Canal Boat — February 2018

30 February 2018 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk

THE BOAT TEST

Bed Barn, where they’re apparently quite
used to making changes to their handmade
furniture. It’s still large - but just manages
to be on the right side of too large. Extra
cushions in the same fabric as the curtains
help pull the design together, and there are
plenty of Disney elements to spot too!
The size of the sofa meant plans for a
solid fuel stove were ditched, and a diesel
fired one was substituted. A solid fuel
stove would have needed a much bigger
hearth, and would have been too hot for
the extended sofa; the Lockgate Refleks
stove they’ve fitted instead can get away
with a smaller hearth, and should cool
down much quicker. There is other heating
in the saloon, with finrads running along
one side of the room.
A flat screen TV is housed in an under-
gunwale unit, which also has some
shelves. There are LED lights under the
gunwales, which have a colour change
feature: a remote control can be used to
set them to any colour you like. Extra
natural light comes from a glazed pigeon
box in the ceiling, making the whole area
feel very airy.

SHOWER ROOM
A door separates the saloon from the
corridor which leads to the shower room
and cabin, so the two ends of the boat can
be divided off. An off-corridor shower
room is a sensible choice for a boat with a

family of four on board, as it means there’s

always a route through the boat, even if

someone is spending ages in the shower.

It’s not a big room at just 5ft 5in, but the

space has been very cleverly used. The

shower cubicle itself is very generous at

900 x 750mm, and the sparkly white

Shower Wall laminate makes it appear

even bigger. It has a folding door, which

can be left open to give extra room for

drying yourself after a shower.

There’s a small space between the

shower cubicle and the hull side, so this

has been made into a useful cupboard. The

basin matches the shower in terms of its

largeness compared with the size of the

room as a whole; it really is very generous

without looking wrong.

It sits on a unit topped with quartz, and

has a large mirror above.

The loo is a Thetford cassette unit, with

access to the cassettes via the basin unit.

Sandra says it’s the only element of the

shower room which proved difficult to

fit in. Fortunately, the bowl can be

swivelled.

Space in the shower room was cleverly used