The original “narrowboats” were pulled by horses. Most of the space on board was for cargo with just a small cabin for the boatman and his family.
Modern cruising boats have kept the original length and width of these boats, but offer much higher standards of comfort!
Our boat, N.B. Triumvirate, has been fitted out as a purpose-built language school.
The upper bunk beds fold down during the day, making long bench seats. There is storage space for your possessions underneath. The three washbasins and two showers have hot and cold running water and the spacious kitchen is well equipped for preparing the meals for large numbers of people.
There is seating outside on the front deck for around 7 people (we sometimes have lessons there) and space on the roof – great for sunbathing. Even with twelve people aboard the boat is not crowded, but privacy is obviously limited. Fortunately you can go for a walk along the towpath with no danger of getting left behind.
The boat is 20 metres long and only 2 metres wide! We’ve converted it to electric power making it silent to drive and less polluting. That’s why we have so many solar panels on the roof. There is a generator in case there’s no sun and nowhere to plug in to charge the batteries.
