Notes from the cut.
Long-form notes on narrowboat life, gift-buying for boaters, and the small particularities of canal culture. Written by humans who own a boat, not by a content farm.
- For naming a boat
Narrowboat names
How British boaters choose names — six categories, the official register, and how to actually pick one.
READ → - For gift-buyers
Best gifts for narrowboat owners
A curated guide — what fits a small space, what they probably already own, and what makes a boater's eyes light up.
READ → - For liveaboard gift-buyers
What to buy someone who lives on a narrowboat
Three rules before you buy anything, five categories that work, and a few common questions.
READ → - For canal art
Canal boat art
Roses and castles — the folk painting of the working narrowboats, what the motifs mean, and how the tradition carries into modern canal art.
READ → - For canal art
Roses and castles
The history of canal boat painting — where the tradition came from, the painted Buckby can, the palette, and the painters keeping it alive.
READ → - For the curious
What is a canal boat called?
Narrowboat, wide-beam, barge or longboat — what each term actually means, and the one a boater will quietly correct you on.
READ → - For naming a boat
Funny narrowboat names
The best puns on the cut — and the three wells boaters keep going back to. From Narrow Escape to Costa Lotta.
READ → - For naming a boat
Narrowboat names: the big list
A browsable list of names by theme — birds, weather, places, books, calm, puns, heritage — plus how the CRT register really works.
READ → - For boat names
Narrowboat signwriting cost
What hand signwriting a boat name actually costs, what pushes the price up, and how a printed name sign compares.
READ → - For gift-buyers
Narrowboat Christmas gifts
The personalised, space-conscious presents a boater actually keeps — picks by budget, with order-in-time advice for December.
READ → - For beginners
Narrowboat licence cost
How the Canal & River Trust charges by length, what else you pay (mooring, insurance, BSS), and where to get the exact figure.
READ → - For boat names
Canal boat signwriting
How boat names are hand-lettered on the cabin side — the shaded serif tradition, what it costs, and the printed name sign that works alongside it.
READ → - For boat owners
Narrowboat interior design ideas
Small-space styling for canal boats — colour palettes, 12V lighting, storage, materials, and the personal touches that make it home.
READ → - For beginners
Narrowboat life
A beginner's guide — moorings, licences, costs, the rhythm of the year, and the differences between liveaboards, CCers and weekenders.
READ → - For holiday-makers
Canal boat holiday keepsakes
What to keep from a UK hire-boat holiday — and what to skip.
READ →