Why - Why Not .....

[Supermalc]

OK - just for curiosity, and only opinions of the boats if you can.

 

Why would you choose a narrowboat?

 

Why would you not choose a narrowboat?

 

Why would you choose a cruiser?

 

Why would you not choose a cruiser?

 

You can be as verbose as you like, and include lenth, size, type of materieal, outboard, inboard, anything.

 

In other words, why do you choose the boat you have.

 

I'll start.

 

As many know I wanted a boat as an excuse to take my dog into the countryside. It was a finite exercise on a set fund. Circumstance and experience has obviously altered, and extended my choice.

 

So the licence etc. must be as low as resonable, so my 20ft boat is fine, especially as it has more than enough space for both of us.

 

Although common sense dictates an outboard is THE BEST way, because you can remove the engine if it breaks down, lift to get at the prop etc. etc. However, I don't like the noise they make, and I wanted a single diesel inboard.

 

I also need a boat that does not require much work, so WHY have I a wooden boat. Because I have also got an interest in it, and it is a good hobby, so I can paint it cheaply, yet it looks OK(ish) most of the time, without a lot of cleaning.

 

It is also quite adaptable, and capable of travelling most of the system, except the narrow canals of course, and there aren't that many. I can also safely go into the Wash in good weather.

 

Because she is derived from a sailing boat, she is very, very efficient at moving through the water at up to displacement speed. A 3.5 outboard will propel her at around 4mph

 

As most people who have seen, and been aboard agree, I would struggle to get a more suitable boat for my purpose.

 

I also quite like old fashioned things now, and certainly like boats/cars/bikes/planes with character. Must be growing up a bit

[fuzzyduck]

Why would you choose a narrowboat?

I wouldn't.

 

Why would you not choose a narrowboat?

 

Because their usage is too limited for me, and they don't fit my lifestyle.

 

Why would you choose a cruiser?

Flexibility of usage, i can have a cruiser that will combine widebeam canal usage, but the same boat can also run across the channel, and explore continental canals / the med, they also have a greater internal space for a given length. My current cruiser doesn't fill all these requirements, but it's simply a step up.

 

Why would you not choose a cruiser?

 

N/A

[Friendly Angler]

We have an increasing number of narrow boats on the Broads now, some really nice, and one or two horribly ugly. Quite unsuited to the Broads in comparison to a wide beam Broads boat. But people like 'em, I like 'em. So, if I moved to the canals I would buy a narrow boat both for that reason and because it is part of a developmemt and history that is worth maintaining. We love our traditional Broads sailing boat, great on the Broads, useless on the canals. We see ourselves as maintaining our little piece of Broads history. I am sure that that is just the same for folk who have, or who prefer to own a canal narrow boat. They are part of the canals' bloodline!

[magnetman]

Why would you choose a narrowboat?

 

I decided to live on a narrowboat because they are comfortable and safe, strongly constructed and perfectly suitable for use as a home.

Narrow beam allows extended inland cruising through some of our past industrial history although this is being smothered by ribbon development of bland housing which is a shame.

[honey ryder]

I chose a narrow boat this time,

because I want to do extended cruising and live on it. I want to explore the narrow canals ive always been curious about. You can paint steel how you like so they are easily customisable.

Inboard diesel engine is the only engine for a boat you want to live with in my opinion

 

why not a narrow boat:

its narrow, you stand out in all weathers if you want to move it, they handle like poo, they are slow and very limited when a river has a bit of a flow on.

Theres a terrible traditional side to narrowboats which I dont like.

 

why I love cruisers:

Cruisers are great for all water types, fast flowing, tidal, flat canals etc

they usually have more power, and often have 2 engines which means they are manoverable!

they can hop over the channel and you can be on other water ways fairly easily too. coast hopping is also an option. you can reach lots of inland places with a modest sized cruiser.

 

why not a cruiser

they can all look a bit "samey" , plastic is harder to personalise without ruining it.

often not very well insulated for winter living aboard. plastic burns like a roman candle if theres a naked flame near it.

( I dont consider wood because its too much like hard work)

[Gary Peacock]

Just in passing for the first time ever we do not have a single narrowboat in build just broad beams times are a changing!

[Denis & Betty Anne]

We have a GRP cruiser which fits our needs exactly, I am disabled and find a steel boat of the same length (26ft) beyond my power to pull it around on it's ropes even bringing it into the bank for mooring. We have a lovely quiet 15hp outboard which is new (Mariner) and it charges our batteries at 15 amps which we find to be ok, it's easily serviced,and we're in 'River Canal Rescue' who will loan an engine if yours breaks down and they can't repair it at the waterside. Our boat is a Viking 26 with an aft cabin which gives it a separate bedroom which we've converted to a fixed double, it has a centre cockpit which is important for me as among other things I have balance problems and may fall off a narrow boat stern, it's not definite I would but I may easily do so. We find GRP to be easy to clean, it's well insulated and warm inside, dry, it's got more in it's length somehow than a comparable steel narrowboat. It was considerably cheaper than a steel narrowboat at £13,000 in really good condition, we thought of the danger of being run into by a stray narrowboat but we've never experienced this, we don't know anyone who has or anyone who knows anyone who has, so though it can happen the chance is remote. Pound for pound I think second hand cruisers are good value, it's gets us on the water when both physically and fiscally we wouldn't be able to in a steel narrowboat, with costs escalating and boat length being the factor which other costs are accounted by maybe more GRP cruisers will be resurrected, buy well and you can sell well, the costs of our engine are really reasonable, so with the loss of fuel tax relief it's equatable to diesel. We looked into a steel boat and both found the 'pencil case' feel of the layout not to our liking, but it's horses for courses, even though ours is narrow beam we don't feel like we're in a tube, and I don't mean any disrespect by saying that. New GRP is pricey, but a well fit out used one from a good owner is a bargain, maybe more people could get on the water if they just tried one, the pity is that people don't except on the Norfolk Broads. So there we are, our thoughts and the why's and wherefore's of our boat choice.

 

Happy sailing,

 

Denis & Betty Anne.

[Theo]

We choes a narrowboat because it did not occur to us that anything else would be acceptable. We like the shape and the fact that it is rugged. We like the fact that she reminds us of what things were liek when the canals were first cut. The narrowness we are willing to put up with because we want to cruise extensively.

 

Nick

[Carrie]

Why would you choose a narrowboat?

 

You can move your home every day if you want.

You travel slowly enough to see everything properly.

You don't have to sit in a queue in heavy traffic.

You can be as sociable as you like or spend days in isolation - perfick!

[Chertsey]

The narrowness we are willing to put up with because we want to cruise extensively.

 

I like the narrowness and see it as a positive virtue. I love the neatness, and the challenge and ingenuity of fitting everything in. My office at work is 6'6" wide, and the person I share it with thinks it's terribly cramped, but to me it's perfect!

 

There are some lovely boats that are not narrowboats, but very few (well, to be honest, none that I've seen) of them are GRP cruisers. I'm not knocking cruisers as a way of getting onto the water - that's how we started - but for the combination of beauty and economy of size you can't beat a good narrowboat.

[carlt]

I'm not joining in because I'm going through a 'what the hell am I doing this for' period. I have recently had a yearning to be back on salt water (I'm an old yachty turned ditch crawler) and my narrowboats feel like a cage. The last couple of times in dock I hurt my leg by dropping a huge lump of oak on it and splashed hot tar on my arm. I haven't bent a skinny plank for years and am fed up with big, agricultural joinery. I also seem to spend more time working on other people's boats than my own.

 

So if I could choose my ideal boat it would be:

 

 

Breton Langoustier

 

 

This!

 

A lovely old gaffer with a meaty engine when I can't be bothered to sail. A sexy boat.

Edited January 15, 2007 by carlt

[Guest]

I was "brought up" on a plywood and then a plastic cruiser in the 60's/70's, not to mention various "fun boats" sailing dinghys etc along the way. We then had a 32ft cruiser stern nb.

After long consideration, we chose a Stirling 57 Semi trad NB unlined sailaway. Reasons:

 

We want to live on it for at least a few years when the kids finally throw us out, but we want to be able to do as much of the inland waterways as possible. So 57ft X 6ft 10 ins seems the way to maximise inside space but still fit on most waterways. We chose a semitrad (with a hood) because we find them the ideal solution for our needs. We chose an unlined sailaway because I found this to be the most cost effective way of fitting out a boat WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME I hasten to add (tin hat-incoming). We have had two years of extended cruising and the boat meets our requirements well. We love it hood and all. The batteries are the only dissapointment. If my circumstances were different, I would like a boat capable of sensibly going offshore, but still capable of some inland cruising. There are plenty of other types of boat besides narrow boats.

[Supermalc]

Why would you choose a narrowboat?

 

Why would you not choose a narrowboat?

 

Why would you choose a cruiser?

 

Why would you not choose a cruiser?

 

 

This is what I mean - NB Because they are rugged, can cruise narrow canals, 19th century technology, stable and feel almost like you're on land.

 

Not a NB because, they are heavy, slow, poor handling, poor boat design, poor fuel economy, slow to stop, no room, expensive to buy and run and maintain, stand out in all weathers, take up mooring space, all look the same, poor value as pay per meter of length, danger of sinking due to holes below the waterline.....stern tube, made of steel which rusts in water.

 

Cruiser - faster, lighter, more manuverable, better comfort, more space, much more versitile, more cost effective, much easier to keep, better fuel economy (15 tons takes more energy to move than 5) much more variety they come in all shapes and sizes, clean up much easier if left for long periods. Most have outboards or legs, so less chance of sinking due to water ingress through a stern tube. Get twice as many 30ft cruisers in mooring space of 60ft NBs. Steering wheel, instead of tiller.

 

Not a cruiser - Grp cruisers can be damaged easier, narrowbeam cruisers tend to rock about a lot.

Edited January 15, 2007 by Supermalc

[fuzzyduck]

So if I could choose my ideal boat it would be:

Breton Langoustier

This!

 

A lovely old gaffer with a meaty engine when I can't be bothered to sail. A sexy boat.

 

Looks very close to my ideal too, now if only it was GRP or steel.

[Supermalc]

That is 20 thousand, not 20 quid isn't it?

[carlt]

That is 20 thousand, not 20 quid isn't it?

 

Dunno he hasn't responded to my email yet.

I'll answer your original question properly now.

 

1. Because they can fit in narrow locks.

 

2. because they have as much in common with real boats as a tin bath.

 

3. Because they steer well and are nicer looking.

 

4. Can't think of anything except I wouldn't want to live on one (again).

 

Why would I choose a double diagonal planked teak on oak 45' long 12' wide ex admiralty launch?

Because it would be an awesome ride!

 

Why would I choose a 25' 1933 mahogany on oak Bermudian sloop?

Because I miss my first boat.

 

Why would I choose a 120' x 17' humber barge?

What a party boat that would be!

 

Why would I choose wud-e-nuff?

Cute or what!?

[Christine]

For me there is nothing sexier that standing at the bum end of 56 /70 feet of steel and shoving it in a lock.

[carlt]

For me there is nothing sexier that standing at the bum end of 56 /70 feet of steel and shoving it in a lock.

 

Moderators! Please??!!

[fuzzyduck]

For me there is nothing sexier that standing at the bum end of 56 /70 feet of steel and shoving it in a lock.

 

there are specialist websites for women like you, you know

[Supermalc]

Well....it it is £20, we could all club together to buy it, then leave it on my Boston mooring. I'll let you sailers, sail her up the coast

[Christine]

there are specialist websites for women like you, you know

 

 

Giss us the link

 

Am I the only one that really just loves getting the approach (to a narrow lock) dead right and squeezing in through towering gates....easing off the throttle, watching the clearance as the gates close, feeling the surge as the paddles slowly open........blooming marvellous.

 

Edit: opps i forgot to add:

 

opps I forgot to add:

 

I have never been at the helm of a cruiser. Do you get anything like the sense of size that you get with a NB? I was just intoxicated with the majesty (not quite the right word) of a NB from the very first time I was allowed to steer our first hire NB - a 70 ft.

 

I have had a lot to do with heavy horses, they are just so different from 'standard' horses and ponies. NB's are the same in my book. Driving a narrowboat and driving a heavy horse from a flat bed cart is not dissimilar. I wonder if driving horses and steering narrowboats have this shared heritage?

Edited January 15, 2007 by Christine

[Keeping Up]

Giss us the link

 

Am I the only one that really just loves getting the approach (to a narrow lock) dead right and squeezing in through towering gates....easing off the throttle, watching the clearance as the gates close, feeling the surge as the paddles slowly open........blooming marvellous.

No you aren't

[Supermalc]

This double diagonal, double ender MUST count as a favourite boat around here. Thinking back now, I suppose she is the first 'proper' boat I was on. Size, layout, everything just seems 'right'. Roy only sold her as someone offered him a good profit of course. She was resold about a year later, and we took her out and I helped with this years repaint. She hadn't been out for 4 years (I think) yet didn't really need doing. Hull is as sound as the day she was made. Some of the top cabin plywood needs replacing.

 

Notice that even as she came past me at a good river speed, there is no wash.

 

 

And this year, after her latest outing on the trailer.

 

[PaddingtonBear]

For me there is nothing sexier that standing at the bum end of 56 /70 feet of steel and shoving it in a lock.

 

It's true, I've often thought that anyone who thinks an E-Type is sexy has obviously never seen a seventy foot working boat, preferably empty and uncovered...

[carlt]

This double diagonal, double ender MUST count as a favourite boat around here. Thinking back now, I suppose she is the first 'proper' boat I was on. Size, layout, everything just seems 'right'. Roy only sold her as someone offered him a good profit of course. She was resold about a year later, and we took her out and I helped with this years repaint. She hadn't been out for 4 years (I think) yet didn't really need doing. Hull is as sound as the day she was made. Some of the top cabin plywood needs replacing.

 

Notice that even as she came past me at a good river speed, there is no wash.

 

 

And this year, after her latest outing on the trailer.

 

 

TORTURER!