Luxury Canal Houseboats Coming to Trent Hills

Dave MacDougall, a Trent Hills resident, assisted Le Boat in setting up its Canadian operation.

Le Boat’s Cruisers are Renter Operated

Article/image by John Campbell

Trent Hills – Wed., Aug. 23, 2023 – The company that owns the world’s largest fleet of canal houseboats will send eight of its luxury cruisers from Trenton to Peterborough next month and make overnight stops in Campbellford and Hastings along the way.

Le Boat, which launched its Canadian operation in 2018 when it began offering rentals along the Rideau Canal, has added a second cruising route – the 386-kilometre Trent-Severn Waterway.

Horseshoe Bay Marina in Peterborough will serve as the base for the  premier Horizon Cruisers, which range in size from two- to four-bedrooms. The cruises are to begin next spring.

The boats are driven by the renters who are not required to have a boating licence or to have any boating experience at all. Le Boat provides an in-depth briefing on all aspects of the boat and a staff member takes travellers out for a ride for an hour or so to go through all the controls until they feel fully confident in its operation.

Dave MacDougall, a Trent Hills resident, assisted Le Boat in setting up its Canadian operation. He worked 24 years for the Trent-Severn Waterway before retiring as its marketing and communications officer in 2006 and launching a consulting firm. He’s been serving as a liaison between Le Boat and the communities its boats will visit.
“We make the connection between the local people and Le Boat,” he said. “We’re able to provide them the information they can use in selling these rentals.”

MacDougall’s consulting company closed this year but he has continued to work with Le Boat as a volunteer to provide that local knowledge.
He’s enthusiastic about what the company will do to boost the economies of communities on the waterway.
“This is great,” he said. “It took a long while to pull it together because … they had to introduce themselves and then they were looking for somebody to invest with them (in) setting up a base.”
That ended up being former Peterborough MPP Dean Del Mastro.

Nancy Allanson, executive director of Trent Hills Chamber of Commerce, said “there’s going to be some great economic benefits” from having Campbellford and Hastings, two designated Trent-Severn trail towns, be part of Le Boat’s cruising route on the waterway.

“During the process of getting this set up we did learn from them that there is quite an impact on the community,” in terms of extra money being spent “supporting all the local shops and restaurants, and (on) things to do as well.”
“With Le Boat being a new operation it’s going to attract a lot more interest (to the area),” she said. “It’s great that we have another … way for people to experience the waterway (by travelling) on these beautiful boats.”

MacDougall said the cruisers are easy to navigate, with bow and stern thrusters. People taking the training course have to pass before they’re given the “equivalent” of an operator’s card and handed the keys.
“It’s a breeze … (because) the boat is very, very controllable.”

Le Boat’s cruisers will spend the night in Campbellford Sept. 28 and the following night in Hastings.
“We can take people for a little ride (between locks),” MacDougall said, but it will be one-way so they will have to arrange for a ride to make their way back home.

Six of the boats are 38 feet long and the other two are 44 feet.

The holiday packages being offered by Le Boat will most certainly add to the number of boats that make use of the chamber’s docking services.
“Last year was our best year ever (with 899 overnight stays) and we anticipate we’re going to be very close to those numbers (this year) as well,” Allanson said.

To learn more about Le Boat visit www.leboat.ca/en.