STEEL BOAT:
I have plenty experience of fibreglass and wooden boats from my decades out on the tide. Towpath enquiries and observations convinced me that the best spec. for safety, comfort and off-grid use on inland waterways would be robust, easy to maintain, stay dry inside and be able to go anywhere. This would mean it should be a steel narrowboat.
The defining dimension of a narrowboat is its 6'10" beam, which permits easy passage through wide locks by the opening of just one gate and while sailing solo, to be able to share wide locks with other boats. It also ensures ready access to the complete inland waterway system and its varied locks
36' LENGTH:
Half the length of real narrowboats, 36' enables hand-brake turns and easy parking in nooks that forty footers must pass. I did my canal training on a 68' x 12' wide beam and know the reality of large boats on narrow waters. My ongoing observations of owners of small narrowboats coping with or adapting to 'tiny living' constantly fascinates me. People with small boats constantly surprise me at their inventiveness and over time I have learned from them and adopted their techniques.
Chatting with owners of 'Longboats' (70'+) I frequently noted retrospective regret, but their owners had already invested heavily in that factor and did not want to start over usually due to 'attachment'. My investment is in ecology and economy but not at the expense of comfort. I understand "attachment" though and I have become totally attached to Pentargon's character and characterisitics over time "Mine is smaller than yours" goes against modern acquisitiveness philosophy.
AIR-COOLED :
Look up "UK winter of 1962-63" on Wiki. That winter finished off commercial canal traffic and became the unknowing catalyst for future 'leisure boating'. Smart young chappies with deep pockets and access to Hugh Malet's seminal "Voyage in a Bowler Hat", snapped up redundant work-boats for little or nothing and converted them to "camper" spec. with mod-cons generally copied and cobbled from caravans. No doubt they were also influenced by LTC Rolt's "Narrowboat" and others of that ilk which may explain why the trend began in Market Harborough where, co-incidentally, one Sam Springer had a fabrication business of which more elsewhere. Sam began to build HIS designs in 1968. Using unique cunning and foresight which became his trademark he took a completely different route to the Smart Young Chappies and even to the original shape and design of a traditional narrow boat. Sam's boats were also diesel driven and his preferred engines were air-cooled and the engine of the day was the Lister. I have never regretted my SR2 which has never ever let me down in almost fifteen years and we have an unshakeable "attachment".
CRUISER DECK:
To my mind, 'trads' and 'semi-trads' are for deluded boaters who believe they are following in "the wake of the real boatmen". They are not following any wake except their own, but are happily deluded. They wear the clothes. They polish the brass. They talk the talk. And they are the salt of the earth because they have deep pockets and keep old trades and traditions alive and contribute enormously to the canal culture and economy. However, for me a cruiser deck is the only way to go on a 36' boat and the cruiser deck was one of Sam Springer's innovations. My cruiser deck provides 48sq.ft of 'balcony space' from which to survey my world while sprawled in my director's chair sipping a cheeky negroni.
SLEEP UP FRONT: MBW17 BED UP FRONT)
During the 2013 refit, the front window frame was replaced to provide an efficient fire escape. While the aperture was available I managed to stuff a memory-foam mattress into the cabin and build a bedroom as far away as possible from the engine. I sleep like a baby on my boat. And, being right up in the nose, I am away from engine and galley smells. Memory foam mattresses come tightly trussed and, once released, unfold to provide a beautiful hypo-allergenic bed which is cool to sleep on. Memory foam's downside can be its memory but I got over that because it never knows where exactly I am going to fall asleep or at which end. So it has no memory dents and has served me well. Don't ask how I would ever get it out of the boat ... Carpe Diem
LIGHT AND AIRY:
I have no time for dark interiors.. They mask filth ... I have no time for brown timber ceilings coated with tar from wood stoves, gunge from cooking splatters and burn-off from candle grease ... A white ceiling and the palest of blue sides suits me fine. I don't have a wood stove. I don't splatter cook. I don't use candles and I am eternally grateful to my long-suffering wife for painting the interior to my needs as I hate painting.
BLACK OUT:
The front bedroom window serves as a fire escape and is triple glazed for insulation and the front cabin has no other window. In mid-summer, the sun rises early and goes to bed late. Stone-age man got up and went to bed by the sun, but away from the tropics he is known to have preferred to sleep in the back of dark caves. Pentargon is my man-cave, so a black-out blind was incorporated into the window for the light half of the year when night may be five hours. Sleep is all important and as mentioned above I sleep well.
SOLID FUEL HEAT :
Very expensive canal boats usually have oil-fired heating but 95% of all lived-in narrowboats depend on woodstoves because that is how it has always been on ahem mobile homes. Wood burners are inefficient and dirty. They are expensive to buy, to run, to maintain and are really only suitable for those who know how to optimize heat output and avoid polluting the atmosphere with solid particulates or slowly poisoning the boat's occupants. Solid fuel, however is the way to heat the inside of an insulated steel tank. Liquid or gas fuels generate moisture which penetrates the fabrics on board. My charcoal heater uses Homefire restaurant grade lumpwood, after all these years, I have learned how NOT to have fine dust all over the cabins. The Hampshire heats the cabin directly and indirectly and can maintain a very comfortable temperature for up to twelve hours. I have never been cold since it was fitted it and once I got the hang of how to use it, found it quick and easy to get going and keep going.
COMPOST TOILET:
A composter ordered the day I paid for the boat was crossing the Atlantic in a container during the Spring of 2012. During the first six months on board, in dry dock, I had no need for a toilet because I used the onshore facilities. During that time though, I learned all about the downsides of cassettes and pump-outs and was very glad an Airhead was on the way. I am even more convinced now in 2024/5 that spending $1000 in 2012 was an excellent idea. It has given an excellent return on investment and has cost me nothing in maintainance. I remain convinced, to such an extent that some years ago, I bought a second unit from a boater who had one but could not work with it. Composting is all the rage nowadays in London, but they don't get it.
GALLEY COOKING:
The most important person on a boat is the cook. A happy cook ensures a happy ship. After over a dozen years on muddy brown water, I've been unable to improve on Pentargon's galley layout and the last owner would instantly recognize it and all its bits and pieces. I eat only home-cooked 'organic' whole food. Much use is made of my Pressure Cookers and 'clam' pans. The book has a whole chapter devoted to specialized 'tiny space' cooking. You will hear a lot more about the galley later. Eating comes second only to sleeping in my order of life's priorities.
PLASTIC WATER TANK:
"Narrowboat water tanks are traditionally installed in the bow as an integral part of the structure. Painted with bitumen, similar to that used for blacking the hull, they need re-painting every few years. They are filled from the fore-deck via a deck filler and an inspection hatch is positioned on deck for access and cleaning. These integral tanks eventually suffer from limescale build up and corrode over time". I was having none of this nonsense. Sam Springer's ingenuity in fitting a plastic tank pleased me, although I was amused that when I got the boat , the water had to be hosed in via the front window and it included an airlock glitch which filled the bilges a couple of times. Pentargon now uses Hoselock click fits directly through the hull. I like to think my innovation is driven by Sam Springer's example.
(2013-04-18 15.14 4135 HOZELOCK)
OPTIMUM STORAGE:
The cabin layout was one of the features that sold the boat to me eventually. In a 6'x7' footprint Sams carpenters fitted a shower, wash basin, wardrobe, three storage shelves and they used the construction to separate the sleeping from the dining area with a draught-proof door. I would be surprised if the plan had not been incorporated into the original build. The evidence has the stamp of Sam Springer's ingenuity all over it.
Storage was incorporated into the 'mess' under a makeshift bunk . Cushions arranged as in a caravan to make a bed for Summer use. Pentargon had been a Summer Boat. I needed optimum storage so this was designed into an interior conversion started and finished while actually sailing and living on the boat in 2013 and into 2016. I don't recommend converting a boat while living on it, but there was no other way if i wanted to see England.
(2012-08-24 09.06 3055)
CREW BUNK:
Although my plan always was to sail around the system solo, facilities for crew had to be planned in! Crew is a singular word and not gender specific. I planned a bunk into the redesign of the bedroom and the crew bunk needed to be snug, private, well lit, close to heat, toilet etc. This was achieved.
FIT FOR PURPOSE:
Early in my search, I saw boats where I had to double-guess why they were so awful. I figured they were probably bought as "projects" by 'handymen' who hadn't a clue how a boat should be fitted or had been built by people who smelt a quick buck and did not care how a boat should be fitted. I have seen chipboard floors, compressed paper walls, plastic showers, spray on insulation and even what I think was a chassis-less mobile home laid on floats stitched together. Obviously the intention, by someone who had never lived in a boat, was to copy a caravan, but that is not a good idea. Pentargon as first seen was "fit for purpose" and showed potential for development.
SAIL WELL:
All modern canal boats, with one exception, begin life as a series of steel plates laid down on a floor, stitched together, marked out to the shape of a narrowboat and fitted with vertical sides. This gives maximum return on floor space, at a lower cost, of course, and copies the building methodology used by traditional boats which were built for cargo and to lie low in the water when loaded. But modern builds are for leisure living. They are not traditional boats which had 200 years of development behind them, constructed from wood and designed to be used loaded to the gunnels. The flat bottom makes them pigs to steer, impossible to control in wind and easy to "ledge" if a pound dries out while they are parked by the towpath. Sam Springer avoided all that nonsense by building his boats like ships with a slightly angled bottom and radiused chines. My Springer has precise directional stability and slides off ledges. The unique skeg means it could slide off a cill without popping the tiller out! I really have to look into what this master fabricator did so differently ... in fine detail ...
I have plenty experience of fibreglass and wooden boats from my decades out on the tide. Towpath enquiries and observations convinced me that the best spec. for safety, comfort and off-grid use on inland waterways would be robust, easy to maintain, stay dry inside and be able to go anywhere. This would mean it should be a steel narrowboat.
The defining dimension of a narrowboat is its 6'10" beam, which permits easy passage through wide locks by the opening of just one gate and while sailing solo, to be able to share wide locks with other boats. It also ensures ready access to the complete inland waterway system and its varied locks
36' LENGTH:
Half the length of real narrowboats, 36' enables hand-brake turns and easy parking in nooks that forty footers must pass. I did my canal training on a 68' x 12' wide beam and know the reality of large boats on narrow waters. My ongoing observations of owners of small narrowboats coping with or adapting to 'tiny living' constantly fascinates me. People with small boats constantly surprise me at their inventiveness and over time I have learned from them and adopted their techniques.
Chatting with owners of 'Longboats' (70'+) I frequently noted retrospective regret, but their owners had already invested heavily in that factor and did not want to start over usually due to 'attachment'. My investment is in ecology and economy but not at the expense of comfort. I understand "attachment" though and I have become totally attached to Pentargon's character and characterisitics over time "Mine is smaller than yours" goes against modern acquisitiveness philosophy.
AIR-COOLED :
Look up "UK winter of 1962-63" on Wiki. That winter finished off commercial canal traffic and became the unknowing catalyst for future 'leisure boating'. Smart young chappies with deep pockets and access to Hugh Malet's seminal "Voyage in a Bowler Hat", snapped up redundant work-boats for little or nothing and converted them to "camper" spec. with mod-cons generally copied and cobbled from caravans. No doubt they were also influenced by LTC Rolt's "Narrowboat" and others of that ilk which may explain why the trend began in Market Harborough where, co-incidentally, one Sam Springer had a fabrication business of which more elsewhere. Sam began to build HIS designs in 1968. Using unique cunning and foresight which became his trademark he took a completely different route to the Smart Young Chappies and even to the original shape and design of a traditional narrow boat. Sam's boats were also diesel driven and his preferred engines were air-cooled and the engine of the day was the Lister. I have never regretted my SR2 which has never ever let me down in almost fifteen years and we have an unshakeable "attachment".
CRUISER DECK:
To my mind, 'trads' and 'semi-trads' are for deluded boaters who believe they are following in "the wake of the real boatmen". They are not following any wake except their own, but are happily deluded. They wear the clothes. They polish the brass. They talk the talk. And they are the salt of the earth because they have deep pockets and keep old trades and traditions alive and contribute enormously to the canal culture and economy. However, for me a cruiser deck is the only way to go on a 36' boat and the cruiser deck was one of Sam Springer's innovations. My cruiser deck provides 48sq.ft of 'balcony space' from which to survey my world while sprawled in my director's chair sipping a cheeky negroni.
SLEEP UP FRONT: MBW17 BED UP FRONT)
During the 2013 refit, the front window frame was replaced to provide an efficient fire escape. While the aperture was available I managed to stuff a memory-foam mattress into the cabin and build a bedroom as far away as possible from the engine. I sleep like a baby on my boat. And, being right up in the nose, I am away from engine and galley smells. Memory foam mattresses come tightly trussed and, once released, unfold to provide a beautiful hypo-allergenic bed which is cool to sleep on. Memory foam's downside can be its memory but I got over that because it never knows where exactly I am going to fall asleep or at which end. So it has no memory dents and has served me well. Don't ask how I would ever get it out of the boat ... Carpe Diem
LIGHT AND AIRY:
I have no time for dark interiors.. They mask filth ... I have no time for brown timber ceilings coated with tar from wood stoves, gunge from cooking splatters and burn-off from candle grease ... A white ceiling and the palest of blue sides suits me fine. I don't have a wood stove. I don't splatter cook. I don't use candles and I am eternally grateful to my long-suffering wife for painting the interior to my needs as I hate painting.
BLACK OUT:
The front bedroom window serves as a fire escape and is triple glazed for insulation and the front cabin has no other window. In mid-summer, the sun rises early and goes to bed late. Stone-age man got up and went to bed by the sun, but away from the tropics he is known to have preferred to sleep in the back of dark caves. Pentargon is my man-cave, so a black-out blind was incorporated into the window for the light half of the year when night may be five hours. Sleep is all important and as mentioned above I sleep well.
SOLID FUEL HEAT :
Very expensive canal boats usually have oil-fired heating but 95% of all lived-in narrowboats depend on woodstoves because that is how it has always been on ahem mobile homes. Wood burners are inefficient and dirty. They are expensive to buy, to run, to maintain and are really only suitable for those who know how to optimize heat output and avoid polluting the atmosphere with solid particulates or slowly poisoning the boat's occupants. Solid fuel, however is the way to heat the inside of an insulated steel tank. Liquid or gas fuels generate moisture which penetrates the fabrics on board. My charcoal heater uses Homefire restaurant grade lumpwood, after all these years, I have learned how NOT to have fine dust all over the cabins. The Hampshire heats the cabin directly and indirectly and can maintain a very comfortable temperature for up to twelve hours. I have never been cold since it was fitted it and once I got the hang of how to use it, found it quick and easy to get going and keep going.
COMPOST TOILET:
A composter ordered the day I paid for the boat was crossing the Atlantic in a container during the Spring of 2012. During the first six months on board, in dry dock, I had no need for a toilet because I used the onshore facilities. During that time though, I learned all about the downsides of cassettes and pump-outs and was very glad an Airhead was on the way. I am even more convinced now in 2024/5 that spending $1000 in 2012 was an excellent idea. It has given an excellent return on investment and has cost me nothing in maintainance. I remain convinced, to such an extent that some years ago, I bought a second unit from a boater who had one but could not work with it. Composting is all the rage nowadays in London, but they don't get it.
GALLEY COOKING:
The most important person on a boat is the cook. A happy cook ensures a happy ship. After over a dozen years on muddy brown water, I've been unable to improve on Pentargon's galley layout and the last owner would instantly recognize it and all its bits and pieces. I eat only home-cooked 'organic' whole food. Much use is made of my Pressure Cookers and 'clam' pans. The book has a whole chapter devoted to specialized 'tiny space' cooking. You will hear a lot more about the galley later. Eating comes second only to sleeping in my order of life's priorities.
PLASTIC WATER TANK:
"Narrowboat water tanks are traditionally installed in the bow as an integral part of the structure. Painted with bitumen, similar to that used for blacking the hull, they need re-painting every few years. They are filled from the fore-deck via a deck filler and an inspection hatch is positioned on deck for access and cleaning. These integral tanks eventually suffer from limescale build up and corrode over time". I was having none of this nonsense. Sam Springer's ingenuity in fitting a plastic tank pleased me, although I was amused that when I got the boat , the water had to be hosed in via the front window and it included an airlock glitch which filled the bilges a couple of times. Pentargon now uses Hoselock click fits directly through the hull. I like to think my innovation is driven by Sam Springer's example.
(2013-04-18 15.14 4135 HOZELOCK)
OPTIMUM STORAGE:
The cabin layout was one of the features that sold the boat to me eventually. In a 6'x7' footprint Sams carpenters fitted a shower, wash basin, wardrobe, three storage shelves and they used the construction to separate the sleeping from the dining area with a draught-proof door. I would be surprised if the plan had not been incorporated into the original build. The evidence has the stamp of Sam Springer's ingenuity all over it.
Storage was incorporated into the 'mess' under a makeshift bunk . Cushions arranged as in a caravan to make a bed for Summer use. Pentargon had been a Summer Boat. I needed optimum storage so this was designed into an interior conversion started and finished while actually sailing and living on the boat in 2013 and into 2016. I don't recommend converting a boat while living on it, but there was no other way if i wanted to see England.
(2012-08-24 09.06 3055)
CREW BUNK:
Although my plan always was to sail around the system solo, facilities for crew had to be planned in! Crew is a singular word and not gender specific. I planned a bunk into the redesign of the bedroom and the crew bunk needed to be snug, private, well lit, close to heat, toilet etc. This was achieved.
FIT FOR PURPOSE:
Early in my search, I saw boats where I had to double-guess why they were so awful. I figured they were probably bought as "projects" by 'handymen' who hadn't a clue how a boat should be fitted or had been built by people who smelt a quick buck and did not care how a boat should be fitted. I have seen chipboard floors, compressed paper walls, plastic showers, spray on insulation and even what I think was a chassis-less mobile home laid on floats stitched together. Obviously the intention, by someone who had never lived in a boat, was to copy a caravan, but that is not a good idea. Pentargon as first seen was "fit for purpose" and showed potential for development.
SAIL WELL:
All modern canal boats, with one exception, begin life as a series of steel plates laid down on a floor, stitched together, marked out to the shape of a narrowboat and fitted with vertical sides. This gives maximum return on floor space, at a lower cost, of course, and copies the building methodology used by traditional boats which were built for cargo and to lie low in the water when loaded. But modern builds are for leisure living. They are not traditional boats which had 200 years of development behind them, constructed from wood and designed to be used loaded to the gunnels. The flat bottom makes them pigs to steer, impossible to control in wind and easy to "ledge" if a pound dries out while they are parked by the towpath. Sam Springer avoided all that nonsense by building his boats like ships with a slightly angled bottom and radiused chines. My Springer has precise directional stability and slides off ledges. The unique skeg means it could slide off a cill without popping the tiller out! I really have to look into what this master fabricator did so differently ... in fine detail ...