Three rules before you buy anything
- If it's bigger than a paperback, ask first. Boats don't have spare cupboards. Anything bulky needs to displace something existing.
- If it plugs into the mains, ask first. Most boats run 12V off a battery bank, with USB sockets on newer boats. A 230V kettle is useless without shore power.
- Personal beats generic, every time. A boater already owns five mugs. They don't need a sixth, but they might love one with their boat's name on it.
The categories that work
1. Boat-name personalisation
A typographic print, a hand-thrown ceramic mug with the name on, a brass plaque for the cabin door. The boat is the most particular thing in their life. Anything tied to its name lands. Our print →
2. Practical, properly made
One excellent thing to replace a tired thing they already own. A cast-iron windlass with a wooden handle. A linen-bound logbook. A really good gimbaled French press. A merino base layer for early-spring cruising.
3. Fuel for the year
Credit with a coal merchant, which the fuel boats and canal-side yards will usually take in advance. Diesel-card top-up. Bottle-gas exchange voucher. Unromantic but lands harder than tat.
4. Subscriptions that compound
A year of Narrowboat Magazine. CRT supporter membership (which doubles as a thank-you to the people who look after the network). A subscription to a bookshop they'd never browse otherwise.
5. Edibles that fit a small fridge
Hard cheese (truckle), cured meat, a single bottle of something good (not a case: they don't have the storage), a jar of something condimental. Avoid anything frozen or bulky.
Still stuck? The whole list, gathered in one place: gifts for liveaboard boaters.
Buying for a boater is part of making her yours, even when the boat is not yours. Best gifts for narrowboat owners sets out the reasoning in full, including the categories we do not make.
Written by Craig Fearn, Narrowboat Gifts. Last updated .
