David Schweizer

I am a great fan of Alan Firth's work, and met him several times at the Braunston Show. I have a collection of his small prints, some of which I framed and mounted on the cabin walls of Helvetia. Interesingly, I had never seen the Ovaltine pair painting (or print) shown in David Mack's post. Unfortunately no one seems to have taken on selling his prints, and they are almost impossible to obtain these days, except via ebay.

The original lining had graduated to that colour over the decades, but the fitted furniture was varnished in my own colour mix to resemble the matured timber look. I felt that I got a reasonable colour match.

Am I the only one who not only fails to understand the posts on this topic from moderators, and bordering on the dismissive? Why do they seem unable to speak in ordinary language?

In that case, you would have loved the interior of Helvetia, According to the broker, the traditional pine look is what sold it. The cabin and hull lining was Rex Wain's original 1980 work, but all the fitted furniture joinery was my own work.

Well that worked, but I cannot edit my posts now just upload images!! It would be nice if they warned us that they are going to mess about with the site. ............................. Edit now works, what is going on?

Not at all. All you need to do is save the "New Content" page in your bookmarks, rather than the Home page, it will then open without the anoying "agreement" page.

I am sure someone will be along to correct me, but if I remember correctly both the Yarwoods and H&W composite boats built for the GUCCC in the 1930's were Iron, whilst the all metal boats were built from steel. What I do know is that (Yarwoods) Pisces, which I worked on in the 1960's had Iron sides and an Elm bottom.

That was not clear, as you quoted my post, which was primarily about the boat in the OP's post. My comments about working boats in the same post are in agreement with you. With regard to not having knees, our boat definitely had knees albeit substantial welded angle steel rather than rivetted iron. But it was built by Balliol Fowden who's boats bore many working boat characteristics.

Not at all the hull has received some severe bashing duing it's 19 years life. this is my old boat at 36 years old, not a wrinkle in sight :-

It would appear that the guard irons are also bowed in, which suggests that the hull has taken a severe side blow against a wall. some old working boats suffered from the same damage, but they were "working" boats which would have expected to receive some harsh treatment over the years. Personally I would give it a miss.

The style of stern that has become known as traditional or "trad" is based upon the back end style of a motorised working boat, and they never had seats Below :- Narrowboat Clypeus built in 1935.

A Traditional stern would not normally have the two seats on posts, which some people might suggest can get in the way when boarding or getting off the boat.

When I decided to fit a new radio in our boat, I spent some while in Halfords, listening to various radios within my price bracket, they were very helpfull and I was never dissapointed with my choice. With regard to the aerial, I did not want to drill a hole in the roof, and eventually decided upon a Magnetic based Taxi Aerial. The base had rubber on the bottom surface, which not only protected the paintwork but also insulated it from the boat's steelwork. The cable was initially passed through a window when it was in use, although I eventually rigged up a connection through the front bulkhead. Just google "Taxi Aerial" and loads of them come up at around £25. The one i chose was very effective and often worked well as a TV aerial !.

Union Canal Carriers have Sabb engines fitted to their three Barney hire boats.

Yes 🤣. Original post deleted because of missing information, post now re-instated and repeated below:- I always tended to use individual people to do work on Helvetia rather than boatyards, with most of them being based in Braunston, and I always got excellent work at a fair price. Yes I will name them:- Roger Farrington for Steelwork, Jonathan Hewitt for engine work, AJ Canopies for canopies, Tim Hewitt for blacking, John Sanderson for complete boat re-paint, and Ron Hough, and later Dave Moore for decorating and signwork. Apart from Ron Hough, who is no longer with us, I would recommend any one of them.

I always tended to use individual people to do work on Helvetia rather than boatyards, with most of them being based in Braunston, and I always got excellent work at a modest cost. Yes I will name them:- Roger Farrington for Steelwork, Jonathan Hewitt for engine work, AJ Canopies for canories, Tim Hewitt for blacking, John Sanderson for complete boat re-paint, and Ron Hough, and later Dave Moore for decorating and signwork. Apart from Ron Hough, who is no longer with us, I would recommend any one of them.

There certainy was a boat called Aster moored on the K&A something like twenty years ago, painted a pinkish red from memory. I always understood it was ex Salvation Army, but whether it is the same boat, I am not sure.

I am not sure why you expressed surprise about my posting the "First Attempt" They do look a bit shabby and the Roses and Castles were at least 20 years old if not older. The scumbling had started to flake off, which is why I refurbished it. Perhaps I should aso make it clear, I only did the scumbling. The Roses and Castles on both pairs of doors were done by "the Late Master", Ron Hough.

I scumbled the back cabin doors on Helvetia. However, my attempts were quite simple without medullery rays. Ron Hough told me how to do it, and after a couple of practice runs on some old hardboard using Canary Yellow base and light Oak Scumble I actually found it quite easy. My first attempts fell foul of the "too many knots" problem, but my second lot on new doors a few years later were an improvement. First Attempt Second Effort