Canal Boat

Canal boats have always been present in my life. Living in a town that has a canal running through it, it's difficult to not see these incredibly beautiful boats on a daily basis. In order to share their beauty with others, I decided to create this LEGO project.

This build consists of a small area of a canal with a removable boat. I used brown baseplates under the blue transparent tiles to create a very accurate depiction of canal water (The boats may look amazing, but the water itself is not!)

The boat itself has a full interior complete with beds, a kitchen and a table, everything the included minifigures need for a holiday on the canal. Canal boats come in a variety of colours, but for this build I chose to make the boat red, one of the most common.

Also included in the build is a swing bridge, modelled on a real bridge that sits along the canal in my town. Like the real thing, this LEGO bridge is designed to swing to the side to allow boats to pass.

A big part of the canal is the local wildlife and the environments they inhabit. It isn't uncommon to walk a few miles down the canal and see both industrialised towns and green countryside. Sometimes, you can even see them simultaneously, just like this build, which means even the most built up of areas can be home to some unexpected animals. I've seen everything from ducks and fish, and even a stray cow that had gone for a swim. In this build I unfortunately decided against adding a swimming cow, but I did include one of the most notorious canal dwellers. Two brick built swans who patrol up and down the water, protecting their nesting site hidden in the undergrowth by the canal.