roland elsdon

Got some pickies somewhere of the old wfbco cabin in the 90s sure you could replicate......

Sorry to burst your bubble people , ex criminals and ex sex offenders live hide and operate in all spheres of life. They can easily hide on canals where they are mobile and difficult to track. Prior to the register it was an easy no fixed abode option, and even now and address of "narrowboat. $$$$$$ moored at @@@@ is hardly a way for them to be easily tracked, and if they are identified they can repaint and move. Probation officers can force address compliance under release licences but there is no good character qualification for boat or licence.......

Antelope towed us up the grand union in the mid 80s very strange to be towed by a wide beam boat, I think it had a six pot engine. Certainly towed a star class ( atalanta) butty very well. The owner Pete also had the eribus... Chalk and cheese. Have some pictures I think in the uk somewhere, in our store. I tried to find Pete in the 90s heard the boat was in a field somewhere and was being broken up. Tragic of course , she had a superb conversion, but of course in the 80s the hull restoration would have massively exceeded the value of the boat, and the roving residential system was not in place, that might have saved her. In the 80s thank goodness there were very few fat boats, few residential moorings, and persecution of residentials so I suspect she stood out like a sore thumb, and would have been hard to sell. Pete lived ashore most of the time and drove a black cab for transport, a lovely man.

Sold Mecca 2005 went to Australia 5 bed house 2 acres landrover the dream. Doubts crept in 2012 bought fenny . 2 summers on the boat 3 winters working in oz. House in oz sold. Now have town class in uk and camper in oz. ( please note crt oz residents) . Differences in 10 years. Negative More messy boats, more residentials, .More generators running into the small hours, more off towpath messy residentials. More cars parked near bridges. Evidence of really desperate people on boats with probably little option, more people with not a clue, was asked so many times last year why we had an open hold, and that we had no draft because so much of the boat was out of the water... Positive. The genuine friendly majority, people's helpfulness,less fishermen,helpfulness of crt staff..... Yes I know that's not considered normal but believe me they have changed since the 80s. The droitwich canal, the improved depth, the increase in piled sections, volunteers to subvert, getting a town class to stratford.... It's still great just different

A wide beam boat is a folly on any canal ,even the hotel boats struggle on the grand union, on the towpath permanently cruising the resale value is only what you can convince someone else to pay for it. New boats depreciate faster than the paint takes to dry because one mans interesting is another mans nightmare. Hate to think of depreciation on a new cruising wide beam, unless you can find a mooring to sell it from.evidence is at Wilton where there are two fat boats slowly turning into ferrous oxide. Having lived 25 years on a narrowboat there is loads of room and loads of places to go, and I've never had a problem selling one yet.

Depends on what bit of steel was lying around the yard.....and where the trivets are stuck on to cover the welds

Atalanta star class double top planks, a frames new bottoms new footings steel gunnels 10 gals wax oil Rayburn one of the older undercloth conversions, 18 months of my life rebuiding now where did I leave her oh yes someone gave me money... More fool me.dont convert a town class unless you are 6 foot plus you can't see out......

Oh and converted non ****y boats are worth a fortune

Not a couple of years ago removed from wfb co while we were there in 1997 or so was " going to coast then" we have spent 8 years in oz since 2005 and its still on the way......seen 2 times this year. .....

Can't see any engine beds in back of fenny, has correct tanks in engine room swim , base engine room all original and bw hb2 in engine hole surprised if she had engine at back at sometime, unless someone knows different. However she has had loads of work..

Yes we did, and you can run but not hide. I owned Atalanta from 1983 to 1996 and was responsible for ,most the huge amount of rebuilding she had. When we rebuilt over a year in 1991 we had the choice , sell as was a knackered fat butty with rotten timber bottom 7 ft 5 wide and withrotten footings, to a towpath dosser, sell to the we are going to cut it motorise it, and put a tin lid on it, or rebuild in a fashion where she would survive another 50 years by which time she would be rare enough to escape the cut / motor improve bridgade. We are pleased this has happened. You have to remember at this time there was cash on the canal and the ive got a bigger inverter/gardiner bridgade were prowling for anything shapely and cheap. Selling my baby, and then my other baby Thaxted was hard , hours of grinding cutting caulking and sweat went into the boats atalanta before the top went on had 20 galls of waxoil on the new and blasted steelwork I was high for days, my hands are ruined from grinding and wire wheeling. Sue still feels upset 12 years later. When we moved to australia it was almost to have a life away from 25 years on the cut to see an alternative, and to escape the tyrany that has overtaken with signs marina's ,m anglers and rules- infact the overcrowding and hassle of life afloat. We are returning to the uk for the second time without a boat in a month we sold the Mecca a year after we got here, if you drop me your details I can come to the boat guess where we are going... Rugby!