Back to Front

We popped over to the boat the other day to check it was still floating and to measure up what Kath calls the "back" shelves, which are actually at the front of the boat. I know what she means though because when you are inside the boat it feels the other way round.

Herbie, you see, is one of the one or two percent of boats that has the bedroom at the front, the galley at the back, and the saloon ( and the bathroom) in the middle. The vast majority of narrowboats have a layout something like this :



Some traditional boats may also have an engine room between the bathroom and the bedroom, and of course longer boats may have extra rooms.

Herbie is rather more like this :

Of course there are pros and cons. The more usual layout is especially nice in summer when the front doors lead straight from the saloon to the front deck, and also has the saloon at maximum distance from the engine and any noisy gubbins.

Things we like about our layout are:

1. the galley is handy for making tea etc when we're on the move and on the rear deck
2. the wood burning stove is admidships and distributes the heat better
3. the side opening doors are right in the saloon to give an outdoor feel in nice weather

Horses for courses really, but I'm a bit surprised that our layout is so uncommon.

According to our site meter this blog has just had its 1500th visit since we started counting! Actually its not so impressive as it seems as quite a few visits are from people who have reached us accidentally through a Google search for "Slough" or "stove" etc. There do seem to be a few repeat visitors though, so if you are one, thanks for coming back and Happy Christmas!