dazbot8

Its a pleasure to read the starting out of Achilles David. Its been amazing being able to to picture achilles life journey right up until the last moments! I really do hope that Achilles will be revived again to go on for another few chapters Darren

Sadly yes that is achilles. I believe my father has decided to move on and forget the past and start again! Very sad ending to a sad story. Hopefully someone will see this as an opportunity to build a lovely boat from a blank canvas. Darren

Again a very un necessary post....... There was no attempt the first time because the river was restored early due to trapped fish down stream. In regards to the moorings I believe there 48hour moorings and therefore Achilles used to travel along the river to allington and back quite frequently but again that's not really anything to do with a sunken boat that just so happens was my fathers house. Well fingers crossed he will have the opportunity but I don't think he's getting his hopes up.

Id like to say this information you received is very un true.... It took the salvage company all day to raise Achilles. We also never failed dismally as explained it was just bad luck! I'm actually shocked that even after my father lost his boat people still feel the need to lie! I was there from start to finish Saturday through to Sunday and there was many others as well... Bet your friends didn't tell you that though aye!

Unfortuantly I believe the EA currently own it and I have also heard they no longer want it on the river so I am unsure of Achilles future. It had a 2 cylinder long stroke lister engine. I will contact my father (the owner) and find out what's happening up to date. Darren

Achilles is now moored in yalding. I am unsure what id happening any longer but will be sure to keep people updated. As for the "Fred Carnot's Army" failing miserably in your words, as explained in the inbox message everybody tried and it would have been a successful salvage if the generator that was running 3 submersible pumps hadn't of packed up!! Darren

Thank you Neil. Yes i do recall seeing your lovely boat me and partner spoke to you i believe with my 2 children I agree however the history still is very interesting and hopefully it will live on to create more Yes so far we have found large amounts of Achilles down river sadly we have been issued with another severe weather warning so the time to refloat is getting further away We have created an appeal on face book and have recieved 841 likes in 24 hours and also been offered plenty of help getting Achilles a float and restoring it back to its former glory

We have a fair amount of pumps to hand atleast 7 fair sized submersible's so far im sure will will get more i have yet to ring my previous employer to ask wether i can borrow a couple of industrial submersibles

We are hoping that when the ea drop the levels that the whole boat will be exposed enough to pump it out and remove most of the silt so hopefully no lifting will be needed but we wont know for sure until the rivers back to normal. I will keep this all updated on a day to day basis. there would be nowhere to put a crain either as the slip is to narrow and the other side isnt hard standing lol i should have ago at growing them at some point my Father says i should but my missus is dead against it and yes i agree hopefully it will be a happy ending and as above i will keep everyone updated on the progress of her (dont know if its a he or she but my old man says she lol) as she is rebuilt ect and i will be using speedy 23's advice with the fire and rescue as they may treat it as a training exercise and if all else fails then station tug's ideas will be put into play thanks again people your really shedding light on the situation

Thank you It really does look like it will be an easy raise once the ea drop the river we will have a fair amount of people with pumps and shovels as id imagine its full of silt lol My Dad said today if it floats again then i will start again so now its just a waiting game. we even had a few people turn up to turn a narrow boat around so the bow was facing the current http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0Pn2HWnA50. My father stands out alot as he is the one in the high viz and dreadlocks lol

No apparantley achillies swang round and hit another 2 boats but there is only word of mouth its not known if there is damage to any other boats as of yet We have been down there today and moved another 2 boats and discovered achillies isnt laying where we suspected on the plus side we have spoke to ea and they are willing to drop the levels down for a day once it has stopped flowing so much but that maybe weeks yet the pics is of her bow pointing towards the slip ( turns out there is a slip which i wasnt aware of) and the rest is running virtually inline with a little springer

Hi thorne lass, Unfortunately it is not a slip its just a low bank with a jetty. Going down to check the level later however the bow is the only part of the boat to be seen and that is still an inch under it appears the rest of the boat is going down at an angle but this is yet to be established. When the current isnt so bad then we can hop onto a dinghy and find out exactly how deep she is. I dont think it is going to be an easy approach, trouble is id imagine the silt would have surrounded the boat so putting straps underneath wont be an easy task and as you say it would be a dangerous task for a diver to undertake. A friend does have a few pumps in his yard but how big is unclear yet... i also have the advantage of the fact i used to rebuild many different pumps so im hoping the company may lend me a few massive submersible pumps. We havnt reeally got alot into place yet first we need establish how she lays, how much if any she will stick out from the surface when the levels drop. It seems money is going to be an issue as it turns out my fathers insurance policy finished in october and he didnt renew it because it was due to be sold on next month ;/ Foolish i know but such is life,,,, live and learn they say.... Id just like to thank everyone for there advice so far all the ideas, artifacts and interest is really overwhelming i can really see why my Dad enjoys being on the river so much. It seems a different community to the typical town person ect

Thats what i thought it was lol no we believe the cabin has been removed by the current as there is alot of debris down river and yes she is right down our next ea river drop is in march

Sorry, What is tarps? She is still submersed and you can only just see the bow pointing towards the mooring

What would the cost be of that roughly?