OUR NARROW BOATS
FOR HIRE
Quality assured
by
VisitBritain, our
narrow boats have everything you
need.
Your canal boating holidays are important to you. So it is important to us that
your canal boat provides everything that you expect of it, and that
our service is all that you require.
The narrow boats themselves can
be seen in detail through the links above, each boat
operating on a particular type of holiday.
All our narrow boats are
built and maintained by the same team which hands them over to
you. Keeping the boats in first-class condition, well equipped
and clean is the primary aim of all our staff. In case you need
it, we provide 24-hour backup service.
We shall do all we can to
make your canal boating holidays with us the greatest success. |
Remember that the Tourist
Board inspectors see all our narrow boats every year, and are quite
capable of telling us when we’ve missed something. They are also
very useful in suggesting improvements that our colleagues in
other firms have found their customers liked – though by no
means all fleets are yet prepared to be inspected by outsiders.
We
believe our information service, from booking to holiday, is
unrivalled. We know our local waterways well and are happy to
advise on routes before you book. The Information Pack we send you six weeks
or so before your canal boating holiday contains a DVD or video, BW Boater's Handbook
and detailed information written by us on your canal boat and its
contents, routes, arrival information, and everything you need
to know. On board are a
comprehensive boat manual, again written by us, with safety and
timing information, and several maps, so you can take your
holiday with complete confidence. We take great care with
our boat handover and lock instruction, which are Quality
Assured by the British Marine Federation. Click for more details
on handover. |
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Nigel & Susan
Stevens |
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A more detailed look at
our narrow boats
All the boats have
forward facing windows to give you a view and radiator
central heating to keep you snug, with showers, fresh
water flush toilets, four-burner cookers, large electric
fridges, lots of worktop and storage space, colour TV,
radio cassettes or radio CDs and hair dryers. Many have
fixed double and/or single beds. A full inventory, bed
linen and cruising guides are supplied.
We put a lot of trouble into making the boats light and
airy, seeming spacious and uncluttered whilst making use
of every inch. You have at least 6’ 2” headroom in the
cabin. |
Saloon
The social centre of your boat, this has a settee or
dinette upholstered in dralon. There is a table, which
can generally be hidden out of the way when not needed.
The saloon is usually at the front of the boat, and the
large windows give views and plenty of daylight. There
is a radio with cassette or CD player, and a colour TV. |
Galley
All boats have a well-arranged galley with everything
you need. A lot of customers enjoy having time to cook
properly (others head for the pub), and on our boats
there is room for more than one person in the kitchen!
There are plenty of shelves and worktop, all made in
easy-to-clean laminate. There is a stainless steel sink
with hot and cold water, and a separate (rather slow)
supply of filtered drinking water. The cooker has 4
burners, grill and oven; and is either free-standing or
built-in. The fridge is electric, standard under-worktop
size, (113l capacity) including adequate 2-star freezer
compartment. There is a comprehensive inventory of
crockery (hotelware), cutlery and cooking utensils –
click for sample list. |
Bathrooms
There is a shower with mixer tap, and either a
conventional (though slightly smaller) shower tray, or a
sit bath, emptied by an electric pump. There is a
washbasin set in a useful storage unit, a large mirror
and a shaver point. The toilet has a china bowl and is
flushed by fresh water into a holding tank big enough
for a week’s use (we refund pumpouts on longer
holidays). There is a water seal to reduce odours. This
is the most practical and hygienic system we have found.
The larger boats have a second toilet in a different
part of the boat with its own holding tank, and a small
washbasin. There are dividing doors across corridors in
order to give, where possible, independent access to
toilets from bedrooms. |
Beds and bedding
Many boats have fixed double beds. On others you can
choose whether a cabin has a fixed double or two fixed
singles – we set it up as you request. The beds go
lengthways so there is always room to walk past. Fixed
double beds and most other fixed beds have interior
sprung mattresses, with underblanket, sheets, duvet,
cover and one pillow per person (second pillows
available on request on our bedding order form).
Convertible saloon beds have thick cloth-upholstered
foam cushions, with bedding as above. Bunks have
vinyl-covered foam cushions with duvets as above, or
sleeping bags (your choice). All beds are 6’ 3” or
longer. Double beds are about 4’ wide, and most
lower-level singles about 2’. Top bunks are narrower. We provide bed guards on request for children. |
Fitout materials
The hull sides, bulkheads and furniture are in ash-faced
ply or blockboard (no MDF for us), with all edges capped
in solid ash, and the cabin sides and ceiling are lined
in pine boarding or as-faced ply. People are constantly astonished at
the quality of our woodwork and varnishwork. Kitchen
furniture is in ply faced with laminate, with tiled or
Formica worktops. Flooring is in
carpet, with ceramic tiles or vinyl in galleys and bathrooms. |
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Outside
The front deck has seats either side, which also act as
steps for getting on and off. The water tank and gas
locker are at the front. The back end may be either
cruiser style – a large flat deck with a handrail round
the back, and entry points on either side; semi-trad –
out of the wind next to the steerer, with a small access
area right at the back; or trad – where you stand in the
hatchway. The decks lead to the cabin via steps, quite
steep at the back. You get from end to end through the
cabin, though there are narrow side decks for use when
the boat is not under way. The roof is not to be walked
on.
Top right; Semi-traditional - Cornwall,
Dorset, Gloucester, Hereford, Norfolk, Oxford, Somerset, Stafford, Warwick
Lower right; Cruiser - all other boats. 'Showing
the ropes' |
Internal services
There are fluorescent lights in every cabin, with wall
lights over settees and bunk lights by most bunks. Water
is pumped by electric pumps from a large storage tank in
the bow, which you refill each day. Cooking and heating
run from propane gas cylinders. The boiler heats
radiators through the boat, and hot water in a storage
cylinder like a domestic one but smaller. Most bathrooms
have a heated towel rail or radiator. There is a
filtered drinking water supply. The colour TV has a
special aerial and amplifier to make the most of the
often poor signal down by the canal. The 12v hair dryer
works surprisingly well. A cigar-lighter socket allows
you to use any in-car chargers you have for phones etc.
Everything works off 12v DC.
The non-240v boats have 150w inverters which can
recharge phone batteries etc., but otherwise the only
240v AC mains equipment you can use is an electric razor
(not the rechargeable sort). Cornwall, Hereford, Norfolk,
Oxford, Stafford and Sussex have a
full 230v service with microwave, larger TV, powerful
hairdryer and power point. |
Supplies
You have about 200 gallons (900l) of water, 60 gallons
(250l) of diesel fuel, and 30kg of propane. You need top
up water every day or so, but are otherwise
self-sufficient. |
Engine
Our boats have either Lister air-cooled diesel engines,
or Isuzu water cooled engines, all chosen for their superior reliability. They are operated
by a single-lever control for gears (one each way) and
throttle. You steer with a tiller, and your steering
position right at the back gives precise control for
awkward manoeuvres – more important now we have narrow
locks in our area! The internal services run off a bank
of 2 or 3 deep-cycle batteries, and there is a separate
starter battery for the engine. The deckboards are
sound-proofed underneath. We keep our engine
compartments clean, and look after the engines just as
carefully. There is a horn and a tunnel lamp. |
How old are the boats?
You don’t want a holiday on an old and tatty boat; but
nor do you want a holiday on a cheap and nasty new boat.
There are, indeed, two ways of building a hire boat.
You can build quickly, using shop-fitting methods and
lots of MDF. Advantage: you can say the boat is newish
for a few years. Disadvantage: after that it starts
falling to bits, the MDF swells up in the damp
atmosphere, and doors and drawers stick. You do this if
you think your hirers will wreck the boats anyway.
Or you can build carefully, with much forethought as to
ways of making things strong enough to last, and
attention to detailed ways of making things nice to use.
Advantage: the boat is easy to maintain in good
condition. Disadvantage: after a bit you can’t claim the
boat is new - though getting your customers to spot
which boats are the oldest can be tricky, because they
are so well maintained. You do this if you think your
customers will look after the boats carefully, and take
pleasure in using things which have been well made. We
do.
The actual age of each boat is shown on its detailed
page. |
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