Dutch Barge long distance cruisers

[RCardozo]

Here she is. The last picture is before I fixed her up.

[Greenseas2]

The photos of your barge are really nice and it looks like she has a lt of living space.

[RCardozo]

She does. That is why some many liveabords use them. It is really like a small apt. 1100 s.f. of area. Headroom is between 7'-6" and 6'-1". Draft is 3' with the leeborads up.

[Guillermo]

Originally Posted by RCardozo

Here she is.

Nice job!

Originally Posted by RCardozo

The last picture is before I fixed her up.

You have to be kidding!

[FAST FRED]

It is really like a small apt. 1100 s.f. of area.

DAMN!!!

My house here in CT is only 700sq ft,or so 22x36.

FF

[RCardozo]

Well she is basically 73' x 16' shape with headroom throughout. Herew are two pictures. One is the unfinished forward hold and the other is the mid ships salon.

[SamSam]

Originally Posted by RCardozo

Well she is basically 73' x 16' shape with headroom throughout. Herew are two pictures. One is the unfinished forward hold and the other is the mid ships salon.

Is the concrete the floor of the salon? BTW, my e-mail doesnt work, so you'll have to send a Private Message or post in the Riveted Hull thread. Sam

[RCardozo]

The hull has 2" x 9" "L" shaped beams at every 11". Concrete covers these 2". The pressure treated stringers bolted to the slab the 3/4" plywood. The plywood is copper treated on the backside. Above that is a laminate floor.

[Greenseas2]

The barge is indeed beautiful and you've done a great restoration job on it. I still beive that a boat like the Selway Fisher 45 foot barghe modified with a round stern and a Dutch style wheel house would be within the capabilities of most rather amatuer builders in the US, and be significantly less expensive to build. As house prices sky rocket, we see more and more people buying used boats of all types as dwellings that are free from a high initial purchase expense and free from property taxes. With seniors on the water, they are also free from high school taxes in that they've already paid those when raising their own families. I can't think of any better vessel with a higher internal volume to fill the housing and mobility needs of a growing population than an inexpensive Dutch style barge. Most of these boats are stable enough to even carry a small electric car or golf cart for shoreside shopping and other transportation needs.

[RCardozo]

I agree however many municipalities don't encourage liveaboards and the liveaboards themselves are part of the problem, ie. expanding crap all over the dock, run down sinking boats etc. One of my biggest fears is not having a place to put the boat. The marinas want to charge huge fees to the huge yachts 3 months out of the year rather than rent slip space to a liveaboard. Waterfront property is so expensive best use usually precludes any sort of affordable development.

[Greenseas2]

Here in Florida there are hundreds of miles of shore line along the ICW where liveaboard barges can tie up for extended periods. In other places you may be limited to 30 days at a time due to "being in navigation" laws. The same applies to most states from Florida to Maine on the east coast. You are correct about some places being trashed by liveabords, but usually local ordinances are enforced and those who wish to live in squalor are either fined, or made to clean up the mess they have caused and leave the area. Water front property is indeed expensive, and as such, receives a lot of focus from towns. There are also hefty fines for abandoning boats and more and more they are being enforced. It's up to each of us to monitor and report any facility that permits live aboards to mess things up for the rest of us. It's been a long time since there have been any rundown vessels along the local waterways mainly due to recent emphasis on boats being registered and taxed, or federally documented and taxed. One could travel the waterways all year long and only use marinas to take on fuel and water. Anchoring out isn't a problem and using your dinghy to go shopping saves marina fees as most marinas will let you tie your dinghy up to their dock free of charge for a short while.

Anyone who can afford to own and operate a Dutch style barge is of a caliber way above being a waterfront bum. We have recently gone to work on a design for a 48 foot composite barge, but even being self built, the boat isn't cheap. Having been aboard a few working barges in Belgium and Germany, I have found the owners and operators very environmentally aware as well as being neat and clean both with themselves and their vessels.

[RCardozo]

well said. I am in the Baltimore Inner harbor area and the entire shoreline is slated for development. Its funny how the pretty renderings always show boats yet the development seems to not address any real use of the waterfront for boats unless they are tied into the real estate development. I don't need a million dollar condo on the water, thats why I have a barge! The municipalities use a hammer to kill a fly. I agree get rid of the slobs and make everything better for the rest of us. Describe this composite barge for me.

[Greenseas2]

I run commercial vessels from Florida up through the C&D Canal and then either to Philly or further north on the Atlantic. While there is a lot of the landscape being replaced by condo complexes on the ICW and rivers, there's still a lot of open space to tie to the bank with stakes, or anchor in secluded areas. Too, many of the waterfront towns have free public docks, but also usually have a time limit on how long you can stay. Refueling during the week is key in that most marinas will let you stay long enough to reprovision at the local market. Forget it on weekends though.

In traveling the east coast waterways, many of the places that used to have junk boats are gone. You'll still find a few up back waters and at some of the older family owned yards. In my own private boat, we've found several good places to tie up on the Okeechobee waterway canals as well as the Erie Canal up north also. With the cost of land, old unused or dilapidated wooden and fiberglass boats are being cut up and removed to make room for revenue generating boats. Within the past 5 years, the boating industry has done a lot to clean up almost all of the waterways.

[Pierre R]

I am in the process of forming the specs for my next boat that will ply the ICW, river and canal waters.

I am toying with something around 40' long 12' wide with a draft of no more than 2' and and air draft of no more than 10' with everything down. Yes I want it seaworthy. No I don't want onena them thar boats they forgot to put the wheels on.


I want a salty traditional looking vessel that can gunkhole in shallow areas where the tide may even leave you high and dry. I no longer want to hear myself say " I wana go where that ******* just went"

I want the vessel to fit on a custom built semi trailer so it can be easily transported and easily put on a RO-RO boat for shipment overseas.

Right now my thoughts are centering around a low powered high volume jet drive assisted by a bow thruster.

[Wilma Ham]

Windvang, what a fantastic website of euroship services. I love the pictures, especially of the luxe motorschip 1500 and how the pilot house folds away to go under the bridge. Just splendid.
It is a shame that there are no pictures of the interiors.
Wilma