162. After three years on a narrowboat, my thoughts on the pros and cons of boat styles

hello and welcome to the vlog it is a beautiful sunny day blue skies out there the temperature around six degrees Celsius so not freezing but not exactly warm and that's why I am sitting here by the fire for what is I think the first of my winter fireside chats for this year I've had an email from a viewer and it's a very interesting email because it coincides precisely with some stuff I've been thinking about so it was extremely well timed and it's quite long so forgive me I've had to put it on to the old iPad so I can refer to it but it's a series of questions about with a bit of hindsight having been on the boat for three years what do I think of this and that aspect of my boat and would I want to change anything if I went back and did it again or if I got another boat and this is very very timely because here's the shocker I have indeed been idly putting my mind to thinking of changing the boat now don't get me wrong I love this boat I've been on it for three years if it didn't love it I wouldn't have been on it that long but yes there are some things that I would like changed and changing them on this one would mean a massive job of taking stuff out there are some things that just can't easily be changed on this boat so I have been toying with whether to sell this and buy a different boat with various different aspects and this email that goes through all sorts of different points is pretty much touching on everything that I've thought of so I thought in this video for a fireside chat what I do is go through these points and explain what I'm thinking of so for example a point one is boat length my boat is 56 feet long and the question posed is you bought the boat because it felt right but do you feel that in fact it is the right length for a boat would you have liked a longer boat would you have liked a shorter boat is there an optimum length and in fact that is a question I get asked a lot what is the right link for a boat that can go anywhere on the network the standard answer to that is 57 feet if you have a 57 foot or less boat it can go to I think 99% of places on the canal network presuming it's a narrow beam obviously if your wide beam then you're constrained by the whole north-south can do the wide beam and you can't go through the middle but purely talking narrow boats 57 feet or less you can do nearly everywhere there are one or two I think fairly obscure locks that are quite a bit short I was reading the other about the other day about one that's I think 40 feet long but it's not one that's somewhere in the middle of the network that everyone gets stuck on 57 or less you can do pretty much everything and in fact even if you have a boat that's 58 59 feet long some of the slightly shorter locks are double width locks so you can still get into them but you have to go in and then turn yourself at an angle so you wouldn't get two boats in alongside each other in that lock just the one but it goes in across the diagonal and you can still get into those slightly shorter locks so 58 feet 59 feets still not too bad but basically 57 or less and you can do most of the network am I happy with the length of my boat yes it's perfect for a one-person live-aboard I wouldn't want anything shorter than 50 feet it would be too cramped I don't really want anything longer than 57 feet although having said that I suspect if while looking if I found the right boat that was 58 59 60 I might still be tempted to buy it but I don't really want to go any bigger than that question 2 and this is very much at the crux of what I've been thinking about lately the layout on the stern based the questioner says on my practical experience would I recommend a trad stern such as I have as being the best for a single full-time live aboard person and the answer is no I would not when I was looking for my boat all the advice I got was if you're going to live abroad on your own get a trance turn because it's the most cabin space for your money now the trad stone is where the whole engine room is enclosed as part of the cabin but it's not usable cabin space it's just the engine with the with the sides and roof round it you can't really use that space very much mine is full of oil cans and tools and mooring gear and oily rags and miscellaneous stuff it's not useful living space so a cruiser stern or a semi tractor and yes you lose that enclosure over the engine but normally for example on a semi trad you've got lockers in the back so all the oil cans and stuff can still go in there I'm not I really don't think I've been losing anything if I had a stern that wasn't a trad stern and the disadvantage of a trad stern is that there's very little space at the back now I'm not a very sociable person but on the rare occasions when people come to visit they can barely be at the back with me you can have one person at the back with you and you have to stand with them right up close and personal in that little hatch area you're not really supposed to stand on the back deck because if the rudder caught something in the water the tiller could swipe sideways and knock you overboard you're supposed to stand forward of it that means you're standing in the hatch and you are standing with one other person at maximum if there's anyone else coming aboard they don't have to go up the far end at the well deck it's just not sociable and on those rare occasions I'd like to have the people I've invited aboard to be with me at the back of the boat so a cruiser stern or a semi trade would be much much more sociable and on the summer evenings when I'm moored up even on my own I'd like to be able to sit out on the back deck in my deck chair on a cruiser Stern perhaps or in the seats in a semi trance and just enjoy the canal yes I know I can sit in the well deck at the moment but for some reason because mine is a well that with a crach cover over it it just feels a little bit it's not quite as open as I'd like and yes I can open the sides and I could take the whole crotch cover and crach board off but I have it there because it's useful for other reasons the point is this the semi Travel Cruiser Stern I think I would certainly like to try a boat with that for a while I'm not as it turns out a big fan of the trad Stern the advantage as people often point out is well because the engine is enclosed you can work on it when it's raining but if you have a semi trailer or a cruiser you can always put up one of those big canvas pram hoods on the back they are not pretty I don't like them at all but they're immensely useful you can put them up while you're working on the engine if you're moored up over winter it becomes a complete extra cabin where you can hang coats to dry and leave your muddy welly boots and things so the loss of the engine being enclosed that you get on a trad I don't think is any great loss if you have a semi trad or a cruiser stern so I have idly started looking at the classified ads and the brokerages for other boats just seeing what prices are around there and what things cost and I'm definitely tending to walls looking at a semi trad stern so that that would be my advice if you ever want anyone to join you on the boat the trad is is not the one for you point number three in this email oh by the way I should have said at the start there are quite a few points here and this is going to be way more than just a one cup of tea vlog you may well have settled down perhaps with cup of tea in a biscuit this is gonna be entire pot of tea with a tea cosy over it and a whole pack of jaffa cakes video so did I say Cates I'm in case jaffa cakes anyway or custard creams you get the gist point number three saloon layout to enable the maximum alternative layouts to be used would you have preferred an open-plan saloon to which your loose chair and a fold-up table could be added rather than a fitted dinette and sofa this is a slightly confusing me because seems to be confusing the saloon area with the dinette area where I am sitting now is the saloon area and mine is an open-plan just there's nothing fitted in here it's an open area I've added the captain's chairs and a box of bits and then there's a load of other miscellaneous paraphernalia around here the dinette is a fix dinette the L shaped dinette to which I added my revised cushions and that is fitted in a house storage under there two separate areas the saloon yeah I don't have a problem with that being an open-plan saloon I quite like these captains chairs they're nice too relaxing of an evening in some ways I would like a sofa in the saloon but I looked for one before I bought the captain's chairs I spend hours looking at all the standard narrowboat sofa solutions from companies like NAB brew and I forget the names of all the others but honestly trust me I looked at them all and I could not find us sofa I liked they were either uncomfortable i sat on some of them at the Creek Boat Show and they weren't very comfortable they had horrible fabrics and some of them were sofa beds which you needed to run widthwise across the boat but I don't have the width rate because I've got a radiator here and just various reasons could not find a sofa that would work for me in this layout which is why I went for the captains chairs and that's kind of fine although the advantage of a sofa is you can get ones that you can store things under so I'd be able to put things away a bit more tidally than I have now as regarding my dinette the L shaped dinette where it is in my boat I don't like I would much rather have the Pullman dinette which is the two bench seats opposite each other like an american-style diner arrangement rather than the L shaped dinette but if my dinette were immediately behind the saloon and the galley is where the dinette is then the L shaped dinette would work better because it would become an X tension of the saloon so it slightly depends on how the boat is configured as to whether an L shaped dinette or a Pullman tun it would be best so I hope that answers that question point for the side door and the hatch how often do I use my side door is an entry or exit point to the boat would I preferred an opening side window only and also to enjoy the view when the boat is moored up the other way around would have liked a second side hatch on the other side well I never use it as an entrance point to the boat if there are little steps on the side of the side acts you can pull out and you can go in and out that way I've never ever felt the need to do that and I do open it up to see the ducks and swans coming by but annoyingly my side hatch is opposite that dinette which is fine but the dinette is not raised and the side hatch is obviously above the level of the gunnels so when you're sitting at the dinette your eyeline is actually looking upwards and you're staring out at the sky you can't really see the water a lot of boats have the dinette area raised so that your eyeline is more in in line with the side hatch and you can better see out and some of course have the side hatch on the same side as the dinette itself so you are literally looking out as you sit there there's the water beside you and that would be a much better arrangement so yes I would have liked another side hatch B I'd have liked the dinette to be raised up to the level of the side hatches and see now I never use it as an entry point to the boat so the little extra bit on the roof that also flips open for me is a waste of time and if it wasn't there I could have got another solar panel easily on the roof but I don't want to put one there because if anyone ever opens that top bit of the side hatch it'll crash into another solar panel the bathroom non walkthrough bathrooms and walkthrough bathrooms which would you prefer well walkthrough is where in order to get from the front of the boat to the back you literally have to walk through the bathroom there is no choice and mine is not that mine is an off corridor bathroom where you can walk up the back of the boat and someone can be in the bathroom with the door shut weirdly even though I'm on my own on the boat I prefer the off corridor bathroom that can be shut and enclosed I've never warmed to walk through bathrooms there's a lot of them where as you're looking from the saloon or from the bedroom into the bathroom you can see the toilet I don't want to be looking at the loo even with the lid shut I don't know I'm not squeamish about the loo goodness only knows I've got a cassette toilet I empty it every few days I'm not squeamish but I don't want to look at it now a lot of them okay fair enough they don't have the loo visible but you're always going to be looking at the basin or the shower or something and if you can shut the doors but then that stops the warmth its distributing throughout the boat soon I've never warmed to walk through bathrooms even though they do give you the full width of the boat and therefore a bigger bathroom space I prefer an off corridor now there are some hybrid ones where the bathroom is sort of off corridor but you open the doors out sideways into the corridor and then you gain the corridor space as part of the bathroom and that perhaps is the better arrangement if you can find it the galley here is mine behind me line of cupboards on that side line of cupboards on that side you walk up through the middle of them would I have preferred an l-shaped or u-shaped galley yes I would i I mean I don't do much cooking as I've said many times on videos before but I'm not a fan of this two lines arrangement an n shape twon't in my mind just brings everything much more close I can stand in the middle and I'm not constantly turning around in this one I can be at the gas hob and then have to turn round for the fridge turn back to the gas hob turn back again to the sink in an end shaped or u-shaped depending which way you look at it galley everything's much more to hand and typically with those n shaped galleys your cooker and grill tends to be on your left at easily-accessible high stead of it being down on the floor we have to bend down and reach into the thing they tend to put the cookers up at this height so they are next to you as you're standing and that's a much more sensible arrangement granted the end shaped galleys seemed to be a bit smaller but as I don't do a lot of cooking that's not really a big issue to me and you often find that although the main area is that end shape on the opposite wall they have a little sticky out bit of extra work space as well which doesn't obscure the path through the galley but gives you that little bit of storage little bit of workspace so yes I would definitely prefer an end shaped gallic but I haven't tried one yet you see it might be that I get a boat with all these things I'm thinking I wish I had this wish I had that and I'll suddenly think do you know what my old arrangement was much better but that is part of the reason why I'm toying with having another boat because it'll give me the chance to try some of these other arrangements out point number seven solar power has my solar beam of valuable and useful investment and did I put enough solar on as a reminder I have 480 watts of solar power over two panels 240 watts each and yes it has been fantastic even on a winter's day like today I would be pulling in if I wasn't connected to a shoreline a reasonable amount of solar I did do a video about this a long time ago saying solar in winter is hopeless it never brings anything in well I stand by that it is true but that's for typical winter days today is not typical it's absolutely glorious outside and yes the solar panels would be pulling in some power albeit that of course the day is still relatively short so you don't get so many hours of solar power but from spring summer late summer my panels pull in way more power than I need I could easily have a bigger battery bank or certainly some newer batteries that could soak up that power this surplus I can happily be running things in the boat and effectively the solar is running them okay the so goes into the battery the battery goes into the things I'm running but I'm running throughout the day on solar and then overnight the batteries are probably just running the fridge really 480 watts I wouldn't have wanted anything less if you have any power-hungry devices I have a laptop for example from a video editing that's quite power-hungry in both terms so yes you need a fair amount of solar I wouldn't have wanted less I'd happily take another panel if I have some bigger batteries to soak it all up but say 400 500 watts absolutely plenty from mid-march let's say to October and even occasionally the odd winter day it would pull enough power as well by and large you're probably still going to need a generator or shoreline or something else on winter days and wind turbines if you have a question about wind turbines please see my frequently asked questions page on the website which as always I commend to you anyway water cap position my water cap for filling the water tank he's on the floor of the well deck and my questioner says would it have made things a lot less messy if the water count was installed on the foredeck next to the gas Locker yeah probably it would have done some boats have the filler cap on the gunnels and some have the filler cap on both sides of the gunnel so that no matter which way you end up mooring next to the bank there's always a filler cap near to you for filling up the water tank it's just how the boat builder built it it's no great problem having the filler cap for me in the floor of the well deck but yeah as a mere nicety perhaps having the cap on the gunnels one on either side would be nice but it's absolutely no deal break and no big problem at all as for the kitchen galley floor is there any benefit is the question of having storage in the floor of the galley and yes some boats typically more modern and more upmarket boats do have a wine cooler arrangement where you lift up a panel in the floor of the boat and under there down where all the ballast is under the waterline of course it's very cool and you can store one you can kind of use it as a fridge if you want to but also a lot of people store wine under there I would like that kind of arrangement I don't drink wine but having that under floor area in the kitchen to keep things cool would certainly be quite handy again not a deal breaker but it's one of those little nice things that if you are fitting out about yourself or in the luxurious position of having one made for you it would be nice to specify a little storage area under the galley floor turning to the back of the boat the question is what about an extra wide hatch if you're having a trance term would it be better to have a wider hatch area so that you're not quite so cramped with the visitors when they're standing alongside you I don't know that I've got his it's not the smoothest opening hatch you do have to give it quite a shove to move on its runners and a bigger one would be even heavier and more awkward I think I mean you you wouldn't really gain that much more space by having a bigger hatch you might I suppose have less chance of cracking your head on it if it's wider and perhaps longer I wouldn't say there's any huge benefit as far as I know to having a wide hatch on the back of a trance stone I'd rather just swap stern and have a different stern arrangement frankly point 11 suggests would it be a benefit sacrificing some below deck space by adding a utility or workshop area to the engine room to allow for better access to the engine whilst remaining protected from the elements yeah I can see the advantage that obviously you then start to cut into your living space but certainly more room for accessing the engine is handy I don't think adding a couple of feet on to my engine bay would particularly give you better access because you've still got the boards and you'd have to rip them up somehow and there's the metal work supporting them are think it would still be fiddly as all hag what I would like in a utility room at the back of the boat let's say I've got my trad my semi trad stern that I'd like to find so you've got the centre hatch and normally on a semi trad Oh reverse layout is what I'm looking for as well which means the bedrooms at the front and the galleys at the back so you'd come down from your stern into the galley well because I want an N Shake galley that means you kind of be coming down through the hatch straight onto the worktop so you need to come in and go to the side well if you start with a little utility area where perhaps I could put the washing machine and a space for coats and tools and things then there could be steps that come down and immediately sideways and then that would lead to the back of the galley area I hope this is making sense I may have to draw one of my famous sketches to illustrate what I'm talking about but yes I would like a utility area I'm not sure it would make a lot of difference in the trad engine room but all the space is helpful when you're trying to muck about on the engine that's for sure question 12 what about a second alternator my boat only has the one rather weedy 65 amp alternator which you may recall a video where I changed that myself with a lot of swearing and banging at it with a hammer if you don't recall that particular joy I'll leave a link to it in the video description below and the question is why not have a second alternator that is specifically for charging the batteries with the main engine alternator just used for charging the engines start battery that is the case on most modern boats mine is simply quite an old boat it was built in 2000 it's in a very traditional narrow boaty style the more modern ones tend to have a second high-power alternator 170 amp hundred and 80 amps something like that which is purely for charging up the big battery arrays that modern boats tend to have I don't believe although haven't extensively looked at this I don't think there is scope to add a second alternator on to mine and I've never found enough of a problem to warrant it because in summer the solar does such a good job charging the batteries there's there's no worry about having a second alternator and if I'm cruising I'll cruise for three hours four hours maybe and that's enough to recharge the batteries as well so it's not really being a big issue for me needing a second alternator I'm not sure even if I bought a modern boat that I'd need that second alternator it just means the batteries will charge up quicker and faster and more easily I suppose if you have a big battery array while you're on the move but it's not been a particular problem for me engine capacity is question thirty based on my experience am I happy with my engine size or would I recommend a large one not so much for more speed but to drive all the additional requirements I don't think this boat needs a bigger engine it's a thirty six horsepower normally chugging along the canals it's going at about 1,300 1,400 rpm goes through a two-to-one reduction in the gearbox to the prop is spinning presumably at about 600 rpm 700 rpm it's got plenty of power the times I've been on the rivers admittedly the rivers haven't really been flowing at all but there's been no lack of power and 36 is relatively decently sized for this size of narrow boat I know you do find ones with piece of forty threes in them but if you're putting that level of engine in a narrow boat you really are looking to do some serious river cruising I think you don't need it for the canals you need very little horsepower to actually chug along the typical canal remember there is virtually no flow on a canal unless you're going along the Llangollen which is a bit weird because it is used as a path for the water to go from a reservoir to somewhere else therefore there is a flow but most canals don't really have a flow the water only moves when the locks are open and closed so it's largely static so you need very little path bear in mind you can pull a narrow boat yourself it's not hard the boat weighs about 15 tonnes but you pick up the center line and once you've got it moving very easy to pull a boat and that's one person power so 36 horsepower is absolutely plenty I wouldn't feel the need to specify anything bigger if I bought another boat with a brand new engine in it there's a question here about would I agree that a draw installed under the stove to store a bag of coal will assist with stoking the fire and catching ash when kleenex in the morning I do actually have a little drawer under my stove is not big enough for coal it's big enough for I don't have it here the little metal tray that you put the ash into before you go and dispose of it that just sits in there over the summer a little storage I don't really think I'd need a whacking great drawer there's an image here being depicted of a huge under fire drawer that you could put coal or a sheen I don't particularly feel the need for one of those you just take the ash pan at the bottom of the stove every morning put it into the metal tray and take it out what I do have a problem is is this simple amount of dust this stove produces et's phenomenal it doesn't matter how quick I try to get the ash out of the stove and put it in the ash pan and put the lid on dust everywhere I think most boaters you've got a multi fuel stove will agree with this the amount of dust is extraordinary and for that reason alone my new boat should ever manage to find one that meets all my requirements I would like to try a diesel stove instead of one of these coal slash wood stoves the diesel stove just light it no mess no fuss still sits in the corner looking like a stove alright not quite as traditional as one of these but I would definitely like to try a diesel stove I think the only downside being that diesel is getting quite expensive these days but pros and cons the reduction in vacuuming and mess I think would make it worth it an interesting point here for question 15 what about an extended steel roof over the well deck so instead of as most boats have the the front bow doors and the front of the boat and then you've got the flat well deck with perhaps a wooden crach board over it and the canvas cover how about instead extending the metalwork of the boat out to the beginnings of the the pointy bit right at the front nautical terms I like this idea I would definitely if I were in a position to have a boat commissioned I would have the metal go all the way and form the roof of the well deck as metalwork and then you could just have canvas sides dropping down the sides I'm not a big fan of the pointy crotch cover I know I've got one but I think you would get much more a sense of a room if the metalwork went out the full width and and just came in at the end is this making any sense with just some sides folding down rather than this that the fabric II thing at a triangle as it is at the moment so yes I would like to have that kind of arrangement I think it would make the well deck much more of room and particularly with my wish to have a reverse layout but where the bedroom is where I'm sitting now at the front and the well deck instead of being what is currently my storage area for coal and muck and also the entry point for the boat in a reverse layout the way I want it the weld it would become almost a private patio balcony to the bedroom so people wouldn't step on and off there they wouldn't be walking through your bedroom it would become just a little sitting out area with a little table in it for morning breakfast coffee kua song ah it would be glorious I think and so to make that more of a room to have the metal work extend out and give it a proper roof yeah I think that would be that would be nice I definitely like that I'm just going to check how many questions are I oh this is the last one question 16 and also as I film this there's a boat easing past we might be in for a in a minute if they don't do this properly it's a very narrow tight corner I'm on at the moment and they need to take care you may also hear the engine anyway final question then point 16 about a dog box do I think the advantages of extra light and ventilation in the summer outweighs the pain of condensation in winter if I had a dog box on the roof sorry really distracted by this boat coming past oh that's cutting it fine I've turned into a terrible what a curtain twitch oh that's the phrase you know someone who sits inside and then they hear something going on outside and they're all straight up like a little meerkat up I go what's going on what's going on I have to see I have to know it's awful awful what have I become anyway dog box is Houdini hatches all those things in the roof I yeah I'd like some Houdini hatches which are the big square windows you see them more in motorhomes RVs and you do on boats boats tend to have fairly miserable little things in the in the ceiling I would like possibly in the galley yes some sort of possibly even in the saloon some glazed open a ball shutter ball Houdini hatches with flyscreens that I can stock and open the window and shut the fly screen in summer and yes they might give you more condensation in winter but already because this boat is single glazed the amount of condensation of forms on these windows is immense my morning ritual when I get up after a wee is go round all the windows and mop up the condensation that has formed there's not a lot you can do about it just how the boats are so if my magic theoretical new boat had double glazed windows but single glazed Houdini a cheese yes I'm sure a lot of condensation would form there you'd have to go around mopping it up otherwise you do see a lot of boats with hatches where the woodwork all around them is just rotten and a horrible and the varnish has come off and it looks terrible so I'd like one but you definitely need to pay attention to it get a double glaze well if you can or cover it overnight so that the condensation can't form on the glass that's the end of those questions and it's answered I think many points about what I like and don't like about this boat so to summarise I am looking for another boat idly there's a whole logistical issue of well I'd have to sell this one first to have the money to go and buy another one it's not easy and then where would I live while I'm looking for the next boat if the next boat doesn't come along I could be homeless for ages living in the camper van hmm possibly it's very small camper van anyway whole other issue stuffed stuff to work on but what I'm looking for is a semi transfer 57-foot reverse layout with an N shaped kitchen at the back I'll never find one like that I'll have to get that custom-made one day when I win the lottery but an end shaped kitchen Pullman dinette possibly l-shaped possibly saloon then stove right in the middle of the boat middle of this of the saloon middle of the boat so it distributes the heat ideally a diesel stove then a off corridor bathroom with doors that can open out to the corridor to make it wider bedroom at the front little well deck for sitting out in so well deck that's designed for sitting in rather than storing stuff in and gas lockers at the back you remember me doing my gas Locker Andy rusting it because the the gas vent holes let the canal water in so it goes on rusty on a semi trade you often have the gas lockers at the back and that would prevent that whole issue arising so many thoughts so much stuff if I actually do sell this I'll let you know and if I go out looking for another boat I will let you know and what a series of vlogs that would make imagine if I had a whole other boat that would just be loads of stuff to talk about I have however now been talking for a very long time and no doubt the tea is cold and the jaffa cakes are eaten so I will say thank you very much for watching any questions as always drop them down below I will do my best to answer cheerio

Channel: CruisingTheCut

Views: 446,242

Rating: 4.9216661 out of 5

Keywords: narrowboat, canal boat, barge, barging, narrow, canal, boat, the cut, widebeam, liveaboard, continuous cruising, continuous, cruiser, RV, motorhome, campervan, sailing, tiny house, houseboat, house boat, vlog, trad, semi trad, fit out, layout

Id: ccTUYkCi_Gw

Length: 36min 5sec (2165 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 15 2019