Tidal Launching Points / Slipway

Hi All,
Just joined today and am very impressed, just wish I had heard about you sooner.
I have also just bought a small boat after many years of fishing the tidal from the bank.
Does anyone know of any public slipways with free parking other that River Lane?
I always thought that the carpark at Ham could be used for launching, but it now looks to have wooden posts preventing trailer access.
Any thoughts welcome.
Regards
Peter

Welcome to the TAC Peter.

How big is your boat? Does it need a car to launch it or can it be done by hand with a dolly?

If light enough for hand launching, plenty of drawdocks you can use. There's 2 on the Chiswick bank. Too narrow for a 4 x 4 though.

You can launch at St Marys Church Battersea with a car as its a proper slip way (watch the 6 inch drop off on the ledge). No easy parking as its double yellows and no spots for a trailer.

Richmond bridge the same, proper slip but no easy parking - no reserved spaces for the trailer.

Both Battersea and Richmond are OK if you have someone drop you off and come back later with the trailer .....

The very best slips on the whole tidal below Tower Bridge though are at Putney Embankment. They're steep but the surfaces are kept well and there's plenty of room to launch and there's parking, so long's you don't try on a Saturday morning when all the rowing clubs are there.

I've never launched off there personally but did park on those slips for a boating course at Chas Marine and can say the steepness would be a bit hairy if you had a boat attached and didn't have a 4 x4. Best place to launch I can think of if you don't want to use River Lane.

I'm probably stating the obvious here but maybe not....on high tides the river comes right over the top at Putney so watch when and where you park

twickenham by the barmy arms is popular , i know loads who launch there .

Thanks all- Will take a look at the Barmy Arms.
Peter