Narrow boat and Peniche...

I'm getting ahead of myself, but one of the reasons that the next Loose Moose is not going to be a catamaran or trimaran is simply that multihulls are problematic for the European canal system as the beam is often too wide for various locks.

While building one of our first boats we lived on a Peniche just outside of Paris and discovered in the process just how special the canals are... After we built both Loose Moose's we took them both on longish canal trips that pretty much covered all of France, a very civilized way to travel the countryside!

One of the projects I have on the back burner is to design a canal boat for home builders with live aboard and charter potential. Something that would be easy to build, have a lot of character and be an exercise in "Green" thinking. A lot of my working with various electric propulsion systems on "So It Goes" is research for the canal boat project.


In the meantime for those who are eager to get going on a canal boat project, you might want to take a look at CKD Boats who are coming out with one of their excellent computer cut plywood kits for a English canal type "Narrow Boat" which looks just the thing... I'm already thinking how I'd handle the needful and traditional Narrow Boat art in a Mooseish theme! Rocky and Bullwinkle meets Moose Drool with Tulips! Narrow boats are not just boats they are ART!

For those who'd like to experience the canals without having to build a boat you might want to consider a Peniche charter in the south of France! Our friends Rene and Liz on the Peniche Emma would be more than happy to show you just how civilized the canals can be!