Canal-aware routing
Turn-by-turn along the water, counting locks and timing your days – not a road engine guessing at towpaths.
Canal Nav route planner – features & comparison
Everything a boater needs on the cut.
A proper navigator for the slow world – the water, the locks, the stoppages and the stops.
Live closures – canals & rivers
Official stoppages pulled live from the Canal & River Trust and the river authorities (the Thames, Nene, Great Ouse and more), routed around automatically – and when one has a reopen date, it weighs waiting it out against the detour.
Rivers & tidal safety
Full coverage of the rivers alongside the canals – with a clear warning before you reach tidal water, and moorings never placed on the tide.
Routes to your licences
Won’t send you down water your boat isn’t set up for – a book-ahead passage like the Manchester Ship Canal, or a tidal crossing – unless you tell it you’re licensed for it. Set it per boat.
Multi-day itineraries
Plan by days and hours, not just miles – overnight moorings picked to fit your pace, and re-planned from wherever you actually tie up.
Turn-by-turn on the water
GPS-followed, with a live speed readout and a heads-up for each lock, flight, swing or lift bridge, tunnel and junction as you reach it.
Round trips & rings
Plan a loop by days or distance, cruise a classic signposted ring, and flip the direction to dodge a closure.
Community points
Moorings, water points, hazards and services added and confirmed by boaters who are actually out there.
Your boat & logbook
Keep a record of your craft and an automatic log of every cruise – distance, locks, hours on the move and where you moored.
Offline maps
Cache the vector basemap and your route so navigation keeps working through the no-signal cuttings and tunnels.
Share your cruise
Drop a spot or share a live position with family and crew – password-gated, with windows you control.
Badges & rewards
Earn brass badges as you plan, cruise and explore – then show them off with a personal share link for your email or forum footer that invites friends to come aboard.
Side by side
How Canal Nav compares
Other tools do parts of this well. Canal Nav brings planning, live closures, on-the-water navigation and the boater community together in one free app.
| Feature | Canal Nav | CanalPlan AC | Waterway Routes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to plan a route | ✓ | ✓ | – |
| Journey planner – distances, locks & timings | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ |
| Checks your boat fits (locks & gauge) We check length, beam, draught and air-draught against official CRT limits – most planners only check length and beam | ✓ | ◐ | – |
| Live closures – canals & rivers Pulled live from the Canal & River Trust and the river authorities (Thames, Nene, Great Ouse…) and watched while you cruise, not just at planning | ✓ | ◐ | – |
| Tidal-water safety warning + live level Warns before you reach tidal water, shows the live river level and links you to verified tide times, and never moors you on the tide | ✓ | – | – |
| Automatic reroute around closures | ✓ | – | – |
| Wait-vs-detour advice for dated closures | ✓ | – | – |
| Routes to your licences Won’t send you down water your boat isn’t set up for – a book-ahead passage like the Manchester Ship Canal, or a tidal crossing – unless you tell it you’re licensed for it, set per boat. Ordinary inland licences are assumed. | ✓ | – | – |
| Multi-day itinerary with overnight moorings | ✓ | ✓ | – |
| Turn-by-turn GPS navigation on the water | ✓ | – | ◐ |
| Live speed + lock, bridge & junction call-outs | ✓ | – | – |
| Community hazards, moorings & water points Live boater-reported hazards, plus moorings and facilities you can add and rate | ✓ | ◐ | – |
| Business directory on your route Marinas, chandlers & fuel boats, searchable by trade | ✓ | – | – |
| Share a trip as an itinerary or PDF Curated lunch stops & landmarks in a read-only link, plus PDF | ✓ | ◐ | – |
| Share your live location with crew & family | ✓ | – | – |
| Automatic boat logbook & journey history | ✓ | – | – |
| Offline maps for no-signal stretches | ✓ | – | ✓ |
| Works on any phone – nothing to download Installable web app (PWA) | ✓ | ◐ | – |
Comparison based on publicly available information, July 2026. Competitors’ features change – spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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