Where to Put Everything?

Designing the Layout

I had mentioned previously, that following the visit to the boat builders, I've now got a semi-traditional stern boat (rather than the traditional stern) that I had previously ordered.

The overall boat length is 60 ft (18.3 meters). This length was chosen because it means you can, at a pinch, get around all the canals in Britain. The length dimensions come into play mainly in the north of England and in particularly on the Huddersfield Broad Canal and Calder and Hebble Navigation. Traversing these allows you to do a nice 'ring' circuit along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal (past Marsden) and then back along either the Rochdale or Leeds and Liverpool.  The locks on the aforementioned canals are 57' 8" long, which is why often you see boats built at than length as "go anywhere" boats. However, both of these canals are broad canals and the locks are wider than normal narrow locks, according to the good people at Pennine Canals dot com (and chat on the internet), it is possible to fit a 60ft boat in the lock at an angle. It is a very tight squeeze and you have to remove the fenders from the boat to do it and it is rather a 'squeaky bum' moment, but apparently doable. 

As daft as it sounds, the extra 2-odd foot is really quite valuable given the lack of space generally. As I won't be travelling the Huddersfield broad that often (I don't think), I plumped for the extra couple of foot on the boat. Of course, given that all the fees and such are based on length, you end up paying for it in more ways than one.

So, trying to get everything in.  Until I left my job, my only computer was my work laptop, which I couldn't install any new software on, so I was playing about with the layout on my nemesis PowerPoint (powerpoint is fine, it was just the way it was abused at my old company that I hated - slides with 6pt font anyone?).

The image above is tiny, but actually, the size was massive. To make life easier, I did it on a 1:10 scale - so 60cm could be drawn as 6cm. This means that the page size was something like 1.2m wide (could never have printed it out).

I've gone for what is a traditional layout: from the back (stern) is: cabin (bed), toilet and shower (heads), kitchen (galley) and then the living area (saloon). All the rage these days is a reverse  layout, which has the galley and saloon at the back and the bed cabin at the front.  The appeal of this, I think is that again, the areas where people congregate are near the 'driving' end of the boat, so it is more sociable (and more convenient for the driver to pop inside for a quick cup of tea). However, what I like about the 'traditional' layout (its not really THAT traditional), is that if you have windows in the front bulkhead, when you are sitting there you can see out from the front as well as the side portholes. And also there is easy access to the bow deck for that "indoors outdoors living" (I've obviously been reading too many home articles in the newspapers).

Getting nearer reality, as good as the powerpoint bodge is, some more definition and accuracy is called for. Christian uses CAD programmes all the time in his job and has a powerful CAD design programme that he said I could use a licence for. Unfortunately, my new laptop is not super powerful (I am very happy with it and was great value - there was no point in getting a fancy laptop when it going to be bashed about over the next year during the boat build). So trying to run the fancy professional CAD program would have brought the computer to its knees.  Happily I found a free open source program called LibreCad, which is brilliant for what I need.

I've never used a CAD type program before and it has taken much trial and error to get to grips with it. It's all about the coordinates from a central absolute measurement (or a temporary one you can move about). It is so great to be able to type in measurements and angles and such and check everything is going to fit together. Even more handy is the different layers you can add, so one for say water, one for power, which you can turn on and off to make things simpler.

Anyway, with the change in stern type, I had lost a few foot of 'indoors' so my original layout, as in the PowerPoint picture wasn't going to work so well.

Another newish thing in vogue in narrowboat design is the 'walkthrough bathroom'. Basically, rather than having the bathroom (a bit of a  misnomer here, as there is no bath, but hey) of the corridor, there is no corridor and you instead walk through the bathroom...hence the name. It has a several advantages in that it gives more usable space in the bathroom area and it can be used as quite a good way of the passageway changing sides in the boat. If you do this in the kitchen for example, you can end up having to  The downside is that you are in and out of the bathroom all the time. As well as the less than appealing aspect of seeing the toilet all the time (I know that makes me sound like an uptight Victorian matron), if someone is using the facilities, then you can't get from the front or back of the boat. 

So, I have been resisting having a walkthrough bathroom. But having lost a couple of foot of interior space to the semi-trad stern, the space saving advantages really started to have some appeal. Also previously, the layout had been a bit lopsided in that most things were on the port side. Asthetically and practically, this was not an issue, but it would need careful ballasting if the boat was not to have a permanent limp to one side.

After much rearranging and fiddling about, I came to conclusion that it is going to have to be a dratted walkthrough bathroom. The concession I am making is that I am going to put the toilet in its own cupboard, so it is out of sight unless in use. Yes, again, I know, just like the Victorians putting frilly collars around their piano legs to spare the horror of seeing a naked furniture leg...