Jump to content

Bristol to Sharpness via Portishead


Featured Posts

It occurs to me that others may find our experience of the crossing from Bristol to Sharpness (on Monday 21st August 2017) of interest.

Our account of the journey is on our blog at http://ianhelencanals.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/out-on-mighty-severn-bristol-to.html

Happy boating!

Ian and Helen on Narrowboat Leo

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brilliant.

We did Sharpness to Bristol. Took a pilot to Portishead only and would certainly recommend that. For those with salt water experience then perhaps not necessary but when we left Sharpness we left with 4 other boats, 2 powerful cruisers and a barge and one other. The barge had a scare being nearly swept onto a huge buoy, (That current is REALLY fast) and two cruisers, both of which grounded coming into Cardiff and damaged rudders and props. The water was a bit rough and when we got to Bristol you could lick any part of the boat and it was salty. We have done many trips on tidal waters since then but that is a stand out experience. Perfectly OK in a narrowboat and much less scary and much less rolling and chop than some of the conditions on European commercial canals, (we are 3.4 m wide x 10m so quite stable)  If you do it then some of the pilots will eat all your biscuits so stock up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did the journey from Bristol to Sharpness via Portishead about 4 years ago. Just had a pilot from Portishead up to Sharpness. The Bristol to Portishead section is perfectly do-able without a pilot but it is a bit nerve-wracking on your own with only limited tidal experience because the tidal rivers I'd done before weren't actually the sea!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for sharing a very interesting account Ian. This is something I'd love to do in the near future but I want to do it from Sharpness to Bristol. I wouldn't entertain doing it without a pilot for both legs, not just the one. A large cost maybe, but the reassurance of having an expert on board would be worth it for me as well as it enabling us to relax more and enjoy the experience.

My only concern is the age of my 20 year old boat and whether the engine would be up to it. It's 62ft with a BMC 1.8 engine (38hp) with 10,000 hours on the clock. It was reconditioned at about 8k but not sure to what extent, but I've had it checked last year and was told it was 'a good engine'. I feel it may be a bit under-powered for the job and that together with the age of the engine may be a risk.

Having done the tidal Trent, and the Severn from Gloucester to Tewkesbury I know it is capable of 2,000 - 2,200 rpm for long periods without any overheating problems, but this trip is in a different league.

I've had the fuel polished a couple of times and have a fuel separator device between the tank and the engine. I also have and use VHF, navigation lights etc.

Presumably you sealed your bow deck drain holes before embarking did you, and were there any other modifications necessary?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to help with some more information in reply to yours:

Our boat is 10 years old being a 57 foot narrowboat with a Beta 43 hp engine.  We have two pairs of drains at the front.  The ones very close to the water in still conditions are for the bow locker with the gas cylinders inside.  I did block these drain holes but it can't have been terribly effective because it was clear that water had got in during the passage and there was a layer of Severn sand left inside. I covered the hatch to the bow locker with a black plastic waste sack, taped down at the edges so that water could not get in from above.  The other holes drain the open deck.  We have cratch covers which were down to avoid most spray getting in.  We didn't cover these drain holes so that any water that did get in could then drain away.  Frankly conditions were pretty calm, though we did take some waves over the bow.  This was more spray than the boat putting its bow under.  If you don't have cratch covers then I think the pilot will advise other ways of covering up the bow of the boat.  The danger is water coming in through the front doors.

We have a checklist for going out on tidal waters - telly on the bed, glasses out of the way, that sort of thing and we rig the anchor which is stored at the stern, so that it can be deployed there but is tied to the bow stud. 

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Ian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Grassman said:

My only concern is the age of my 20 year old boat and whether the engine would be up to it.

We did Sharpness-Bath as a two-way trip back in the early 70s with big-Northwich motor Towcester we worked - the K&A had not been re-opened at that time, though we were able to go up a short way before we left Bath to return. We had a load of old penny-in-the-slot machines we'd gathered up when money changed from shillings & pence to decimal and lots of them were being thrown away; we had no freights booked for a while and were persuaded to take some to the Alternative Bath Festival.

We were offered a tow down from Sharpness by the BW tug Severn Progress against the rising tide. He was booked into Bristol docks overnight and took us with him - we were in the berth usually occupied by the Royal Yacht. We continued next day to Bath under our own steam.

On the return trip we had to turn left when we left the Avon and drop down to Portishead. There was no marina back then and the chap in charge at the pier told us to drop an anchor in a spot he pointed out, saying we would be afloat in a small pool there when the tide went out. All very well, but we had no anchor (not a thing we would ever entertain in such circumstances now we are older and wiser). What we did have was some granite kerb stones as ballast in the back end of the hold, which we tied to some line and which worked fine.

Next day we left as soon as the tide started making and we were able to get back out into the river. I'd looked at an A-Z road map which showed a dotted line up the Severn that pretty much corresponded to the course we'd taken with the tug. We'd met a friend at Bath by chance so Di chickened out of the trip up the Severn, and she went by bus from Portishead to Sharpness with our two boys.

She was there on the entrance to the harbour when we arrived, and the lock keeper said it was impossible for us to arrive when we did as there was not enough water - there had not been a lot of narrowboats making the trip back then, or not since the working Severners finished, so it was not a thing he'd seen before as cruisers making the trip waited for a lot more water under them.

As a post-script, when I looked in more detail at the A-Z map I realised it did not mark a navigable channel, and I'd followed the boundary between England and Wales.

So it can be done, but it's probably better to take a pilot.

as a p.s., Towcester is a GUCC 72' boat built 1937, with an old JP2 motor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We did this trip a day after the OP with pilots on both legs. The pilot on the Bristol - Portishead leg was required by the insurance company (GJW), although there was no additional premium for the trip. I was very glad to have the pilots aboard! On both legs I would say the engine (Gardner 2 LW) was required to run at about 80% throttle for the majority of the distance. I had changed fuel filters within the last month, and vacuumed the bottom of the tank with a Pela pump. We did not experience any problems and found the whole thing a really great adventure.

Some stills and video here: https://1drv.ms/v/s!AtT0mdDBw6Sgh6EyVjQJAcjNYJKLEA

Mike

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.