSS. There were 3 boats going up and locks have to be left empty. The lockie follows the last lock to caulk them up, soil and wood mix plus good prodding by a long pole. Only 2 places to moor overnight after the 2 flights, good option is Brookwood Country Park which is better than the one just after the last lock. You have to clear locks by 3pm. The same for Brookwood & Deepcut flight, wooden sunken boat still there. We started at 9.30 and finished at around 3. You are on your own from there. The same coming down, again 3 boats and the first 2 opened the top paddle so they were full for the last boat, we shared on day 1 and singled on day 2. Agree lots of leaves so a quick spurt of reverse helps. Everyone said how nice the upper section was which didn't help. The canal centre might of lent me a angle grinder which I seriously considered. So if you have a cratch cover it will almost certainly have to come down. I took some Photolapse videos and will try to post links when I can, I did post links and photos via Twitter so if you look for @roggys or @thebcateam you should find them.

 

This was coming back in nice weather

This was going up and not nice weather

[magnetman]

I like your videos

[Theo]

Agreed, the Deepcut flight is rather magical,is the sunken timber Boat still there?

 

CT

Yup. SWMBO hurriedly handed the tiller over to me so that she could take a picture.

 

 

N

[Theo]

We are up past the very low bridge near the end of navigation. Decent water depth here. Not so good at Deepcut after the flight at certain spots or Woking.

 

Really needs two weeks to enjoy. One of the Deepcut locks has had a bollard concreted in position so you can't open one lock top gate.

I didn't notice that. What I did notice this afternoon is that two of the concrete bollards have been beautifully trimmed with a diamond cutter so that the balance beams can pass over the tops of them.

Also the swing bridge near Crookham is a heavy beast. Not sure a widebeam could get through.

 

After Fleet it's very Purdy. Deepcut flight is great too.

Note the low bridge is very low. We went through with 1 inch to spare clearing right down the roof taking off looby and klaxon and tiller pin. This is the last of the three low bridges.

 

Recommend if you draw less than 2'6.

 

Bizzarly the further you go the less issue with stodge as depth average increases.

[roggie]

One photo at https://twitter.com/roggys/status/733318854848417793?s=09the first of the flowers didn't get under and the chimney was higher. The boat we went up with had to remove their cratch cover https://twitter.com/roggys/status/733975726102286336?s=09

 

It's a good trip though, we went from our mooring on the Slough Arm which meant 6 hours to Brentford next day onto the Thames to the start of the Basingstoke, another 6 hours ..check tides of course. Next 2 days are linked to lock flight opening times, time I'd yours till the return trip. Do if you like to take it easy perhaps it's not a trip for you especially if you normally moor up when it's raining.

[mark99]

Did you get under Theo?

 

We passed you just about Mychett Lake on our way back.

[mark99]

If its any use I roughly measured my air draft as 6 foot but got under the lowest bridge on the Bassy. JUST.

Now I've taken the time and measured my air draft accurately and it's actually 5 foot 9 with full tank of water two up front and all high bits including tiller pin off.

 

In summary the published air drafts for the Bassy are on the money notwithstanding water levels can vary a little.

Edited June 2, 2016 by mark99

[Theo]

Did you get under Theo?

 

We passed you just about Mychett Lake on our way back.

 

We did!

 

We had to take the off side. The towpath side might have been as much as an inch lower. Having placed Theodora in the appropriate place I joined SWMBO at the front of the hold. My added weight near the bow gave us the extra half inch that we needed. We then propelled Theodora by hand friction on the underside of the bridge and as we proceeded there was enough clearance to return to normal propulsion.

 

We are now happily moored next to Farnborough Airfield.

 

N

 

PS My BMC1.5 doesn't sound as nice as your engine.

Now I've taken the time and measured my air draft accurately and it's actually 5 foot 9 with full tank of water two up front and all high bits including tiller pin off.

 

In summary the published air drafts for the Bassy are on the money notwithstanding water levels can vary a little.

 

Just to add that we had a full tank of water and added one dustbin of water in the hold when we arrived at Ash Lock. It looked as if we were nearly down by the head so we didn't fill the next one. We should have done.

 

No showers tonight. We need the weight in the tank for the next bridges.

 

N

Edited June 2, 2016 by Theo

[mark99]

Ah.... great news however you may need a bit more luck with the last one. That's the lowest by I reckon another 1/2 to 1".

 

Et Delete Deep cut content as forgot Ash Lock.

Edited June 2, 2016 by mark99

[magnetman]

 

My added weight near the bow gave us the extra half inch that we needed...

 

N

 

N

[Theo]

Are you having bad thoughts Mr magnetman?

 

Acksherly we have planned to fill the other bin with canal water before we set off tomorrow. SWMBO is delighted that we have succeeded so far. We had some sunshine today as well. It's all good.

 

Even if we don't get under the last bridge we will still have reduced the necessary cycle ride by about half.

 

N

[magnetman]

I did a quick calculation of the tons per inch immersion for a 15 tonne boat 2f6 deep and came to the conclusion you weigh at least 125kg if you push the boat down half an inch when you are standing on the front just sayin'

 

I don't know if your boat is 15 tonnes or 2ft6 deep though

And my math may be considerably incorrect anyway on account of mixing up inches and tonnes

[cereal tiller]

Are you having bad thoughts Mr magnetman?

 

Acksherly we have planned to fill the other bin with canal water before we set off tomorrow. SWMBO is delighted that we have succeeded so far. We had some sunshine today as well. It's all good.

 

Even if we don't get under the last bridge we will still have reduced the necessary cycle ride by about half.

 

N

Bins full of water are good,even better is a 6' circular kid's Paddling Pool.

 

Having read that Reading road South bridge had clearance of 5'10" ,I purchased the Pool and filled it with River water when the Boat was on it's Thames

 

mooring

 

The Boat's air draft reduced from 6'1" to 5'10" ,good.

 

Upon reaching the aforementioned bridge the boat had adequate clearance without the Pool,only necessity was removal of the Tiller Pin

 

CT

[mark99]

Tell you how little traffic there is on the upper Basingstoke. The trip boat that goes up to the end very regularly said this week was the first time in 20 years he has seen three boats up there at the same time. They do three trips a day from Odiham to the head of navigation in the boating season.

Edited June 2, 2016 by mark99

[Theo]

I did a quick calculation of the tons per inch immersion for a 15 tonne boat 2f6 deep and came to the conclusion you weigh at least 125kg if you push the boat down half an inch when you are standing on the front just sayin'

 

I don't know if your boat is 15 tonnes or 2ft6 deep though

And my math may be considerably incorrect anyway on account of mixing up inches and tonnes

 

I just typed a full calculation but Ubuntu fell over before I posted it. Observation indicates that whatever calculation you did was about right.

 

Remembering the numbers 36 T/cm assuming whole boat immerses. This means about 18 T/cm at the bow assuming that the stern remains at the same depth. I moved from stern to bow and weigh about 670N which is about 67kg. I suppose that the change of trim when moving a weight is the same as adding twice that weight in the same place? Not too convinced really but it all worked so who cares?

 

N

[roggie]

We were told the levels when we were there were 10mm above normal, it chucked it down the day before. Guess it was not to be, would have been worse to get thru but not get back. I did think of offering a battalion of squaddies a few beers but no guarantee they would be available for the return trip. Guess we shouldn't think about the Droitwich till we have sorted the chimney.

 

At the top of the Deepcut flight is a excellent farm that sells farm food https://heatherhurstgrange.comlovely sausages and well worth ordering, they might even deliver if you are mooring by the top lock overnight.

 

Well done for getting through to the end, we did have nice comments that people didn't often see narrowboats, the local village Twitter account even tweeted a photo of our boat moored at Brookwood Country Park with the comment "Narrowboat on the Basingstoke Canal #Knaphill this morning #navigation #Woking" Fame at last.

[mark99]

Yes the locals are always glad to see boats up there it seems. Loads of comments re "thought canal was not fully open". Obviously it's a bit of a novelty judging by the comments to see non hire boats up there.

 

I just got back thru lowest bridge yesterday turned round and there were a couple of soldiers on towpath with assault rifles. I said "are they real" to which I got a smile but no reply.

 

I did not realise that 28 or so miles of the canal out of 32 are a SSSI and hence total boat movements per annum are capped.

 

Currently in Mychett offside having overnighted and used their excellent showers and other facilties. One staff member recounted when they first started trapping signal crays they took out 1.5 tonnes in less than a week.

 

The Deepcut decent starts today. We flew up Deepcut in a blur. Ranger set all locks open and we shared locks with an experienced crew in another boat and had 4 lock wheelers between us.

Edited June 3, 2016 by mark99

[roggie]

Best of luck going down, well worth having someone go ahead to open gates before you get there as hanging around in a v shallow pound not the best. Also come out of the locks one at a time due to gates not opening fully.

 

You might hear the sound of music from the barracks, we did, I guess they practice in the morning.

[Theo]

We heard music in the afternoon! Nice bugles but loads of gunfire too.

We moored at Farnborough Aerodrome last night and aware that the lowest bridge was to come, pressed into service two extra rubbish bins and a mop bucket all full of water for ballast. The lowest bridge, Reading Road South was just (by 1/2") ok until we came to the last beam. This caused the removal of the forward lift the dot peg. But we were through, and delighted to be through and happy.

 

It really is worth it. We will do a bit more boating this afternoon, possibly as far as Odiham (Is it pronounce Oddiam or Oadiam or something else?)

 

Thanks, roggie, for the farm shop tip. We will look into it on the way back.

 

Nick

[magnetman]

Oadiam AFAIK . My mum used to go there as a child on holidays.

[cuthound]

Oadiam AFAIK . My mum used to go there as a child on holidays.

Correct, my sister in law lives near there and that is how she and her family pronounce it.