The Tournai boat has the forward and after faces rounded and a quite marked curve in the vertical plane, so that the boat shows a curved stem called the nose. The forward face carries a bend called the moustache and has on top a wooden rail to support the tow line which is made fast to the towing bitt back of the nose.
In the chaland, called also “Ballant”, the forward and after faces are nearly plane, the nose and moustache are slightly marked and the towing bitt is placed at the extreme forward end of the boat.
As a rule, these boats are not very strongly built and their planking suffers a good deal through the sharp curves at bow and stern. Their shape is so determined that they shall exactly fill the locks and that they shall then have a maximum loading capacity, although it is altogether incomprehensible that, just in order to get a few more tons on board, the whole question of facility of towing should be entirely neglected. What is gained then in one way is doubly lost in another in high charges for towing.
The only explanation which can be given for this manner of building is, that most boatmen have their own tow horses, for which a stable is placed at the centre of the boat, so that they do not notice the additional costs of towing which they have to pay.
The dimensions of Tournai boats and of the chalands are the same; their length varies from 37.50 m. to 39 metres, not counting the rudder, and their breadth goes from 5.00 m. to 5.05 m.; they draw empty, on an average, 0.28 m., and when loaded from 1.80 m. to 2.30 m., with a tonnage of 300 to 370 tons.
By comparing the bélandres and pointus with these boats, it can be seen that the latter can carry less than the former on account of their finer bow, whence their name of Pointu or Spits.
The essential difference between the “bélandre”, called in Flemish Bijlander, and the “pointu” lies in this, that the bottom of the former connects with the forward face by means of a curved surface, whereas the bottom of the latter remains flat up to the nose. The two types differ little in other respects. They are rarely built now. It is true that new “pointus” are still met with, but they should be considered rather as bastard “péniches”. Here again is seen a fusion of different forms accompanying an increase in the size of the boats.
The “bélandres” are 28 to 34 metres long, 4.60 m. to 5 metres broad and draw 0.30 m. to 0.40 m. light and up to 2 metres loaded.
The “pointu” is 20 to 30 metres long and generally 3.50 m. broad (never reaching 5 metres); it draws light, on an average, 0.35 m., and 1.80 m. when loaded. Its tonnage is from 100 to 200 tons.
The largest pointus measure 32 metres in length and 4.90 m. in breadth; they gauge at most 250 tons on a draught of 2.15 m.