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Where can't we go with a 62 foot narrow boat???


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A daft question after we have just bought our new boat but for general information, and only proper cruising routes please (not 2 mile arms), where can't we cruise with a 62 footer?

I know these will be northern waters which is why it isn't critical to us as we are Middle England cruisers but it would be good to know.

Hope this will be of interest to others as well.

 

 

  • Greenie 1
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Definitely not the Tinsley Flight up to Sheffield. The lock keepers won't let boats over 60' attempt it. Definitely not the Calder &Hebble and the Huddersfield Broad. 57'6" officially, but possible with a 60' done diagonally. I travelled with a 60' boat once on the C&H and the Saltherhebble locks had to be negotiated backwards to descend and the bottom gates only just cleared the boat. 62' would not get through.

Jen

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If you travel the Huddersfield Narrow canal you can't get out of the eastern end on the Huddersfield Broad canal, and if you travel the Rochdale canal you can't get out of the eastern end on the Calder and Hebble either. To see these canals you will probably end up doing what we did which is to start from the Manchester end of each and turn around at the eastern end, both times thus crossing the Pennines 4 times in rapid succession and becoming utterly exhausted.

  • Happy 1
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43 minutes ago, Halsey said:

...............where can't we cruise with a 62 footer?

I know these will be northern waters ... 

Yes that length will exclude some northern waters but you'd be surprised how far you can get with a bit of a sweat.

The Calder Navigation and Huddersfield Broad are pretty much out but you would be able to reach Ripon apart from the very last lock. I remember trying to help Jim Macdonald in Elizabeth (61' 9" + rudder) to lock up that one a few years ago. He insisted he'd been up previously but Julie the lockie told us a new cill had reduced the length since that trip. It was the only the rudder preventing the gates closing that foiled him.

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47 minutes ago, Halsey said:

But of course - is there anything else?

 

Yes there are comfortable nice, wide, boat shaped boats!! the only problem is they will not travel on the stupid seven foot wide system we have inherited from our ancestors -_-

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The limiting factor for reaching the Yorkshire waterways via the Trent is Thorne lock. Officially this is 60', but I have seen a 62' narrowboat do it diagonally and longer ones still have done it. This saves going round Trent Falls, which is a bit hard core for ditch crawlers, though it is done. From there you have access to canals set up for very large boats indeed. Certainly as far as Leeds, Wakefield and Rotherham and most of the way to Ripon. You can reach Huddersfield via the narrow canal from Manchester area, but will have to return the same way because of the Hiuddersfield broad.

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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6 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

The limiting factor for reaching the Yorkshire waterways via the Trent is Thorne lock. Officially this is 60', but I have seen a 62' narrowboat do it diagonally and longer ones still have done it. This saves going round Trent Falls, which is a bit hard core for ditch crawlers, though it is done. From there you have access to canals set up for very large boats indeed.

Jen

Ive said it before and I will say it again A SEVENTY foot narrowboat goes through Thorne lock :cheers:

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6 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Ive said it before and I will say it again A SEVENTY foot narrowboat goes through Thorne lock :cheers:

...and around Trent Falls :giggles:

Edited by Midnight
for the avoidance of doubt
  • Greenie 1
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2 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Ive said it before and I will say it again A SEVENTY foot narrowboat goes through Thorne lock :cheers:

I remember you saying you had done it in a longer boat, but couldn't remember the length. I only stated what I had seen, which matches the original posters boat.

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5 minutes ago, Midnight said:

...and around Trent Falls

Of course!! I can also confirm that anything over 70 foot will deffo not go thro Thorne lock.

6 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I remember you saying you had done it in a longer boat, but couldn't remember the length. I only stated what I had seen, which matches the original posters boat.

Yes I know but I do wish CART would update the crap that has been on line now since time immemorial as I reckon lots of narrowboat owners are put off by the thought of Trent falls when in reality they can go the easy way :cheers:

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15 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Of course!! I can also confirm that anything over 70 foot will deffo not go thro Thorne lock.

Yes I know but I do wish CART would update the crap that has been on line now since time immemorial as I reckon lots of narrowboat owners are put off by the thought of Trent falls when in reality they can go the easy way :cheers:

Trent Falls is easy, it's just the small matter that you tend to crap yourself for 20 minutes when it's rough.

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6 minutes ago, Midnight said:

Trent Falls is easy, it's just the small matter that you tend to crap yourself for 20 minutes when it's rough.

Ive done it in BOAT shaped boats. When we took my seventy footer up there we expected and where on the way to do Trent end until a lockie said he new a 70 footer had done Thorne lock so we diverted in at Keadby to give it a go and it did indeed fit I am happy to say with ZERO space.

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You can get to Liverpool no problem and the Rufford Branch (official 62' limit), which give access to the Lancaster canal. What about the Leeds and Liverpool from Wigan to Leeds? Officially this is 60', but is there enough wriggle wrong to get a 62' boat through the locks diagonally? That would give you a cross Pennine loop. Would the volunteer lockies on the staircases give you grief for trying?

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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22 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

You can get to Liverpool no problem and the Rufford Branch (official 62' limit), which give access to the Lancaster canal. What about the Leeds and Liverpool from Wigan to Leeds? Officially this is 60', but is there enough wriggle wrong to get a 62' boat through the locks diagonally? That would give you a cross Pennine loop. Would the volunteer lockies on the staircases give you grief for trying?

Jen

Technically there is wriggle room on Wigan Flight BUT the gates leak so much as to risk flooding over the bows or if coming down, flooding engine hole. At best getting wet feet. I did it in a 60 footer coming down - never again.

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I think a 62 footer would struggle between Wigan and Leeds. I've done it in a 60 footer and was very grateful we didn't have another 2 feet to contend with. Got wet bow and wet stern on a number of occasions. 

With regards to the Rivers Ouse and Ure up to Ripon, I may be wrong but I think Linton Lock north of York is pretty short and 62 feet might not make it through.

 

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2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Definitely not the Tinsley Flight up to Sheffield. The lock keepers won't let boats over 60' attempt it. Definitely not the Calder &Hebble and the Huddersfield Broad. 57'6" officially, but possible with a 60' done diagonally. I travelled with a 60' boat once on the C&H and the Saltherhebble locks had to be negotiated backwards to descend and the bottom gates only just cleared the boat. 62' would not get through.

Jen

I met a chap moored in Sheffield basin who'd come up the Tinsley flight no problems in his 62' boat. Expecting grief he'd told the keepers it was 59' and had no bother. But seeing as Sheffield keels were 61' and wide I don't suppose he would. The worst part is going back down the flight where your stern deck gets a good wash from the water cascading over the gates.

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32 minutes ago, noddyboater said:

I met a chap moored in Sheffield basin who'd come up the Tinsley flight no problems in his 62' boat. Expecting grief he'd told the keepers it was 59' and had no bother. But seeing as Sheffield keels were 61' and wide I don't suppose he would. The worst part is going back down the flight where your stern deck gets a good wash from the water cascading over the gates.

I've always thought that the 60' limit at Tinsley was over conservative as a 60' NB still has quite a bit of room to manouver.  The walkways at each end on the lockgates would need to be watched with care to prevent being sunk by them when ascending. Don't know if anyone has tried taking a Sheffield size keel up in recent years.

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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5 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I've always thought that the 60' limit at Tinsley was over conservative as a 60' NB still has quite a bit of room to manouver.  The walkways at each end on the lockgates would need to be watched with care to prevent being sunk by them when ascending. Don't know if anyone has tried taking a Sheffield size keel up in recent years.

Jen

I'm not sure the last time a Sheffield size boat was up the flight either. JUNE was based at Tinsley marina for a while and of course A39 spent many years as a restaurant/trip boat in Sheffield but they're both shorter at around 58' I think. Getting A39 across Staniforth Rd aqueduct cleanly was always a challenge but that was a width issue!

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3 hours ago, Keeping Up said:

If you travel the Huddersfield Narrow canal you can't get out of the eastern end on the Huddersfield Broad canal, and if you travel the Rochdale canal you can't get out of the eastern end on the Calder and Hebble either. To see these canals you will probably end up doing what we did which is to start from the Manchester end of each and turn around at the eastern end, both times thus crossing the Pennines 4 times in rapid succession and becoming utterly exhausted.

I suspect Allan and I both know this because we have actually done it! Ripple (my first boat) was 62 foot and I think Keeping Up is even longer

Ripple went through the Rufford branch with no problem and made it to the Lancaster, I never got to try Wigan to Leeds but no one felt I wouldn't manage it: a L&L shortboat did the entire length a couple of years ago and they are, I think, 62 feet long AND 14 feet wide - I saw it go through Bingle Five Rise

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I would happily do the L&L Wigan to Leeds on a 62' narrowboat.

We regularly share locks with a 60'+ boat, and I know a bloke with a 64' boat that does large chunks of the western end (Barrowford to Wigan).  He can sometimes share locks but there are a few known tight ones he needs to go solo and diagonally.

As noted though you will get wet in the locks - good waterproofs would be essential for a 62' boat - and well fitting doors or some tape!

 

15 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

a L&L shortboat did the entire length a couple of years ago and they are, I think, 62 feet long AND 14 feet wide - I saw it go through Bingle Five Rise

If that was Ribble carrying the 30 tonnes of sand in 2016, the real problems they had were depth of water and lock gates not opening fully (Ribble has a bit of middle age spread and is from memory 14' 4" at the widest point.)

David swears by tins of grease.  Margaret just swears :P 

The Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society regularly take Kennet the full length of the L&L but she is about 2" narrower than Ribble.

Edit to add:

My favourite tale of the journey was them being told in Wigan that they got stuck in the lock "because this canal isn't designed for boats that big" by CRT staff.

To which the fabulous reply was "It's a [bleep] Leeds Liverpool Short Boat.  Which canal do YOU think it was designed for?"

Edited by TheBiscuits
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3 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

You can get to Liverpool no problem and the Rufford Branch (official 62' limit), which give access to the Lancaster canal. What about the Leeds and Liverpool from Wigan to Leeds? Officially this is 60', but is there enough wriggle wrong to get a 62' boat through the locks diagonally? That would give you a cross Pennine loop. Would the volunteer lockies on the staircases give you grief for trying?

Jen

Shared the gargrave flight on the L&L with a 62 footer a few years ago. Don’t remember asking him about the Wigan flight but guess he must have managed it.

ETA: iirc Liverpool  short boats are 60 x 14 and have a shaped stern to fit in the locks

Edited by jonathanA
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53 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I've always thought that the 60' limit at Tinsley was over conservative as a 60' NB still has quite a bit of room to manouver.  The walkways at each end on the lockgates would need to be watched with care to prevent being sunk by them when ascending. Don't know if anyone has tried taking a Sheffield size boat up in recent years.

Jen

Jen I think the trip boat in sheffield basin hardfoot is Sheffield size, and there are still plenty of sheffield size boats in the area, so maybe a few nip up and down the flight? who knows

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