Leviathan

[the Jolly Mutineer]

Hello, just starting my first 'proper' project (the boat I'm on had a roof).

 

Its a 72' 1890s butty boat, poor old girl picked up a clout just before I picked her up so was taking on water.

 

Finances (filthy word), commitments (great movie) & unforeseen circumstances have kept her out of the drydock for the last 6 months. These months have taken a chance find via a friend from a hidden gem to a mill stone & back again. Keeping her off the bottom over winter was challenging to say the least (catch me at the bar & the 'least' will last a pint on a good day still). Ash from your wood fire makes killer 'sprinkle bung' which lasts days longer than coal ash etc ...

 

 

But winter (& spring) behind us we got her into the drydock this week. And then when she finally sat on the piles we found near half a dozen fish living in the hull about 3" long, they looked too big for the hole that was welded up so they must have been there a fair while. Anyway when I came to take a pic of them the water had gone & so had they, guessing the dock rats had a pleasant entree that night. I digress ...

 

http://img36.imageshack.us/i/fishhole001.jpg

 

rivets ... never thought they'd be things that'd make me grin but it seems there comes to point in everyones life when they form an opinion on an inanimate object of which there is no logical reason for emotional investment

 

rivets make me grin, there is no apology, & when they are bggrd & get grinded off & decent steel is welded in place ... I know I've sold the job short but I'd like to turn the butty into my main accom with room to have my daughter on board full time as soon as possible so ... if fake rivets get welded on later ... (I'll probably think that the money could have been spent better elsewhere). Conservation vs pragmatism (how many Piquods were there? Did Trigger only have one brush if he only replaced either the stave or the brush at any one time?)

 

 

So there she is in the drydock. You'll probably notice the blummin great braces that have been welded across her so that she could be filled full of stuff eager to stretch her sides out long after the knees supporting them had rotted through. From pick up in November till now she has only been through a bare half dozen locks & I guess shes touched both sides of all of them on the way. So who ever put those braces in either didn't anticipate the amount of material that would be chucked in it or couldn't measure 6'10" with a stick of said length.

 

 

front views

 

 

middle bits

 

 

 

 

looking at ballasting her out with cement & banging an 'A' frame roof over the main body with a view to mating it up to a trad boatman's cabin later.

 

We all live in hope i suppose :-)

 

Dave

[WotEver]

Image links fixed:

Hello, just starting my first 'proper' project (the boat I'm on had a roof).

 

Its a 72' 1890s butty boat, poor old girl picked up a clout just before I picked her up so was taking on water.

 

Finances (filthy word), commitments (great movie) & unforeseen circumstances have kept her out of the drydock for the last 6 months. These months have taken a chance find via a friend from a hidden gem to a mill stone & back again. Keeping her off the bottom over winter was challenging to say the least (catch me at the bar & the 'least' will last a pint on a good day still). Ash from your wood fire makes killer 'sprinkle bung' which lasts days longer than coal ash etc ...

 

 

But winter (& spring) behind us we got her into the drydock this week. And then when she finally sat on the piles we found near half a dozen fish living in the hull about 3" long, they looked too big for the hole that was welded up so they must have been there a fair while. Anyway when I came to take a pic of them the water had gone & so had they, guessing the dock rats had a pleasant entree that night. I digress ...

 

 

rivets ... never thought they'd be things that'd make me grin but it seems there comes to point in everyones life when they form an opinion on an inanimate object of which there is no logical reason for emotional investment

 

rivets make me grin, there is no apology, & when they are bggrd & get grinded off & decent steel is welded in place ... I know I've sold the job short but I'd like to turn the butty into my main accom with room to have my daughter on board full time as soon as possible so ... if fake rivets get welded on later ... (I'll probably think that the money could have been spent better elsewhere). Conservation vs pragmatism (how many Piquods were there? Did Trigger only have one brush if he only replaced either the stave or the brush at any one time?)

 

 

So there she is in the drydock. You'll probably notice the blummin great braces that have been welded across her so that she could be filled full of stuff eager to stretch her sides out long after the knees supporting them had rotted through. From pick up in November till now she has only been through a bare half dozen locks & I guess shes touched both sides of all of them on the way. So who ever put those braces in either didn't anticipate the amount of material that would be chucked in it or couldn't measure 6'10" with a stick of said length.

 

 

front views

 

 

middle bits

 

 

 

 

looking at ballasting her out with cement & banging an 'A' frame roof over the main body with a view to mating it up to a trad boatman's cabin later.

 

We all live in hope i suppose :-)

 

Dave

[David Mack]

So who ever put those braces in either didn't anticipate the amount of material that would be chucked in it or couldn't measure 6'10" with a stick of said length.

 

And why would they? This boat was built for the BCN where the quoted lock widths were (I think) 7' 2", and where boats up to about 9' beam were used on the lock free run from the Cannock pits to customers along the Wolverhampton level.

 

David

[alan_fincher]

And to be pedantic, if it's 1890s, it's not a "butty", as back then there was no concept of a "motor" to pull it!

 

I agree with David, it's highly likely the original beam was at least 7 feet, probably more.

 

Where are you getting the date from, please ? Do you have a BCN registration number for it ?

 

My gut feel, although I'm no expert, is that it looks a bit later than that.