contribute to the ideal european inland design

[fredfrog]

I've spent years thinking about this, as my recent thread exposed. I wonder if there are lots of us with our own ideas about what makes the ideal inland european cruiser. I may be going to get my dream built, but before I go any further, would anyone like to contribute some basic essentials for the design? If we end up with something several of us really want, maybe it would reduce architect/building cots to produce a run of m!

To save pages and pages of this (hopefully) I suggest we start by suggesting the ONE thing that we each think is essential for the design.

My contribution is : Air draft of less that 2.8meters, without having to resort to a 'knock down' wheelhouse.

your go please.
john

 

[Talbot]

beam of less than 5m

 

[saskia]

John,

I find it pretty difficult to specify one characteristic that would take precedence over several others. On the basis of cruising for about a month annually in French canals and rivers for the past five years, sometimes singlehanded and sometimes with friends, in anticipation of retirement liveaboard, I would offer the following:
- sleeping accomodation both ends of the boat - and not too much of it: you want living space too
- centre wheelhouse with good access so you can get in and out quickly to secure the boat when singlehanded
- lowish freeboard
- fairly shallow draft - Saskia is about one metre and we still sometimes touch bottom
- single engine - more room for storage, less danger of hitting the prop on the lock wall, most of the time adequate for the speed limits, though the Rhone this year was windy and provided some interesting moments.
- tanks for at least 250 litres fuel and water: pumps can be hard to find in some areas, and lugging cans of diesel around in the summer heat is not fun.
- pressurized hot and cold water system: good shower
- and the best thing I've put in is a small washing machine - saves trailing around looking for launderettes or queuing to use the single machine as marinas.
Best of luck

Nick

 

[fredfrog]

dear Nick and Robert. Many thanks chaps, delighted to read that this is of some interest.
Nick, I'm in agreement with all your ideas but suprised to read of the !m draft... a key element for me in reducing air draft if having space below the waterline to drop cabin floors down. Actually it's very critical if you want to cruise everywhere it seems. I chose the Canal du Midi as the most restrictive and designed to fit there, reckoning that everywhere else would then be ok. "Officially" I think therefore that 1.2 m should be OK. How accurate is your "about a meter"?
How low is "lowish" for the freeboard (ish) and engine power... I agree about a single I think, but about 5HP/ton ought to provide displacement speed shouldn't it? Again this matters, because my 'everywhere' includes the Rhone and the Danube both ways, where I understand, pushing against the current can be interesting with less that 8/9 knots!

 

[saskia]

John,

Well, yes, perhaps a metre is a bit shallow: you have to trade off between air draft, headroom and draft. That said, Saskia draws about 95cms and we touched bottom last year going in to the town quay at Decize on the Loire, and coming out again - mud fortunately and we just ploughed through. Same experience near the summit of the Bourgogne in 2001, and at one point crossing a river on the Rhone a Rhine in 2003. The shallow draft also opens up more overnight canalside and riverside moorings. All the same, talking to other people suggests you should be fine with 1.2m, and that certainly would give you welcome additional room inside. On power, Saskia has a 54hp Peugeot and that proved quite sufficient on the Rhone this summer - most of the time an easy 10 or 11 kph coming upstream, more going down. Not sure about the Danube - found the Coopers' account very scary and we are only 11 metres long. As for the freeboard, I guess my side decks are about one metre above waterline, making stepping ashore in locks etc very easy. I've seen smart sea boats with elevated steering positions and high side decks having a lot of trouble. Lots of inelegant jumping. Finally, on essential items, I should have mentioned dual power circuits - 12 volts and 220, operable though the inverter or shore power. There are plenty of places to plug in, quite often free.

Best of luck

Nick

 

[fredfrog]

many thanks Nick... extremely helpful. (sure I know the boat name, have you written about her somewhere before?) and finally where can I read the coopers account?


best regards
John

 

[saskia]

The Coopers' Danube book is called Back door to Byzantium. They also have a good account of French canals and rivers in Watersteps through France, both published in the nineties by Adlard Coles, available on Amazon. They still seem to be on the move - I spotted their barge Hosanna at Tournus and later at St Jean de Losne this summer.

No I haven't written about Saskia - maybe one day..........

One other essential design item, in my view: keel cooling. There can be a lot of debris in the canals in places and its nice not to have to worry about the cooling system getting blocked at a crucial moment.

all the best

nick