Barges
Wide beam boats have grown in popularity in
recent years as an alternative to narrowboats. These spacious
vessels are wider than narrowboats and offer a more generous living
area that includes many of the features of a modern home. In spite
of their size, barges are easy to handle as they are steered using
a steering wheel, but their size means they can only be used on the
major canals and waterways. However there are substantial
stretches of broad waterway in this country which suit them and
they can alos be taken and used overseas if designed to the right
specification.
Types of Barge
Dutch Barge
You may have seen a Dutch Barge whilst in
london or passing the River Thames. These distinctive barges,
have a completely different design to other canal boats -
unlike narrowboats, dutch barges have a much wider beam, have
a wheelhouse in the middle or rear of the deck and have rounded or
vee bottom hulls that usually makes them seaworthy, which
canal boats are not. The boat front and rear are higher than
the middle of the boat. Typically these are ex-commercial cargo
vessels, often from the Netherlands or UK, although there is now an
increasing number of new-build replicas.
Dutch Barge Style Narrowboats
This is a narrowboat whose hull below
waterline will be similar to other narrowboats, but the hull and
superstructure above waterline is styled to look like the shape of
the Dutch Barge, including a wheelhouse, the distinctive rounded
counter, and the characteristic bow shape. These boats cannot be
taken to sea.
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