The Rendezvous Hotel in Skipton in North Yorkshire is launching a new £300,000 electric-powered restaurant boat to give groups the opportunity to experience the tranquillity and scenery of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
The 60-foot long ‘Eco Swan’ is due to enter service later in the summer and can seat up to 60. It has been designed to be both a restaurant and a function space and the interior is flexible to accommodate different requirements, from executive dining for 36, to lunchtime and evening meals, and parties and other functions.
The air-conditioned, steel-hulled boat has wheelchair access, a bar and toilets. Large double-glazed windows and a headroom of nearly 2m offers a spacious interior. Floodlights are fitted to the roof to illuminate the canal banks on evening cruises. The boat is also fully heated for all-year-round use.
Food is freshly cooked in the hotel’s own kitchens and brought aboard to be prepared in a purpose-built galley area at the rear of the boat.
A 20kW motor is powered by batteries weighing 4,200 kg, promising a quieter, ecologically friendly, vibration-free cruise.
“Because we’ve been developing the hotel’s eco-friendly credentials, including the introduction of a biomass heating system and electric car-charging points, I wanted the new boat to be fully electric, hence the name ‘Eco Swan’,” says Rendezvous Hotel owner Malcolm Weaving. “It is the first 60-feet-long, 14-feet-wide electric dining barge on any canal in Great Britain. Not only will it offer a peaceful way to see more of the wonderful scenery in this part of Yorkshire but it will also provide an additional function space for the many groups who choose to stay with us during the year.”
