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GUCCC Butty 'Vela'


Sara Strawson

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Hello,

 

Last year we became the owners of 'Vela', described in the Historic Narrowboat Club as a butty Star class built by Harland and Wolff in 1935.  She was cut in two in the '60's, we now have the then stern as our bow, and made into a 62' motor.

 

I have found the Bfi film of workers not the canal in 1945 showing her with the motor 'Deimos' although I gather her original partner was due to be 'Virgo'.

 

I was wondering if anyone had any further information/photos of her and if her other half is still around.

 

She is currently pretty much stripped out and undergoing a refit having been quite neglected for some time.  I am interested in knowing what her livery would have been like as well - currently all black! :(

 

Thank you

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Hi Sara,

It sounds like you have cracked on a bit with her! If I recall a few of us gave a load of info about her last June on another thread? With regards her livery, look up grand union canal carrying company liveries,  there's a couple to choose from, and also under British Waterways as well.

 

Kind regards

 

Dan

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2 hours ago, Sara Strawson said:

Hello,

 

Last year we became the owners of 'Vela', described in the Historic Narrowboat Club as a butty Star class built by Harland and Wolff in 1935.  She was cut in two in the '60's, we now have the then stern as our bow, and made into a 62' motor.

 

I have found the Bfi film of workers not the canal in 1945 showing her with the motor 'Deimos' although I gather her original partner was due to be 'Virgo'.

 

I was wondering if anyone had any further information/photos of her and if her other half is still around.

 

She is currently pretty much stripped out and undergoing a refit having been quite neglected for some time.  I am interested in knowing what her livery would have been like as well - currently all black! :(

 

Thank you

 

I have it's livery from 2005 ?

 

 

vela.JPG

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3 hours ago, Sara Strawson said:

Hello,

 

Last year we became the owners of 'Vela', described in the Historic Narrowboat Club as a butty Star class built by Harland and Wolff in 1935.  She was cut in two in the '60's, we now have the then stern as our bow, and made into a 62' motor.

 

I have found the Bfi film of workers not the canal in 1945 showing her with the motor 'Deimos' although I gather her original partner was due to be 'Virgo'.

 

I was wondering if anyone had any further information/photos of her and if her other half is still around.

 

She is currently pretty much stripped out and undergoing a refit having been quite neglected for some time.  I am interested in knowing what her livery would have been like as well - currently all black! :(

 

Thank you

 

I am sure that you ghave done a google search but is this Vela?

 

NarrowBoat Magazine

 

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Hi,

 

Thank you.  I have done a google search but nothing much came up.  Certainly this hadn't.

 

It may very well be her.  I think she has gone through several transformations in her time and she wasn't 'cut and shut' until the end of the 1960's.  

2 hours ago, stagedamager said:

Hi Sara,

It sounds like you have cracked on a bit with her! If I recall a few of us gave a load of info about her last June on another thread? With regards her livery, look up grand union canal carrying company liveries,  there's a couple to choose from, and also under British Waterways as well.

 

Kind regards

 

Dan

Thanks Dan.  Will do.  I found a site not long after we bought her which illustrated liveries - can't find it again!  Also did see the thread you mention and didn't save that either.  It doesn't seem to come up in the search above.

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53 minutes ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

I am sure that you ghave done a google search but is this Vela?

 

NarrowBoat Magazine

 

Looking at the photo we are pretty sure that stern is the bow of our Vela.  We will have to subscribe to the magazine and see if we can get hold of the whole article.

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1 hour ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

I have it's livery from 2005 ?

 

 

vela.JPG

This is Vela as she was before we bought her.  Nothing much has changed on the outside yet as we are working on the bilge and cabin.  The cabin itself has to be replaced as soon as we have a longer spell of dry weather.  

We are not sure if it is the same boat though unless she has had alterations done.  Could this be the other half but also called Vela?  I can't find any evidence of another boat of the same name but that doesn't mean there isn't one.  The Registration numbers are the same but the BW number is different.

Also she looks in pretty good condition - such a shame she wasn't kept like that!

s-l1600-7.jpg

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The green and yellow boat is the other half of Vela. I have done some work on this half for the current owners while it was at WFBCo. The boat is now on the Rochdale Canal (or possibly the Calder & Hebble - not sure of the exact location of the owners' house in relation to the junction twixt the two).

Edited by davidg
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9 hours ago, Sara Strawson said:

Hi,

 

Thank you.  I have done a google search but nothing much came up.  Certainly this hadn't.

 

It may very well be her.  I think she has gone through several transformations in her time and she wasn't 'cut and shut' until the end of the 1960's.  

Thanks Dan.  Will do.  I found a site not long after we bought her which illustrated liveries - can't find it again!  Also did see the thread you mention and didn't save that either.  It doesn't seem to come up in the search above.

Hi Sara

Here you go

 

 

 

Page 319 onwards

 

Kind regards

 

Dan

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I wouldn’t worry about it too much. You will open a can of worms about shades, coachlines etc. I was once polishing the brass on  Grand Union ,Thaxted at the boat museum, when this bloke and his mate walked up and down  the length of the boat twice. At the end he turned to his mate, shook his head and said ‘ it’s wrong the rivets are the wrong size and stomped off’

I nearly fell in the water laughing. The hull was the only right bit, she had a wooden cabin, with woolwich handrails, painted green and brown, and the  wrong engine.

With our current boat we still get odd people saying it’s painted wrongly. It is we know but we have had 3 Grand Unions since 1981 and that has become our representation of them.

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That is amazing!  Yes, I think it would be too hard to get an exact replication.  At the moment she is black - not my favourite narrowboat colour - and we are just starting to look at where to go with paintwork.  Not the most urgent problem as the cabin has to be replaced.  The next tough job!  I don't think we will ever be totally 'correct' and maybe not go down that route at all but it is one of the options at the moment.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, davidg said:

The green and yellow boat is the other half of Vela. I have done some work on this half for the current owners while it was at WFBCo. The boat is now on the Rochdale Canal (or possibly the Calder & Hebble - not sure of the exact location of the owners' house in relation to the junction twixt the two).

Amazing.  We did wonder what had happened to the other half.  Poured over the photos last night trying to see if it was ours but decided it wasn't.  Too many differences.  We are planning to live aboard so maybe one day the two halves can meet up!  As we are new to this and haven't travelled far yet that might be a little while away.  Down on the K&A near Bathampton currently.

Thank you so much for your help!

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Thank you everyone for the information and the pointer to my original posts and responses.  Now the weather is back we are going to continue with trying to get Vela back to some sort of order.  The cabin will be replaced, wood for now as we have to spend money elsewhere and maybe save up for a steel one later.  So much needs doing in the meantime to enable us to move aboard.  

We are also learning about the correct terms for parts of the boat (should be more aware of these with seafaring ancestors!) and looking forward to cruising and meeting new friends!

?

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12 hours ago, Sara Strawson said:

I think she has gone through several transformations in her time and she wasn't 'cut and shut' until the end of the 1960's. 

1 hour ago, Sara Strawson said:

We are also learning about the correct terms for parts of the boat (should be more aware of these with seafaring ancestors!) and looking forward to cruising and meeting new friends!

?

 

It's not particularly important, but as you ask:  "cut and shut" usually means that a vessel has been shortened - it had a length cut from the centre removed and the bow and stern segments are then rejoined to make a shorter vessel. There's probably a different term for cutting a craft in two and making two separate boats from them, but I don't know it.

 

Tam

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2 hours ago, roland elsdon said:

I wouldn’t worry about it too much. You will open a can of worms about shades, coachlines etc. I was once polishing the brass on  Grand Union ,Thaxted at the boat museum, when this bloke and his mate walked up and down  the length of the boat twice. At the end he turned to his mate, shook his head and said ‘ it’s wrong the rivets are the wrong size and stomped off’

I nearly fell in the water laughing. The hull was the only right bit, she had a wooden cabin, with woolwich handrails, painted green and brown, and the  wrong engine.

With our current boat we still get odd people saying it’s painted wrongly. It is we know but we have had 3 Grand Unions since 1981 and that has become our representation of them.

You haven't changed the imperial rivets for metric have you? Can tell 'em a mile off.

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7 hours ago, davidg said:

The green and yellow boat is the other half of Vela. I have done some work on this half for the current owners while it was at WFBCo. The boat is now on the Rochdale Canal (or possibly the Calder & Hebble - not sure of the exact location of the owners' house in relation to the junction twixt the two).

The other half of Vela on its home mooring at Copley on the Calder & Hebble, just east of Sowerby Bridge, photographed today.20210223_143341.jpg.3ee80a720b298cbdb20853fc99bab5df.jpg20210223_143429.jpg.e989c26383dd64b53bab7e4225b882bc.jpg

 

Edited by David Mack
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7 hours ago, Sara Strawson said:

That is amazing!  Yes, I think it would be too hard to get an exact replication.  At the moment she is black - not my favourite narrowboat colour - and we are just starting to look at where to go with paintwork.  Not the most urgent problem as the cabin has to be replaced.  The next tough job!  I don't think we will ever be totally 'correct' and maybe not go down that route at all but it is one of the options at the moment.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

 

 

In my humble opinion if they were all ‘right’ it would be a shame. They evolved from as built, to derelict ( in many cases) to impecunious impoverished owners ( us in the 1980s ) or abused as Bwb maintenance boats , to the current £££££££ restorations.

I could have ours rebuilt ‘as was’ but I’ve been there , done that. So it’s now our interpretation. Would be a pity if some of the glorious 60s and 70s conversions were lost.

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23 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

In my humble opinion if they were all ‘right’ it would be a shame. They evolved from as built, to derelict ( in many cases) to impecunious impoverished owners ( us in the 1980s ) or abused as Bwb maintenance boats , to the current £££££££ restorations.

I could have ours rebuilt ‘as was’ but I’ve been there , done that. So it’s now our interpretation. Would be a pity if some of the glorious 60s and 70s conversions were lost.

Agreed.  I am glad they are not just a pastiche of the past.  We would never consider going down the full castles and roses route.  I think we are just considering colour and how to go about painting the outside.  As said - very long way to go yet as she has to be completely stripped out front to rear and with exterior and interior refitted.  There really was nothing left inside and the outside has just been waterproofed (sort of) and painted matt black.  Not terribly attractive.  Vela will never be 'as was' as she was a butty and has gone through many variations since then.  Converted to a leisure boat in the late 60's (would love to know what she looked like!) and now we will be fitting her out to suit us pretty much.  Although I am. not sure we will be going down the completely modernised look.  Not sure yet.  It is great looking at all the boats for sale and getting ideas though.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Athy said:

Vandalism?

Yes some dreadful things have been done to some boats.  I am not totally sure of the reasoning behind cutting them in half and making two boats but since it was done in the late 60's and seemed a popular way to go then, not much we can do about it now.  She is still a great boat though, or hopefully will be!

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2 hours ago, David Mack said:

The other half of Vela on its home mooring at Copley on the Calder & Hebble, just east of Sowerby Bridge, photographed today.20210223_143341.jpg.3ee80a720b298cbdb20853fc99bab5df.jpg20210223_143429.jpg.e989c26383dd64b53bab7e4225b882bc.jpg

 

Amazing.  She has changed!  Very smart.  It is also interesting to see the layout of the cabin.  We know there were probably swan doors but they have been removed and covered up.  Hopefully our half will look as good in the nearish future.  Might take a wee while though.  

Thank you for the photos!

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