Barge design, length and limitations. Size matters! ~ Buying a boat in France Ep. 5 

Modern yachts tend to become bigger because people want more space. But many Dutch river cruisers - even the newest - have a draft of less than 1.5 meter. And there's plenty fixed bridges in the Netherlands. Our boat is a (1993) Dutch built steel yacht of 12 meter and the draft is 1 meter. And with the canopy down, we only need 2.85 meter to pass under fixed bridges. We use our boat mainly for the summer holidays. We "live" on the aft deck. Inside it is usually too warm anyway. Things we consider important (inside) are: ample headroom and storage. Not covered in the video is the engine cooling system. Some boats use water from the canal to cool the engine, some boats have a closed cooling system like a car. We prefer the closed system because it never gets clogged up with water plants or debris.

You might mention the best place to purchase a boat is usually The Netherlands. You can pay a bit of a premium when purchasing in France. By and large the vessels in The Netherlands are better maintained, there's usually a better selection and they're usually substantially cheaper, much of this can be attributed to The Netherlands being a true boating community.

38 meters? Probably at least 6 meters wide as well. That is the living space of a large house in Europe.