Canal Boat — January 2018

canalboat.co.uk Canal Boat January 2018 27

LENGTH: 44ft

STYLE: Cruiser

BERTHS: 2

FIT-OUT: Oak and painted panels

ENGINE: Beta 38

BOW THRUSTER: Vetus 55kgf

£95,000

Jescka

waterways network is the Ribble Link,
where you might argue that wide boats
are probably more suitable than narrow
ones anyway.
The question was ‘how wide?’ Carole
and Kevin wanted a boat which was easy
to handle, so Andrew Crook at Brayzel
Boats (their local boat builder) showed
them a couple of not-too-wide widebeams.
One was a 10ft wide Dutch Barge style
shell he’d taken to the Crick Boat Show,
the other was an 8ft 6in wide hire boat
which operates locally. After much
discussion they settled on a boat 9ft wide
and 44ft long - unusual dimensions, but, as

we’ll see, ones which offer the couple

everything they need in a compact

package.

EXTERIOR

Jescka is what’s called a narrowboat-style

widebeam, meaning the basic shape is

derived from a narrowboat rather than a

barge of some description. It can be hard

to make this type of boat look attractive;

this one, however, thanks to being both

not very wide and not very long, looks

rather cute.

The short length contributes to the

good looks in a number of ways. Firstly

and most obviously, the entire mass of the

boat isn’t very big. Secondly, to fit

everything in, Carole and Kevin needed a

30ft cabin; this means the bow is quite

short at just 7ft, so the cabin sides have to

curve in as they reach the bow - making

the boat look narrower. The cratch cover

also contributes to the effect.

At the stern, the couple have resisted

the temptation to maximise space on the

cruiser deck by going square. Instead the

stern is a very attractive elliptical shape,

which tricks the eye into thinking the boat

is narrower than it really is. This stern

shape also makes handling easier, as