A lovely bespoke hybrid 68-footer, built on a Tim Tyler shell.

Words by Adam Porters | Pictures by Andy Annable

One of the main reasons for having a boat built bespoke, is that you can have exactly what you want. And we’re not just taking about the colour of galley worktops or the shower room tiles; when you have a boat built bespoke, you can be more radical, like having a layout that really suits you.

This boat, Frederick, built by Braidbar Boats, is an example of that. Braidbar has built more than 200 boats with literally dozens of layout permutations, but this one is a bit different from all of them. For a start, it has two full size shower rooms; and then there’s the cinema room. These are things that most customers don’t need or want – but that’s not really the point.

Braidbar has a reputation as one of the top builders in the country, so this boat also has plenty of quality joinery and features on show, making this a fascinating boat. It’s a parallel hybrid, so can run on either diesel power or electric.

EXTERIOR
This 68ft boat is built on a shell by Tim Tyler. It has lovely lines, with a long elegant well deck and bow, and a substantial stem post. There’s a boatman’s beam over the roof, and scrolls in the ends of the handrails and cants. There’s also a grab handle in the forward edge of the cabin, to make getting in and out of the well deck easier.

The well deck itself has a locker which gives access to the bow thruster tube and provides storage, and as this is a gas free boat, there’s also lots of storage in the nose. The lid for the locker is extra-large, to make it easier to get things in and out. The stainless steel water tank is under the well deck.

The boat has a semi-trad stern, with lockers each side of the deck. These give somewhere to keep mooring stakes and suchlike, and also provide somewhere for crew to sit, made more comfortable by made-to-measure cushions. The lockers are scalloped at the ends, to allow the rear doors of the boat to open fully. There are also lights in the cabin sides to illuminate the area.

The colour scheme is a classic combination of dark blue, grey, and maroon. The blue, which forms the border all the way down the boat, is so dark it almost looks black, but shines beautifully when the sun is on it. There are diamonds on the cabin sides and the roof, and the rear slide has a traditional heart motif. The signwriting is by Andy Russell, and looks bold and sturdy.

LAYOUT AND FITOUT
The saloon is at the bow, leading into a split dinette, which in turn leads to the galley. Next comes the first of the two shower rooms, followed by the snug, which doubles as a cinema room. The second shower room is next, with the cabin at the stern.

The fitout uses painted panels on the cabin sides, trimmed with solid oak. Below the gunwales is ash tongue and groove, set vertically. All the furniture is made of solid oak, and has a real look and feel of quality about it.

The floor is hard wearing Karndean, in an oak finish. It’s laid with a coffee-coloured strip between the planks, to give the effect of a caulked floor.

SALOON
We’ll start at the bow, where glazed doors lead from the well deck into the saloon. A couple of steps take you down into the boat, with lifting treads for storage.

This is probably the smallest saloon we’ve ever seen on a boat – which comes as a surprise when you think that Frederick is very nearly full length. The reason is that this isn’t the only seating and relaxing area (as we’ll see later). It’s a compact 6ft long, with just a couple of small leather arm chairs, one each side of the boat. There’s also a corner cabinet with a tv above; it’s on a bracket so can be swung out. Above that is a glazed drinks cabinet. On the opposite side of the boat is a corner shelf.

Warm white under gunwale lighting gives a lovely feel to the whole boat. All in all, it’s a cosy feeling space which doesn’t feel cramped in spite of its compact size.

DINETTE

This is a split dinette, with a two seater set-up each side of the boat. It means you can still seat four people – but for a couple, you could use one side for eating and leave the other side for working. Both sides have a set of glazed side doors, making for a very pleasant place to sit. In addition, both sides convert into a single guest bed.

The forward seat on each side has a cupboard in the base, and there’s a drawer under the raised floor. The aft seat each side has a pull-out unit in the base, giving some additional storage to the galley beyond.

The fabric for the dinette cushions was brought over specially from America by the owners. The blue striped material is used throughout the boat, for the porthole bungs and even the headboard in the cabin.

GALLEY

This is a particularly well equipped galley. The full size Bosch fridge and matching full size freezer both have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so they’ll send a message to your phone if the temperature changes significantly – which could be an indication that something is up with your batteries, or the marina power supply. There’s also a dual zone wine fridge, by Rangemaster. Other appliances include a slimline ten-place-setting Bosch dishwasher, which also has Wi-Fi so it can be controlled remotely, and a full size Whirlpool washer dryer.

For cooking, there’s a Siemens induction hob which although compact, has a flexible system which uses as many inductors as needed to suit the size or your pans. The oven is a Neff unit with a slide and hide door, and there’s a matching combi oven and microwave above.

The worktops are a rather dramatic blue-grey granite which works well with the oak cupboard doors. The sink is an undermounted stainless steel one, with a stylish tap which has a water filter. Underneath is a pull-out unit containing two bins, and with a sliding shelf for washing up liquid etc. Above the sink is a set of glazed side doors.

Storage comes in the form of a magic corner unit, making full use of what would otherwise be dead space. Above, next to the ovens, are two pull-out units which provide easily accessible space. There are also a couple of high level cupboards.

SHOWER ROOM 1
This is a well-appointed space with plenty of stylish features. The shower cubicle is a generous 760x900mm quadrant, and is lined with marble-effect laminate. Alongside, there’s a cupboard which contains the calorifier, with a pull-out unit above.

There’s a corner unit, with the same granite worktop as the galley, and a round white basin sitting on top. The whole wall behind is a mirror. The loo is a macerating unit by Sani Marine. The pump out tank is immediately behind, meaning the pipe between the two is commendably short; it also means the tank is under the oven – an unusual choice, but it’s the sort of thing that happens when you have two shower rooms.

SHOWER ROOM 2
These may be his and hers shower rooms, but there’s no discrimination in how each one is kitted out. This second one is essentially the same as the first – except it’s a mirror image. The only difference is to the cupboards between the shower cubicle and the hull sides. As there’s no calorifier here, there’s room for two pull-out units – the lower of which is quite tall and provides hanging space for shirts. It’s a clever use of the space.

SNUG
The snug is the second seating area in the boat, and converts into a cinema room. The main piece of furniture is a sofa bed from Sofa Bed Barn, which converts into a guest double (meaning this boat can sleep six).

Above the sofa is a run of high level cupboards, one of which contains a projector. A screen on the opposite side of the boat pulls down and hooks onto a stopper on the gunwale line. The projector is offset to one side, but the corners of the picture are adjustable so it’s still the right shape. It acts like a smart tv, with all the usual streaming services available. Although the screen is big, the light from the projector is softer than that from a tv, so it seems more pleasant to watch.

Under the gunwale is a unit which houses the Wi-Fi router and other kit.

CABIN
The bed is inline and extends to 5ft wide, thanks to a pull out section of base, and an infill mattress. The bed also lifts on gas struts, to reveal plenty of storage (although some is lost to the holding tank for the second loo). There’s a padded head board on the bulkhead, and above there’s a shelf with reading lights underneath.

There’s a single wardrobe with a combination of hanging and shelf space and a drawer, and the long side of the bed has a run of overhead cupboards. The bottom couple of steps up to the stern deck also have lifting treads, for extra space. Further up the steps are the electrical cupboards, which have pull-off fronts.

TECHNICAL
Frederick is powered by a parallel hybrid system by Hybrid Marine. It’s based on the familiar Beta 43 diesel engine, with a 10kw 48-volt electric motor added to one end. Either can drive the prop, meaning you have the option of switching between electric and diesel drive, depending on the conditions. When under diesel power, the motor turns into a generator to charge the batteries.

This boat has the enhanced package, which means the battery bank is 800Ah at 48 volts. The bank is made up of 24 two volt cells, all housed in a plastic box under the rear steps so they’re contained should anything untoward happen. They are also vented to the outside, and have an automatic watering system.

There’s a remote controller for the electric motor, which means forward and reverse can be selected from the lock side, which would be particularly useful for a single-hander. It also remotely controls the bow thruster.

A 240-volt supply comes from a the latest Victron 5kw inverter charger. There’s also a cross-charging system, so the main battery bank charges a 12-volt battery for things like the lighting and the pumps, and another two for the bow thruster. There are ten 170 watt solar panels on the roof to help keep the batteries charged. They are controlled by a Victron MPPT controller. A Victron colour touch-screen display shows the state of charge of the batteries, and what’s going in and out. There’s also an app so you can get the same information on a phone or tablet.

Central heating comes from a Webasto Evo diesel boiler, and there’s a Nest thermostat controller, which can be operated from a phone.

ON THE WATER
We made use of the electric drive while on our test, and the motor is very quiet indeed. In fact, electric motors seem to be getting quieter as the technology improves. Being able to cruise in silence is one of the things people seem to really like about a system like this. You can hear the birdsong, the water round the prop, and what people are saying to you (or about you!) from the towpath.

There’s a lot of information available to the helmsman, as the Hybrid Marine display at the stern tells you how much power you’re using by cruising and what the state of the batteries is. But there’s also the Victron display just inside the doors which gives a fuller picture, showing the entire load on the batteries and how much the solar panels are replacing.

This is a long boat, but it handles very well, as you’d expect from a Tim Tyler shell. In the tight confines of a marina, the Vetus 95kgf bow thruster helped with manoeuvring, and proved powerful enough.

CONCLUSION
This is a very smart boat. It looks great on the outside, and has a warm and welcoming feel on the inside. It’s also loaded with kit, from the hybrid drive system, the top of the range electrics, and the exceptionally well equipped galley. As usual, Braidbar has produced a boat which just screams quality.

Of course a boat like this costs a significant amount of money. Braidbar say hybrid boats of a more typical 58ft length start at around £230,000 these days. This boat is longer, has more fitout, and lots of technology, and came in at around £280,000.

The layout won’t be to everyone’s liking, and I’m sure there will be people who think a second full shower room is nothing more than a waste of space. That’s fine – it’s their opinion. The important thing is that together the owners and the boat builder have produced something which works for them. That’s the whole point of having a boat built bespoke.

Specification

Length: 68ft
Beam: 6ft 10in
Shell: Tim Tyler www.timtylerboats.com
Style: Semi-trad
Layout: Standard
Berths: 2+2+1+1
Fit-out: Oak, ash, painted panels
Engine: Hybrid Marine www.hybrid-marine.co.uk
Inverter: Victron 5kw www.victronenergy.co.uk
Sofabed: Canterbury www.sofabedbarn.co.uk
Wine fridge: Rangemaster RWC3018SS www.rangemaster.co.uk £582
Fridge with Wi-Fi: Bosch KUR21VFE0G www.bosch-home.co.uk £499

CONTACT

Braidbar Boats
Lord Vernon’s Wharf,
Lyme Road, Higher Poynton,
Cheshire, SK12 1TH
01625 873471
general@braidbarboats.co.uk
www.braidbarboats.co.uk

£280,000

As featured in the January 2025 issue of Canal Boat. Buy the issue here