River Trent air draft

[Tesla]

Hi all,

 

Hoping so done can help me understand airdraft limitations on the Trent between Sawley and York. My understanding,  from CanalPlan, is that there is an 8ft limit at Meadow Lane Junction but I wonder how tight that would be on a boat with an 8ft draft, and whether it is viable after heavy rainfull. Also whether there are any other bridges that might prove challenging along the way?

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

[Naughty Cal]

2 minutes ago, Tesla said:

Hi all,

 

Hoping so done can help me understand airdraft limitations on the Trent between Sawley and York. My understanding,  from CanalPlan, is that there is an 8ft limit at Meadow Lane Junction but I wonder how tight that would be on a boat with an 8ft draft, and whether it is viable after heavy rainfull. Also whether there are any other bridges that might prove challenging along the way?

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

That bridge is on the canal section so water levels won't vary by much.

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

56 minutes ago, Tesla said:

Hi all,

 

Hoping so done can help me understand airdraft limitations on the Trent between Sawley and York. My understanding,  from CanalPlan, is that there is an 8ft limit at Meadow Lane Junction but I wonder how tight that would be on a boat with an 8ft draft, and whether it is viable after heavy rainfull. Also whether there are any other bridges that might prove challenging along the way?

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

Don't forget that it is 8 foot at the highest point of the arch, so as the arch curves down (both sides of centre) the available airdraft gets lower and lower the wider your 'high point' is.

For example if your chimney is offset  to one side (they mostly are) then you may need to remove it.

 

What sort of boat are you looking to bring down - I see you have a Gibsea. Is that about  7 foot draft & 3 foot draft with the keel lifted ? You may have problems on the canal sections.

[Naughty Cal]

Pretty sure from memory that the lowest of the bridges is a flat bridge but it is on a sharp 90 degree corner. 

We draw 3ft and knock the bottom on the canal section there all the way along until back on the river again.

[mrsmelly]

2 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

Pretty sure from memory that the lowest of the bridges is a flat bridge but it is on a sharp 90 degree corner. 

We draw 3ft and knock the bottom on the canal section there all the way along until back on the river again.

I was just going to post the same. The air daught is low but at that point if you draw any more than three fett you have little to no chance anyway.

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, Naughty Cal said:

Pretty sure from memory that the lowest of the bridges is a flat bridge but it is on a sharp 90 degree corner. 

We draw 3ft and knock the bottom on the canal section there all the way along until back on the river again.

I may be wrong but I remember the lowest bridge being 'up' from Meadow Lane lock, around the corner and on the 'straight' is it 1A or 1B (that's the one that took our TV aerial off.)

Then one of the bridges in the group 4, 5 & 6 is pretty low.

[Tesla]

11 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Don't forget that it is 8 foot at the highest point of the arch, so as the arch curves down (both sides of centre) the available airdraft gets lower and lower the wider your 'high point' is.

For example if your chimney is offset  to one side (they mostly are) then you may need to remove it.

 

What sort of boat are you looking to bring down - I see you have a Gibsea. Is that about  7 foot draft & 3 foot draft with the keel lifted ? You may have problems on the canal sections.

Hi Alan,

 

Different boat, 31ft 8in by 10ft 10in, draft 3ft 3in, airdraft 8ft.

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, Tesla said:

Hi Alan,

 

Different boat, 31ft 8in by 10ft 10in, draft 3ft 3in, airdraft 8ft.

Then you have no chance of going from Sawley to Meadow Lane via the Nottingham Beeston canal without hitting the bottom in several places.

 

Edit to add - If you are GRP (without a steel keel-band) I wouldn't try it.

Edited September 28, 2018 by Alan de Enfield

[mrsmelly]

1 minute ago, Tesla said:

Hi Alan,

 

Different boat, 31ft 8in by 10ft 10in, draft 3ft 3in, airdraft 8ft.

The beam isnt a problem whatsoever. The draught will be doable but you will whack the bottom under a couple of the bridges

[Tesla]

Ok, so I should take the 4 ft draft quoted by CanalPlan with a pinch of salt. 

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, Tesla said:

Ok, so I should take the 4 ft draft quoted by CanalPlan with a pinch of salt. 

Lets put it this way -

BW / C&RT dredging specifications for the River Trent are 2.0 metres (6' 6") for the main navigable channel

BW / C&RT dredging specifications for the Foss Ditch are 1.5 metres (5 feet) for the main channel.

 

The dredging target for the Beeston canal is 1.3 metres (4' 3") With a 3 foot draft (7 foot wide) ] NB I really REALLY struggled getting thru the bridge holes.

 

I draw about 4 feet (4' 6" with full tanks) and have grounded several time on the Trent (in the MNC) and cannot get anywhere past Saxilby on the Foss Ditch having graunched my way that far I gave up.

 

The dredging depths and more of a target than a fact.

 

[Naughty Cal]

16 minutes ago, Tesla said:

Ok, so I should take the 4 ft draft quoted by CanalPlan with a pinch of salt. 

Yes.

 

As I said earlier we draw 3ft and hit the bottom in the centre of the channel and ride over rubbish in the bridge holes.

[mrsmelly]

22 minutes ago, Tesla said:

Ok, so I should take the 4 ft draft quoted by CanalPlan with a pinch of salt. 

Not a chance. I have been thro there umpteen times. My widebeam was two feet eleven and we cleared but struggled. My mates is just a tad over three feet maybe three feet two inches max and we every time hit the bottom and slightly lifted as we passed through. His beam was eleven six. Four foot depth is cloud cuckoo land.

[Tesla]

Ok, thanks all. Basically south of Meadow Lane is a no no unless you enjoy the sound of grp being ripped to shreds. 

[hughc]

Some years ago I believe that the Derby Motor Boat Club wanted BWB to re-open the side lock at Beeston to avoid the problems of air and water draught through Nottingham.It would be a simple and cheap restoration as the river is still navigable almost to the old lock tail. Regards, HughC.

[Naughty Cal]

1 hour ago, Tesla said:

Ok, thanks all. Basically south of Meadow Lane is a no no unless you enjoy the sound of grp being ripped to shreds. 

Oddly we never had that!

[mrsmelly]

40 minutes ago, hughc said:

Some years ago I believe that the Derby Motor Boat Club wanted BWB to re-open the side lock at Beeston to avoid the problems of air and water draught through Nottingham.It would be a simple and cheap restoration as the river is still navigable almost to the old lock tail. Regards, HughC.

It certainly is navigable. We went up there about five years ago and if you know the route its a nice run. There is of course no hope of restoration at that location in todays situation.

[Richard T]

The lowset two bridges on the canal are both flat spans. They are below Castle Lock (Wilford Street) and then London Road A lot of crap was cleaned out from under the bridges a few weeks ago by volunteers working with CRT. They used grappling hooks to clear bikes etc and unlike magnet fishers it was all collected by a CRT work flat which they filled three times!!

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