moving to France

[Athy]

Virtually all French waterways have locks of at least "Freycinet" dimensions: about 125 feet by 16'6" - so, of course, the waterways themselves are at least that wide, otherwise boats couldn't reach the locks! The only exception I can think of is the restored section of the Canal du Berry, whose locks are about eight feet wide, but I din 't think you can reach that one from the rest of the system anyway.

[matty40s]

28 minutes ago, Paul Garofalo said:

I noticed that you live in France, i need to get books and maps but are there any canals that i won't be able to get along with my 12ft 6 width

I think XALANW is more concerned with how you are getting round your boat easily in locks rather than the actual dimensions of the locks.

[Paul Garofalo]

4 minutes ago, matty40s said:

I think XALANW is more concerned with how you are getting round your boat easily in locks rather than the actual dimensions of the 

Sorry i was just asking in general about the canals,  i wasnt refering to my side decks, i suppose i would use the roof,  its big enough for a game of cricket. I'm fitting walk on solar panels so same as my narrow boat i'll use the roof if i have to

[Mike Adams]

None that are navigable except the canal d'Ourcq near Paris (10'6"). The main problem will be with some of the ports that don't like boats over 12 to 15m.

[X Alan W]

1 hour ago, Paul Garofalo said:

Sorry i was just asking in general about the canals,  i wasnt refering to my side decks, i suppose i would use the roof,  its big enough for a game of cricket. I'm fitting walk on solar panels so same as my narrow boat i'll use the roof if i have to

Correct what Matty said problem with roof is you are not in dropping over bitts range wih side deck ropes If you can find a good photo from lock side looking down on boat in empty lock you will see the best set up for French system certain canals have a good #of commercial boats

[Bee]

So far as boat handling in locks is concerned where there's a will there's a way but having someone on the fore end is good otherwise you'll be scampering around a lot. Most of us just use one line from the fore end to a bollard on the lockside and drive against it with the wheel hard over to keep the stern in when going uphill, going down is easy, just hang on to something. If you're single handed you will just be slower. Virtually all locks are automatic, you set them off when you approach them, usually with a 'Telecommander' (a thing like a TV remote that you point at a sensor) or a pole that you twist or pull that hangs over the water, when the gates open in you go., you enter the lock, fiddle about with the ropes and stuff and then lift a pole from the boat and that then tells the lock to complete the sequence so generally speaking you never touch the gates or paddles or get off the boat. The lock closes the gates after you leave. There are 'traffic lights' to tell you when to enter or leave. Don't jump the lights. The lock will not know what to do and it will sulk and close itself down and you will have to phone VNF (like CRT) There are exceptions but its not hard to work out what to do.

[Stilllearning]

The ideal way to do what you are contemplating would be to buy a house over here, to use it as your main residence. Then as a french resident, all things become possible, especially if done before 29/3/19 !

Houses are cheap around here at least, and there is just about time to buy one before the B word happens.

[Dav and Pen]

One of the things UK builders get wrong is the size of bollards and some even have a bar between the pair. Going uphill the technique is to put a noose over the lock side bollard or in deeper locks there are pins or small bollards set in the wall and then you move the noose up the row of pins. In modern deep locks there are often floating bollards. It really is necessary to have good strong ropes as even the automatic locks produce strong surges and some of the lock keepers on the manual locks,of which there are still hundreds, seem to take pleasure in causing problems especially after Sunday lunch.