Steve and Jennifer  live onboard Carpe Diem , a 60ft (18m) long narrowboat. Their home mooring is at Frampton-on-Severn on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. They chose a life afloat for two reasons, the first was to enable them to live cheaply enough so that Steve could retire early, and secondly to provide a means of seeing some of the

One sunny Saturday morning in 2005 Nick spotted a boat advertised on eBay. 24 hours later he made a bid which was accepted, three days later he was the proud owner of a 70ft (21m) long narrowboat called Journeyman . ‘I would only have squandered the money on food and heating for my family otherwise,’ said Nick. This is Nick’s

The design of Iris N o3 reflects the working tug narrowboats used on the canals in the UK around the turn of the 20th century but she was actually built in 1989. The long, low foredeck and small portholes with recessed panels are the details that distinguish it from a more traditional narrowboat. Simon Sparrow calls Iris N o3 home

Nigel calls Enseabee home. She is an unusual vessel because she is built to enable her to travel the British narrow canals and so has maximum width dimensions of 7ft (2.1m) but she has been styled along the lines of a Dutch barge. A traditional narrowboat has an open steering position, but Enseabee has a fully enclosed wheelhouse which keeps