Design constraints

Looking at the design constraints of a craft operating in the UK canal network we find that the following restrictions apply for vessels wishing to access the entire system.

We have used the Canal and River Trust Waterways dimensions document as the basis for the physical restrictions to be complied with.

So to access the whole system we find that the following maxima apply:

• an air draft of 1.7m (Coventry Canal)

• beam of 2.13m for narrow canals

•  and a maximum draft of 0.7m ( Aspley basin to Standedge Tunnel, Llangollen canal and Rubble Millennium canal)

The drawing below shows a typical section through our hull which takes into account these limits.

As far as speed and wash are considered the Canal system has a 4mph (3.48 knots) speed restriction and a low wash policy. So the hull is optimised for this speed and to create as low a wash as is possible. We use a sophisticated Software suite (MaxSurf) which enables us to accurately model the hull and to optimise powering and fluid flow.