Motor Cruisers, Penichettes, Barges + Other Craft

A brief introduction to the other pleasure boats you might see on the French canals and rivers, or that you might think of buying (Boats for Sale directory here) to live aboard, or hiring for a holiday or vacation, or chartering for a luxury hotel barge experience .

Panorama Cruisers

These boats are generally fairly small. Large windows are their distinctive feature, often with a sleek or compact cabin shape, coupled with an inside steering position located right forward at the bluff (flat) bow. Size for size, their proportion and internal arrangement makes them very spacious, emphasised further by the quantity of natural light coming in through those windows. They make great holiday, or short-term stay, boats but are perhaps less suited to winter months living aboard unless better insulation, double glazing and heating is installed.

River Cruisers

These boats have a familiar motor boat shape and traditional ‘pointy’ bows. They range in size from fairly small (say 2 persons ideally, maximum 4 persons) up to fairly large (6 persons, possibly 8). Quite a number have a centre cockpit steering position that opens up completely via a wrap around sliding roof section. There are many of these craft to seen – they formed a large proportion of the hire boat fleet and many have been bought at reasonable prices for living aboard.

Streamline Cruisers

Increasingly, the traditional river cruiser is being replaced by a glassfibre boat with more modern styling and flowing lines, akin to its luxury sea-going counterpart. They often have an aft (rear) sun deck and both inside and outside steering positions, the latter behind a raked windscreen (windshield). The quality of internal design, finish, equipment, etc is also well up to contemporary standards.

Dutch Cruisers

These boats are popular and deservedly so. Made of tough steel construction they are capable of sea voyages as well as extended inland cruising. They have an outside steering position, usually on the aft deck which is large enough for eating out and sunbathing, and an inside position behind the familiar windscreen configuration. They are usually well appointed inside; they are long-lasting and hold their value.

Penichettes

The penichette is the traditional barge (“peniche”) redesigned and restyled in glassfibre, obviously made smaller but still very spacious due to its barge-like shape, and with a full complement of modern equipment and facilities. It is extremely well suited to inland waterways cruising as one might expect from its inspiration. Many hire boat fleets feature them and a fair number also get bought and used as liveaboard craft.

New-Build Barge Cruisers

Traditional ‘dutch’ barges are deservedly popular as liveaboard homes and many elderly examples have been bought, converted and used in this way. A number of builders have appreciated this and produced new boats specifically designed for living aboard rather than carrying commercial goods, and smaller than their ‘full size’ brethren. They are lovely boats, very spacious and well-equipped and although quite large, are easy to control. They do range in size up to examples large enough to include full-size kitchens, ranges and spa baths.

Peniches, Luxemotors and Dutch Barges

These boats have been converted from commercial working boats, some over one hundred years old but still – because of the nature of their original construction – ‘going strong’. They are large vessels compared to our other ‘examples’ here, upwards of 15-20m (45-60 feet) long. They formed the bulk of the traditional load-carrying inland waterways fleet that all French canals and locks were designed around – the Freycinet standard, 38m by 5m wide – and also the various types of strongly built traditional Dutch barge – Luxemotors and Tjalks for example. As floating home conversions they are naturally extremely spacious, often luxurious, very like conventional dry-land apartment. Whilst most full-size (38m) barges are used as hotel boats, being too big for private domestic use, smaller examples (including the often-seen 25m Luxemotors) are relatively easy to learn to drive and also economical to run.

Finally . .

The waterways provide a great way to get from one sailing area to another, thoroughly enjoyable and avoiding going the ‘long way’ round, possibly in the face of prevailing winds or tides. This is especially so for boats travelling from the UK and elsewhere south to the Mediterranean (and back), and French boats voyaging from Biscay ports such as La Rochelle east to the Mediterranean (and back). So don’t be surprised if you see a sail-boat (yacht) swimming along, carrying her mast horizontal over the deck, projecting fore and aft like some nautical knight’s jousting lance!