French Canals Air Conditioning

[Time2Go]

Hi Friends,

Planning a two week trip on the French Canals this summer.
I will be doing a bareboat charter of some type of river barge.
Do I need Air conditioning for both comfort and bugs?
Any recommendations for boat hire companies and regions would be appreciated. Two week trip

Cheers
Neil

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by Time2Go

Hi Friends,

Planning a two week trip on the French Canals this summer.
I will be doing a bareboat charter of some type of river barge.
Do I need Air conditioning for both comfort and bugs?
Any recommendations for boat hire companies and regions would be appreciated. Two week trip

Cheers
Neil

No.

I've been in June and August and the weather's been fine...given you are from Florida I imagine the heat will bother you even less than it did us.

Burgundy: with lots of side trips to wineries and Cathedrals
Aquitaine: lots of old towns, monasteries and wineries

I'e also done the Alsace but it was the least interesting of the three although we did head up to Trier and the Mosel after and that was fantastic.

We were using Le Boat but as far as I could tell most of the big hire companies were pretty good. Locaboat, Nicols are the other two big ones and the steel boats from France Afloat were the envy of everyone.

[psk125]

Locaboat has "Penichettes" which are designed for bareboat chartering on the canals. The pilothouse lets you see where you're going and what's coming up behind you. The decks allow you to move forward or aft to tend lines. The different cabin top levels mean you can step from the boat to the dock - or vice versa - with the boat at different heights in the lock. Other boats may require you to duck below and climb out a hatch to get to the foredeck, or stumble over chairs in a cockpit better suited to a sport fisherman. Or take a flying leap from the lock to the deck. Some have so much flare forward that the bumpers hang down from the deck two or three feet from the topsides, so end up being useless. We enjoyed watching the antics of the crews on the other boats trying to overcome their shortcomings. We relished the simplicity, solidity and good looks of the Penichettes. We went in September and had no trouble with insects or excess heat.

[ejlindahl]

We have a boat in the French canals. No AC. Haven't seen it since 2019 because of covid. Its on the hard and we get assurances from the yard manager that it is till still tarped and is in good condition. If you remember July 2019 was a record setting heat spell that killed many people.

We were in Mulhouse in a nice marina with a nice rate for a month commitment. Its near Basil Switzerland and has one of the most extraordinary car museums in the world. Hundreds of rare antique cars, up to a Million dollar Masarati something. On a dry day you can drive one on their test track!

Ok I digress. It was 108º in the hottest week. We could see it was going to be hot so we rented a car with AC for the week, pretty cheap as I recall. We simply drove the car to various tourist sights within 50 or 75 miles to keep cool. Hop out and see the site til we couldn't take it any more, (and we are wimpy, pasty skin Seattlelites), then jump back in the car to cool off and drive to the next tourist attraction/historical site.

We deliberately got back to the boat around sunset and opened up what ever window that wasn't open during the day and turned on the fans, (marina had a locked gate but thieves can get thru anything). Buy 10 or 11 pm our cabin was cool enough to sleep. The marina did have tall trees shading it the last few hours of sun so that helped. 108º is the hottest temp I've ever encountered and we survived without much problem, only because of the AC in the car. Without it it would have been a miserable week.

I don't recall any of the scores of fellow canalers we met over our 4 years of ownership mentioning AC on their boats but I am sure there are some. For sure lack of AC would not be a deal breaker for us and the 3 partners we have in our boat. Don't worry about it. You can always get a window shaker (before the hot spell arrives!) and stay in a marina with shore power. But power can be expensive, it is metered most everywhere. I don't recall the heat being excessively humid as opposed what I've heard your state is like. But 108º was dang hot for us no matter the humidity. Good luck and don't sweat it. See what I did there?

Oh and I don't recall much problem with bugs but that can be so local and short lived. In my experience bugs hatch and bite for a few days then die. But I have had some annoying bug experiences on various days, mostly in the mountains around Seattle. Bugs in Seattle won't kill you. I did have one Lyme disease scare over there, its not unheard of there, unlike Seattle where its not a problem. So check for ticks, long pants in the evening, maybe bug juice and what ever precautions are recommended. I never did any of that though as I was not aware that it can be a problem. My Lyme issue was just before we left for home and I did precautionary treatment after I got back to Seattle.

[valhalla360]

I've been in France when it's miserable hot, so it's a legitimate concern but hit and miss issue.

I suspect the bigger issue is most of the rental boats likely won't have air/con and even if they do, will they have a generator to feed it and how much will the fuel cost to run the generator?

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by psk125

Locaboat has "Penichettes" which are designed for bareboat chartering on the canals. The pilothouse lets you see where you're going and what's coming up behind you. The decks allow you to move forward or aft to tend lines. The different cabin top levels mean you can step from the boat to the dock - or vice versa - with the boat at different heights in the lock. Other boats may require you to duck below and climb out a hatch to get to the foredeck, or stumble over chairs in a cockpit better suited to a sport fisherman. Or take a flying leap from the lock to the deck. Some have so much flare forward that the bumpers hang down from the deck two or three feet from the topsides, so end up being useless. We enjoyed watching the antics of the crews on the other boats trying to overcome their shortcomings. We relished the simplicity, solidity and good looks of the Penichettes. We went in September and had no trouble with insects or excess heat.

Interesting. We explicitly stayed away from the Penichettes because I love a flybridge. Each to his own

[skipmac]

Depends on how lucky or unlucky you are with the weather. We went early July last year to the River Lot and several days it was so hot we had to tie up and stay below from about 11-4 it was so hot. And we are from Floruda so used to the heat.

You definitely need a bimini for sun shade.

[Scaramanga F25]

We have cruised charter canal boats in England, Wales, and the South of France in August and September. We had no problems with heat or bugs.