I’ve just returned from a delightful trip along the Canal du Midi in a hired motorboat. Voltair is in the Med right now, but we would quite like her back in Scotland in the forseeable future. So, is it an expensive overland low-loader trip, a long-winded round-Spain trip, or could there be a third way? The problem – maximum draught on the canal is 1.6m, and everyone says “1.4m would be better”. Does anyone have any experience in raising a Nic 38 using sponsons, or any other buoyancy system? I reckon we would need 4-5 tons of extra buoyancy to raise her 35cm. Equivalent to 4-5 cubic m of air. A hollow steel torpedo lashed either side of the keel? A dead RIB without a middle cuddling her bilges? All ideas considered!
John Kingsley