Chris and Marilyn had clear ideas as to what they wanted. The boat was to be their home, so it had to have all the comforts and equipment for long-term living aboard, plus plenty of storage space, and room to move around inside.

However they wanted to cruise the whole system, including the Northern canals, so it could not be too long. They had read the stories that you can possibly get a 60ft boat or even 62ft across the Leeds & Liverpool, and the Rochdale, but they did not want to take chances, so specified 59ft as the maximum length.

Inside they only wanted sleeping accommodation for two, and were happy to do without a fixed dining table, which allowed them to make the saloon shorter, and use the extra space for a large bedroom and a large bathroom, but one that is set to one side for privacy, rather than across the boat.

For safety and convenience they opted for an all-electric boat, with an 11kW generator powering the cooker and washing machine. Their reasoning was that since they needed some form of 240V power for the domestic equipment, they might as well use it for cooking, and remove the need for gas bottles and piping.

Looking at the layout in detail, we will start as usual at the bow. As the forward locker does not have gas bottles in it, it is used to house the batteries for the 24V bow thruster, and their own separate charger, plus general storage.