El and Bill
New member
There has been a good discussion of cruising in Europe. This discussion has been on the Brat site in years past. I suggest the following:
1. On the subject of sending a C-Dory over -- this has been researched in the past. Costs were high. Seemed there were two possibilities:
a) In a container
b) on a barge (with built-on dry dock that sinks, drive your boat onto a platform, tie off, dry dock lifts and off goes the barge across the ocean).
Either way, the round-trip costs seemed prohibitive for those who considered it (including us).
Keep checking -- their may be a better price today.
2. On the subject of buying a boat in Europe, and reselling it after use -- the research here seemed to show many complexities. Could still be researched, but then it seemed difficult (we considered that also).
3. Charter a canal boat and cruise a European canal -- we did that and had a great time with several other couples on the Manchester Ring in central England.
So -- with this as background, we suggest those interested in chartering look into the options, costs and dates.
El and I will volunteer to look into the canals in Scotland, Ireland, and England and come back with a report of our recommendations.
Anyone want to volunteer to check out France? Germany? Netherlands? Elsewhere?
Of course there are great canals in North America -- we have traveled most of them -- and there are good posts by Brats about their experiences on these canals. We suggest that be a different discussion, and that this chat focus on chartering in Europe.
So, we're off to search the internet and vicariously chug with a canalboat in Great Britain in anticipation of a summer cruise. Anyone else aboard to search elsewhere in Europe?
1. On the subject of sending a C-Dory over -- this has been researched in the past. Costs were high. Seemed there were two possibilities:
a) In a container
b) on a barge (with built-on dry dock that sinks, drive your boat onto a platform, tie off, dry dock lifts and off goes the barge across the ocean).
Either way, the round-trip costs seemed prohibitive for those who considered it (including us).
Keep checking -- their may be a better price today.
2. On the subject of buying a boat in Europe, and reselling it after use -- the research here seemed to show many complexities. Could still be researched, but then it seemed difficult (we considered that also).
3. Charter a canal boat and cruise a European canal -- we did that and had a great time with several other couples on the Manchester Ring in central England.
So -- with this as background, we suggest those interested in chartering look into the options, costs and dates.
El and I will volunteer to look into the canals in Scotland, Ireland, and England and come back with a report of our recommendations.
Anyone want to volunteer to check out France? Germany? Netherlands? Elsewhere?
Of course there are great canals in North America -- we have traveled most of them -- and there are good posts by Brats about their experiences on these canals. We suggest that be a different discussion, and that this chat focus on chartering in Europe.
So, we're off to search the internet and vicariously chug with a canalboat in Great Britain in anticipation of a summer cruise. Anyone else aboard to search elsewhere in Europe?
