NB Cambourne

[Nimdoorquoi]

Does anyone have any history pertaining to Cambourne or any recent sightings?

I remember someone telling me that in her current format her hull is actually made up of 2/3 different boats welded together at Bull's Bridge a long time ago and always wondered which 2/3 boats they would have been made up from. Cambourne being one of them presumably! 

I owned and lived on her for 7 years and lost contact with the owners after me who sold her a few years ago now. 

She was moored in Kingsland Basin for a while but since that sale, she's off onto new pastures unknown to me.

 

[David Mack]

Nothing about Cambourne having been cut down here: https://hnbc.org.uk/boats/cambourne

 

Was for sale on Ebay in April 2021, but the actual ad is no longer online.

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by David Mack

[Nimdoorquoi]

No there isn't much info on there but thanks for sending through. I solde her in 2019/2020 from memory. However I clearly remember seeing some suspect weld lines (to me anyway!) when she was out of the water that also had the surveyor scratching his head as you will see in one of the photos, the weld appears to be under a rivet which doesnt make sense to me. I distinctly remember a very experienced person at the boatyard saying he recognized the weld from bulls bridge but didn't ask him to elaborate. Just to clarify as well that long hporizontal weld line has noting to do with any overplating work. And you can see a small portion of a similar weld line running vertically. First image on the left hand side inbetween the 4.2mm and 6.8 chalk mark is the rivet in question...

 

 

[matty40s]

That to me suggests replating the bottom bit rather than overplating.

[Nimdoorquoi]

Yea but the original rivetted chine angle is still there as well meaning they "replated" by adding the bottom of another boat or the top of another boat? Im confused...

[davidg]

That's typical of the British Waterways refooting work done to the big boats at Bulls Bridge in the 50s. It will be a rare big boat that doesn't have it, mine certainly does.

[stagedamager]

7 minutes ago, Nimdoorquoi said:

Yea but the original rivetted chine angle is still there as well meaning they "replated" by adding the bottom of another boat or the top of another boat? Im confused...

chopped out and replaced with new steel.

[Nimdoorquoi]

Thanks for clarifying @davidg . Would you mind talking me through what the process was so that I can understand it better? Were they using parts from other boats that were in better nick as all of the lower portion has rivets where you would expect them.

@stagedamager So they would have chopped the old chine angle off and welded it on to new steel plate? What i don't understand is that I could see the rivets from the chine angle on the inside of the baseplate and sides which doesn't add up to me...

Edited November 30, 2023 by Nimdoorquoi

[archie57]

I've got a bit of the "Camborne" on my boat - the exhaust collar from when it had a PD2 in it!

[David Mack]

No cutting and shutting with other boats involved.

As I understand it the original footing (lower hull side) plating was removed, leaving the knees and chine angle in place. A new piece of plate was then fitted, welded horizontally to the original side plating above and with vertical welds between sections of new plate, but riveted to the original chine angle and knees. A new lower guard was also riveted on. In your case it looks like one of the new rivets has gone through the horizontal welded joint. 

The result is a hull that looks internally and externally just like the original, apart from the new weld lines. This is commonly found on GU boats - the same was done to Fulbourne and Belfast.

[PeterScott]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

...The result is a hull that looks internally and externally just like the original, apart from the new weld lines. This is commonly found on GU boats - the same was done to Fulbourne and Belfast.

 

Is this a similar weld line - the line above the rubbing strake ?? From Fulbourne in Aylesbury drydock April 2015

[David Mack]

11 hours ago, PeterScott said:

Is this a similar weld line - the line above the rubbing strake ?? From Fulbourne in Aylesbury drydock April 2015

Yes. Same thing. And with a narrow strip of overplating above the chine angle added later.

 

Since your 2015 photo, Fulbourne has been rebottomed with the footings replaced again. Only this time the new footing extends to just below the bottom guard ( to avoid disturbing the guard itself and also to avoid needing prebent plates - the footing below the guard is canted in slightly). As a result on some parts of the boat there are now two horizontal welds, the upper one from the BW refooting, and the lower one from 2022, as seen from the inside in the photo below.

[rivergate]

..looks like refooting work to me rather than reusing bits of other boats 🤷

 

..surprised your surveyor didn't know that tbh

 

...wasnt Cambourne the Boat sold to a waterways lengthman outside the tender process back in the day .? 

 

..was a nice sold boat 🙂👍

[Nimdoorquoi]

To be honest, I am not that sure as the person I bought it off of did not have much history of the boat. He didnt even know that it was a Large Woolwich. During my ownership I wasn't aware of how much information there was on this website with the people using it. It's fantastic now that I know!