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Eastern Caravans?


aristorias

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4 hours ago, Athy said:

 

 

 

Aren't or weren't, they associated with the well-known Nene boatbuilder Pat Buckle?

That I don't know, I don't think so but a friend of mine bought a hull and fitted it out himself.

Edited by ditchcrawler
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1 minute ago, nb Innisfree said:

Pic looks like a Bellaires shell, one of hundreds built by Peter Bellaire & son Kevin and sold to various fitters out inc Floating Homes. 

ETA: at one time Pat Buckle used them. 

Edited by nb Innisfree
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4 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

The boat was built by Eastern Caravans in Peterborough in 1999. The company is not very renown as a narrowboat builder but they built shells which have then been fitted out by Floating Homes and Andicraft. Comparing her (I need to get used to the gender!) with a boat that was advertised for some time now on Apolloduck (where I found this one too) and which has been fitted out by Floating Homes Talisker must be a direct relative. While the bottom and sides of the hull have standard thicknesses of 10 and 6mm, the cabin sides and roof are only 3mm (as opposed to the standard 4 or 5mm). But then 3mm should still be plenty.There’s next to no rust anywhere. The paintwork has been redone a few years back, it’s in a good nick.

Yes 3mm, a Bellaires shell, 3mm allows sides & roof to be folded into one section, speeds up production and is robust, less weight topsides makes a more stable boat. 

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Thanks to all that replied. Most answers confirmed what I suspected about the quality of these boats. I guess you get what you pay for. By the way I was joking when I said they were elongated caravans.. they are obviously narrowboats but as some have said, built in a different way.

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Years ago a colleague bought a boat that had certainly been influenced by caravan construction. The entire cabin and interior fitout was built as a freestanding structure using (I think) GRP panels for the cabin sides, and then the whole thing was fitted into a steel hull. This particular boat was new but incomplete - I think maybe the builder had folded - and my colleague had to source an engine separately and get it fitted under the cruiser stern deck. I do remember that the sink, basin and shower drain outlets just emptied into the bilge, and drained to the stern to be pumped out by the bilge pump.

I've never come across a boat like it since.

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36 minutes ago, aristorias said:

Thanks to all that replied. Most answers confirmed what I suspected about the quality of these boats. I guess you get what you pay for. By the way I was joking when I said they were elongated caravans.. they are obviously narrowboats but as some have said, built in a different way.

Shell should be OK, usually soundly constructed. 

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58 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Years ago a colleague bought a boat that had certainly been influenced by caravan construction. The entire cabin and interior fitout was built as a freestanding structure using (I think) GRP panels for the cabin sides, and then the whole thing was fitted into a steel hull. This particular boat was new but incomplete - I think maybe the builder had folded - and my colleague had to source an engine separately and get it fitted under the cruiser stern deck. I do remember that the sink, basin and shower drain outlets just emptied into the bilge, and drained to the stern to be pumped out by the bilge pump.

I've never come across a boat like it since.

 

We hired a boat like that out of Lowesmoor Basin in Worcester, from the company before Viking Afloat moved there, It was lovely and warm inside but all the grey waste went into the bilges ti be pumped out at the back so was a bit smelly. 
The company went bust the week were out and we never got our deposit back! But we did gain some very nice Welsh woollen blankets in recompense.

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15 hours ago, David Mack said:

. I do remember that the sink, basin and shower drain outlets just emptied into the bilge, and drained to the stern to be pumped out by the bilge pump.

I've never come across a boat like it since.

I think this used to be a fairly common arrangement; wasn't it called a "wet bilge"? I certainly owned an older (1980s) boat with that feature.

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1 minute ago, Athy said:

I think this used to be a fairly common arrangement; wasn't it called a "wet bilge"? I certainly owned an older (1980s) boat with that feature.

Indeed it was, our old harborough had a through bilge system.

  • Greenie 1
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My boat was built by Eastern caravans and leisure in 2001.

 

I wanted it because its bog standard ...has the basics.....and I don't worry about it,

The paint is from a Wilco tin ....and it may well be scratched.....but I wouldn't notice.

Its just a means of traveling around the network.

Has a Beta 37 and PRM....and all the usual...

 

My last was a Reeves......and the polishing etc.....did me in.....

 

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