Transport Boat River Soar to London

[Guest]

hi all, I am about to make the plunge and buy a good boat I feel. A solid steel all round.

 

I will post more about it and progress as I go along, but after some restoration work is done I need to transport it..

 

Its Loughborough or barrow upon Soar - going to Hertforshire London.

 

Is this a huge undertaking buy boat sailing it down?

 

Thanks

Graham

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

Do you have any experience, you say restoration work, is it a reliable runner to get you there. Have you checked for stoppages

[rusty69]

What size boat. What time of year?

 

Last I looked, London wasn't in Hertfordshire.

[howardang]

5 minutes ago, Charles_Graham said:

hi all, I am about to make the plunge and buy a good boat I feel. A solid steel all round.

 

I will post more about it and progress as I go along, but after some restoration work is done I need to transport it..

 

Its Loughborough or barrow upon Soar - going to Hertforshire London.

 

Is this a huge undertaking buy boat sailing it down?

 

Thanks

Graham

 

 

Welcome to the forum. First things first. Have you any boating experience? If not, may I suggest that you hire a narrowboat 

while your new purchase is being refitted and then you may be able to judge for yourself whether you can handle a boat or whether you will need to look at more expensive ways of getting the boat to it's ultimate destination.

 

Howard

Edited November 28, 2018 by howardang

[LadyG]

according to canalplan its about 100 hours, 

https://canalplan.org.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi

Edited November 28, 2018 by LadyG

[Momac]

14 minutes ago, Charles_Graham said:

Its Loughborough or barrow upon Soar - going to Hertfordshire 

 

Is this a huge undertaking buy boat sailing it down?

Easy.

People can buy or hire narrowboats with no experience. You will probably bump into some things but by the time you get to Hertfordshire you will be an expert.

But I  would not use a sail.

[NB Lola]

Wot Martyn said.  My first ever inland trek was up the Severn in October, never skippered a narrowboat before.

Edited November 28, 2018 by NB Lola

[aracer]

The first NB I ever drove (piloted/skippered?) was the one I own - I spent a week and a half doing 80 miles and 130 locks to get it here single handed. So, it's certainly not impossible but it does probably depend on how confident you are doing things like that - I'm extremely fit and agile, have done a lot of dinghy sailing and have very good spatial awareness so was fairly confident I'd be OK. I'd also spent a lot of time doing research into how to do things - in the event I found it easier than I was expecting from all the stories I'd read.

[Guest]

yes I grew up working on boats, so not deterred by the locks etc.

 

Im sure I'll get into the swing of it.

 

But just thought some local knowledge on here could tell of any major obstacles / closures.. etc.

 

She's a 57Ft cruiser I think its classed as. Refitted engine with newish parts - 

2 hours ago, howardang said:

Welcome to the forum. First things first. Have you any boating experience? If not, may I suggest that you hire a narrowboat 

while your new purchase is being refitted and then you may be able to judge for yourself whether you can handle a boat or whether you will need to look at more expensive ways of getting the boat to it's ultimate destination.

 

Howard

Thanks Howard, prob a good idea.

2 hours ago, MartynG said:

Easy.

People can buy or hire narrowboats with no experience. You will probably bump into some things but by the time you get to Hertfordshire you will be an expert.

But I  would not use a sail.

Cheers Martin, thats what I needed to hear.

[Peter X]

As you grew up working on boats I assume you know about the canal widths for your journey so it's a narrow boat you're buying?

That said, if you want help moving it by water, I may well be available to crew for you depending on when that'll be. It's a lot easier with two people than single handed. Maybe by the time your refit is finished the winter maintenance stoppages will be over and you won't have to worry about planning the trip around those.

 

So long as you can find the time to do the journey and you have a boat in working order, moving by water is the way to go; much cheaper and more fun than other methods. I'm guessing from the talk of Hertfordshire that you meant that you're going to somewhere up the Lea or Stort? That's quite a lot of miles and locks, but turn left at Norton Junction, Bulls Bridge, and in the East End and you're there!

[mark99]

Buy the respective canal map book (Nicholsons Guide) and have a good look at the route you would take referring to planned stoppages/notices below.

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices/winter/

 

Good luck.

Edited November 29, 2018 by mark99

[Guest]

Thanks a lot for your message Peter.

/Mark.

ive kind of jumped into this head first, but feel it's the right choice for me.

 

The guy I'm buying off is still fitting windows and I may well go up to Logborrough to help fit interior. But I'll prob just have a basic shell to sail away in.

 

doesnt bother me, but as a fellow crew member you might feel a bit uncomfortable. Having said that I think the value of someone experienced would be great and worth at least 500 quid to me for the journey. Hope that's not insulting.

 

Anyway, will look at the canal notices now to see if it's even possible.

 

Ta,

[alan_fincher]

Your "cruiser" is no more than 7 feet wide, yes?

[Alan de Enfield]

21 minutes ago, Charles_Graham said:

Anyway, will look at the canal notices now to see if it's even possible.

It has been mentioned twice now.

 

What beam (width) is the Cruiser ?

 

If it is over 7 feet then you cannot take it by water and a truck is your only option.

 

Any useful answers can only be offered after you have confirmed if it is a Narrow-Boat, or a 'fatty'.

[Guest]

its a narrow boat yes. 57 ft and - a semi trad.

Edited November 29, 2018 by Guest

[Guest]

Rivers trust said there is an opening between Dec 14th to 7th Jan.

Theres a closure at Lock 38, Kings Lock, near Aylestone, Leicester 5th Nov -  dec 14th

Then Lock 21 Cosgrove, Grand Union Canal closure at 7th Jan

 

 

So hopefully can make it down between those dates..

 

[aracer]

9 minutes ago, Charles_Graham said:

Rivers trust said there is an opening between Dec 14th to 7th Jan.

Theres a closure at Lock 38, Kings Lock, near Aylestone, Leicester 5th Nov -  dec 14th

Then Lock 21 Cosgrove, Grand Union Canal closure at 7th Jan

 

 

So hopefully can make it down between those dates..

 

I suspect there's a good chance the first closure will be finished before the 14th December (if it's not already) - the one here had the same time slot but was open again over a week ago. If the OP isn't yet ready to travel that may not help a lot though!

[matty40s]

Having done plenty of boat moves over Winter and the Christmas breaks, the most important thing to have after windows is a working stove. 

Kings Lock is likely to take the full maintenance period, it was in quite a bad state when I last came through it and needs a lot of work, it doesn't get affected by flooding as much as some locks on the river so this is unlikely to stop work though.

Foxton is on short Winter opening hours.

Your main challenge will be finding somewhere to moor as you travel through London when mooring late. 

[harrybsmith]

It's not the blue one with the Lister single cylinder engine is it? If so, absolutely no waaay will that make it to London under its own power. 

[Guest]

I'm thinking to haul it down would be safest and easiest option now. Takes the stress out of the whole thing.

 

 

[Guest]

Was looking at a diesel stainless stove rather than the solid fuel.,

 

plus a warm air espacher..

 

[Richard T]

2 hours ago, Charles_Graham said:

I'm thinking to haul it down would be safest and easiest option now. Takes the stress out of the whole thing.

 

 

Pillings Lock Marina would be able to get your boat out of the water. It would then need craning onto a lorry and then lifting back in somewhere on the river Lee. None of the local boatyards have a crane on site. It will not be a cheap option going by road. Why not work on the boat over the winter at weekends in the Loughborough area and then cruise to London over the Easter holiday.

Have you a mooring to go to in Hertfordshire? If not I think it would be difficult to continuous cruise whilst fitting out a boat.

[Peter X]

Charles,

My advice is, if you can get enough done to the boat in time to be ready (heating is important!), and the Soar isn't in flood at the time, go for it with me as crew.

 

Knowing that you're looking at using the break between the stoppages, I've just had a look through the CRT notices and yes, you have that window from 14th December to 7th Jan. It's actually a little tighter than you thought, because there's another stoppage further down the GU at Winkwell also starting on 7th Jan, and there's a new bridge being installed near Horsenden Hill on the Paddington Arm from 3rd Jan, although they do say that one may have times when boats are allowed through inbetween work.

 

But canalplan, which I've always found gives good estimates, confirms that your whole trip is about 100 hours of boating, so allowing 7 hours a day which is quite comfortable in mid winter, that's 14 days, i.e. arriving about 28th Dec. 

 

Because I do this sort of trip for fun not for a living, I'm cheap, I only expect somewhere to lay my sleeping bag on the boat, plus food for the journey. So long as no money changes hands, my understanding is that I'm covered by your normal boat insurance. I believe the standard practice is they allow you to have guests on the boat, and for those guests to take part in the boating so long as you are on the trip too. They'll often say that only someone competent may steer the boat, but I'm sure I have enough experience for that. I cannot accept money because then I'd be a professional boat mover (like matty40s). People who do that need their own insurance, which also allows them to go single handed. Conversely if someone pays you to go on your boat, other legal obligations arise.

 

I'd be quite happy to do the whole trip, either in one hit or with a break for Christmas (somewhere in west London) if you prefer. The only part of it I haven't done before is the last day or two, after you turn from the Regent's Canal into the Hertford Union.

 

Stress not, this trip would be a fun relaxing winter holiday. I'll PM you my phone number.

 

Peter

[Guest]

will pm you Peter

[matty40s]

It's a brilliant trip with Peter joining you, just make sure you have some heating installed before the trip, even if something makeshift with a flue sealed.