Navigating Shannon Brook/Balmoral Canal

First Mate · 06-26-2019, 12:19 PM

Exploring Moultonborough this week, we were wondering if one can safely motor a short distance into Shannon Brook in Balmoral with a pontoon boat. It sure seems shallow, even at full lake, but property owners have docks along it so we are curious.

Also, how hard is it to navigate the Balmoral canal? TIA for any information you can share.

Juiced06GTO · 06-30-2019, 07:13 PM

I was wondering the same thing. There are a few places for sale with docks and I was wondering how accessible they actually are

Dave R · 07-01-2019, 06:32 AM

Its obviously man-made and has boats in it already. It's a safe bet that it's navigable, otherwise those boats would not be there. Also, people don't typically go to all the trouble of digging a canal that's not navigable. Go out and explore, you have the perfect boat for it, trim up and go slowly if in doubt of depth.

iw8surf · 07-01-2019, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave R

Its obviously man-made and has boats in it already. It's a safe bet that it's navigable, otherwise those boats would not be there. Also, people don't typically go to all the trouble of digging a canal that's not navigable. Go out and explore, you have the perfect boat for it, trim up and go slowly if in doubt of depth.

Right? I wouldn't go exploring shallow areas in a inboard.... but pontoon trim it up and send it!

kawishiwi · 07-01-2019, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave R

Its obviously man-made and has boats in it already. It's a safe bet that it's navigable, otherwise those boats would not be there. Also, people don't typically go to all the trouble of digging a canal that's not navigable. Go out and explore, you have the perfect boat for it, trim up and go slowly if in doubt of depth.

If your boating season ends on Labor day I would guess access would be mostly ok. But when we had the record low water in late summer & fall a few years ago there were largely unusable SLIPS where I keep my boat. I would bet the canals were likely out of business then.

06-26-2019, 12:19 PM	#1
First Mate Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Posts: 38 Thanks: 15 Thanked 13 Times in 8 Posts	Navigating Shannon Brook/Balmoral Canal Exploring Moultonborough this week, we were wondering if one can safely motor a short distance into Shannon Brook in Balmoral with a pontoon boat. It sure seems shallow, even at full lake, but property owners have docks along it so we are curious. Also, how hard is it to navigate the Balmoral canal? TIA for any information you can share.

06-30-2019, 07:13 PM	#2
Juiced06GTO Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2017 Posts: 213 Thanks: 9 Thanked 84 Times in 49 Posts	I was wondering the same thing. There are a few places for sale with docks and I was wondering how accessible they actually are

07-01-2019, 06:32 AM	#3
Dave R Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 2,984 Thanks: 246 Thanked 743 Times in 443 Posts	Its obviously man-made and has boats in it already. It's a safe bet that it's navigable, otherwise those boats would not be there. Also, people don't typically go to all the trouble of digging a canal that's not navigable. Go out and explore, you have the perfect boat for it, trim up and go slowly if in doubt of depth.