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If you’re at Route Kanal’s final airboat gate, get out on the right side of the boat, go around the nearby boxes to reach the crank, and turn it until it stops. Return to the airboat and pass through the opened gate; the next chapter is Water Hazard. If you’re stuck somewhere else, use the landmark guide below to find the matching section.
At the final airboat gate
- Stop the airboat on the right side of the gate.
- Get out and go around the nearby boxes. This route leads to the crank.
- Turn the crank until it stops.
- Return to the airboat and drive through the opened gate. You’ll continue into Chapter 4, Water Hazard.
This crank-and-gate sequence is described in the StrategyWiki Route Kanal walkthrough and corroborated by the Prima Route Kanal guide.
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If you’re stuck earlier in Route Kanal
Route Kanal is Chapter 3, and it includes sewer and sluice passages as well as the airboat route. The final-gate instructions above won’t solve every obstacle in the chapter. The Prima guide’s chapter map and walkthrough can help you identify the next passage, while BigMacDavis’s full Route Kanal gameplay walkthrough provides visual orientation.
Blocked grate with explosive barrels
If the obstacle in front of you is a grate and you can see explosive barrels approaching, wait for the barrels to reach and break the obstruction. This advice applies to that specific scene, as described on Danny’s Half-Life Information’s Route Kanal help page.
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Why your scene may look slightly different
Valve’s Half-Life 2 Anniversary Update notes say it “Aligned pipe and canal wall textures in a few areas to reduce seams and misalignment in Route Kanal.” The notes also describe added and adjusted canal-wall geometry. They document visual and geometry adjustments, not a change to the final gate’s crank progression, so small differences in appearance between versions do not necessarily mean you’re in the wrong place.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Still stuck? Identify the landmark
If none of these scenes matches what you see, describe the nearest recognizable landmark—such as a sewer or sluice, the blocked grate, an airboat dock, or the final gate—and what is preventing you from moving forward. That will narrow down which Route Kanal section you need.
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