Canal Boat Skills

Enjoy canal cruising safely and proficiently

Canal narrow boats and barges can do a lot of damage! They can weigh twenty tons or more, be over sixty feet long without any steering wheel or brakes, so they don’t drive like your car!

You don’t need to have a licence or training to steer a boat, but it can be very dangerous if you are not able to control your boat, steer, slow down, stop, or moor safely.
Then there are other boats to avoid, locks to work and dark tunnels to go through!
Canals also have their own right and wrong ways of doings things, their own ‘rules of the road’, that other boaters may expect you to know.
So we have lots of advice and information to help you develop the skills you need to be able to relax and enjoy canal cruising, plus listings of trainers to help you improve those skills.

Canal boat handling

How to gain and develop canal boat handling and control skills.

Trouble-free boating

How to reduce the risks of boating accidents & upsetting your crew!

Safe lock working

Locks may be scary at first but most people enjoy working locks!

Rules of the road

A few simple rules to help make friends when canal cruising!

Single handed

Even if you don’t have a crew you can still enjoy canal boating.

Boating training

Listings of companies offering boat handling training courses.

All materials and images © Canal Junction Ltd. Dalton House, 35 Chester St, Wrexham LL13 8AH. No unauthorised reproduction.

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