Inland Waterway Cruising; Boats, Barges, etc.

How could one forget Ireland....unless they have given up drinking totally

Actually I'm ashame to admit it, but I've never been there....and I have some Irish blood.

Interesting power system. I think the various diesel-electric systems will find great application on these 'canal boats'.

I also took note of their vessel's name, Dragonfly....
"Why did you name your boat “ Dragonfly?”
Dragonflies rely on the water at all stages of their life cycle--and boats only work on the water! Also dragonflies are "solar-powered" insects—they must bask in the sun to warm up their muscles before taking flight. We thought “dragonfly” was a perfect name for a solar-powered boat."

Thanks for that contribution.
Brian

Thanks for those pics Marmot.

That second photo down is quite interesting...got any more pics of her?

Thanks Carl. That looks like something my Thai wife would do

Beautiful Photos

Did you add those photos later...after you made the original posting? I didn't see them first time around...but they are SURELY enough compelling

Here is an interesting website i ran across this morning.
http://www.euroshipservices.nl/english/


And I particularly liked this design of theirs, (scroll down their designs on the left, and click one one....you may find a number of construction photos of that model in that presentation)

Luxe Motor 2000 deksalon

A converted Luxe Motor, the ideal boat for extended periods of living aboard, long trips on the European inland waterways, yes barging in Europe and for making dreams come true, like over-wintering in the South of France.

The original boats have nearly all gone and new-build is once again becoming popular. Using original line plans and modern computer technology we have redesigned these types of boat, with modified depth and sheer to make sailing and living aboard a real pleasure.

Euroship Services have more than 20 years of ship and yacht design and building experience, we have produced boats for many leading and well known constructors. Our aim is always to build your choice of Luxe Motor but influence your choice with practical and economic sense.

Euroship can offer every scope of supply, from plate kit, to half fit or up to full fit, depending on your personal requirements.........

Tried to get back and edit my posting above, but I had to change location and my internet connection. So here are a few other illustrations and a photo of the vessel above.

That one 2200 'met auto' was quite nicely decorated interior wise as well

That company seems to have pretty well covered a lot of the canal boat concept with their variety of vessels, and their offering them in a number of stages of purchase...from computer files, to pre-cut kits to finished vessels. Quite a range. Interesting

John Deere diesel

They also seem to be pretty high on the John Deere diesel engine(s)

Building the canal barge 'KEI'

I would strongly recommend that anyone interested in this canal barge building subject look thru this website:

Luxemotor 'KEI'

http://www.luxe-motor-kei.co.uk/index.htm
http://www.luxe-motor-kei.co.uk/overview.htm

The aim of this website is to provide an insight into the length, breadth and depth of the project to procure a new build dutch barge. It is a complex task and certainly on a par with attempting to build a house - in fact arguably a more complicated task as a ship has more systems. One should not under estimate the effect of length, or rather more accurately volume. A dutch barge may be the same length as a narrow boat at 60 - 70ft, but is likley to be twice the width and have more depth. The volume is probably 5 times that of a narrowboat. Costs mirror the increase in volume rather than length, with the requirement for bigger hull scantlings and more complex systems. Time is also an important consideration of time and often, however well intention, a days work often does not achieve much.

KEI is a 22m luxemotor barge designed and built for residential use and will be used as a permanent home. The size and style are, we feel, a good compromise of all the features that we thought a Dutch barge should include. Top of our priority list was the requirement that if one is going to have a "Dutch barge", then it should look like one and have the recognisable features and details of a traditional 1920's barge - even if this results in perhaps accommodation compromises. This requirement included such features as the proportion of hull to superstructure length, flowing lines, sheer in both the hull and superstructure, high quality steel work with lots of rounded corners and a good strong rubbing band and strake or "berghout" - after all operating on inland waterways is a contact sport and the opposition is mostly concrete. The berghout on KEI is a 60 x 30mm solid half round on a 15mm plate, so should be strong enough. We decided early on that it was absolutely essential to get the basic steel hull shape right - it is relatively easy to alter windows and interior lining etc etc details at a later date. The design and build has clearly worked as most people on seing KEI assume that it is an old 1920's barge converted - until they get close and realise that the hull does not yet show 80 odd years of history - despite our efforts so far!!.....(much more)

Leah Gent

http://bradsboat.tripod.com/

An outboard powered Sharpie Houseboat, or River Cruiser
http://www.duckworksbbs.com/plans/markv/39/index.htm

The Travels of Leah Gent
http://bradsboat.tripod.com/thetravelsofthequotleahgentquot/

New Build Barging website

Here is another GREAT reference website

New Build Barging.co.uk
(Including Replica Dutch Barges, River Barge, Broad Beam and Wide Beam narrowboat style barges)

The site covers all new build barges, including Replica Dutch Barges, River Barges, Broad Beam and Wide Beam narrowboat style barges. The site gives an indication of where in the UK (and European continent) a broad beam barge can cruise (map and chart) plus future plans of broad beam network across the UK.

There is also advice on buying a new build barge and the diy fit-out of 60ft Replica Dutch barge Elessina, including addressing some of the issues encountered during the barge buying process.

If you have an interest in boats and are considering a broad beam canal type boat / barge, you will most likely find something of interest amongst the following pages (if you wish to read all pages, click on the 'next page' hyperlink at the bottom of each page).

Lots of photos of various individual projects.

...and check out this gallery of photos:
http://www.barging.co.uk/newbuildphotos.htm

Roi Soleil videos

Here are some real nice videos of canal cruising onboard Roi Soleil

This first one in particular has some nice shots of the helm arrangement on this vessel...a subject I will cover in more detail in a subsequent posting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg5rYBqc12I

...all 6 videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/RiverYachtRoiSoleil#g/u