Editing Narrowboat (section)

==Modern narrowboats==
[[File:Modern Narrow Boats.jpg|thumb|right|Modern narrowboats on the [[Kennet and Avon Canal]]]]
The number of licensed boats on canals and rivers managed by the [[Canal & River Trust]] (CRT), a charitable trust, formerly British Waterways, was estimated at 27,000 in 2006. By 2014 this number had risen to over 30,000. There were perhaps another 5,000 unlicensed boats kept in private moorings or on other waterways in 2006.<ref>[http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/about_us/business_activities/boating.html Boating : British Waterways<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060331142311/http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/about_us/business_activities/boating.html |date=31 March 2006 }}</ref> Most boats on CRT waterways are steel (or occasionally, aluminium) cruisers popularly referred to as narrowboats.

Modern leisure narrowboats are used for holidays, weekend breaks, or touring, or as permanent or part-time residences. Usually, they have steel hulls and a steel superstructure, but when they were first being developed for leisure use in the 1970s glass reinforced plastic (fibre-glass) or timber was often used above gunwale height. Newer narrowboats, say post 1990, are usually powered by modern [[diesel engine]]s and may be fitted inside to a high standard.There will be at least {{convert|6|ft|m}} internal headroom and often or usually similar domestic facilities as land homes: central heating, flush toilet, shower or even bath, four-ring [[Cooktop|hob]], oven, grill, microwave oven, and refrigerator; some may have satellite television and mobile broadband, using [[4G]] or [[LTE (telecommunication)|LTE]] technology. Externally, their resemblance to traditional boats can vary from a faithful imitation (false "rivets", and copies of traditional paintwork) through interpretation (clean lines and simplified paintwork) through to a free-style approach which does not try to pretend in any way that this is a traditional boat.

They are owned by individuals, shared by a group of friends (or by a more formally organised syndicate), rented out by holiday firms, or used as cruising hotels. A few boats are lived on permanently: either based in one place (though long-term moorings for residential narrowboats are currently very difficult to find) or [[Continuous cruiser|continuously moving around the network]] (perhaps with a fixed location for the coldest months, when many stretches of canal are closed by repair works, ''stoppages'').

A support infrastructure has developed to provide services to the leisure boats, with some narrowboats being used as platforms to provide services such as engine maintenance and boat surveys; while some others are used as fuel tenders, that provide [[Diesel fuel|diesel]], [[solid fuel]] (coal and wood) and [[Calor Gas]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Mobile canal narrow boat & barge mechanical and electrical engineers. |website=Canal Junction | url=http://www.canaljunction.com/boat/mobile_engineers.htm |access-date=4 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Canal narrow boat heating, water, sanitation systems & services listed with contact details |website=Canal Junction |url=http://www.canaljunction.com/boat/systems.htm |access-date=4 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Inland Waterways Diesel & Pumpout Price Survey | website=diesel.fibrefactory.co.uk | date=30 September 2020 | url=http://diesel.fibrefactory.co.uk/ | access-date=4 October 2020}}{{dash}}Services provided by narrowboats are prefixed with ''NB''.</ref>

===Types===
On almost all narrowboats steering is by tiller, as was the case on all working narrow boats.<ref name="Alternative steering">Some use a steering wheel at the back in place of the tiller (), some others use a [[#Centre cockpit|centre cockpit]](), and a few also have a front steering wheels as well as tillers at stern ()</ref> The steerer stands at the stern of the boat, aft of the hatchway and/or rear doors at the top of the steps up from the cabin. The steering area comes in three basic types, each meeting different needs of maximising internal space; having a more traditional appearance; having a big enough rear deck for everyone to enjoy summer weather or long evenings; or protection outside in bad weather. Each type has its advocates. However, the boundaries are not fixed, and some boats blur the categories as new designers try out different arrangements and combinations.

====Traditional stern====
[[File:Narrow boat sterns.jpg|thumb|right|Traditional-stern narrowboats at Saul, [[Gloucestershire]]]]
Many modern canal boats retain the traditional layout of a small open, unguarded ''counter'', or deck, behind the rear doors from which the crew can step onto land. It is possible to steer from the counter, but this is not very safe, with the propeller churning below only one missed step away. The ''tiller extension'' allows the steerer to stand in safety on the top step, forward of the rear doors. (On a working boat, this step would have been over the top of the coal box). On cold days, the steerer can even close the rear doors behind themselves and be in relative comfort, their lower body in the warmth of the cabin, and only their upper body emerging from the hatchway and exposed to the elements. In good weather, many trad-stern steerers sit up on the hatchway edge, a high vantage point giving good all-round visibility. On trad boats, the bow ''well-deck'' forms the main outside viewing area, because the traditional stern is not large enough for anyone other than the steerer to stand on safely. Internally, trads may have an engine room forward of a traditional ''boatman's cabin'',<ref>{{cite web|title=Virtual tour of NB Swallow at the Black County Living Museum |url=https://www.haraldjoergens.com/panoramas/bclm-swallow/files/ |website=haraldjoergens.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413190425/https://www.haraldjoergens.com/panoramas/bclm-swallow/files/ |archive-date=13 April 2018}}</ref> or an enclosed engine tucked away out of sight and the increased living space this brings.

====Cruiser stern====
[[File:Narrowboats-at-tardebigge.jpg|thumb|right|Cruiser-stern narrowboat at [[Tardebigge]]]]
The name for this style arises from the large open rear deck resembling that of the large rear cockpits common on [[glass-fibre]] ([[glass-reinforced plastic]] or GRP) river ''cruisers'' which in turn derives from elliptical sterns used on cruisers and larger warships in the 20th century. At the stern, a ''cruiser'' narrowboat looks very different from traditional boats: the hatch and rear doors are considerably further forward than on a ''trad'', creating a large open deck between counter and rear doors, protected by a [[taffrail]] (railing), perhaps with built-in seating, around back and sides. The large rear deck provides a good [[al fresco dining]] area or social space, allowing people to congregate on deck in good weather and the summer holiday season.

In winter (or less than perfect weather of summer) the steerer may be unprotected from the elements. The lack of an enclosed engine room means that engine heat does not contribute to keeping the boat warm and there may be "wasted" space above the deck area. A cruiser stern allows the engine to be located under the deck, rather than in the body of the boat. Although this may make access to the engine more of a nuisance (due to weather considerations) the whole deck can usually be lifted off in whole or in sections, allowing the operative to stand inside the engine bay. The cruiser stern has a major advantage that the engine is located entirely outside the living space. In this configuration also, it is common to find that the engine bay contains batteries, isolator switching, fuel tanks and seldom-used kit, spares and equipment.

A ''pram cover'' can be fitted to a cruiser stern. Named after a baby's [[Baby transport#Prams|pram]], this usually consists of a cloth cover on a folding metal frame. When erected, it encloses the cruiser stern, allowing more comfortable operation of the boat in cold or inclement weather.

====Semi-traditional stern====
[[File:20110603 Regents Canal narrowboat London 49.jpg|thumb|The Narrowboat ''Dawn Chorus'' with a semi-traditional stern on [[Regents Canal]] in London in 2011]]
A ''semi-traditional stern'' (or ''semi-trad'') is a compromise to gain some of the social benefits of a cruiser stern, while retaining a more traditional design and providing some protection for the steerer in bad weather or in cooler seasons. As with the cruiser stern, the deck is extended back from the hatch and rear doors, but in this case most of the deck is protected at the sides by walls which extend back from the cabin sides – giving a more sheltered area for the steerer and companions, usually with lockers to sit on. The engine is located under the deck, much like a cruiser, again allowing a separation between the cabin and the engine bay, with the steps down to the cabin being located past the false sides of the ''semi-trad'' social area.

Semi-trad sterns can also be fitted with pram covers.

==== With a butty stern {{anchor|Narrowboats with a Butty stern}} ====
A butty boat is an unpowered boat traditionally with a larger rudder with (usually) a wooden tiller (known as an ''elum'', a corruption of ''[[tiller|helm]]''<ref>{{cite book |last=Woolfitt |first=Susan |title=Idle Women |publisher=Benn |location=London |year=1947 |page=59 |oclc=14967671}}</ref>) as the steering does not benefit from the force of water generated by the propeller so the rudder must be of a larger area. The tiller is usually removed and reversed in the rudder-post socket to get it out of the way when moored. A few butty boats have been converted into powered narrowboats like NB ''Sirius''. The term butty is derived from the dialect word buddy, meaning companion.<ref>{{cite book |orig-year=1989 |title=OED |edition=Second, online version |date=June 2011 |chapter=Butty |chapter-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/25457 |access-date=10 August 2011}} Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1888.</ref>

====Centre cockpit====
[[File:Narrowboat moored on the river Stort between Roydon and Harlow.jpg|thumb|A narrowboat with a center cockpit moored on the [[river Stort]] between [[Roydon, Essex|Roydon]] and [[Harlow]]]]
While the vast majority of narrowboats have tiller steering at the stern, a small number of steel narrowboats dispense with the need for a rear steering deck entirely, by imitating some river cruisers in providing wheel steering from a central cockpit.<ref name="Alternative steering"/> This layout has the advantage (as have many [[Dutch barge]]s) of enabling an aft cabin to be separate from the forward accommodation.

===Capabilities and limitations===
Narrowboats are ''Category D'' boats under the [[Recreational Craft Directive]], intended only for navigating inland{{dash}}rivers, canals and small lakes{{dash}}but under the professional supervision of a suitable [[Maritime pilot|local pilot]], limited coastal passages linking inland waterways, such as along the tidal [[Severn Estuary]] between [[Bristol]] and [[Sharpness, Gloucestershire|Sharpness]], can also be safely made in calm weather.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Leisure{{dash}}Gloucester Pilots Partnership LLP |url=http://www.gloucesterpilots.co.uk/services/leisure/ |access-date=2022-11-29 |language=en-US}}</ref> Insurers will often require a pilot for these hazardous areas, and temporary modifications to improve [[seaworthiness]] such as waterproof coverings for bow doors and air vents close to the waterline.<ref name=":0" /> Some intrepid boaters have crossed the [[English Channel]] in a narrowboat.<ref>Such as Terry Darlington's Channel crossing, related in [[Terry Darlington|''"Narrow Dog to Carcassonne"'']]</ref>

In all cases beyond inland use, familiarity with coastal safety such as:
*  the [[Shipping forecast|expected weather]], [[Tidal current|tidal streams]], and [[Nautical chart|navigation charts]]
* [[Colregs|COLREGS]], [[Marine radar|radar]] reflectors, and [[navigation light]]s,
* [[Marine VHF radio|VHF communications]], [[Distress signal#Maritime|distress signals]], and [[Personal flotation device#Life jacket|lifejackets]]

is strongly recommended.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Equipment {{!}} safety |url=https://www.rya.org.uk/knowledge/safety/look-after-yourself/equipment-for-uk-pleasure-vessels |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=RYA }}</ref>