Inland Waterway Cruising; Boats, Barges, etc.

Pilot House, Helm Station

There are compromises in all of boat design, and the flat bottom rectangular cross section of the canal barge possesses the greatest internal accommodation per length of vessel per fixed draft....just as do the ocean ranging tankers (admittedly the ocean tankers are normally operated in a fully loaded condition so as not to present their flat bottoms to the sea surface very often). But I believe that most shallow draft canal barges are destined to have this same sort of hull shape. Adding a very slight V to these flat bottoms accomplishes nothing in my opinion. Adding a 'keel plate' would add to their directional stability, and likely their resistance to sliding across the water's surface sideways. I'm thinking a somewhat exaggerated I-beam down the bottom's centerline, and with a portion of its bottom flange exposed to the exterior of the hull, would contribute to the vessel's longitudinal stiffness as well as its directional stability.

I take issue with your pilot house observations. As far as 'looking stupid', I would draw your attention the pilot house on Roi Soleil....I very much like this arrangement, both in terms of looks as well as practicality. Perhaps you would counter that this is not the 'traditional Dutch barge'.

I would much rather be up in the front of the vessel when I was trying to negotiate my way through obstacles in the water, or when I was attempting to dock a canal barge vessel, rather than aft and trying to pear over all of the obstacles that might be present on the forward deck. And look at Roi Soleil...both an inside and outside steering postion...marvelous!






This steering position is also very close to the cleat onto which I would tie my spring line as I power into the dock or canal's edge.


I also like the manner in which this forward pilot house almost dictates the upper- level cabin space that follows it. To have just the fwd pilot house would likely look rather weird, but with the added long saloon and galley we have a very delightful cabin with lots of natural lighting, a feeling of spaciousness, and great visibility outwards to the surroundings.

Here we have a similar fwd helm station on a shorter vessel.


Interestingly the roof's shape and height was dictated by the smallest bridge on the whole canal. The bridge's shape was used as a template for Roi Soleil's deckhouse.





I find this roof shape particular attractive even thought it was dictated by a bridge contour. I would be very tempted to utilize the same shape on a new design vessel as this bold arch shape can also be of a structural advantage when tying together the two sidewalls of a very open interior arrangement as exist on Roi Soleil. This roof could be relatively easy to fashion out of cold-molded plywood/epoxy, and be very strong without little need of inside framing ('rafters' you might say). It also contributes to an overall lower profile of the vessel, which could become a more important factor on a shorter version of Roi Soleil. I imagine you might even make a great rainwater catchment of it, and/or a solar power collector with some of the very newest thin panel devices being developed.

Finally, another of those tight fits you find in the canals.

Roi Soleil's website

BTW, as I looked thru the internet for info and photos on this particular vessel, I found a whole lot of different sites. I was unsure of the actual home site of this vessel until just today when the owners answered an email inquiry I had sent them asking for their opinion on a smaller 'private' size version of their vessel.

Their home page with lots of other info:
http://www.riveryacht.com/

Interesting new 12m Dutch Barge design

Interesting new design 12m Dutch Barge...looks to accomplish a lot in a relatively short length. Somewhat similar to the photo #2 in Marmot's posting #9 above

....more illustrations over HERE

"There are 10,000 miles of waterways in Europe, 8,000 of them are in France.

The French network includes 100 canals and rivers and there are dozens of possible cruises, along a single canal or into other inter-connected waterways.

We like to share our own experiences of cruising in Europe with our customers, passing on tips and our considerable knowledge of sailing in France. Our Category C Dutch style barges can easily cross the English Channel putting the dream of exploring all the fascinating places in France and Europe within easy reach."

...quoted from here:
http://www.piperboats.com/dutch_france.html
...this is a nicely organized website with lots of info on their variety of canal vessels.

http://www.barging.co.uk/Elessina/autocaddrawing.htm

Brochure
http://www.piperboats.com/images/piper_dutch_spec_sheet.pdf

What would you build with a $600 million Lotto ticket?

This question came up on another subject thread on this forum, and look what I chose as a first pick


"Okay I've been giving a little thought to how I might spend those jackpot winnings, even though I seldom ever play these lotteries. It's nice to dream though

NUMBER 1: First off I think I would have a very nice canal boat built to go cruise and live on the canals of Europe for some portions of the year. I particularly like this vessel design Roi Soleil. This would be my 'floating apartment' in Europe"....

http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/yachtforums-yacht-club/18431-what-would-you-build-600-million-lotto-ticket-4.html#post149991

Steerable Rudder/Prop Thruster

I had almost forgotten about this subject thread until this evening when HTM09 brought up the subject of a pivotable rudder nozzle over here:

http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/general-yachting-discussion/20483-what-defines-expedition-yacht-14.html#post172166

These type of systems could prove quite usable on these shallow draft barge vessels.

Weren't these also termed 'kitchen rudders' (Kitchen rudders) ??
Kitchen rudder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WOW ! Thanks for those additions to this subject thread HTM09. As I said above,....

Web Page Printing Question

I've been revisiting this canal boat subject, and I wanted to print out a few 'Luxe Motor 2000 deksalon' designs and construction photos pages into a written document, BUT I can't seem to?? Is it me, or the way the pages are set up??

At my older age I am not as computer literite as the younger generation.......and I like to review stuff in a 'written' manner

So you are canal cruising quietly thru the countryside one day,....and you run into this