So you have seen a barge for sale or are thinking maybe to buy a houseboat converted from a Dutch barge? I couldn't recommend it enough! There are a lot of Dutch barges for sale, and you will see a lot of converted barges and houseboats on the market. Careful consideration should determine the size and standard of barges for sale that you will be ideally looking at. If you are not sure about the size of vessel you want that will suit you. Find a house on the market that basically meets your requirements - or use your present abode, then work out what the living space is in square metres. Then compare it to the hull size of the Dutch barge or houseboat for sale.

Double the living space on a houseboat should the superstructure be built up to accommodate an extra floor. This will give a good indication of what to expect. From experience, I would say that for a live aboard houseboat with a standard 3 m beam one would be looking at a minimum of a 17 - 21 metre vessel for 2 people. You would want the wheelhouse to be comfortably converted to double as a permanent deck saloon; it would be quite cosy however. This would equate loosely to a 2 bedroom flat. I own a 30 meter Luxe motor with a wide 5 meter beam with living space almost end to end. This equates to a 3 bedroom house - with utility room and office space, and at a fraction of the cost ! This is not supposed to be an exhaustive history lesson, but a brief run down on barge types, their origins and what to look for. Hopefully sparking some interest in the barge history or houseboat for sale that you maybe looking at. Today's main use for the Dutch barge is for tourist canal cruises, static hotels, houseboats or recreational cruising. Superficially, many barges look broadly similar. The main canal barge types are luxe motor, tjalk and klipper which are readily identified by the shape of the hull. The early Dutch styles were sailing vessels, being the tjalk and the klipper, which were abandoned as non competitive working vessels in the 1960's. The the Luxe motor popularity boomed in the 1920's with the advent of the steam engine that eventually went over to diesel in the 1940's.

These basic barge types varied greatly to the well practiced eye, depending where they were built and in what region of Holland they were to be used in. Very simplistically, large barges were built for large waterways, serving towns and cities and smaller barges for small waterways servicing villages where the canals were restricted and there was less draught. Barges for the large inland seas look more like a freighters and their hull designs greatly tweaked to cope with open sea type conditions, increased engine size and greater loads, but you can still recognise their pedigree. The 1970's saw the demise of the Luxe motor and traditional barges in general, when it was recognised that pushing loaded (dumb) barges was far more efficient. Now you see huge floating powerhouses pushing loads weighing anything up to 3000 tons, rather than a traditional engined Freycinet 38 metre vessel transporting 375 tons.

Since the 1970's, people have recognised the advantages of converted canal barges, many vessels have been saved from the scrap heap for a comfortable alternative way to live, and also to facilitate the booming tourist trade in the form of static hotel barges, or for canal cruises. For the recreational boating enthusiast there are even boat builders that sell compact Luxe Motor replicas, easily manageable, with state of the art equipment and facilities; but not normally on the same scale as you will find with an original vessel.

To find out more about my Dutch barge moored in the UK close to London visit http://www.dutchbargeforsale.eu

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