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__NOTOC__ A narrowboat or narrow boat is a characteristically narrow (and usually long in comparison) boat of a distinctive design, most commonly used on the canals in the British Isles.

Traditional and modern boats

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 maximum width of 7 feet) built in the English midlands during the industrial revolution. The term is extended to modern "narrowboats" used as homes and for recreation, whose design is an interpretation of the old boats for modern purposes and modern materials.

Terminology

It is customary to use the term with a space (narrow boat) when referring to an original boat or a replica, and to omit the space when referring to a modern boat used for leisure or as a residence.

Although narrow boats were based on river barges, it is incorrect to refer to a narrowboat (or narrow boat) as a barge. In the context of the British Inland Waterways, a barge is usually a cargo-carrying boat, or a modern boat modelled on one, certainly more than 7 feet wide (actually up to 14ft wide).

It is incorrect (or at least will invite scorn) to refer to a narrowboat as a longboat, although this name was sometimes used in the midlands in working-boat days, because narrowboats were longer than wide-canal boats. It is common to ridicule the use of the term longboat by commenting that the speaker has suggested that Vikings have re-invaded Britain via the Trent and Mersey Canal! However, it should be noted that: (a) the Vikings did in fact invade England via the rivers; (b) they did so in longships, not longboats (which were a type of ship's rowing/sail boat used until the 19th century).

Usage has not quite settled down as regards (a) boats based on narrowboat design, but too wide for narrow canals ; or (b) boats the same width as narrowboats but based on other types of boat. To many ears, "Wide-beam narrowboat" and "Dutch-Barge-style narrowboat" are both terms which jar.

Size

The key distinguishing feature of a narrowboat is its width: it must be less than 7 feet wide to navigate the British narrow canals. Some old boats are very close to this limit, and can have trouble using locks that are not quite as wide as they should be because of subsidence. Modern boats are usually 6ft 10in wide to guarantee easy passage everywhere.

Because of their slenderness, some narrowboats seem very long. The maximum length is 72 feet (22m, the length of the locks on the narrow canals). However, modern narrowboats tend to be less than this, so that they can cruise anywhere on the connected network of British Canals - including on the "wide" canals (built for boats wider, but shorter, than narrowboats). The shortest lock on the network is Salterhebble Middle Lock on the Calder and Hebble Navigation, at about 56ft long. However, the C&H is a wide canal, so the lock is about 14 ft wide. This makes the largest "go-anywhere-on-the-network" narrowboat slightly longer (about 60ft) than the straight length of the lock, because it can (with a certain amount of "shoehorning") lie diagonally. Some locks on isolated waterways are as short as 40ft (12m).

Hire fleets on British canals can contain narrowboats of many lengths from about 30 feet upwards, to allow parties of different sizes or different budgets to hire a boat.

Development - traditional working boats

The first working narrow boats played a key part in the economic changes accompanying the British Industrial Revolution. They were wooden boats drawn by a horse walking on the canal towpath led by a crew member, often a child. Narrowboats were chiefly designed for carrying cargo, though there were some packet boats, carrying passengers, letters, and parcels.

Boatmen's families originally lived ashore, but as the canals' economic decline worsened starting in the 1830s as the new railways began to take away their business, the famiies took up home afloat - partly to save meney and partly to provide extra hands to work the boats harder, faster and further.

The rear portion of the boat became the cosy "boatman's cabin", familiar from picture postcards and museumns, famous for its space-saving ingenuity and for its interior made attractive by a warm stove, a steaming kettle, gleaming brass, fancy lace, painted houswares, and decorated plates. Although such descriptions rarely consider the actual comfort of a large family working an extremely hard and long day, and sleeping in the one tiny cabin, it is no doubt true that at the time there were many workers in harder, indoor, trades with less healthy conditions and worse accommodation where the family were separated for long hours rather than being together all day.

As diesel and steam replaced the tow horse, it became possible to move more cargo for the same manpower (although having to cycle each narrow lock twice) by towing a "dumb" (unpowered) "butty" ("buttyboat" or "butty boat")."Butty" is not linked because this usage refers back to this page via a disambiguation page.There was now no horse to look after, but someone now had to steer the butty, unless on a wide canal such as the Grand Union Canal where the bridges were wide enough to allow boat and butty to be roped side-to-side and handled as one.

Cargo-carrrying by narrow boat was almost extinguished as a way of life between 1945 and 1965. A few people are doing their best to keep the tradition alive, mostly by "one-off" deliveries rather than regular runs, or by selling goods such as coal to other boaters.

There are many enthusiasts dedicated to restoring the remaining old boats, and there are also many replicas ornately painted with the same traditional designs, usually of roses and castles. If the boat is not horse-drawn it will have a refurbished, massive, slow-revving, vintage diesel engines, and there are even some steam-driven narrowboats (eg nb President).

Modern narrowboats

The number of licensed boats on British Waterways was estimated at about 27,000 in 2006. There are perhaps another 5,000 legitimately unlicensed boats kept in private moorings or on other waterways. http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/about_us/business_activities/boating.html Most of the boats on BW waterways 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. And even though most private boats spend many more days per year in marinas or "linear moorings" than they do cruising, some canals carry more leisure traffic than they ever carried commercially.

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 usually fitted out to a high standard. There will be 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 traditioal boats can vary from an 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), or 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 canals are closed by "stoppages").

A person looking to buy or hire a narrowboat, would usually consider these four factors first: length ; number of beds ; arrangement of "rooms"; and stern type.

Length

Longer boats may be more difficult to get round corners quickly, but are more steady in a straight line; shorter boats are more manouverable but have less accomodation.

Number of Beds

Clearly, ther eneed to be enough beds for the party. But how many doubles and singles are there? Are all the beds permanent, or do they have to be "constructed" each night? "4 + 2" means 6 bed spaces, but only four of them are fixed: if there are six in the party, then two beds would have to be converted each night from from chairs, sofas or dining tables. If the budget is not too tight, then it is better to have a boat with more beds than are strictly needed: this gives flexibility in terms of doubles and singles, seperate cabins, etc; means that beds do not necessarily have to be "built" at night; and provides a grester feeling of neutral space. Beds are also useful as informal storage for "spreading" items that may be needed at any time, such as cameras, hats, coats, books, maps, etc.

Layout

If more than one family (or generation) are sharing a boat, a prime consideration might be the physical arrangement of beds and bathroom(s), particularly after partitions, doors, and curtains are closed for the night. ("We need a private bathroom" "I need to be able to get to the front or rear deck in the night for fresh air", "I need to be able to get to the galley for a midnight snack"...)

Some people attatch more significance to the sequence in which the different "day rooms" of the boat are laid out. If the galley is at the rear, then the steerer is in greater contact with the crew (at least with the person making tea and coffee), while some prefer the sense of calm that comes from having the crew out of sight and earshot while they are on deck. Some people insist that the dining/lounge area be at the front of the boat, so that they benefit from almost all-round views and, specifically, allow crew relaxing in these areas to see where the boat is going (important,for example, when the boat is approaching a lock or a mooring).

Stern types

There are thee 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 arragements and combinations.

Trad Stern Traditional boats had an open, unguarded "counter", a small flat area behind the rear doors from which the crew could step onto land, or even steer (with litle regard to the prop churning below less than one-missstep 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 arrangment, although the coal box is now the "steering step". On trad boats, the bow "well-deck" forms the main outside viewing area.

Cruiser Stern Cruiser stern boats were designed to allow for mximum enjoyments by all on board of good-weather vacation crusing and al-fresco summer breakfasts or evening drinks. The hatch and rear doors were moved well forward, creating a large open deck (between the counter and the rear doors) protected by a rail (perhaps with seats) around the back and sides. The rail will have side gaps at the front of the deck (near the rear doors) to allow people on and off the boat. At the rear, a "cruiser" narrowboat looks very different from traditional boats, and the steerer is quite unprotected in wind and rain. The name derives from the large centre or rear cockpits common on glass-fibre (GRP) river cruisers (note that shortening the phrase "cruiser-stern narrowboat" to "cruiser" can risk confusion with a GRP boat itself.)

Semi-Trad Stern This is a compromise to gain some of the "social" benefits of a cruiser-stern, while retaining more traditonal lines and some protection for the steerer in bad weather or in cooler seasons. As with the cruiser-stern, the hatch and rear doors are moved forward, but chest-height side walls are left extending back from the cabin sides, terminating in extra "outer" stern doors (at the same height) which can close across the counter. This gives a more traditional appearance than a cruiser stern, and the enclosed (but unroofed) area between front and rear doors provides extra deck-room , and sometimes low-level lockers which can be used as seats. Some hirers with young childern feel that this arrangement allows the children to come on deck (unlike a trad stern) while allowing the steerer to have greater supervision of them than on an open-sided cruiser-stern. In inclement weather the steerer can close the outer doors and benefit from the partial shelter of the enclosed area, and (though to less of an extent than on a trad-stern) from heat emerging from the cabin through open inner doors. Some semi-trad boats are fitted with covers to protect the enclosed area from rain when the boat is not crusing, and some covers can be ingeniously adjusted to allow their use (offering even greater protection for the steerer) when the boat is underway in bad weather.

National organisations

References

See also

External links

Boat types | Canals_in_the_United_Kingdom | Canals in England

Cwch camlas

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Narrowboat".

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