There are three main types of narrowboat: - Traditional (Trad)
- Semi-Traditional (Semi-Trad)
- Cruiser
There are also a number of styles including: - Inspection Launch
- Josher
- Tug
- Dutch-barge
The main features of each are described below.
TRADITIONAL STYLE
A narrowboat with superstructure continuing to within about three feet of the stern, with a small rear deck for the steerer only, usually unprotected by stern railings (taff rails). The engine is inside the boat, usually either just inside the rear doors (enclosed in a wooden housing), or forward of a boatman’s cabin in an open engine room. Additional space can be created by increasing the rear-deck up to 4ft and the size of the hatchway from the standard 2ft x 2ft up to 3ft wide x 4ft long.
SEMI-TRADITIONAL
A narrowboat with the outside appearance of a traditional except that here, the whole of the cabin top above the engine is cut away, giving an extra 4ft of space allowing room for three of four people. Often seats are fitted either side adding to comfort and convenience, with lockers underneath providing stowage for accessories and equipment. The height of the cockpit floor is also important, most boats have freshwater tanks underneath which raises the floor by 15-20 inches. An alternative is to locate the tank elsewhere in the boat, increasing the depth of the cockpit, and making it a much more usable space and on the same level as the floor of the saloon, with no need for a step up.
CRUISER STERN
For maximum area aft you might opt for the cruiser stern. Here the aft deck is 6 to 8 feet or more long, completely open, and conceals the engine. Rails are usually fitted around the stern and sides for safety, sometimes with seats fitted on top of the rails.
INSPECTION LAUNCH
This is modelled on the boats that used to be used by the proprietors of the company when they went on their annual tour of inspection of their canal, hence the name. Here the forward cockpit is even longer, often with a steering wheel in it as an alternative to the tiller aft. The cabin roof runs overhead, while roll-down side-screens with clear plastic panels in them turn this space into an all-weather extension of the saloon. The saloon windows are larger than in a conventional narrowboat, and the aft deck may have a different layout, with even a small second cockpit here.
The inspection launch style is particularly appropriate for boats which are going to be spending much of their time on the river, where locks are broader and less frequent, and steering from the front allows the whole party to sit together. Forward steering is less precise when manoeuvring a long boat in tight spaces, but a second steering position at the stern takes over when you are on the canals.
JOSHER
A josher was a particular style of working boat, named after Joshua Fellows, one of the founders of the renowned carrying company Fellows, Morton and Clayton. Its characteristics were its long lean bow, and fine underwater sections. Today the term is used to describe modern boats, built to look like the originals, with features such as false rivets to simulate the riveted construction of the originals, and grooved steel decking to simulate wooden planking.
Inside, today's josher will have a layout that is similar to most other new narrowboats. It may have a central engine-room, in which case aft of this will be a second cabin, the boatman's cabin, again derived from the cabins of the working boats.
TUGS
Tug-style boats have a long fore-deck, up to 10ft or sometimes 16ft long, again often with grooved steel 'planking'. These are based on the tugs that used to ply the waterways, towing other craft. The drawback of this arrangement is that the space under the fore-deck is largely wasted, except for storage, or sometimes for beds for children. But they do look very distinctive.
CONCLUSION
Whatever style you choose, remember that one day you will have to part with your boat, and standard run-of-the-mill designs sell easiest. At this time you will wish you had not gone for the ornate scroll work, or the layout that suited you just fine, but is of no interest to anyone else.
The special boat will eventually sell, but you may have to wait for some time till the person with the same ideas as you comes along, or you will have to drop the price. |
|
Buying a Boat 
