We have been cruising the English canals and rivers for the last 10 years or so and had cruised most of the canal and river system including the tidal parts of the Thames, Trent, Severn, Ouse and Ribble as well as crossing the Mersey. For quite some time we had been thinking of moving up to a Dutch style barge and exploring the European waterways. Our thoughts had been to get a 60 to 65ft barge which would include some guest accommodation. Part of our thinking had been based on our experience with our 58ft narrowboat and the assumption that with 12ft 6in beam we would need the extra length to realise our plans.
However, when we saw Monchique at the first Piper event in Henley it gave us something else to consider.
We spent the next year thinking about our future boating plans and made the decision to definitely sell our narrowboat and buy a Dutch style barge. So we started the process. One of our initial decisions, after looking at second hand barges, was to get a new build boat. This meant that we could get a boat that had modern, up to date equipment and fitted out to our requirements. We began the rounds of boat builders who said they could build a barge to our requirements and came to the obvious conclusion that we should return to Piper Boats who had built our narrowboat.
We spoke at length with Simon to establish the size and style of boat we should have for our proposed European adventure. Starting with a 60ft x 12ft 6in boat and following much discussion and research, we came to the conclusion that a 49 ft style barge based on the design of Monchique would be the route to take. The 14ft beam made for a more useable internal space and allowed us to design an interior that met our needs. Finding moorings for a boat that is less than 15 meters would be easier and being classed as a sport boat under current German regulations should allow us to venture onto German waters, if we wished, without too much added bureaucracy.
As there would only be the two of us on the boat for the majority of our cruising time, we decided to proceed with a single bedroom allowed us to have an internal layout which suited our requirements. This gave us a large wheelhouse which opens out to the rear deck. The wheelhouse seating can convert to a double bed for our very occasional guests and the addition of a second toilet just down from the wheelhouse makes life on board easier. The next big decision was the wheelhouse itself. Should it be fixed or collapsible? Speaking to many experienced boaters and checking the routes we proposed to explore, it seemed that many people never needed to collapse their wheelhouse and a fixed wheelhouse with the benefits of large windows and permanent wiring for lights etc. and less maintenance was more beneficial.
Based on all of this, we chose a 49M Piper barge which was launched at the beginning of April this year.
