A narrowboat was usually pulled by a single cart-horse, though sometimes a pair of donkeys or mules might be used. Early boats were mostly owned by large companies, such as Pickfords, which owned a fleet of 116 boats in 1838, plus 398 cart horses to haul them. A company employed a man to steer the boat and a boy to lead the horse. The men did not usually live on board, but rented houses beside the canal.

Most of the space on a narrowboat was taken up by the hold, which was as large as possible to maximise cargo size. There would be a small cabin at the rear, about 8ft long, 6ft wide and 5ft high, its sides decorated with painted signs carrying the company name.

The Number Ones

With the coming of the railways in the 19th century, many companies transferred their carrying trade to rail. Pickfords, for example, gave up its canal business in 1850. The companies sold off their boats to the crews, and it now began to be common for whole families to live on board. A narrowboat owned by a self-employed boatman was known in the trade as a "Number One".

The Victorian social reformer, George Smith, described the overcrowded conditions for families living on narrowboats:

Some of the canal cabins are models of neatness... Others are the most filthy holes imaginable... being heated by a hot stove, stenches arise therefrom enough to make a dog sick. In the boat cabins - "hell holes", as some of the women call them - people of all ages live day and night. Fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers, sleep in the same bed and at the same time.
                                                          
Our Canal Population: A Cry from the Boat Cabins, 1875

Boat people transformed their craft into homes through colourful painted decoration. This was described in an article of March 1875, in the Birmingham Daily Mail:

I have noted... the strange love of the boatman for pictorial display. He likes the outer shell of his cabin bedaubed in streaks of gay colour. Inside, he rejoices in highly illuminated panels, he affects a gay pictorial pail, the top rim of which is embellished by a painted garland of small flowers; the body is enriched by designs of outrageous roses and sunflowers; while the bottom offers a good ground whereupon to depict a gay cavalier or valiant crusader in full armour.

Iron replaces wood

The early narrowboats were made of wood. These cost little to build, yet needed major repairs after 25 years. From the 1830s, people began to build iron craft, which were much more expensive but lasted twice as long. Iron narrowboats became a common sight in the 20th century, and only a handful of wooden narrowboats survive today.

The Butty

With the invention of a reliable diesel engine, in the 1920s, it became possible to motorise the narrowboats. A motorised craft could pull a second boat behind it, called the "butty" (meaning "friend"). This allowed owners to carry twice as much freight as before, and helped them compete with the railways. Each craft needed to be steered, and it was common for the boatman to steer the motorised boat while his wife steered the butty. Another advantage was the doubling of cabin space.

Susan Woolfit, a middle-class lady who worked on narrowboats during world war two, described her cosy cabin:

Every available piece of flat wall-space was hung with brass, shining in the dark little cabin with the glow from the fire... I hate the word "snug" but I must admit that I cannot think of a better one to describe what these cabins could be. On a cold and wet winter night with the doors fastened... the fire roasting hot, a good supper and comfortable slippers on one's weary feet, with a sense of the job done for the day, life could be very pleasant indeed. On one trip we had the luxury of a wireless and could lie back at the end of the day and listen to the Proms...

                                                                                                   
Idle Women, 1947