The Seal of The Dudley Canal Company The Dudley Canal Trust

Passage Through Dudley Canal Tunnel

The Tunnel Gague
The Tunnel Gauge

Dudley Canal Trust are contracted by the Canal & River Trust to provide a free towing service to any vessel that requires a passage through Dudley canal tunnel as long as it is able to meet the minimum requirements for height and safety. Below are listed the Canal & River Trust guidelines that vessels must meet.

All boats MUST be gauged with a member of DCT staff present.
Boats must NOT be purposely ballasted down.
Boats and passengers must comply with Waterways Regulations.
Passage is via a free towing service or escorted during legging.
All crew must adhere to the instructions of the Tug operator.

For passage through the Tunnel contact June Hodgetts:
Tel:

IMPORTANT – ON NO ACCOUNT MAY YOU USE THIS TUNNEL
EXCEPT BY PRIOR ARRANGEMENT WITH DUDLEY CANAL TRUST

Instructions for passage through the Dudley Canal Tunnel (2888 metres)

Instructions & dimensions guide for Dudley Canal Tunnel passage: Download

Do

Make sure your craft passes the clearance gauge - See the instructions download
Switch off your engine
Switch on your headlight
Make sure everybody stays inside the boat
Extinguish all naked flames except pilot lights
Everybody must wear a life jacket

Do Not

Smoke
Use cooking appliances
Use small unpowered craft
Use your engine under any circumstances
DO NOT ATTEMPT PASSAGE THROUGH THE DUDLEY CANAL TUNNEL
WITHOUT NOTIFYING DUDLEY CANAL TRUST

Towing

You will be briefed by the tug crew before before you are towed through.
For your safety, please comply with their instructions

If the tug crew consider your boat suitable, you may leg through the tunnel accompanied by the tug.

Legging

If you wish to leg your boat through the tunnel you must book passage with the Dudley Canal Trust

The tunnel is 2.8km / 1¾ miles long and it will take you about two and a half hours to leg right through

There are parts of the tunnel which are too wide to leg and you will need to shaft the boat through in these sections; the diagram shows you where you can leg

Not all boats are suitable for legging and you must abide by the decision of the tunnel tug crew, who will accompany you in any event

 

The views expressed on this site are not necessarily those of the Dudley Canal Trust or Dudley Canal Trust (Trips) Ltd. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the information on this site is accurate and up to date, no responsibility for errors and omissions can be accepted. We cannot guarantee that links to external websites will continue to work as we do not have control of those sites. We do check the content of external sites, however we cannot be held responsible for the content and views expressed in these sites. All material on this web site is copyright and may not be reproduced without the written permission of the webmaster of Dudley Canal Trust.

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