Ex Life Boat

[PD1964]

“George Clarke’s Amazing spaces” has a lot to answer for.

  

 

[Hudds Lad]

Have a google for "navvies ark", not sure if they did a build blog or anything but several interviews with various publications, might be a way to get in touch with them.

 

Passed it on the Leeds & Liverpool in 2015 and is probably the best lifeboat conversion i've ever seen on the canals.

 

personally i can't imagine living in one, but would make a good weekender or AirBNB i suppose, if it had its own mooring

[Tony Brooks]

3 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Have a google for "navvies ark", not sure if they did a build blog or anything but several interviews with various publications, might be a way to get in touch with them.

 

Passed it on the Leeds & Liverpool in 2015 and is probably the best lifeboat conversion i've ever seen on the canals.

 

personally i can't imagine living in one, but would make a good weekender or AirBNB i suppose, if it had its own mooring

Now, I suspect your last sentence may have hit the nail on the head, It would explain why endosome who owns three houses thinks buying such a thing is a good idea.

[Machpoint005]

All the totally enclosed offshore survival survival craft I have ever been inside had a bean of more than 7ft.

 

What the OP has is a GRP shell and an engine. The vessel was intended for the survival of personnel until rescued - a matter of hours. The only form of heating is the tightly packed bodies inside.

[Tony Brooks]

49 minutes ago, restlessnomad said:

Cut some slack guys, he is new, you can politely make the same point without calling him names.

I always assume innocence first, and OP has never said he wants to break rules.

I tried and I tried to point out some practical things he seemed not to have considered yet still seem to have been called a troll.

[Machpoint005]

37 minutes ago, restlessnomad said:

>>I have observed new members who ...did... not mention that they have done some research before asking the question,<<

 

You can often tell by the question asked that they haven't done the necessary research.

It might, of course, simply be a failure to engage a Mk 1 Human Brain in the first place, but who am I to judge?

 

[Hudds Lad]

Just now, Tony Brooks said:

Now, I suspect your last sentence may have hit the nail on the head, It would explain why endosome who owns three houses thinks buying such a thing is a good idea.

it's what i was thinking, but didn't like to speculate too far.

 

with the increase in people wanting staycations i can imagine there's been a boom in the purchase of so-called shepherds huts and yurts as well for those looking to cash in on the rise of feckless holidaymakers who don't mind paying through the nose for a "quirky" holiday let.

 

 

[Machpoint005]

2 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

>>feckless holidaymakers who don't mind paying through the nose<<

 

Are they the ones who "NEED" a foreign holiday?

[Hudds Lad]

Just now, Machpoint005 said:

 

Are they the ones who "NEED" a foreign holiday?

OMG yes hun, they totes need to get away to recharge  

[David Yule]

Still no one with any experience then with these boats ?

24 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Have a google for "navvies ark", not sure if they did a build blog or anything but several interviews with various publications, might be a way to get in touch with them.

 

Passed it on the Leeds & Liverpool in 2015 and is probably the best lifeboat conversion i've ever seen on the canals.

 

personally i can't imagine living in one, but would make a good weekender or AirBNB i suppose, if it had its own mooring

Thank you for your help. Why are so many people hateful on here lol. They need to get a better life or a better Hobbie. 

[Bigtwin]

Some, unnecessarily, and judgemental, harsh responses on this thread, IMV.

 

As a new member, it’s certainly not very welcoming to new members.

 

This seems to reinforce the points made in a similar thread from July that was resurrected recently. Neither that thread, nor this one, makes pleasant reading. ?‍♂️

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, David Yule said:

Still no one with any experience then with these boats ?

That maybe because they are not suitable for the canals, and, this is a canal forum.

 

As has been suggested try the London Boaters faceache page, they get all sorts of stuff being used as boats.

[Hudds Lad]

it's the long winter months combined with covid, there's much less snark when it's possible to go boating for non-liveaboards  

[Athy]

22 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

All the totally enclosed offshore survival survival craft I have ever been inside had a bean of more than 7ft.

 

 

Suitable for hungry vegetarians, then.

[Hudds Lad]

1 minute ago, Athy said:

Suitable for hungry vegetarians, then.

James and the giant pulse?

[Mad Harold]

I have come across a couple of these ex oil rig lifeboats.One,moored at Sowerby bridge,and another moves around the Calder and Hebble/Aire and Calder.

I helped the latter one when he ran aground at Salterhebble.Very roomy looking but,really ugly.It initially looked to me like a dead whale or like a large boat that had been turned over.

When I helped to move it I cheekily asked if he needed a hand to turn it the right way up,but he wasn't amused.

[Mac of Cygnet]

39 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Have a google for "navvies ark", not sure if they did a build blog or anything but several interviews with various publications, might be a way to get in touch with them.

 

Passed it on the Leeds & Liverpool in 2015 and is probably the best lifeboat conversion i've ever seen on the canals.

 

personally i can't imagine living in one, but would make a good weekender or AirBNB i suppose, if it had its own mooring

 

I believe Navvies Ark is a member here.  If the pics are anything to go by, they have made it entirely habitable.  And a lot better looking than some of the things I've seen 

 

Navvies Ark pics

[Guest]

43 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

I believe Navvies Ark is a member here.  If the pics are anything to go by, they have made it entirely habitable.  And a lot better looking than some of the things I've seen 

 

Navvies Ark pics

Surely that is the point of these things. You just treat it as a 'sailaway" and fit it out. Ok they are never going to win the best looking boat competition but the talk about lack of heating etc is irrelevant. You fit heating etc.

 

I'm sure there used to be one at Lower Park marina on the L&L.

 

Edited January 4, 2021 by The Happy Nomad

[Victor Vectis]

2 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Well the biggest negative is from you. Where do you get off calling people "dude" and "trolls" when you are an idiot who wants to break the law and disregard the rules that everyone else abides by?

 

Go away and pester somewhere else.

And while you are at it learn the difference between there and their.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

And while you are at it learn the difference between there and their.

Petty.

[ditchcrawler]

A positive reply, they are too wide for narrow locks and to fit one out to live in is a lot of work. I have only ever seen two what I consider done nicely 

[Slim]

My suggestion to the OP is to 'moor' it in the garden of one of his properties. No issues with CRT. Not too sure about his neighbours or Local Authority.

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

 

personally i can't imagine living in one, but would make a good weekender or AirBNB i suppose, if it had its own mooring

 

In which case the OP should read this:

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/business-and-trade/boating-business/starting-or-expanding-a-boating-business/static-letting

[mrsmelly]

2 hours ago, Bee said:

Now if it was an old wooden lifeboat from the' Queen Mary' and painted white everybody would love it....  Converting ships lifeboats used to be a fine way of getting a boat. There are many in Holland but just the hull without the odd looking top and they are nice boats. Suprisingly roomy and potentially a good home. Years ago the canals were full of pontoons, ex army with various tops on them, not very attractive but homes for lots of people. Those days were less judgemental though, some of us lived in old wooden narrowboats that these days would be condemned. There is probably a business opportunity for someone buying these orange  things, cutting the tops off and making really nice boat shaped wide boats instead of the great slabs of steel that clutter up the canals today.

Our second boats was a 1939 very nicely converted double diagonal teak ships life boat. Lovely comfy boat we lived on for a while on the G and S. And Bristol Channel etc. Looked lovely with a Ford d series engine had been all over the place. Up keep saw me selling it whilst still immaculate. 

[Detling]

There is a ton of problems to overcome. Small engine, really just to provide steerage way not built/cooled for prolonged heavy running, but it will have had regular services and testing so low hours. The things are full of built in seats which take a tremendous amount of effort to remove. There is no insulation and no heating and no lighting. No toilet but once you have removed some seats you could get as pota pottie inside. you will have a 'cheap' fibreglass shell not really designed for bashing into lock walls etc, they are built to be light and have lots of seats and not much more, they are also not expected to be afloat for long periods.  The steering is poor, it is adequate at sea but vision is restricted and the rudder on the small side.  They can with a lot of effort and expense be converted ito a liveable boat but it will have to live on broad canals and you will need to change the steering position so it will fit under most bridges. I have seen several abandoned/ part finished conversions and a few completed some nice some not but they do work.  For not much more money there are better hulls available i.e. ex river hire cruisers, which will cost a lot less to fit out for living well, costing less in total, as they have a lot of the work already done.