Wyvern Shipping

[yes]

Hi all

 

I stumbled upon this and was curious to see if anyone has any more information.

 

In the dim past I hired one of these boats with the distinctive front and from time to time spot very similar boats on the water, that I tend to assume are ex-hire fleet.  I wondered if anyone knew any more about the style - is it unique to Wyvern or was it more common at some point in the past?  It looks like Wyvern are still commissioning these, but perhaps they just keep their boats much longer than I had expected.  Does anyone know what the average life as a rental might be?

 

(I've not interest in buying one, just curious)

 

(Postcards from the past is a nostalgia twitter account which shares images and text from old postcard collections)

 

 

[BEngo]

The cabin overhang with back-sloping edges is a Wyvern peculiarity originally fitted to their timber top boats,  as is the stern seating/gas locker arrangement.  Not to say that they have not been borrowed by others.

 

  I had a similar front overhang on our Springer.  It makes the front bulkhead to cabin sides and top joints easier and protects them from the weather  somewhat.

 

N

[Athy]

Wow, our first U.K. hire boat, circa 1994! I do remember the rear deck layout with the two box seats, one of which held a gas bottle and the other possibly windlasses, ropes & c. I have rarely seen this configuration since, except of coure on Wyvern boats.

 

Our Wyvern boat was 45 feet long, but I cannot recall its name. I know it wasn't 'Bullrush', a sister boat which I remember because of the spelling mistake.

[IanD]

9 minutes ago, Athy said:

Wow, our first U.K. hire boat, circa 1994! I do remember the rear deck layout with the two box seats, one of which held a gas bottle and the other possibly windlasses, ropes & c. I have rarely seen this configuration since, except of coure on Wyvern boats.

 

Our Wyvern boat was 45 feet long, but I cannot recall its name. I know it wasn't 'Bullrush', a sister boat which I remember because of the spelling mistake.

 

Also one of our first, but in the late 80's. The boat we hired was "Goldfinch I" (there were 2 of them, identical apart from the number). After a few days we were walking back to the boat from the pub and I exclaimed "Oh look, what a coincidence, the other one -- Goldfinch II -- has moored up here too!"

 

Except our key got us in, and all our gear was inside. On the left side of the cabin was painted "Goldfinch I", on the right side "Goldfinch II" -- and presumably vice versa for the other boat. I bet they were both painted by the signwriter at the same time when moored next to each other, he did one side first and then the other one without noticing the boats had been swapped over...

 

When I pointed this out to Wyvern when we got back their first reaction was "You're kidding!", they had to go out and check. Nobody -- including them! -- had ever spotted it before, the boats were always moored the same way round back at base... 😉

Edited February 22, 2023 by IanD

[Athy]

Good story.

[IanD]

37 minutes ago, Athy said:

Good story.

And true -- I might even have some old photos to prove it somewhere... 😉

[George and Dragon]

And to think I very nearly put Ian on ignore...

[IanD]

6 minutes ago, George and Dragon said:

And to think I very nearly put Ian on ignore...

Aaaaw, that gives me a warm feeling... 🙂

 

(so maybe I should have gone to the loo earlier...)

[alan_fincher]

The boat that is on the bottom right side of the postcard was certainly something specific to Wyvern.

Up until about 1970 their narrow boats were converted ex working boats.  The boat pictured is one of two "Severn and Canal Carrying" boats, known as "Severners".  Built (from memory) about 1935 by Charles Hill, they were very unusual in being all welded construction, whereas most 1930s  steel or iron narrow boats were riveted.
This pair were shortened to about 55 feet, and by their Wyvern days had been renamed Bridget & Olive.  Originally each Severner carried the name of a tree, but I can't from memory remember which two trees these both were. 

 

Both still survive

[David Schweizer]

3 hours ago, yes said:

Hi all

 

I stumbled upon this and was curious to see if anyone has any more information.

 

In the dim past I hired one of these boats with the distinctive front and from time to time spot very similar boats on the water, that I tend to assume are ex-hire fleet.  I wondered if anyone knew any more about the style - is it unique to Wyvern or was it more common at some point in the past?  It looks like Wyvern are still commissioning these, but perhaps they just keep their boats much longer than I had expected.  Does anyone know what the average life as a rental might be?

 

(I've not interest in buying one, just curious)

 

(Postcards from the past is a nostalgia twitter account which shares images and text from old postcard collections)

 

 

 

We had the same feature on Pisces, back in the 1960's. I know that Wyvern started hiring in the late 50's/early 60's. so maybe they copied us.

Here ia a very poor photo of Pisces in 1967 showing the already installed "side wings"

 

[CIEL]

On 22/02/2023 at 17:24, David Schweizer said:

 

We had the same feature on Pisces, back in the 1960's. I know that Wyvern started hiring in the late 50's/early 60's. so maybe they copied us.

Here ia a very poor photo of Pisces in 1967 showing the already installed "side wings"

 

Is that the same Pisces that became the Hillingdon Borough Community Youth boat?

[alan_fincher]

16 minutes ago, CIEL said:

Is that the same Pisces that became the Hillingdon Borough Community Youth boat?

 

Yes.

[David Schweizer]

4 hours ago, CIEL said:

Is that the same Pisces that became the Hillingdon Borough Community Youth boat?

It is the same Pisces aquired by Hillingdon Youth and Community Service in 1966, and used since then as a Community Youth boat since then, I was one of the original Volunteer crew members, and remained one until I moved to Birmingham in 1971. Some years later the Charity Hillingdon Narrowboats Association was formed and Pisces was transferered into their stewardship, and still going strong.

[matty40s]

Cherry, which is well known on the GU Gayton pound, has just been replated at Grand Junction boatyard.