roland elsdon

Pensax ‘fitted out several years ago’ I should cocoa. Magnificent boat though. I think its as it was in 1988 when Don left it with us for a week.

Just gave Thaxteds old primus, and Atalanta’s old tilley light away. Not taking them home to Australia junk shops there full of such things. Digitising 1981 slides. Cowley lock with only our boat there and Colonel and Hazel above. Things have changed!

Very few now can commit to toys like that. Our old boat only worked because it was ok to live on about 8 months a year. I would have shuddered at a full winter with no where else to go. The other thing is short old boats are disproportionately expensive to repair. They have all the tricky bendy shaped bits, but not so much of the flat bits, and licences and moorings are the same. We were lucky we ran a pair of boats in the 80s and 90s on a shoestring budget. Cant do that now

And if you look in the items for sale bit of the forum….

Or you could simply put on a decent silencer. I have had 3 aircooled h series listers. They have all had different levels of noise abatement from straight pipe to double silencer.A thick heavy exhaust stack also damps the crack, rather than a thin bit of tin.

Ashby has just been dredged from battlefield to bosworth. 2 weeks after we sold our deep draught boat For some reason they spent a lot of time outside the marina. From the hole they filled they took out a lot of silt. 4 wide beam hoppers 2 tug drivers for 3 weeks working all day.

We struggled , but Fenny is a hard boat to live on 365 days a year. Few have the commitment such boats require. we found good new owners. Fortunately we can look at the cost over 13 years and accept the depreciation. You cant financially measure the fun we had.

Its part of the reason why we have sold up. Australian resident from sept this year ( was uk resident) but british citizen. Insurance company will no longer cover us from next renewal. Given difficulty of insuring 80 year old boat anyway this added to the decision on selling up. Was not a problem until brexit, from 2011 to 2019 we were aus residents and insured the boat here with certain clauses.

Well Fenny passed survey and has gone to new owners. End of our second era of boat ownership,1981 to 2005, then 2012 to 2025. It feels strange.

Our deep draft ex working boat was surveyed on monday. in 2016 it was blasted and 2 packed. In 21 sides re 2 packed. Since then its scrapped down the Llangollen, the Stratford, and many other shallow canals. its been bounced over shopping trolleys, rammed through bridges with the counter 8 inches out. Aground on the trent on a gravel bottom. i expected the surveyor to say it needed the bottom repainting. No paint on underside intact. some paint loss on sides above the water but minimal under. An ultrasonic hammer was used’ to good effect’ paint stayed on. if the bottoms good 2 pack and blast appears to be the way.

with the right front and back ,shortened and re engined , for working purpose ( and unique), and with being still capable of carrying a cargo how does she lack cred. She was working till 2010. We bought her exactly because of her cred rather than the alternative which at the time was a new brinklow replica.

Err we had a potential auction about to happen. When the price got more acceptable we had to beat people off with windlasses.

A broker informed me last week that 30% under offers are the norm. We settled on offer 20% under last week. Our asking price had been put at 10% over what we had hoped for. Its a difficult market

I think that is Eridanus outside Capella. The roof gives it away. Our boats and Bootes ( colin hill) were round the corner, if I remember. I think its 1985 heading for Stoke. Probably moored up for the Indian where it was so dark diesel smutted foreheads could by wiped on the hot towels and compared. Might have to dig out the log.

If I remember rightly renown is a turn of the century bantock boat and therefore a horse boat. She had a sr 2 or 3 in her, and went like the clappers.

The JA who also ruled bugbrooke were a dreadful bunch of exploiters. St Crispin hospital had frequent victims of their evangelical carp. Psychotic people who had been told god would fix them, and depressed people who had been exploited. Then the sex abuse came out in 2023

And Willow Wren

Not same person then.John Wooley was definitely brentford based, as the no of aged wooden boats in the area used to evidence. He happily laid under the boat for half a day hammering in caulking, then showed me how to do the seams, under the boat. A skill I employed through several happy dockings, until the iron sides ( seem sound) proved not to be and a footings and steel bottom followed

Are you sure that it was john polley. Its just we used John Wooley from brentford to do our wooden bottomed boat in 1983, at Uxbridge. I still have the survey, written in biro on yellow lined paper. it has wonderful words like kelson, challico and tingle on it. The summary sort of said the bottom is fine apart from some early wear on the boards, caused by green elm, which need tingles on them. The sides are iron which look ok, but i am not qualified to comment on. however i hit them with a hammer and they sound good. Needless to say we bought her!

Hells teeth new advert seems to have worked

I apologise for missing out some items. The transfers have hystoric singificance, last ones ever made, they are a true delight, found buried in the vaults of an abandoned building, kissed by the lips of maidens onto the bespoke panels. i failed to mention the artisan painting in the aft cabin, Renoir like in its attention to detail, the brush strokes are exquisite. An oil painted exploration of the craftsmans art. The shallot draft is variable. It changes in exquisite form from high and elegant on the fore end, to deep and meaningful at the back. Some may feel the price is eyewatering low.

Clearly I am advertising my boat wrongly. perfection on the canals. A lovingly reduced in size grand onion motorcraft. multi cabined fore, centre and aft. Decorated with period ( 1980) canal craft transfers. many artisan craft persons have been involved in the creation of this masterpiece, too many well known hands have been lovingly laid upon her, tuning her hull to the needs of the modern waterways. Small undefined but multifunction areas exist music, home cinema, gourmet food preparation area, and of course sleep and relaxation. A pampering area with hot and cold waterfall sits cunningly between the cabins. A 35 foot outside entertainment area is placed over the space potentially available for a year round hot tub. Starting the elegant mechanical propulsion unit, causes gasps of pleasure from the spectators flocking to be in the vicinity , of this queen of the canal system. £1000000

So it identifies as a norwich wobbler rather than a woolwich wader, or a norfolk raver. Sorted.

We used to take Atalanta through Watford and Foxton she was in those days almost 7’3” on a bad day. Those locks are probably nearer 7’4” or so. Marston doles might be an issue northern stratford , below wet and warm. Hurleston will be snug even now, and the second lock can be an issue to town class bows. I remember issues with a lock near Penkridge many years ago. Best advice is if you spot any volunteers ask them to leave everything alone. Generally speaking slow and steady with a town class can get you out of a situation, that may be created by the flailing of paddles and hurling open of gates, without checking behind then. We have been stuck in loads of places but never not managed to get out without help.

I heard . Doesnt mean I believe….