Bit Strange, But I Quite Like It

[Steamerpoint]

Had a great time today at the Crick Boatshow.

Weather was great too.

 

Anyway, I had a look around a Dutch Barge Narrowboat and quite liked what I saw.

The 57 foot long 6'10" wide hull has no problem getting around the network and the jet thrusters make the handling straight forward.

 

Here are a few photos of it, which I scanned from the brochure: http://www.325099.co.uk/Interesting%20Stuff2.htm

 

I think the bow is a bit pointy (Kind of wicked witch pointy), but I could probably live with it though I love the look of the stern.

 

Has anyone ever owned anything like this? If so, what are the pitfalls?

 

Regards Chris.

[colin stone]

Not bad for a NBDB, but the thing that really destroys the looks is the forward leaning wheelhouse. Ugh - it is not a trawler!!!. Should be vertical, with a visor. If fwd leaning is for anti reflection reasons, then have the front panel fitted with Schott Amiran anti reflective glass. It is quite expensive, but will add to the style - but as the glass is coated don't bother with a windscreen wiper - use Rain X instead.

 

Bow and stern are pretty much as they should be from the 1920's - bow perhaps more vertical.

[Michele]

Anyway, I had a look around a Dutch Barge Narrowboat and quite liked what I saw.

The 57 foot long 6'10" wide hull has no problem getting around the network and the jet thrusters make the handling straight forward.

 

How much were they asking for it?

[Gibbo]

Not bad for a NBDB, but the thing that really destroys the looks is the forward leaning wheelhouse. Ugh - it is not a trawler!!!.

 

Funny innit. That's the one and only part of the boat that I do like.

 

Gibbo

[Steamerpoint]

How much were they asking for it?

About £95,000!

 

That said, you can't buy much new for less than £85,000 anyway, unless those are the show/ Spring weather prices!

 

What I like about it is the stern and the rear cabin. Basically I like the fact that a cabin can be situated at both ends with a fixed full width bed and all of the hull is covererd maximising internal space, yet the wheel house can be opened up/ folded open giving a nice open space to enjoy the fresh air when it's nice, and closed up when it's not.

 

The wheel house is water tight if it rains and is open to the elements and when moored up, still offers useful living space even if the weather is naff.

The downside I can see is if the roof is down because your cruising under low bridges and it's chucking it down with rain, getting from the back cabin to the front of the boat is going to be a damp experience, but hey!

 

My main concern was the quality of the interior. It was passible, but only just. I found two screws holding a wooden wall panel in place that were only half screwed in and the weight of the wall panel was pushing on the edge of the screws bending them out of the panel behind and this was spilitting the wood! Difficult to explain, but a very poor technique and not how screws should be used! If I spotted this in the Bathroom in an easily spotted area, what is the rest like in more hidden area's!

Edited May 25, 2009 by Steamerpoint

[Big Steve]

I'm no purist, but that is an abortion.

[dor]

Wasn't that one written up a few months ago in one of the mags?

[Chris Davidson]

Yeah it was in CanalBoat a few months ago.

 

Chris

[ChrisPy]

would be OK if it was 12 ft wide ...............

[starman]

Not sure I can see the point of it really - what's the sense in having a wheelhouse if you have to collapse it every time you come to anything resembling a low bridge (and there are plenty of those on the Fens where you were planning to go.) If you take a chance at squeezing through without lowering it and get caught by a side wind as you emerge, that's one big repair bill. Agree with you about the price/quality too.

 

You can have a conventional narrowbpat with a cabin right across the front if you wish.

[Gibbo]

I'm no purist, but that is an abortion.

 

 

 

Gibbo

[Allenm]

Had a great time today at the Crick Boatshow.

Weather was great too.

 

Anyway, I had a look around a Dutch Barge Narrowboat and quite liked what I saw.

The 57 foot long 6'10" wide hull has no problem getting around the network and the jet thrusters make the handling straight forward.

 

Here are a few photos of it, which I scanned from the brochure: http://www.325099.co.uk/Interesting%20Stuff2.htm

 

I think the bow is a bit pointy (Kind of wicked witch pointy), but I could probably live with it though I love the look of the stern.

 

Has anyone ever owned anything like this? If so, what are the pitfalls?

 

Regards Chris.

 

 

 

 

Nice to talk with you at the show, Chris, and obviously sorry that you decided to go the way you have, but absolutely no hard feelings - you win some, you lose some - and the customer is the customer.

 

In response to your posting, can I throw in the experience we had when we built a narrow beam Dutch barge in 2003, but had to sell it on because of its manoeuvring characteristics. In order not to have to keep taking the wheelhouse down for bridges, we increased the draft (only by around 6ins as I recall) but this made its handling disturbingly unpredictable on those parts of the canal system where the bottom is too near to the top. (I have yet to live down the story about when I, personally, experienced these characteristics!!). Fortunately, the new purchaser was very happy with it because he kept it on the Thames where there was a lot more water underneath.

 

The other reason for increasing the under-floor ballasting (in addition to increasing the draft) was to lower the centre of gravity. Without doing that, we knew we would have to get used to the tendency for a narrow boat with this kind of superstructure to rock from side to side a bit more than usual.

 

Can I add (am I permitted to on this forum?) that I'm surprised at the price. During the Crick weekend we were told by two separate boatbuilders that we had set the price of our "designer narrow boat" too low - at £95,000. Maybe they had an ulterior motive for offering this advice, I wondered??! - but now I'm not so sure........

[david and julie]

This would appear a good lay-out but looking at the plan diagram the figures don't seem to add up.

Some of the measurements are missing, but to a degree, we can guess them.

 

We have 57ft, lets say the useable cabin length is say 6 ft shorter, so we have an internal cabin length of say 51ft.

 

Rear bedroom = 10'. Wheelhouse = 9'. Kitchen = 9' Thats 28' so 51' less 28' = 23 ft left for the lounge,dinette, front bedroom and bathroom.

 

We have no measurements for the bedroom and bathroom but to be any use they would need to be at least 9'6"& 5'6" = 15'

So we now have 51' - 28' = 23' - 15' for the bed/bath = 8ft left.

 

In the pictures this boat has a dinette (6ft?) and a sizeable lounge.

[Steamerpoint]

This would appear a good lay-out but looking at the plan diagram the figures don't seem to add up.

Some of the measurements are missing, but to a degree, we can guess them.

 

We have 57ft, lets say the useable cabin length is say 6 ft shorter, so we have an internal cabin length of say 51ft.

 

Rear bedroom = 10'. Wheelhouse = 9'. Kitchen = 9' Thats 28' so 51' less 28' = 23 ft left for the lounge,dinette, front bedroom and bathroom.

 

We have no measurements for the bedroom and bathroom but to be any use they would need to be at least 9'6"& 5'6" = 15'

So we now have 51' - 28' = 23' - 15' for the bed/bath = 8ft left.

 

In the pictures this boat has a dinette (6ft?) and a sizeable lounge.

To the left of the Kitchen there 23'10 of space to allow for a Lounge area/ Diner (Removable table), Bathroom & Bedroom.

The reason the measurements are missing is because the original layout on the Liquorice Fields had the Bathroom at the front followed by a Lounge, then a Dining area with fixed benches/ table that folded down into a double bed if required!

 

I felt that this was all wrong as we wanted a cabins fore and aft, so using a bit of photoshop trickery, I slid the 8-foot Bathroom down a little and made it 6-foot, squeezed in a 9-foot cabin, leaving 9-foot for a Sofa/Dining table next to the Kitchen. (Though I have just looked at the original drawing and noticed it is not to scale - Will upload the original)

Actually, I would gain an extra foot, because the Liquorice is a 57-foot boat and I would probably go for a 58-footer!

Edited May 26, 2009 by Steamerpoint

[david and julie]

To the left of the Kitchen there 23'10 of space to allow for a Lounge area/ Diner (Removable table), Bathroom & Bedroom.

The reason the measurements are missing is because the original layout on the Liquorice Fields had the Bathroom at the front followed by a Lounge, then a Dining area with fixed benches/ table that folded down into a double bed if required!

 

I felt that this was all wrong as we wanted a cabins fore and aft, so using a bit of photoshop trickery, I slid the 8-foot Bathroom down a little and made it 6-foot, squeezed in a 9-foot cabin, leaving 9-foot for a Sofa/Dining table next to the Kitchen. (Though I have just looked at the original drawing and noticed it is not to scale - Will upload the original)

Actually, I would gain an extra foot, because the Liquorice is a 57-foot boat and I would probably go for a 58-footer!

I was only curious Chris but now you've confused me too.

 

You started the thread as if you stumbled onto this boat at a show and then went into precise detail, is it your boat or did you build/fit it out? or are are you intending building/buying/fancy something similar.

[Steamerpoint]

Not sure I can see the point of it really - what's the sense in having a wheelhouse if you have to collapse it every time you come to anything resembling a low bridge (and there are plenty of those on the Fens where you were planning to go.) If you take a chance at squeezing through without lowering it and get caught by a side wind as you emerge, that's one big repair bill. Agree with you about the price/quality too.

 

You can have a conventional narrowbpat with a cabin right across the front if you wish.

You could have a wide front cabin, but this design allows you to have two wide birth cabins!

 

I don't really see the difference from the pramhood rain coat contraptions on the back of a traditional style narrowboat.

Yes you can cruise with them up, but you still need to take them down for bridges etc. Generally I expect that most of the cruising would require the wheel house to be lowered. No different from a traditional style narrowboat!

 

The advantage is that when you are moored up for days, weeks, months etc. it can stay up if the weather is bad, yet still offers an additional room if required. The inside of the wheel house is water tight in that it can rain all day, the main inside areas of the boat will still be dry, no different from a cratch cover if that was left open!

 

For me, the layout really works. Two cabins at each end of the boat, one with a bathroom and the other with a WC, Galley near the wheel house for easy transportation of coffees & teas, yet close to the Diner/ small Lounge area.

 

If we have guests, they have their own back cabin for privacy. I just love the layout. Only thing I'm not as keen on is the wicked witch pointy bow, but in order to keep it looking more authentic to the Dutch Barge style (Minus the wide beam size) it needs to stay. Of course I could change it, but it's not offensive, well to me anyway!

 

£95k is way too high for this and they would need to get the price down loads before I would buy one!

 

I was only curious Chris but now you've confused me too.

 

You started the thread as if you stumbled onto this boat at a show and then went into precise detail, is it your boat or did you build/fit it out? or are are you intending building/buying/fancy something similar.

I saw one of these at the Boat Show called Strawberry Fields. They gave me a brochure about a similar boat called Liquorice Fields, with a different layout up front. In my opinion, not as good as the Strawberry Fields boat.

 

Both layouts are close, but not exactly right, so I played about with the Liquorice layout in the brochure to come up with what would work for me/ us. The builder said that these sorts of changes were entirely possible.

 

They can build a complete boat like this in only 16-weeks (Or so they claim) so should we want one built, we have plenty of build slots each year and time to keep saving/ working out the detail.

Edited May 26, 2009 by Steamerpoint

[Steamerpoint]

Nice to talk with you at the show, Chris, and obviously sorry that you decided to go the way you have, but absolutely no hard feelings - you win some, you lose some - and the customer is the customer.

 

In response to your posting, can I throw in the experience we had when we built a narrow beam Dutch barge in 2003, but had to sell it on because of its manoeuvring characteristics. In order not to have to keep taking the wheelhouse down for bridges, we increased the draft (only by around 6ins as I recall) but this made its handling disturbingly unpredictable on those parts of the canal system where the bottom is too near to the top. (I have yet to live down the story about when I, personally, experienced these characteristics!!). Fortunately, the new purchaser was very happy with it because he kept it on the Thames where there was a lot more water underneath.

 

The other reason for increasing the under-floor ballasting (in addition to increasing the draft) was to lower the centre of gravity. Without doing that, we knew we would have to get used to the tendency for a narrow boat with this kind of superstructure to rock from side to side a bit more than usual.

 

Can I add (am I permitted to on this forum?) that I'm surprised at the price. During the Crick weekend we were told by two separate boatbuilders that we had set the price of our "designer narrow boat" too low - at £95,000. Maybe they had an ulterior motive for offering this advice, I wondered??! - but now I'm not so sure........

Hello Allen,

As you know, I am willing to look at something different and your contemporary design is certainly that. It caught my imagination especially the forward cabin, the jet thrusters and silent engine, but the central wheel house of the Dutch Barge solved the problem of needing to squeeze past the narrow double beds to get to the bow & stern, allowing two full width cabins.

This design also has a bow thruster assisting with handling, though it hasn't got a thruster in the stern.

 

I just don't know why you don't build one?

Most of the builders at the show were trying to sell normal narrowboats with price tags similar to your design, yet yours would be so radically different.

 

It is interesting about boat builders trying to fix the prices. A chap in Peterborough is fitting out a brand new 58-foot narrowboat (Hull built by Reaves) with a cruiser stern and a new Barras 50 for only £45k.

How is it that the prices can vary so widely? It looks like a reasonable fit and it's hard to see much between his boat and many of the new ones at the show, though yours looked very special I must say.

Edited May 26, 2009 by Steamerpoint

[starman]

It is interesting about boat builders trying to fix the prices. A chap in Peterborough is fitting out a brand new 58-foot narrowboat (Hull built by Reaves) with a cruiser stern and a new Barras 50 for only £45k.

How is it that the prices can vary so widely? It looks like a reasonable fit and it's hard to see much between his boat and many of the new ones at the show.

 

I suspect you might discover the difference after a few years of ownership. If twenty boatbuilders say their boat costs £80k and one says he can do the same thing for £60k I'm afraid I'd be inclined to think he's either cutting a lot of corners you can't immediately spot or isn't much of a businessman and could well go under perhaps taking most of my money with him. Remember, you get 'owt for n'owt.

[Allenm]

Hello Allen,

As you know, I am willing to look at something different and your contemporary design is certainly that. It caught my imagination especially the forward cabin, the jet thrusters and silent engine, but the central wheel house of the Dutch Barge solved the problem of needing to squeeze past the narrow double beds to get to the bow & stern, allowing two full width cabins.

This design also has a bow thruster assisting with handling, though it hasn't got a thruster in the stern.

 

I just don't know why you don't build one?

Most of the builders at the show were trying to sell normal narrowboats with price tags similar to your design, yet yours would be so radically different.

 

It is interesting about boat builders trying to fix the prices. A chap in Peterborough is fitting out a brand new 58-foot narrowboat (Hull built by Reaves) with a cruiser stern and a new Barras 50 for only £45k.

How is it that the prices can vary so widely? It looks like a reasonable fit and it's hard to see much between his boat and many of the new ones at the show, though yours looked very special I must say.

 

 

 

Chris,

 

The answer to your question "Why didn't you build one?" is simply the cost. Having built the ultra luxury spec wide beam version of "Whisper" and got several fingers burned when it didn't sell immediately - for reasons confessed earlier above - I had to be more restrained this time - particularly in the current economic climate - hence the computer generated version.

 

If you were possibly also asking "Why don't you build narrow beam Dutch barges?", the answer is that the concept works well on a wide beam - for all the reasons you have set out - the six that we have built also have double bedrooms and bathrooms at each end, and a collapsible wheelhouse that doubles as an al fresco dining room (and they are all - but one - happily living in France). But I ignored the advice given by many NOT to build a narrow beam version for the UK a few years ago, to my peril, for the reasons I mentioned immediately above.

 

Thanks for your complimentary comments about our narrow boat offering at Crick - much appreciated.

[Steamerpoint]

Chris,

 

The answer to your question "Why didn't you build one?" is simply the cost. Having built the ultra luxury spec wide beam version of "Whisper" and got several fingers burned when it didn't sell immediately - for reasons confessed earlier above - I had to be more restrained this time - particularly in the current economic climate - hence the computer generated version.

 

If you were possibly also asking "Why don't you build narrow beam Dutch barges?", the answer is that the concept works well on a wide beam - for all the reasons you have set out - the six that we have built also have double bedrooms and bathrooms at each end, and a collapsible wheelhouse that doubles as an al fresco dining room (and they are all - but one - happily living in France). But I ignored the advice given by many NOT to build a narrow beam version for the UK a few years ago, to my peril, for the reasons I mentioned immediately above.

 

Thanks for your complimentary comments about our narrow boat offering at Crick - much appreciated.

Credit where credit is due. It was probably the highest quality narrowboat I saw that day with excellent materials.

[Steamerpoint]

I suspect you might discover the difference after a few years of ownership. If twenty boatbuilders say their boat costs £80k and one says he can do the same thing for £60k I'm afraid I'd be inclined to think he's either cutting a lot of corners you can't immediately spot or isn't much of a businessman and could well go under perhaps taking most of my money with him. Remember, you get 'owt for n'owt.

When the economy is pumping well with cheap credit and house prices shooting up at an alarming rate pushing the cost of accommodation through the roof, this tends to bring prices of other items like boats & caravans along with it.

It's not that houses, boats or caravans were costing more to produce, they weren't, but prices went up because they could and the demand was there with plenty of buyers. The profit margins were huge and lots of people made a fortune along the way!

 

The reason house builders have folded, caravan & boat manufactures have gone to wall is because times have changed. No longer are there hundreds of buyers willing to spend a fortune on a boat and in the same way house prices have fallen by 25% since the peak of 2007, everything else caught up in the spiral going up, must also unwind during the spiral down. Narrowboats have always typically been cheaper to buy than houses, but at £95,000 for a narrowboat (The average price for one at the show!), it is possible to buy a 3-bed semi detached house with a garage for that here in the Peterborough area!

 

I rang the builder today of the Dutch Barge narrowboat this thread is about and asked them if they had sold their display boat "Strawberry Fields" and was told that they had not! It must have had several hundred people walk around it last weekend and not a single buyer! Obviously the price or the design, or both has put them off!

 

I wonder how many other builders at the show failed to make a sale?

 

If I could buy a Dutch Barge narrowboat this year for £75k, I would be tempted to buy this year, but anything more, I'll just keep saving. It's a bit too early for me to buy something this expensive just yet.

[Allenm]

Credit where credit is due. It was probably the highest quality narrowboat I saw that day with excellent materials.

 

 

Thank you.

[JaneyS]

Know I'm resurrecting an old thread here, but I've just seen Strawberry Fields discussed in this post up for sale at Swanley Brokerage and was digging around trying to find out something about it. As this was the only place I found, thought I'd ask if anyone has any thoughts on it.

 

Asking price is £110k which seems a bit steep when the fit out is pretty basic and the boat is over 4 years old, especially when the implications in the rest of this post are that brand new it was much cheaper.

 

Am I missing something, or is Swanley being a bit optimistic on the price of Strawberry Fields?

 

Appreciate any thoughts anyone has.

[Guest]

I'm sure I saw that boat at Crick one year or perhaps it featured in one of the canal rags.......

 

Nice but at the end of the day it's a narrow beam not a wide beam and to my mind they look odd.

 

And I think that is a lot of money for what is essentially a 60ft narrowboat that is four years old. I can't see anything particularly special about the equipment - all looks pretty standard to me unless I'm missing something.

 

No real idea what you would use the GPS for on the inland waterways.

 

 

 

Ed - Doh - just read the OP and see it was indeed at Crick Show.

Edited August 2, 2013 by The Dog House

[hughc]

This is not a design that lends itself to being safely worked along narrow canals where you need to be on and off the boat at frequent intervals. Being able to easily step off the boat with a line or whatever is a prerequisite of narrow boat design or should be. " Traditional" boats with front wells are equally at fault especially when the front end is covered with a buttoned down cloth. Regards, HughC.