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There are many different types of boats which you can find on the canals and rivers of the UK.

The main types of boat that you will find are: Narrowboats (Trad, Semi Trad, Cruiser stern), Cruisers & wide beam boats such as wide narrowboats and barges built in a Dutch style.

The Traditional narrowboat only gives you with limited space at the stern, and (generally)  they have an engine room, which again can reduce the space avilable for living accomodation. The Trad is most popular with couples - where as groups of larger number tend to go for the Semi  or the cruiser stern as it provides much more space for 'socialising'

The Semi Traditional Narrowboat is a more accommodating type of the Trad and is a popular holiday boat choice for many companies! This type of stern, as you can see from the picture, has an area, like the Trad where the coxain can stand but it also boasts an inclosed area, which can be sealed by doors, making it a great choice for families with young children or animals which have a tendancy to go swimming.. this stern also normally provides benches for seating.

The Cruiser type of Narrowboat is also another popular choice with holiday companies. However, in our opinion, it does not offer the same protection to infants and animals that the Semi does but it does offer a large area in which the steerer and the rest of the crew can all sit whilst on the move - good for a sociable bunch of boaters!

This is a 'Cruiser' and is a fairly common site on the UK waterways - a nice alternative to the narrowboat. But they can sometimes be crapmed in comparision to, say, a 60ft narrowboat.

Also on the Inland Waterways in Britain you will see other designs on boat such as the Dutch type narrowboat/barge - which, in many cases,  is really a narrowboat sized boat (some are wider than a normal narrowboat) which are designed as if they were a Dutch barge - such as Emily Anne,   which is a dutch style steam NB.