french style sailing barge

Some of the other photos of square rigged barges show fewer shrouds so reducing their number seems reasonable. I think one advantage would be that you wouldn't have to worry about any interference between the sail/rig and the house on the stern of most of these. You'd also get good performance running, and maybe wouldn't have to worry too much about lateral stability because you wouldn't have the pressure of a the wind on a sail sheeted in.

And you could just motor when the wind wasn't advantageous.

On another note: I used plans out of the old Boatbuilder magazine to build Riverwalker, and I think that the plans for Rufus were published there as well. I could look through my old issues.

Those might give you a starting point that would be easily modified to more closely match the French barges.

 

Tad's 26' harry stretched to 30 feet would offer a great space and the topside could be modifies a bit.
http://www.tadroberts.ca/services/small-boats/sail/harry126

 

from the looks of most of them i would say they run between 8-10 feet wide, as they travel some narrow canals.

 

Yes, after looking at the construction pictures, they appear to be narrow with a fair amount flair and little rocker. They are canal boats, and would not be my choice for all around boat with limited coastal sailing ability. But if sailing wasn't the primary means of power, maybe.

 

does adding length to a narrow boat help with stability or hinder, what about rocker, does adding rocker help with stability and use on coastal waters? as I said earlier, im not a designer or engineer, so just some things im not aware of but definately need to know about prior to deciding on what to build.

 

The Tad Roberts designs were new to me. I quite like the 26ft sailing versions.

Being able to move around without buying fuel has appeal. This one is trailerable too.

http://www.tadroberts.ca/services/small-boats/sail/harry226

 

Unless I'm mistaken the French canals can accommodate boats up to ~5 meters wide, unlike the British canal system which limits width to ~7 feet.
Maybe Richard Woods will chime in. I'd guess he's cruised those canals.

 

Just bought the study plans for the Triloboat T32 today, when i get them i will have to take a serious look at how it will or will not work for me.

 

Ah, yes, i guess i was thinking of the Brit boats, but those french ones do seem pretty narrow too.

 

A 10' beam isn't that narrow and if you are still thinking of a square sail I wouldn't worry. I thought the idea was for ICW, not limited coastwise sailing. That said, with the weather info we have today, its easy to know whats coming and plan for it. I run up the Lake Michigan coast between ports(15-20 miles) and just watch the weather. I wouldn't want to be out during a Small Craft Advisory, but why would I- its so easy to avoid bad weather coastwise. Also, I bet the canal boats are heavily built and have a lot of initial stability, if it gets scary just drop the sails.

Also, there's a tendency to start thinking beyond your original plans for a bunch of "what ifs" and then you'll end up with a boat capable of crossing oceans that 1. costs a ton, 2. doesn't have the aesthetics you were attracted too, 3. is complicated to build, and 4. never gets built. Also, you don't plan to cross oceans and so probably won't so you just compromised your original plans and ended up with something you don't even want.

 

Max boat beam: 5.5 m (18 ft ) on the Canal du Midi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_du_Midi


Max boat beam: 6 m (20 ft) for Canal de Garonne


Are there narrower limits elsewhere I wonder ?

You would need to check out the ones you wanted to travel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_canals_in_France

Isnt Wikipedia great !

 

Sorry, ICW is actually what I meany by coastal

 

Good. That's what I thought, so don't worry. You'll never be 60 miles from a port in a storm. Build what you want. Any of those barges would be able to navigate the ICW

 

And just how scary could it get? Just kidding, Plenty of working craft do fine in most conditions, if handled well. I would have no problem taking a well designed barge down the east coast, with an eye on the weather.

 

Dont think i would need to worry about it much here, great loop rivers and ICW, I just like the long narrow look.