Cruising the European River Systems

[Pete7]

There are a number of mast up canals in Europe too.

Caledonian Canal

Keil Canal

Swedish Canal

Russian Canal

[Clivevon]

Hi. For European inland waterways you will need to haver the ICC (International Certificate of Competence) which will also need to be endorsed for inland waterways with the CEVNI qualification (Code Européen des Voies de la Navigation Intérieure) which covers all the special buoys & signals they use. These are quite different from those used at sea. Its not too onerous & you can do it online, but you must have it - or at least the skipper of your boat must have it. More info here: https://www.french-waterways.com/pra...es/competence/

For British inland waterways, you dont need that - you just need to convince your charter company that you are competent to take their boat. I assume you do know about narrow boats? The British canal system has locks (lots & lots of locks - & lots) which are based on the boats beam being 6 (six) foot 10 (ten) inches maximum. We have rivers - like the Thames which take wider boats, but the canal system is universally based on narrow boats - 6 ft 10 inch beam.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by rls339

Thanks for the quick reply. We were hoping to be able top cruise the rivers for 1 to two years. We now will need to study the timing issues more carefully.

thank you,

Check into a retirement visa for France. The continental canal system is centered on France. You can get to a surprising number of countries but that tends to be the center of them.

Technically, France can only issue a visa for France, so it doesn't alleviate the Schengen issue but unless you abuse it, no one is likely to complain.

The biggest issue the the UK, is 2/3 of the canals are limited to 7ft beam. That really puts some heavy limits on the boat design. There are wider canals but they don't link up without going offshore. It also makes crossing the channel a bit iffy in anything but the calmest weather. Otherwise up to around 14ft beam is largely workable.

Shallow draft is obviously a plus. Many canals don't get regular dredging and can silt up making deep draft vessels a problem.

[Clivevon]

Not 7 foot. Six foot ten inches. In this situation, the extra two inches will stop you gaining entry. To the lock. No kidding.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Clivevon

Not 7 foot. Six foot ten inches. In this situation, the extra two inches will stop you gaining entry. To the lock. No kidding.

Unless you are building a boat, not really an issue.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by sepharad

...
By the way, there ARE exceptions (to everything in Europe). Poland is an EU country and a Schengen country, but has a SPECIAL relationship with the US and you can stay there 180 days...

I believe France, Denmark and Netherlands also have a 180 day visa for Americans. There might be other countries but I have looked at these.

My understanding on how it works though, is that at the 180 day mark, ye need to get out of the country and go to a non Schengen country. So one could get the 180 visa in France and then go spend another 180 days in the UK.

Ireland is not a Schengen country but it limits stays to 90 days. We met an American living in Ireland, whose Irish wife had died, and he thus lost his "right" to stay in the country. Near the end of his 90 days he would drive to Northern Ireland to spend the night and reset his 90 day clock. I have looked into this, and best I an tell, this is legal but it is odd so I wonder if it is correct.

The Irish have a retirement visa that is interesting but expensive. One can get the retirement visa if one has INCOME, which must be proven, of 50,000 euros per person. Notice the word INCOME. One also has to buy private health insurance which is affordable. I can't remember if the Irish retirement visa has limits on staying outside of Ireland or not.

There is a bill in the US Senate which would give unused Australian visas to the Irish. In return, Ireland would lower the 50,000 euro amount to allow more Americans to get the Irish retirement visa. However, a Senator has a hold on the bill and there it has been sitting for a few years.

However, with residency, comes taxation issues, so one needs to think things through.

Later,
Dan

[Quadrille in JB]

We traveled up the Rhone and the du Midi canal system from Port Orleans to Amsterdam on a 41’6” Morgan sans the masts. What a great trip through 247 locks, under mountains through tunnels and along peaceful wooded canals. Air draft is critical as the Bimini sometimes scraped the low bridges. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a fairly low sir draft boat.

[Seymore]

Originally Posted by Quadrille in JB

We traveled up the Rhone and the du Midi canal system from Port Orleans to Amsterdam on a 41’6” Morgan sans the masts. What a great trip through 247 locks, under mountains through tunnels and along peaceful wooded canals. Air draft is critical as the Bimini sometimes scraped the low bridges. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a fairly low sir draft boat.

What was your air draft?

[Quadrille in JB]

The Morgan's air draft, the best as I can remember is 12.5 feet with the Bimini up. We also had a short mast like structure to hold the anchor light and flags.
The only negative thing about the entire trip was that sometimes the closely spaced, self-service locks became a bore.
The control width of the small locks was 17 feet. With our 14' 6" beam and 12" fenders with boards on each side, we had a lock clearance of less than 6".
Safe travels.
Bill in JB

[Barbaria]

We have done the trip trough the European waterways twice, loved it both times. I would recommend you to use the summer months from early May to September. You will cover a lot on 90 days. We did meet Americans that lived on the canals, but did not ask how they did it.

Free mooring, water and electricity on this place.


You will see the Eiffel Tower up close.


I mean this close


Are you unlucky you will see this man come running when you pass



And last but not least peace and quiet.

[AlanT]

Originally Posted by Jammer

I am curious whether sailors today find the English canals rewarding. I have heard reports that they are peaceful. I have heard reports that they are boring. I suppose it is a fine line.

I am a Brit living in the US (for a looong time). However I have several friends (3) that have Narrow boats in the UK and navigate the canals. Based on their Facebook posts, they enjoy calm conditions, uncrowded canals, pub stops for lunch and/or overnight alongside the canal in many cases. Many of the canals are interconnected so the potential range is large (there is a good "Ordinance Survey" map available on Amazon that shows all the navigable canals - well worth your dollar) They enjoy a large social network and they frequently arrange to meet up at "the usual places". It is not sailing. It is pottering about, which can be very satisfying I understand. One of the boats actually spends its time in the London area. They both work in London and move "home" every six months when the lease on their mooring is up. The other two are very much travellers. Canal Gypsies as I call them. ~A

[hartcjhart]

Dont forget the wonderfull Norfolk Broads

[Sunshine Coast]

We an Australian couple with a 40' motor cruiser that we use in EU. As you know, you are usually only allowed 90 days in every 180 days in the Schengen Zone, however Australia has bi-lateral agreements with 8 EU countries that date back to the 1950's which means that we can spend additional time in these countries including Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. When Schengen came into effect, these countries had the choice of keeping these arrangement or just adopting Schengen, they chose to keep them. The US might have a similar arrangement.

I would recommend that you hire a boat in the Netherlands (boating paradise) or France to see whether you want a GRP boat or a barge for long term cruising.

Take a look at the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPcxsVqY-x0

to get some other ideas.

I can tell you that it's a fantastic experience and we can't wait to get back to our boat.

[Barbaria]

Originally Posted by Barbaria

We have done the trip trough the European waterways twice, loved it both times. I would recommend you to use the summer months from early May to September. You will cover a lot on 90 days. We did meet Americans that lived on the canals, but did not ask how they did it.

Free mooring, water and electricity on this place.


You will see the Eiffel Tower up close.


I mean this close


If you are unlucky you will see this man come running when you pass



And last but not least peace and quiet.

Sorry forgot the pictures