History
THE HISTORY OF OUR SALOONBOATS
Our saloonboats are genuine historic boats. We restored them in the original style.
Above an authentic photograph of our saloonboat Ivresse. It was taken in the beginning of last century.
From the beginning of the 20th century until the early thirties saloonboats were build in the west of the Netherlands and in the province Friesland. These boats shared a couple of features like a load water-line, an elegant body and a beautifull build of teakwood and mahogany.
The design of a saloonboat was entirely made to measure and initiated by the constituent. These boats were used for transport of people on the Frisian lakes, the river Vecht and the Amsterdam canals.
Saloonboats were nick-named notary-boats or doctors-boats because the first owners, and often constituents were well to do citizens like doctors, notaries or lawyers. The boats were an easy and classy way to get to their clients or patients. It did not take long to find out it was a great pleasure to invite friends and family on board for a relaxing trip. Or to cruise the canals and rivers in the weekend to impress the crowd..
Times have changed, but the charm of the saloonboats remains. Private Boat Tours welcomes you to experience this for yourself.