Description

17.3 x 3.02 x 0.8 Air Draft 2.75

Built by Pickwell and Arnold in 1996 with a beautiful teak wheelhouse as she was destined for the Continent.Current owners have sailed rivers and canals for the past 18 summers, from Bordeaux to Berlin, but now is the time to look at other parts. Moored in Holland at Aalsmeer which is 10 min by taxi from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. She has been completely painted in 2022 which will last for many years, bearing in mind that there is no salt water involved. All 17 brass portholes were removed and surrounds ground back, anti rusted and sealed twice.
Yavanna is a very comfortable and attractive medium size barge. A typical UK Wide Beam narrowboat, but with a wheelhouse. Built for shallow canal use she has a perfectly flat bottom, great for running aground and then reversing away again. This feature also gives stability as the hull is full width right down to her floor. Yavanna has no keel nor anything else poking down to foul river or lake bottoms. We freely nose up creeks and into corners of harbours. Her flat bottom gives an impressive prop walk ability.

Specifications

Accommodation

Wheelhouse is at very rear of boat, with steps leading down to galley and bathroom with shower. These two rooms share the hull in this aft area, and forward there is a very large saloon with porthole windows and a centered roof hatch to let light flood in. There is a lot of storage in kitchen and saloon, with a linen cupboard, Hot water tank and Kabola central heating burner and one of the 4 CH radiators. An Ikea couch folds out as a double bed. Yavanna has been designed to cater for those that prefer internal space and hence the couch, rather than a second dedicated bedroom. Forward cabin has an island double bed, radiator, 12v fan, steps leading to forward hatch and sliding portion of adjacent roof. Cooking is by bottled gas via 4 burner stove and gas oven/grill. Hot water is by motor when running, 220v in port and bottled gas when on rural mooring. The toilet is electric. Fully carpeted saloon and cabin, in very good condition.

cabin; door to saloon

cabin

cabin looking forward.

Cabin hatch open

Construction

Steel welded in conventional manner. The flat bottom of Yavanna protrudes out past the side walls by 10mm so mooring to a sloping or submerged wall means the contact is made with the bottom sheet of steel. Thickness: bottom 12mm, sides 6 or 8mm, side decks 8mm, cabin sides and roof 5mm. Headroom is 1.86m except for wheelhouse 1.92. Insulation is by rockwool.
The teak wheelhouse was replaced by a Dutch carpenter in 2011. It has been regularly varnished and kept under cover ever since and is in immaculate condition and very stylish. It is easily removable. It is in the traditional helming position - right at the stern.The helms person always has a full view of the vessel without turning his head. The wheelhouse is the appropriate size with a stable door to strbd. In fine weather or when maneuvering carefully we clip it open. She is helmed from either tall stools, folding seats or standing. Two fixed folding seats and table are suited to eating lunch while under way, and meals generally when the weather is cool. The wheelhouse is beautifully designed for hot weather. The full width front window lays down on the paint lockers while the centre rear window props open, while side windows slide open. The 17 portholes open and are clipped back catching a breeze from any direction. A large roof hatch in the saloon allows hot air to escape even in light rain. Lighting throughout is 12v LED.
In outline she is beveled toward the stern which makes it easy to depart from a bank or jetty, as you just turn away from the bank and the stern moves into the gap allowing the bow to swing away from the bank. Note that Yavanna's sides are perfectly straight and vertical, making mooring very simple.
The propeller does not protrude beneath Yavanna, nor does it stick out beyond the stern which are excellent attributes for a canal boat passing through locks and mooring to river banks. She does not have a shiny bright hull but rather a dull black anti-foul (really an anti-rust paint). Barging is a contact sport after all and it is easy to patch any scratches after such contact.
She has 8 solid rubber, but floating, 'zig zag' fenders kept at 8 positions around her hull and placed where nudging most often occurs. They can be quickly untied at one end to hang vertically and partially submerged when mooring to low, sloping or underwater walls.

Galley

Bike room on bow

12' x 8' top deck

linen cupboard - to bathroom

hot water

Yavanna Plan

wheelhouse

saloon

galley

Galley

saloon library

Covers

Covers

Equipment

Manual anchor winch, manual crane(for lifting eg motor scooter) to operate at bow or stern
boat hooks 2 gangplank
ladder aluminium sun umbrella and base
sleeve for rolled up umbrella sledge hammer
large steel pickets 3 table and 4 wooden chairs all folding
mast 3.5m mooring ropes, very many
zig zag fenders 8 inflatable sausage fenders 6
flower troughs 4 and hanging frames power cables 3
20m and 30m water hoses hose fittings very many
2 gas bottles winter cover for wooden deck
full cover for wheelhouse large brass bell
220v vacuum cleaner mosquito netting all windows and doors.
auto laundry machine 220c Fridge
weed hatch in engine room to inspect prop while in the water

tools 1

tools 2

tools 3

Navigation Equipment

We use the Dutch "Nautica" auto-navigation system on an old iPad. There is on board a full set of paper charts for FR, BE, NL, and DE.

Engine(s)

Yavanna had a new 4 cylinder Perkins diesel fitted in 2011. She will cruise all day at 10kph or sidle up to a bridge on tickover at 2kph. She carries 700 litres of diesel and returns 3 to 4 lit/hr thus giving a range of 250 hours/2500 km. The engine has done 1625 hours. She has a diesel fired Kabola central heating system and 4 radiators and hot pipes running through each clothes cupboard. There is also a solid fuel stove.
BATTERIES; The motor has two 12v AGM batteries (new 2022) connected in parallel to give a huge starting capacity. The house battery is a large Gel Traction deep cycle 12v. This is augmented by a large solar panel and MPPT regulator, and Victron smart charging system.

Head

Market day.

Safety Equipment

Vessel complies. Fire extinguishers, 4 life jackets. Emergency ladder. Emergency escape hatches in cabin, stairs to stern. Floating ring on a rope, two oars. Full painted safety rails at bow, stern and sides of wooden top deck. Steaming lights fore, aft, and port/stbd. Klaxon 12v.

Location Map