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Planning a New Build Narrowboat or Canal Boat

Carry out your New Build Narrowboat research and make notes for your chosen builder

You should do as much research as possible; talk to as many boaters as will talk to you - we are generally a friendly lot, and make notes on points you pick up that you like the idea of. For instance: We noticed that side hatches were usually only wide enough for one person to stand and talk to passersby or even feed the water fowl and we thought it would be good to have a side hatch wide enough for both of us to use at the same time - hence we have a 4 foot wide side hatch opposite our dining booth, and being as it was going to be opposite the dining booth we thought it would be good to have a bit of a slide-back roof there too to let the summer days in. There are many optional extras that can be added to your new boat at the build stage that would be difficult or even impossible to add at a later date.

We now wish that we had not had an open bow / cratch. The reason is that there are only the two of us aboard for 95% of the time and the stern is big enough for the (maximum) six people that the boat is designed for when cruising. Instead, we would have extended the cabin area forward as far as the inspection hatch over the integral bow water tank, giving us an extra four feet of lounge length, about 20 square feet of living area.

Discuss your needs with your narrowboat builder as not all builders are flexible enough to do what you want.

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