Canal Boat — January 2018

26 January 2018 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk

THE BOAT TEST

WORDS ADAM PORTER PICTURES ANDY ANNABLE

This lovely narrowboat-style widebeam

delivers the ultimate retirement bolt-hole

for its new owners

Y

ou might think that

considerations of location,

location, location only apply to

property, not boats. After all,

one of the great things about boating is

that if you don’t like your current location,

you can put the tiller on, fire up the

engine, and move to a different one.

But for Carole and Kevin Sharp, their

choice of location for their retirement bolt

hole came first, and greatly influenced

their choice of boat. They live in the north

west and wanted somewhere to escape to

that wasn’t too far from home or their

elderly parents. In fact, a boat was only

one of several options considered,

because their preferred area included the

Lake District, which meant static

caravans and cabins were also in the

running.

The couple have had boats before, and

the call back to the waterways was strong

enough to see off the challenge of caravan

sites. Their local canal is the Lancaster -

and that presented more choices,

principally how wide their boat should be.

On the Lancaster, there’s no need to stick

to narrowboat dimensions. There are no

locks on the waterway’s main line, the

locks on the Glasson Branch are wide,

and the only way to the main part of the

Short and sweet