Narrow Boat - General Information

Actually, a "narrow boat" or "canal boat" is a boat of a distinctive design, made to fit the narrow canals in the British Isles. In the context of British Inland Waterways, "narrow boat" refers to the original working boats built in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries for carrying goods on the narrow canals (where locks and bridge holes would have a minimum width of 7 feet) built in the English midlands during the industrial revolution. The term is extended to modern narrow boats used as homes and for recreation, whose design is an interpretation of the old boats for modern purposes and modern materials.

The number of licensed boats on canals and rivers managed by British Waterways was estimated at about 27,000 in 2006. There are perhaps another 5,000 unlicensed boats kept in private moorings or on other waterways. Most of the boats on BW are modern narrowboats, and there are probably more of them than the number of traditional boats that ever existed. This reflects the huge growth in the last thirty years in the use of canals for leisure.

Modern narrowboats are mostly used for annual vacations or for weekend breaks. Usually, they have steel bodies and modern (often Japanese) diesel engines, and are fitted out to a high standard. There will be at least 6 feet internal headroom, and the same domestic facilities as a small rental apartment: satellite television, internet-connection, central heating, flush toilets, shower or even bath, four-ring hobs, oven, grill, microwave, and refrigerator. Externally, their resemblance to traditional boats can vary from a faithful imitation (false "rivets", and copies of traditional paintwork) through "interpretation" (clean lines and simplified paintwork) through to a free-style approach which does not try to pretend in any way that this is a traditional boat. They can be owned by individuals (or shared by a group of friends or by a more formally organised syndicate), rented out by holiday firms, or used as cruising hotels. A few boats are lived on permanently: either based in one place (though long-term moorings for residential narrowboats are currently very difficult to find) or continuously moving around the network (perhaps with a fixed location for the coldest months, when many stretches of canal are closed by repair works or "stoppages").

Some narrowboat features:

• Length: longer boats may be more difficult to get round corners quickly, but are steadier in a straight line, while shorter boats are more manoeuvrable but have less accommodation.
• Stern types: there are three basic types of arrangement at the stern of the boat, to meet different needs in terms of a more traditional appearance, or freedom for everyone to enjoy summer weather or long evenings, or protection from bad weather. Each has its strong advocates, but the boundaries are not fixed, and some boats blur the categories as designers try out slightly different arrangements and combinations.
  1. Trad Stern: Traditional boats had an open, unguarded "counter" or deck behind the rear doors from which the crew could step onto land, or steer (with little regard to the prop churning below less than one-misstep away). In bad weather, the boat could be steered in relative warmth, with the steerer forward of the rear doors, standing on the coal box inside the cabin, with their legs next to the stove and only their upper body emerging from the hatchway. Many modern canal boats retain this arrangement, although the coal box is now the "steering step". On trad boats, the bow "well-deck" forms the main outside viewing area.
  2. Cruiser Stern: Cruiser stern boats were designed to allow more people to be on deck during the reasonably good weather of the British holiday season. The hatch and rear doors are further forward than on a trad boat, creating a large open deck between counter and rear doors, protected by a rail (perhaps with seats) around the back and sides. At the rear, a "cruiser" narrowboat looks very different from traditional boats, and the steerer is quite unprotected in wind and rain. The name for this style arises because the large open rear deck resembles that of the large rear cockpits common on glass-fibre (GRP) river cruisers.
  3. Semi-Trad Stern: This is a compromise to gain some of the "social" benefits of a cruiser stern, while retaining more traditional lines and some protection for the steerer in bad weather or in cooler seasons. As with the cruiser stern, the deck is extended back from the hatch and rear doors, but in this case most of the deck is protected at the sides by walls which extend back from the cabin sides - giving a more sheltered area for the steerer and companions, usually with lockers to sit on.