We were planning on crossing over to the Med in the upcoming crossing window but as various things seemed to get in the way it makes sense to hang around the Caribbean for another year...
One of the reasons for going over to Europe (other than torturing French folks with my Spanish cow rendition of their language) is the fact that a good chunk of our charter business is derived from peniche charters on the canals of Europe and it is no bad thing to spend time on the canals from time to time both from a business and simple enjoyment level as the canals of Europe simply are one of the great places to be...
Having done the whole mast on the deck craziness of cruising the canals with a sailboat before, I had a... well, the words cunning plan sort of sums it up, where I would build a tiny canal boat that we could use instead of having to drop the mast, put it on the deck, and later put it up again. Plus, the idea of having a small "pied-à-eau" on the canals would make it much easier to pop back and forth for visits and suchlike... Fact is I was really looking forward to building a non-sail boat for a change and seeing just how efficient I could get in terms of the most living space I could get into a smallest possible envelope...
The design I have in mind is the "Jolly Boat", a 22'9" little canal cruiser from the drawing board of Philip Thiel who is best known for his bicycle powered canal cruiser "Escargot" which always reminded me of a mini waterborne gypsy caravan crossed with a British narrow boat. While small the interior is both sensible and very livable.
What's more, is for those obsessed with building stuff themselves, it is so easily built and affordable that it makes all kinds of sense for someone who needs a design that could be built in a hurry and put to use in the minimum amount of time.
