River/Canal Launching Tips

[fred bolton]

Yes you pass on the right however this is not always possible for some large narrow boats due to bends, depth of water, overhanging trees etc. 4 mph is the speed limit but it is the amount of wash you create that erodes the bank and spills the champers on moored boats neither of which will win you many friends. You also need to be wary of shallow water where banks have been eroded and underwater obstacles supermarket trolleys etc. Locks are dangerous and the top gate has a sill upon which some boats get trapped the other end then continues to descend, the boat then becomes trapped on the sill refilling the lock can cause the boat to take on water and then sink ! this picture :http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/a...anal-lock.html shows a narrowboat trapped by moving brickwork ( not the sill) similar effect though also you may find this pdf helpful http://www.waterscape.com/media/documents/1784.pdf.

I would be very wary about using canal locks in a sib if you share with a narrow boat the movement of the water sucks the narrow boat backwards & Forwards and you could get crushed.

You also need a licence unless you are going to "claim" it is a tender for one of the boats you have just passed

[MikeP]

Licenses - British Waterways have a neat 'explorer' license, which is a book of thirty tickets for about £80. They are valid for 12 months, so when you want to go out and about on the canal or a BW waterway, simple rip off a ticket, put the date on, and there you go.

You need insurance to get the license (with at least £1 mill third party on it) but they were pretty quick - I posted off our form on Wednesday, and got the licenses by Friday.

I'll echo Fred's thoughts on safety though, and having seen a few stag party narrowboats sashaying backwards and forwards in a lock under power, I'd only share if the other boat looked competently driven and properly (but loosely) secured. That DVD I mentioned earlier has some good tips to enable you to make that judgement call.

[lightning]

Thanks for the advice. Regarding locks I don't think we'll be going through any, there's miles of canal here to explore without going through them.
We do have Marple locks on our doorstep though, these are quite well known. We'll just go the other way!

[fred bolton]

Yeah plenty of miles from Buxsworth to Bosley or do you go towards manchester

[lightning]

I'm not sure. The first time we went out we headed towards New Mills, but we could also head towards Bollington by the look of it.