BN176 hybrid canalboat “Heerenjacht”

BN176 hybrid can­al­boat “Hee­ren­jacht”

Hol­land is wet!  And up until the ear­ly 1900’s, the “trekschuit”, a shal­low draf­ted bar­ge with a cover­ed cabin, was one of the most relia­ble methods of trans­port along the canals and water­ways that lin­ked the towns, vil­la­ges and cities of North Holland.

The­se ves­sels were built to dif­fe­rent standards of luxu­ry with the most ela­bo­ra­te being the “Heerenjachten”; ves­sels built for Gent­le­men and so HABBEKÉ SHIPYARD recent­ly com­mis­si­o­ned John Jan­sen Design to design a modern ver­si­on of this luxu­rious vessel.  She had to be shal­low draf­ted to allow her to tra­vel the smal­ler inland water­ways, with a squat for­mat to allow her under the many brid­ges that now cross this environment.  Fur­ther­mo­re, she has to pro­vi­de com­for­ta­ble living for bet­ween 2–6 peo­p­le in well-appoin­ted con­di­ti­ons and reach an envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly 7 knots.

The result is a modern ver­si­on of the boats that were pul­led or poled along, fit­ted today with a die­sel-dou­ble-elec­tric motor system.  The ves­sel has been built to offer the occu­pants luxu­ry and ease-of-use and is cur­rent­ly being offe­red in a series of dif­fe­rent deck and inte­ri­or layouts.