White elephant

I WOULD imagine that many boaters would be rather confused at the electric narrowboat built on the Isle of Wight, writes James Henry.

Had little knowledge

It is quite obvious that the lady behind the idea had little knowledge of either narrowboats or the canals, building a narrowboat 9ft wide and would seem her knowledge came from living on a boat whilst studying at university.

From all accounts she was not studying boats or anything comparable, but I understand dancing!

There is little doubt the boat will be a white elephant for it cannot traverse the narrow canals and the 'swim' on its bow is non existent that will cause drag.  And a ring halfway down the hull is a ridiculous place to have to moor to. I doubt if you could even reach it off the bow.  What the rest is like doesn't bear thinking about.

Diesel heating

Then the whole purpose of going electric was knocked back with it having diesel heating!  And I wonder if it also had gas for cooking?  If so it would perhaps be ideal for stationary living accommodation. After all there are no charging points anywhere, but perhaps the lady didn't realise that.