Gnome K Gnome

Or even horse haul

However, it was narrowed and shortened considerably about 20 years ago

I guess this is the equivalent of what is known in the motor trade as an MOT carpet. Basically the carpet is firmly glued down to prevent the tester seeing the poor standard of the repair work hidden underneath..... It will be a brave (and expensive) effort when she is eventually restored. Like I said, a bodge.

Looking at the captions to the photos I'd say that that the ex GU 'Dudley' was a wooden Big Ricky butty, not a Woolwich product.

No. Virtually the whole boat was overplated from the top strake down whether it needed it or not. The original hull plating, still visible in the open hold, is like a net curtain. The boat is probably in the worst condition of any of the ex Grand Union steel motor boats.

Enough to know what I'm talking about. The worst example I've ever seen is the Ex GUCCC Middle Northwich Motor, Taygeta......All but destroyed by overplating.

Thats how it works in the text books. Oh that life were that easy...... In the real world it is impossible to hermetically seal it and keep the oxygen out. I guarantee it will accelerate the corrosion....

Thats the one.....Also remembered for the St. Bruno tobacco ads from the 70's....

Yes, Trillion from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy....Now what was her name......

Plenty of them around, Wilderness Otters and Beavers? Caracruisers etc think Creighton made one too that was neither one thing nor the other (Inlander?). More narrowboaty than cruiser styling. Looked out of place on river and canal.... The 'Mallard' boats looked similar to, and were concurent with, the Springer Waterbug.

They have.....At least two firms that I know of have entered this market. One c. 1990 built small boats, around 20ft long with narrowboat appearance....Mallard is ringing bells??? The other is more recent but built a longer boat, approx 50ft had quirky narrowboat lines. I recall the press release in WW possibly 10 years ago, and remember seeing the actual boat once at Blisworth... Did they ever build more than the initial one???

This would work eastbound at Chirk tunnel, and not be all night about it...... What did they do with the horse?????

Quite possibly.....

You have to remember that much of the German waterways are tamed natural watercourses, with plentiful supply of water and that continental haulage journeys are often much longer. And I believe that even there it is a declining market.

There's always sooty's alter ego, Mathew Corbett. And what about Rosie and jim......Do they count. It is a real boat they live on.... Think its spelt Sawalha.

LoL. My crew did this with the then newly restored 'Leo' some years back going down one of the Stourbridge 16. The boats stem post trapped in the gap worn between the top of the two mitre post iron guards. I was one lock ahead with Atlas at the time so didn't actually see it happen but they said it was dramatic.......... The irony was we were instructed by a know-it-all a couple of locks further on that we should be tying the butty forward to the paddle gear before emptying the lock.....

So where do we draw the line then. Which laws is it ok to disregard and which not, in the pursuit of my dreams???

The chemical process that causes steel boats to rust is not unique to the marine industry. It affects steel fabrications in agricultural, industrial and automotive situations in just the same manner. I don't dispute that overplating is a standard teqhnique for maintaining steel hulls and is carried out by boatyards worldwide. What I am saying is it doesn't make the hull as good as new again as it does nothing for the structural integrity of the boat, merely keeps the water out. I'll happily settle for agreeing with Tim Leech's opinion on it, and he should know. He says overplating is ......"done to tired old hulls to give them a stay of execution". Even that gets concrete cancer.......its affected by loss of protective alkalinity due to a reaction with atmospheric carbon dioxide....

There is a subtle difference between having BW permission to moor a boat there to having permission to use it as a dwelling.

How long do you want them to last? The choice of steel is a compromise between durability and price. Some boats are built nowdays from marine grade aluminium, but aluminium corrodes too. I'd like to see one at 30 years old before I pass comment on its longevity..... You have to also weigh this against the fact than new hulls today are mostly built from far thicker plate than the hulls of 30 years ago that are now being overplated.

I don't work in the marine industry so fail to see the relevance of the question.... Most boats rot through from the inside out. Terminal wear is only likely to be a problem on old, high usage boats such as hire and shared ownership craft. As Tim Leech says, overplating is done to tired old hulls to give them a stay of execution. The overplated bottom is just a fresh waterproof skin, the boat relies on the still (perhaps accelerated) corroding inner skin for all its structural integrity as the new bottom is not attached to the strengthening knees or kelson.

The other consideration is that boats are often overplated with a new bottom and footings without stripping and refitting the interior. A major saving on labour and materials, and like I said earlier, a bodge.