To Widebeam or Not to Widebeam?

[Richard Steele]

Hello

 

We're new to the forum so, "Hello everyone!"

 

We're currently considering buying a narrowboat to live on and think that a widebeam would be more suitable.

 

How much of a restriction would this have on the canals that we could navigate and are there any other downsides to buying a widebeam?

 

Thanks

 

Richard and Will

[Bullfrog]

Hello

 

We're new to the forum so, "Hello everyone!"

 

We're currently considering buying a narrowboat to live on and think that a widebeam would be more suitable.

 

How much of a restriction would this have on the canals that we could navigate and are there any other downsides to buying a widebeam?

 

Thanks

 

Richard and Will

 

 

Feature on this in March Waterways World

[alaskanuk]

Hi Richard and Will

 

We are in the same position as you, more or less, having decided to probably opt for a widebeam.

 

You have more or less answered the question yourself. You will be restricted with where you can navigate.

 

We will be looking at cc in the South, so will be restricted to the K & A, Thames, GU, Lee, Stort etc etc.

 

Upt North I think there are more canals being able to take wide beams, or you have the option of going East, River Ouse Nene Can etc, with the option of going up the Wash to Boston (I think).

 

There also is the obvious maintenance costs being greater than a nb, ie, for blacking, painting etc as well as heating.

 

It's a balance though, the larger living space of a widebeam, or the flexibility of travelling the entire network with a nb.

 

 

HTH. Dave & Dawn

 

 

Here is a link to wider canals website, which has a more detailed map of where you can navigate a widebeam :-

 

http://www.barging.co.uk/mapuk.htm

[Gary Peacock]

Hello

 

We're new to the forum so, "Hello everyone!"

 

We're currently considering buying a narrowboat to live on and think that a widebeam would be more suitable.

 

How much of a restriction would this have on the canals that we could navigate and are there any other downsides to buying a widebeam?

 

Thanks

 

Richard and Will

 

It really comes down to doing a lot of research into your intended uses, if you intend a life of continuous cruising country wide only a narrowboat can do this, but the living space is limited.

 

If your intention is to live on a boat with the ability to cruise your locality more ocaisionally then a broadbeam offers far more livability with the bonus possibilities of exploring Europe too if you choose.

 

The narrowboat market is collapsing for many reasons at the moment and many builders are looking towards the demand for residential broad beams, but just be warned the ability to build a good narrowboat doesn't always result in a good broad beam boat. A 12ft wide narrowboat creates some very poor structural practice.

 

You can find a bit about broadbeams and where they can go HERE and if you do end up looking at the narrowboat option instead then a BARGE STYLE NARROWBOAT does give increased living space while maintaining the same ability to cruise countrywide that a traditional narrowboat does.

[elessina]

 

We're currently considering buying a narrowboat to live on and think that a widebeam would be more suitable.

 

How much of a restriction would this have on the canals that we could navigate and are there any other downsides to buying a widebeam?

 

 

Richard and Will,

 

You may like to have alook at the Replica Dutch Barge web site. (www.barging.co.uk). Some comparisons of wide beam vs narrowboat can be seen here. www.barging.co.uk

 

and the map link has already been given.

 

There is also the DBA (The Barge Association) Web Site DBA Web Site

 

Ian Petchey

Replica Dutch Barge Elessina

[DHutch]

Its simply personal chioce.

- With a widebeam you get more space, but as a trade off, you limted to where you can go as many canals simple arnt wide enougth!

- With a narrowboat under 58/62ft, you have less space, but you can go just about everywhere.

- And then you have your 70ft narrowboat, which again causes limitations as certain wide canals are not long enought

 

So it depends what you want to do.

- If you want to "do the the system" you need a 58ft (or shorter) Narrowboat.

- Wheras if all you plan to do is moor up and just go out the odd time, a widebeam maybe be better.

 

 

 

Daniel

[charles123]

Hello

 

We're new to the forum so, "Hello everyone!"

 

We're currently considering buying a narrowboat to live on and think that a widebeam would be more suitable.

 

How much of a restriction would this have on the canals that we could navigate and are there any other downsides to buying a widebeam?

 

Thanks

 

Richard and Will

 

 

If I was planning to live aboard I would choose the wide beam simply because of the massive living space advantage. When chosing one I would go for a dutch barge style (see excellent site from Elessina in a another post) as the "scaled up" narrowboat style looks wrong somehow. Good design will always add value and you will feel better for it.

The downside as has already been noted is the limit to where you cruise but that may not be a problem if you are choosing to live on the waterways but dont plan much cruising

 

Charles

[anhar]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned in the comparison is cost. Dutch barges cost much more than narrowboats when new and this feeds through to s/h prices. Easily double or more. Even ordinary widebeams, the kind that look like expanded narrowboats, cost a lot more than the latter. I agree with Charles that these look a bit odd whilst Dutch barges look good but aesthetics are of course very much a personal thing.

 

Apart from initial cost, some of the running costs of wider boats will be higher too. Marina moorings may charge a substantial premium for wideboats, I've seen 50-100% higher around my area - London.

 

One big advantage of widebeams, especially the Dutch barge, in my view is as Gary mentioned, namely the improved ability to cruise Euro canals. That for me would be a great attraction. Narrowboats can be used in France etc., a number of people have done it and written about it but a larger boat has to be a very much more attractive proposition for cruising over there.

 

Personally, I'm looking for a 57' max. narrowboat because eventually I want to do the whole system in this country and a widebeam simply cannot do that. For me the trade off in lack of space is worth the versatility. But then I'm not going to be a liveaboard though I anticipate some lengthy cruises. If later I decide to do Europe I'd move up to a Dutch barge, money permitting.

 

As others have said it all boils down to what you want from your boating, and as I've said, how much money you have to pay for it all. Others can't really advise you which type of boat is better, the first thing is to decide what you want to do. Personally, I guess if I was going to be a liveaboard and did not wish to cruise the whole system I would definitely go wide if I could afford it, simply because of the comfort of the extra space.

 

regards

Steve

Edited March 16, 2006 by anhar

[Richard Steele]

Thanks for the information everyone. Plenty of food for thought.

 

We hadn't realised how much more expensive widebeams are. I think they're a bit out of our price range to be honest.

[Golden Duck]

Widebeams are more expensive, generally slower, harder to manoeuvre and sometimes more difficult to find moorings for. However, if you don't want to tour the whole network, they are much more comfortable to live in and less claustrophobic in the winter.

 

[GUMPY]

Widebeams are generally slower, harder to manoeuvre

 

Depends entirely on the hull builder and the steersman. I wouldnt call 13km/hr slow..........

 

J

[blackrose]

The other disadvantage of a widebeam is that your narrowboat neighbours will begin to hate you as soon as they see inside your boat! (They never seem to be cruising the entire system anyway?)

Edited June 26, 2006 by blackrose

[Gary Peacock]

The other disadvantage of a widebeam is that your narrowboat neighbours will begin to hate you as soon as they see inside your boat! (They never seem to be cruising the entire system anyway?)

 

 

Oh I wish I had a fiver for every time I have listened to the "because we want to cruise the full system"!

 

Strange how few actually do, a lot do come back within a couple of years for broad beams after a couple of years of not doing the system.

Edited June 26, 2006 by Gary Peacock

[Roger Gunkel]

Oh I wish I had a fiver for every time I have listened to the "because we want to cruise the full system"!

 

Strange how few actually do, a lot do come back within a couple of years for broad beams after a couple of years of not doing the system.

 

 

Totally agree!

 

We bought our wide beam nearly 2 years ago and have lived aboard continuously. We occasionally take it for short cruises, but its our home first and foremost. If we want to cruise the system, we can hire a narrowboat.

 

We have a friend who has lived aboard his narrow boat for 12 years. He loved the space on ours but for 18 months has been telling us how limited our cruising grounds are compared to his. A couple of months ago he ordered a wide beam!

 

A difference of about 4ft internal width may not sound much in a house, but on a live aboard its the difference between compromise or no compromise.

 

Roger

Edited June 26, 2006 by Roger Gunkel

[blackrose]

Who needs the entire system?

 

 

Edited June 27, 2006 by blackrose

[blackrose]

If I was planning to live aboard I would choose the wide beam simply because of the massive living space advantage. When chosing one I would go for a dutch barge style (see excellent site from Elessina in a another post) as the "scaled up" narrowboat style looks wrong somehow.

 

Replica Dutch barges are at least double the price of a new widebeam style narrowboat of the same size so it's not really a fair comparison. (Original Dutch barges are cheaper but the hulls are usually thin & those with fixed wheelhouses might not be suitable for cruising the UK broadbeam canals).

 

I don't think widebeams necessarily look "wrong" - it depends on how they've been designed & built.

 

Aesthetics is purely personal but there's nothing intrinsically "right" about the looks of a narrowboat. I'm sure the last of the traditional canal families who lived in the back cabins of working boats thought narrowboats with steel superstructures looked very odd.

Edited June 27, 2006 by blackrose

[Gary Peacock]

The market is changing the days of building recreational narrowboats for enthusiasts have all but gone.

 

The market is now mainly residential and the focus of many of these customers is driven by the alternative form of housing rather than the requirement to cruise the boat, obviously space is an advantage in the eyes of these customers who often purchase a boat acquire a residential mooring but seldom move the boat.

 

A lot of the stick in the wood hardened enthusiasts probably can't see the reason for doing this and I sometimes do feel sad that we try to build good true barges but see them often turned into floating studio apartments.

 

But the customer and the customers demands must be correct at the end of the day it keeps us in business!

[Amadahy]

I'm leaning more towards buying a broadbeam, and although this will restrict me from going up north - i accept this - i think that with three people aboard in a marina in winter its a better option. Scott is rather tall as well, and it would be nice to live in a wide corridor rather than a corridor

 

 

 

 

That has SO much more space than the narrowboats I've seen.

 

Sorry, stupid moment.

But seriously,

Would it be possible to have two closed off bedrooms on a widebeam, both with double beds?

 

Or is that being too ambitious?

[Big Steve]

This business about cruising the whole system, as no one thought of arranging swops? There must be folks with narrowboats who'd like to have a go in a broadbeam and vice versa. It works with houses.

[Dalesman]

I'm leaning more towards buying a broadbeam, and although this will restrict me from going up north - i accept this - i think that with three people aboard in a marina in winter its a better option. Scott is rather tall as well, and it would be nice to live in a wide corridor rather than a corridor

 

 

 

 

 

That has SO much more space than the narrowboats I've seen.

 

Sorry, stupid moment.

But seriously,

Would it be possible to have two closed off bedrooms on a widebeam, both with double beds?

 

Or is that being too ambitious?

Take a look at SILSDEN BOATS wide beams they have two double bedrooms with en suite as well all in 58ft.

[blackrose]

I'm leaning more towards buying a broadbeam, and although this will restrict me from going up north - i accept this - i think that with three people aboard in a marina in winter its a better option. Scott is rather tall as well, and it would be nice to live in a wide corridor rather than a corridor

 

That has SO much more space than the narrowboats I've seen.

 

Sorry, stupid moment.

But seriously,

Would it be possible to have two closed off bedrooms on a widebeam, both with double beds?

 

Or is that being too ambitious?

 

You can do whatever you want with an interior. If you want two double bedrooms then you'll have a smaller living space.

[Gary Peacock]

I'm leaning more towards buying a broadbeam, and although this will restrict me from going up north - i accept this - i think that with three people aboard in a marina in winter its a better option. Scott is rather tall as well, and it would be nice to live in a wide corridor rather than a corridor

 

 

 

 

 

That has SO much more space than the narrowboats I've seen.

 

Sorry, stupid moment.

But seriously,

Would it be possible to have two closed off bedrooms on a widebeam, both with double beds?

 

Or is that being too ambitious?

 

Perfectly possible but the end result will be very much dependent on the boats dimensions anything built with the North of England in mind is probably going to end up around 56/57ft so the space available with the extra beam is good but not massive.

 

The hire fleet fat narrowboat style boats I have seen with two large bedrooms work but you have to consider that the two bedrooms are provided to maximise the attraction of the hire fleet for a couple of weeks jolly, the reduced area of the rest of the boat doesn't really matter in the short term but if it was a place of continuous habitation could you spend most of the time living in your bedroom?

 

It's very much about what you could live with and getting a boat to suit that.

 

The boat on the right as two bedrooms one is in the bow with a walk through bathroom to get to it the second with an on suite is in the stern.

 

Corridors on boats are best avoided they become dead wasted space in an environment where space is at a premium.

 

 

 

Another similar approach is to go wider and shorter!

 

 

The downside of something like these is price for a 57ft x 12ft6inch you are looking at about £160K which is a bit more than the average ditch crawler would cost you.

Edited June 30, 2008 by Gary Peacock

[Amadahy]

I think we can go to about 100k; is it true there are finance plans available from a bank? I talk to quite a few people in between periods of college and at the weekend and someone said [sorry, I can never remember names!] that because it was becoming a more popular venture some/a bank was offering a differently based loan system.

 

 

Sorry, thats probably in the wrong thread :/

[Scotty]

..a bank was offering a differently based loan system

They might have been talking about Barclays:

http://www.barclays.co.uk/marinefinance

Edited June 30, 2008 by Scotty

[Yakbird]

Wow, I'd love a widebeam. Was checking out a pretty fine old Dutch Barge in Hebden Bridge today. Can't afford it at the moment, but that's my ambition. Anyway, just going to be me for a while, so a NB will suffice. But really I want a wheelhouse and lots of space! Kind of the difference between living in rooms or corridors.