70' Dutch Canal Barge (1926) - HOOP DOET LEVEN

Hoop Doet Leven (“Life Brings Hope,” the original name) is a 21 meter Dutch canal barge built in 1926. The barge was in the same family until it was converted from a commercial vessel to a cruising boat in the 1990s. We lived on board in Burgundy, France for two years and have spent the past nine summers cruising, canals and rivers, mostly in France but also in Belgium and the Netherlands. Hoop is as authentic a former commercial boat as they come, with leaded glass skylights, the original aft cabin, where the family lived during her working days, and mahogany paneling throughout. What an adventure it has been. She is tied to a wall in at the port in Roanne, France while we wait to be allowed back into France.