Inevitably, of course, narrow boats are somewhat more restricted. The usual format is a bed four feet wide (a narrow double bed) and perhaps six feet long, aligned lengthwise with the boat. This leaves a narrow corridor through which to go over the bed to reach the bow or the other cabins, depending on the way the boat is designed. Most of the narrow boats available for vacation rental have an internal design with a cabin at the back of the boat and a social area in the front part.
Most likely, this is because the controls in this photo are installed on a narrow vessel of traditional or semi-traditional design (where the stern is very different, usually much more compact and often there is no separate control column). Cruiser-type and semitransparent boats tend to offer more deck space and are especially popular with recreational boaters, as they allow more people to enjoy the helm area when navigating the canals. Whether you sail by boat on weekends and use your narrow boat for social events, or if you've converted your boat into a permanent residence, the interior layout of your boat will make a big difference in how much time you spend on board. The interior designs of narrow boats usually follow two basic templates, but surprisingly, there will be a wide variety of differences between the two ships of this type that you choose to compare.
Let's talk about the internal design of a narrow vessel, specifically what to expect on board and where the “rooms” are located. I'll start with traditional narrow boats because, by far, they are the ones with the most variations in their designs. Nowadays, only the few people who maintain fuel ships would choose to live in those conditions, but the traditional boatman's cabin is still found as a feature on classic or classic-style narrow boats. Traditional narrow aft boats are the most popular among boaters on board, as they have enough outdoor space to drive without affecting the ship's interior space, and the engine is protected under deck and protected from inclement weather.
In a cramped vessel, the main living room usually has a traditional sofa (often a sofa bed) placed along one side of the cabin or a pair of “captain” chairs that can usually turn and turn. In a narrow vessel, cramming the kitchen results in a variety of solutions, including straight-line units on either side of a corridor (known casually as a “galley kitchen”); a U-shaped design with the corridor on one side, often narrowed slightly by a thin storage unit in the wall; or an L-shaped arrangement that is like the galley kitchen, but with one of the units ending in a section that crosses part of the width of the vessel. Decorating narrow ships with rose and castle motifs is commonplace in today's canals, although these canals may use cheaper printed vinyl transfers instead of the traditional craftsmanship of hand-painted designs.
