Would you recommend a barge down the shannon

hi, interested in a group of friends hiring out a barge and heading down the shannon in August / September? if you wanted a 14 berth barge or so, how dear is it, do we just pick it up and head off. Anyone any experience of this or where to go to get advice on hiring out one of these? Thanks.

We hired a two cruisers in September 07 for a weekend from http://www.emeraldstar.ie in Portumna, each boat was 12 berth.
Full instructions are given and a very enjoyable weekend. Other hire companies include www.silverlinecruisers.com and www.carrickcraft.com
[broken link removed]an Inland waterways link that pretty much includes all the companies.
Prices become cheaper in September as the season comes to an end.

Abbica said:

Anyone any experience of this or where to go to get advice on hiring out one of these? Thanks.

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Make sure you have a competent pilot.
He will get basic training before setting out , but Lough Derg can be quite intimidating .

thanks for the tips, but say there are 12 of us, what boat would you pick and at what cost for 3 days, say that would be enough.

Here is another link for barge hire. http://www.riversdalebargeholidays.com/. I'm afraid I have never hired a boat/barge so can't offer any advice. Best of luck.

done it several times in the past last time about 3 years ago,absolutely great craic,i took off from carrick on shannon and headed north,could highly reccomend it, as another poster points out though watch out for the big lakes,whilst the shannon itself is a doddle the lakes can be akin to an inland sea! still dont let that put you off you will have a ball

Wouldn't recommend a barge for lakes -- they are unstable in choppy water and can ship water too easily. Better with a cruiser as somebody suggested. Try Emerald Star or carrick Craft in Carick on Shannon, both of them operate modern "tupperware" boats with good comfort levels. May be a bit expensive though, so also check out Tara Cruisers, not sure if they have a website but try googling. I have often passed thru locks with them or moored up beside their boats -- they are good steel hulled craft and although they are a bit dated they would be very spacious and safe. The construction of steel hulled boats means that they have more headroom and ease of moving around inside, as distinct from the plastic boats favoured by the big companies.
I have no connection with tara btw, but I operate my own boat (steel) and I like the look of their stuff. Anytime I spoke to their renters they were enjoying themselves and they gave me the impression that they got better deals compared with Emerald Star. There is also another small company down Portumna way but I just can't remember their name -- will post if it comes back to me, Don't know if they are cheaper or not.

We've never hand any problems on the lakes in a barge over the years, with the Celtic Canal Cruisers (RIP) boats. Have also used Tara Cruisers several times, while they were still a BES Scheme. I found their larger 45? foot boats much harder to control when mooring at slow speeds. Too much windage and only a single engine while most boats that size would have two and/or a bow thruster.

BTW. Just checked and see that Tara only have the 36 foot boats now.

Towger said:

We've never hand any problems on the lakes in a barge over the years, with the Celtic Canal Cruisers (RIP) boats. Have also used Tara Cruisers several times, while they were still a BES Scheme. I found their larger 45? foot boats much harder to control when mooring at slow speeds. Too much windage and only a single engine while most boats that size would have two and/or a bow thruster.

BTW. Just checked and see that Tara only have the 36 foot boats now.

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Anyone know what happened to the Celtic Canal fleet? Did they go to another hire company or were they sold off individually? They were nice boats, well suited to the Grand Canal anyway.

Hi, my friends have decided that they do want to do this holiday now so back to my enquiries. I emailed the riversdale and they are very good €500 for 8 bed barge for 2 nights, seems ok to me? It seems the cruisers are very expensive. Would there be more standing room on the cruisers or not much of a muchness. Also, I live in Louth, what do we do with cars, we drive to Carrick on Shannon say, then go north on the boat, then what? What happens, do we have to arrange transport back to our cars. Logic would have it that we do????

Lollix said:

Wouldn't recommend a barge for lakes -- they are unstable in choppy water and can ship water too easily. Better with a cruiser as somebody suggested. ...

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Fully agree with this.

Lough Derg in particular is enormous, the equivalent of an inland sea in places and very challenging for amateur sailers.

Would it be possible to have a decent 'barge break' whilst avoiding the more treacherous lakes or areas?

Hi, can I ask, when they say 6 + 2 berth, and the description says, 3 double cabins, then what does the 2 berth mean, so a 4 + 2 berth only sleeps 4 and so forth?

a berth is a bed or a bunk

6+2 probably means six permanent beds and two fold up beds.. that might be in corridors for example.. so must be folded away in the morning.

Beds on a boat may be much smaller than you used to.. 1.5 foot wide, maybe 2 feet. A double might be 2.5 to 3 foot... Good fun though.

I spent a lot of time on the Shannon as a kid, on my dads 27 foot boat. I think it's very tricky to drive a boat for a beginner, nothing like a car.. you have to cope with waves pushing you.. steer into the waves.. I've been on Lough Derg in a storm, when dad went to refill the petrol tank, mam held the wheel for 30 seconds.. result was we turned side on to the waves, boat was flat bottomed so didn't overturn but did go up on it's side, everything went everywhere.. I was only 7 maybe and the youngest, quite frightening!, he he.

Parking is tricky.. have to go into reverse while moving forward, this can cuase the boat to spin.. to recover takes experience... I'd say a lot of boats are crashed... can be hard to walk along deck while coiling ropes and throwing them accurately to the man on shore.. need people on deck with barge poles 'all hands on deck' etc etc, he he, good fun when the panic is all over..


Navigating the river can also be hard.. have to stay within the markers.. they may be hard to spot.. can't just stay in the middle of the river.. in some cases only 20% of the width at one side is navigable... also have to contend with weeds and stuff clogging up the propellor.. then you'd be drifting helplessly... you have to remember which direction you're going (i.e upstream or downstream) or you'll go on the wrong side of the markers, and maybe run aground.

All in all though it should be good fun.. nothing like waking up on a rocking boat with the waves gently lapping against the side...

Toilet facilities may not be great.. scandal a few years ago where the rental companies were apparently telling people to throw it overboard, not supposed to do that but facilities can be non-existent..

Having said all that it was 20 years I was last down,.. so things may have improved a lot.

Thanks for that, kind of thinking the opposite now, will we go at all, I am left in charge of organising it and I don't know if it will work, we are only going for 3 nights, do you think hop in a car and just stop in b&b's instead, I think so, just go a different town each day, explore it. Perhaps in a few years, do the barge thing.