European Rivers and Canals

[nikka]

Hi,
it would be really great to get an advice about 3 months long route on European rivers and canals and whqt would be the best time to go!?
My husband and I are passionate cruisers but experienced on the sea, this would be our first trip on canals and rivers so any advice about possible routes would be great.
If you have any advice on boats, for buy or to rent for that period of time; it would be great too. We are just 2 of us on the board and from time to time would get visits, but no more than 4 people at time, so some nice small boat for maximum 6 would be more than enough...
Thank you in advance for your suggestions and advice!

[bil56]

hi nikka,
I'm in France, and your project is a vast program if you want to go from Denmark to the Mediterranean through Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France !
it may be more advantageous to use a mixed sea-river boat ?
hi nikka,
I'm in France, and your project is a vast program if you want to go from Denmark to the Mediterranean by Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France!
it may be more advantageous to use a mixed sea-river boat?

[Joefloki]

You can find a report (in German, translate it with a program) about a cruising from the Netherlands through the channels to south of France in the logbookof my website (see below).

[nikka]

@bil56, the mixed sea-river boat is very good idea, thank you...
@Joefloki, your website look very good with lots of suggestions, photos, advice and routes etc. einfach das sieht super toll aus...vielen, vielen Dank!!!

[David_Old_Jersey]

Don't try and do too much - "today is Tuesday, it must be Belguim" kinda defeats the iidea of travelling by canal.

Personally I would trade the mast for conveniance - unless the plan definately involved some coastal sailing trips.

3 months is a nice period for the trip (not too quick - not too slow! - and June to Aug, plus or minus is pretty much the Northern European summer......albeit not exactly a rain free thing!.....so definately plan on some of that involving wet!).

Downside to the 3 month period is when it comes to a boat - IMO falls between renting and buying. Likely that a straight commercial hire would be very expensive and that a buy would involve the aggro / cost / uncertainty of buying, tweaking and then selling.........but might be worth trying for some sort of Owner direct rental, whether "formally" or not.

Definately worth doing though.

[joemac4sail]

Have you thought about purchasing a dutch built steel motor cruiser and sailing it south along the canals. They hold their value and are usually ( if professionally built) of excellent construction. Holland would be a good place to start looking for a boat, with places like Lemmer and Medimblek on the isselmer having more motor boats than most countries. Regards Joe

[barnakiel]

My advice is get the paperwork part done well as each country has its own rules and they all tend to be pretty strict there.

Certification, registration, holding tanks, insurance, etc..

b.

[bil56]

Originally Posted by joemac4sail

Have you thought about purchasing a dutch built steel motor cruiser and sailing it south along the canals. They hold their value and are usually ( if professionally built) of excellent construction. Holland would be a good place to start looking for a boat, with places like Lemmer and Medimblek on the isselmer having more motor boats than most countries. Regards Joe

something like that ?...
http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...g_id=75726&url=

1998 Molenkruiser onb Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

[joemac4sail]

Right on the nail. The Dutch seem to specialise

[joemac4sail]

Sorry working on my iPhone with clumsy thumbs. As I was saying the Dutch seem to specialise in the building of quality steel motor cruisers. But I thing that a few days touring the isselmer would be more productive than looking up boats on the Internet, due to the concentration of cruising boats. I know of one guy here in Ireland, who had a good business going importing one or two a month during the good times for use on the river Shannon system. Actually it might not be a bad idea to look here for a cruiser, as the prices might be a bit more competitive. Regards joe