Canal Cruising

After a Narrowboat holiday, I decided that it would be interesting to design a canal cruiser. Unlike a narrowboat, the aim of this design was to be as efficient in the water as possible. Narrowboats are actually great, well suited for their purpose in many ways. However, what they are not is hydrodynamic. They tend to plough through the water rather than glide through it. The upside is that they are very spacious. My design uses a more classic hull, which is less spacious, but far better suited to being electrically powered. With a bank of solar panels on top and a wind generator too, mounted on a folding mast, it would recharge a bank of batteries and be electrically powered. It could potentially also have a small generator if needed. The aim however of my design is to create a boat that offers some of the style of a yacht but provides access to the wonderful canal network that is available in the UK. The silent electric power would suit the type of cruising well, the hull would also create much less of a wake, therefore less wash and reduced erosion damage to the canal and river banks.