bargemast

I will only be a lucky, lucky thing if I manage to realise this project.For the time being, I often look in the mirror, thinking:"Who the heck is this fool watching me ?" Thanks a lot, I like the looks as well, that's why I bought her, that's was the easy part, converting her will be a different story.

No idea if it works, but I'll give it a try. This is the Dutch tanker barge, moored in the North of France, that I'm preparing to convert as my future liveabord barge. She was built in 1953 and messures 21m50 X 4m06, By bargemast at 2008-01-10 Here is a photo of the boat I'm living on when I'm not working on "Brave", she's moored in Burgundy, about 300km away, from the North of France. She was built in Holland in 1994, and is a 14m75AC Broesderkotter, they are very good sea boats CE class B, I bought her in Berlin in 2004, and will sell her as soon as "Brave" is ready to live on. By bargemast at 2008-01-10

Hi again Tomska, sadly enough I can't tell you much more about the "Langedijker" barges, all I can say is that they didn't make many like yours. The Daf 575 that you've got in her now, is one of the most commenly used in the Dutch barges. I've had several in previous barges, and have 2 of them in my 49' Trawler Yacht, and one 575 Turbo, in a former Dutch fuel tankerbarge, that I'm in the process of preparing for conversion as my future barge to live on, and travel with. I know a few things about the Dutch barges, as I'm Dutch myself, and I've spend almost 40 years living with/on them. Cheers.

Hi Tomska, this is quite a special barge, there are not many of these left over. It looks as if everything of the hull (below the gunnels) is new, has she been entirely replated ? what are her dimensions ? and what sort of engine has she got ? They used to have old single cilinder Kromhout glowbulbs, but I don't expect that yours still has one of these. She's looking good.

Being only 13meters (a bit less then 43'), she is relatively short for sure, and for her lenght relatively wide 4m80 o.a. which is more then twice as wide as a NB. You are right about the bigger barges not being suitable for the UK waterways, but they can be used where barges like Thames barges can go. The size is something that I don't think and worry about too much, being on the other side of the Channel, where most of the inland waterways have no problem with the bigger size barges, and they allowed me to go with my barge from Amsterdam via the inland waterways, all the way to Toulouse, on the Canal du Midi.

Of course, one can only compare boats/barges that are comparable, and for me, I would not have any difficulty making my choice, you guessed right, it would definetly be a barge. In the case of the smaller size converted sailing barges, you are absolutely right, they are less spacious because of the mast accomodation, but on the bigger versions there's no, or very little difference.

The window picture with the galley is at the rear end of the accomodation looking into the cockpit.

I'm living in France on the waterways since 1979, and I have a lot of English friends, but it seems very common for a lot of english visiters, to think that everbody in the world will understand them, if they don't, they are probably deaf, so to make yourself understood you speak louder, and louder, if the french still don't understand they must be stupid. But if they don't want to bother to learn the language, they will sooner or later regret, as they will miss out on many things. There are however several english owned boatyards in the country, and one address that exists more then 30 years, of someone that has almost everything for boats, and what he hasn't, he'll be able to get you, or help you out otherwise, and even after all those years, you will never hear a bad word about him, or his business. I don't try to make publicity for him, as his business is going well enough, but just for the people in France that need something they can't get; try Ted Johnson, trading under the name of "Marine-Diesel" tel. 00-33-386-20-14-80, he can also find you good mechanics, if you need one.

The first Dutch motor barges where sailing barges, Tjalk,Klipper(aak) Stijlsteven to name just a few, that they motorised, after a start with motorising their rowboats, that were used as pushers, or an engine on the front deck, that was driving a propellorshaft, hanging over the side, that had a clutch, and only forward and neutral. In the beginning they kept their sails, but reduced those more and more, until they were familiar with their engines. Space wise, on sailing barges of the same size as motor barges the useful space inside should not be different. If an apperently accomplished sailor wouldn't take one to sea, because they don't sail well, he should go to Holland a couple of times, to enjoy the sight of those barges racing, and he will change his mind about them. this man is most likely a sailor that only sailed yachts, and has never been on a sailing barge. I used to own a bigger version of a Tjalk, built in 1897 that was used for the Baltic trade, when times were hard, they were called "Oostzee Tjalk", and if a barge of that age survived under those rough conditions, that proves that they were more then capable of "coastal" sailing. By the way, this old barge that once was mine, is still going strong, and is now trading as hotel-motorbarge, around Venice (Italy).

Beautiful is the right word for a boat like that, I'm proud to be Dutch when I see something like this, even if it wasn't me who built her. This type of boat is named "Lemsteraak", and they used to be fishing vessels. This replica is surely well built, and has really pleasing lines, and the inside is quite likely to be gorgeous as well, I love to see boats like this one, but don't like to live on one, as the only way to see out is by sitting outside, so if the weather is not nice enough to sit outside, you can only look at the sky.

Yes, I suppose you did start an emotive subject, and there are always some points that people do or don't agree about. Living in a house may be more confortable and safer for some, but not everybody can afford to live in the kind of house where ambulance crews would have no trouble getting someone out, Imagine people living in the old town centers, on the 4th, 5th or maybe even higher floors, with no lift, and only a very narrow and very steep, or even spiral staircase. I'm pretty sure that if the ambulance crew can get to them, and the roads are not blocked by traffic jams, would find it easier to get someone of a boat, that if needs be could be mooved to an easier place to disembark someone. Also as someone on the forum said, it could be a young person aswell that needs to be carried off, as accidents can happen to all of us, living on a boat or in a house. About the choice of a nb versus a luxemotor, that will be a personal one, and nb's can cross the Channel quite easy on a trailer, at a cost, and some even cross over on there own keel on a calm day (I wouldn't !) there are a fair number of nb's cruising in France. They are not the ideal boat for France, or the rest of the continent but if you want to go back to the UK again, you don't have to change boats, which may be a point to keep in mind.

No idea when you saw your last Rhine barge, but if you've seen one with a 2 CV, that must have been a car collector, as the average Rhine barge has several cars on the roof, and it's more big size Merc's, Bmw's and Audi's. By the way, almost every cargo-barge now has a car on board, somewhere on the deck, roof or suspended in the hold, even on the 38m Freycinet barges. I suppose that the easiest, but by far not the safest thing to carry on a NB would be a quad of some sort.

As a reaction on "debbifiggy"s story, I'm not convinced at all that you're better of or safer in a house if you have a problem that stops you from beeing able to start your engine to charge batteries etc. An elderly aunty of mine that sadly enough has died since, fell over on the second floor of her house, and broke her hip. She was unable to reach the telephone, and nobody reacted on her cries for help. 38 hours later, another member of the family was getting worried getting no reply on many phonecalls to her, got in the car and went to my aunties house, where she had the door opened by a locksmith, and there they found the poor woman, lying in her own sh.. , and without a drink for such a long time, she almost died. On the canal, I'm pretty sure that neighbours would have heard her calling for help, and she would surely be found much quicker. I wouldn't swap living on my boat for the nicest house in the world !

David's Ebay item may be prettier, but it doesn't do the same thing, as it's for throttle OR clutch only. The other one does both. Good luck finding the right thing at the right price. Bargemast.