Dav and Pen

Surely if you are having and paying for an out of water hull survey you would be present to watch the surveyor and talk to him about any problems. Never had anything to do with UK surveyors as only brought old working boats and it was possible to see the inside of the hull and bottom. The engine we took a chance on but had a good idea. When we brought the barge in Belgium there was a contract drawn up stating that the buyer would pay for the docking and survey and if all was good which meant hull plus 4mm the offer would be accepted, if the survey threw up big problems the buyer could walk away and the 10% deposit (held by the broker) would be returned. The alternative was for the seller to pay for the faults to be put right which was the case in our purchase. The surveyors are real professionals and the one we used to buy and also through our ownership for the 7 yearly insurance surveys was Lloyd’s registered.

Shared a lock on the Thames with a salters steamer full of the Thames conservators all in blazers and yachting hats. Very interested in our dirty old coal boat but also encouraging in our business and in fact a bit later we got the contract to supply the lock houses. They had the best interest of the river as their only concern and between them had real knowledge. All the work on the Nene after the 47 floods was carried out by the Nene Drainage Board one of whose member was the chief engineer of the Northampton Brewery Company who later was mayor of Northampton. All these bodies had an interest in the area they worked and lived in unlike the present day set up run by collage kids in a remote office . With regard to through toilets on the continent I’m afraid these are most common apart from Holland as there is almost no infrastructure for elsans or pump outs.

This was long before Rothens had the wharf. It belonged to BWB and Ashby Canal Transport paid a small fee to load over it.

Here’s a shot from 1976 our boat Tadworth on its way to Stenson to start the camping season. In the winter we used to load at the wharf .

I’ve been in touch with Judy and she confirms that the stool in the query is by her and it’s early as she changed to s darker green..

Our PD2s both had the spiral on the hand start which allowed you to put the decompressor levers over held by a bar attached to a small wheel that when you turned the handle slowly moved along the spiral until the decompressors fell . Sorry not a good description but it meant you could keep winding. Personally I nearly always failed to hand start them but Ted Ward never did. Ted had some wonderful terminology for the engine parts one of which was “splunger” which was always the cause of a mystery breakdown. Not sure of the reasons for the cranks breaking but ours did whilst ticking over in the top lock at Atherstone but it still got back to Braunston. As we were running camping boats decided to change it for a PJ3 from a trinity house generator which had only done 4 hours and 40 years later it’s still in the boat which has had 3 owners since .

Narrow boats do roll as we found out on Lough Alan in Ireland where a wind had blown up waves at 90 degrees to our route. We were once moored at Soisons with our barge and a small narrow boat was also there, every time a commercial went past it really rolled frightening the owner who jumped ashore.

At chipping warden there’s a large batching plant in the compound but the concrete units to make the cut and cover tunnel seem to have stopped being placed. When I drove a truck mixer any left over concrete was sold to the local farmers who always had a use for it. Not allowed to do that now apparently so tipped in the quarry or some where handy.

Believe there is talk of possibly using it to do the remedial work to the iron bridge.

A place that really needs abridge is Braunston where the ladder bridge is not suitable and money was left in a bequest for a replacement which crt can’t manage. I first went through Thrupp bridge in 1967 and there were no boats moored anywhere for the long term.

In the late 18th and early 19th century many man of war ships were built at Bucklers Hard on the river. Timber coming from the New Forest and it’s likely a number of barges for local work would have been needed.

When we were over there we came across a few narrow boats most of which had been trucked over to Simon Evans yard to be unloaded. This allowed them to avoid the busy and large northern canals and they were then able to use the central canals which are a bit more suitable. We decided to sell our Narrow boat and buy a Dutch barge in Belgium. Due to ill health we sold in 2019 before the 90 days rule which makes things difficult but it is possible to get a long term visa providing you can show income and health insurance.

Whilst it’s out of the water just have a can of blacking handy to paint over any places the surveyor had scraped clean (the boatyard will probably have some handy). If a bad survey is looking likely and you are walking away then leave it to the owner. All our boats have been sold privately and all but one brought privately the last being through a broker who drew up a contract. When we sold it I copied the contract.

Douvre brokers are a good place to start but be careful because there are a lot of barges over 20 m that do not have ES-Trin certificates and therefore cannot be moved by water until they comply. Usually there is a contract when buying whereby you pay a deposit and the boat is then surveyed at your expense but if it turns out to be not as described you can get your deposit back or the owner puts right the problems at his expense. Like old narrow boats old Dutch barges can be a money pit but on the other hand the Dutch generally look after them very well. Good luck.

It has been reported today that Stenson Lock is open