Paul H

I think that is a young Hugh McKnight steering his first boat out of Cowley Lock

L B Faulkner Leighton Buzzard

The Fellows Morton and Clayton black and white livery as sported by earlier boats like President incorporate the number 1396 in the centre of the main cabin panel - all their boats have the same number. I have been told that this is the company’s Watermans Hall number - whatever that means and was for. I image that the Stevens number is the same. Paul

I’d think named after Viscount Gort who appears to have been a bit of a military hero at the time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vereker,_6th_Viscount_Gort Paul

When Roger Alsop borrowed Barnes to recreate a trip for his book Working Boats it was owned by a supermarket manager and moored on the Wey. Paul

Greatly enjoyed watching his last talk on YouTube. Did this talk get videoed? Paul

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2371389726657141/? Half an ancient Josher butty. If I am right and this is the Winsford, Roger Fuller has the back end! Paul

Yes and to the best of my knowledge it is transferable. Proper residential status so you have to pay council tax but there is electricity, water and broadband to the boat, residents parking permit and even the postman comes to call! People buy boats on this mooring just for the mooring and then put another boat on it but the comparative short length of this one will be a limitation. Thankfully it is not “5ft 5ins wide!” Paul

… and possibly still for sale https://hnbc.org.uk/smallad/1754948830/fmc-grange Paul

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I believe this boat was formed from the stern of the LMS boat “Dart” and was at one time the British Waterways hire cruiser “Water Ivy.” Paul

There really is no substitute to having a close look at a proper boatman’s cabin, perhaps visiting one of the traditional yards as there are a lot of subtleties which are not immediately apparent. I’ve seen many cabins in modern boats “built to plans” or from photographs and they feel just wrong. Take the table cupboard: what is the correct angle to make the front? How do you make the table flap feel solid and not sag down when open? How do you make the drawer parallelogram shaped? Are the gunnels high enough so that if you lowered the bed slightly you can get your feet underneath and thus have a more usable bed? Access to storage under the side bed? Coal box tapered in two directions? Usable soap holes? There’s an awful lot going on in a very small space! Paul

It’s hard to understand why you would overplate the bottom of a bare hull when it would be a simpler and better job to simply cut out and replace. Southall at Keith’s yard March 2006. Paul

I’m afraid I doubt if there’s any real age to this and it was probably produced as a decorative item in the last 20 years or so. The boat name and company name are not likely to have any significance. There’s a similar one on EBay at the moment (see below.) An attractive item nevertheless. Paul

Erebus had, ill advisedly, a steel cabin fitted in the late 1990s but crucially was never put back in the water until a comprehensive restoration and fit out at Brinklow about 5 years ago. Then of no surprise to some of us it was found hopelessly unstable and is now a garden feature/kids playhouse in the owner’s garden, sunk into the ground in a mock-up lock. Paul