Getting a Nic 38 through the Canal du Midi

[Voltair]

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

[Swyn-y-Mor]

Hi John
Good to see Voltair almost next to us at Aktio! Have you considered the route through the centre of France – up the Rhone and on through the rivers and canals exiting into the Channel. I believe that they are all deep enough. Though no personal experience I have read several accounts of boats going this way. James

[Voltair]

Thanks for that suggestion, James. I think we thought we would have a hard time motoring up the Rhone against the current, which I understand can be 4-5kn. If you have a book title, I will research this idea.
If we are neighbours in Preveza, (are you in Aktio also?), with experience of the area to the north in Croatia, we ought to have a chat…. that’s where we are thinking of going next season.
My direct e-mail is jk@aegis-ceramics.co.uk (as you can see, I don’t visit this forum very often)

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