SM Hudson...

[The Anonymous Bard]

Now this could cause a fuss!

 

Maybe not one for the purists but we have aways admired the SM Hudson boats and whilst we appreciate that there are those that don't like the bow we also appreciate that there are those present that are fortunate to own one.

 

The following is a (fun!) link to a few of the SM Hudson boats that we have been fortunate to come across to date... a long way to go yet but I have almost used my monthly upload limit so more to come in around thirty days but there are 21 named boats to go at in the meantime.

 

The link posted should take you to the opening page which I have done in order that the description of the group is read... from there simply click on the "photostream" on the toolbar below the name to browse a continual stream of images or then go further and click on "sets" once this page has loaded to view sets by the name of the boat...

 

Have fun...

 

http://www.flickr.com/people/50005139@N08/

[Guest]

It's a great collection of pics

 

- a year or so ago I would have probably beg, stole or borrowed to own one of these boats but looking at them now I'm really not sure at all.

 

Horses for courses of course....

 

Some might still love 'em.

[alan_fincher]

- a year or so ago I would have probably beg, stole or borrowed to own one of these boats but looking at them now I'm really not sure at all.

They seem to be fairly easy to re-sell, provided you don't stick an unrealistic price tag on.

 

If someone will give you one, I'd accept, as you can always then change it for something of slightly less quirky appearance!

[The Anonymous Bard]

It's a great collection of pics

 

- a year or so ago I would have probably beg, stole or borrowed to own one of these boats but looking at them now I'm really not sure at all.

 

Horses for courses of course....

 

Some might still love 'em.

 

Hi Martin, I look back on pics myself... not just SM Hudson boats but many including the ones that we've taken at the IWA festivals and always think that they never really do justice, capturing a true profile of a narrowboat must be a very tricky art and one that I have not yet mastered.

 

Thanks for the opinion... pleased I got the link right!

 

They seem to be fairly easy to re-sell, provided you don't stick an unrealistic price tag on.

 

If someone will give you one, I'd accept, as you can always then change it for something of slightly less quirky appearance!

 

We discussed the re-sale price recently with a view to owning one earlier than we could have hoped for new... a 62' "C" spec boat from new will cost around £119k if I remember rightly from their calculator on their website but we have seen two boats of that length recently on brokerage, in immaculate condition, three yeras old, listed for prices in their eighties.

 

I guess we are back into Stowe Hill territory and the love 'em or hate 'em grounds (I know they were often Reeves shells built to specified spec) but we do like them very much (along with Stoke Boats who carried a very interesting add in this months Canal Boat for a tug style boat that they are displaying at Crick this year... watch this space).

 

Any Stoke Boats owners on here?

Edited May 8, 2010 by The Anonymous Bard

[Albion]

Now this could cause a fuss!

 

Maybe not one for the purists but we have aways admired the SM Hudson boats and whilst we appreciate that there are those that don't like the bow we also appreciate that there are those present that are fortunate to own one.

 

The following is a (fun!) link to a few of the SM Hudson boats that we have been fortunate to come across to date... a long way to go yet but I have almost used my monthly upload limit so more to come in around thirty days but there are 21 named boats to go at in the meantime.

 

The link posted should take you to the opening page which I have done in order that the description of the group is read... from there simply click on the "photostream" on the toolbar below the name to browse a continual stream of images or then go further and click on "sets" once this page has loaded to view sets by the name of the boat...

 

Have fun...

 

http://www.flickr.com/people/50005139@N08/

 

That's an interesting set of photos particularly as I know four of them, and their owners personally, Raven, Joanna, Uncle Mort and Lord Toulouse. In fact the photo of Lord Toulouse entitled Christmas is very evocative because it was on that trip, whilst tying up LT's bow and concentrating on releasing the rope that had got stuck under the bow locker lid, that I discovered that the boat and the towpath were some distance apart bridged by my body. It was a choice of try to get back to shore and fall in head first, or jump for the boat and go in feet first. I chose the latter. Classic, one of those cartoon moments

Roger

[The Anonymous Bard]

That's an interesting set of photos particularly as I know four of them, and their owners personally, Raven, Joanna, Uncle Mort and Lord Toulouse. In fact the photo of Lord Toulouse entitled Christmas is very evocative because it was on that trip, whilst tying up LT's bow and concentrating on releasing the rope that had got stuck under the bow locker lid, that I discovered that the boat and the towpath were some distance apart bridged by my body. It was a choice of try to get back to shore and fall in head first, or jump for the boat and go in feet first. I chose the latter. Classic, one of those cartoon moments

Roger

 

Got it all to come

[Dominic M]

Hi Martin, I look back on pics myself... not just SM Hudson boats but many including the ones that we've taken at the IWA festivals and always think that they never really do justice, capturing a true profile of a narrowboat must be a very tricky art and one that I have not yet mastered.

 

Thanks for the opinion... pleased I got the link right!

 

 

 

We discussed the re-sale price recently with a view to owning one earlier than we could have hoped for new... a 62' "C" spec boat from new will cost around £119k if I remember rightly from their calculator on their website but we have seen two boats of that length recently on brokerage, in immaculate condition, three yeras old, listed for prices in their eighties.

 

I guess we are back into Stowe Hill territory and the love 'em or hate 'em grounds (I know they were often Reeves shells built to specified spec) but we do like them very much (along with Stoke Boats who carried a very interesting add in this months Canal Boat for a tug style boat that they are displaying at Crick this year... watch this space).

 

Any Stoke Boats owners on here?

Reeves shells on Stowe Hill boats from 2002. Like this one

 

Stokies? Like this one?

 

And in the "no contest" league from one of the finest builders, this one

 

Wish I currently had a Norton Canes and/or a Roger Fuller to add to the list at the moment, but hey ho

[Guest]

Seems to me it all comes down what you actually want from a narrow boat, and if you think paying extra for the 'look' of a traditional boat is worth the premium. That is whatever the look of a 'traditional' narrow boat is/was.

 

I'm on a boat buying budget and can't see the value of paying extra for a boat with such a look. (though I understand it might (?will) get me a better quality shell.

[Gibbo]

It all comes down to personal taste, what one wants from a boat and, of course, budget.

 

But on the matter of personal taste, I simply cannot understand why anyone would ever buy a Liverpool Boats when you could buy squashed bean tin for much less.

[Guest]

It all comes down to personal taste, what one wants from a boat and, of course, budget.

 

But on the matter of personal taste, I simply cannot understand why anyone would ever buy a Liverpool Boats when you could buy squashed bean tin for much less.

 

You've answered your own question.

 

 

It all comes down to personal taste, what one wants from a boat and, of course, budget.

[Gibbo]

You've answered your own question.

 

I wish I had. There are always plenty of second hand boats around cheaper or similar prices to/than LB and much prettier. In fact it's actually (to my mind) hard to find one uglier. But it is of course personal taste.

[Guest]

I wish I had. There are always plenty of second hand boats around cheaper or similar prices to/than LB and much prettier. In fact it's actually (to my mind) hard to find one uglier. But it is of course personal taste.

 

As you intimate - "beauty is in the eye of the beholder..."

 

I like the functional appearance, and I like the internal ceiling shape the curved roof gives - it's a good job we don't all like the same thing on here or there'd be nowt to argue about discuss....

Edited May 8, 2010 by MJG

[Gibbo]

As you intimate - "beauty is in the eye of the beholder..."

 

I like the functional appearance, and I like the internal ceiling shape the curved roof gives - it's a good job we don't all like the same thing on here or there'd be nowt to argue about discuss....

 

Weird innit. The overly curved roof is one of the things I detest (reminds me of a cheap 1950s caravan for some reason), along with the stern, bows, handrails, paint, woodwork (sorry cardboardwork), engines.......

 

There again, others hate Marque shells which I have.

[Guest]

Weird innit. The overly curved roof is one of the things I detest (reminds me of a cheap 1950s caravan for some reason), along with the stern, bows, handrails, paint, woodwork (sorry cardboardwork), engines.......

 

Weird indeed inside it reminds me of a 1960's railway carriage which is why I love it...

[Gibbo]

Weird indeed inside it reminds me of a 1960's railway carriage which is why I love it...

 

I like railway carriages. But they're supposed to be that shape!

[Albion]

Wish I currently had a Norton Canes and/or a Roger Fuller to add to the list at the moment, but hey ho

 

Now there is a man with good taste, two of the best from the elite group of builders IMO.

Roger

[alan_fincher]

What does seem odd to me is that many of the shell builders, budget or expensive, have sought over the years to exaggerate exactly those features that turn to turn many people against them.

 

Earlier Liverpool Boats don't have that overly arched roof, and are much more "normal looking".

 

Some earlier Steve Hudson boats don't have that peculiar bow treatment, and some I'd say were pretty good looking.

 

As has been said it's all personal taste, but the later "Stowe Hill" boats, even if they did not build the shells, are some of the most bizarre I have ever seen, (sorry Dominic!), and I cannot for the life of me imagine why anybody would pay a premium for anything that looks that odd.

 

At least a Liverpool Boat, Colecraft, Mike Heywood, (or whatever), is unashamedly not trying to be anything it is not, and to provide people with a reasonable quality shell, without pretentions of being "Josher" like, "Northwich" like, "tug" like, or anything else.

 

It depends what you want, doesn't it? If you want a showcase for your rather "non working boat" like Kelvin or Gardner, with all it's polished brass, and don't mind bouncing along the bottom on a fairly regular basis, then by all means find yourself a Hudson. If you actually want to go boating, and see lots of canals, unencumbered by a draft of maybe something around the 3 foot mark, you might actually find you extract more pleasure from, (horror of horrors!), a Liverpool Boat, (or even that "design" classic, a Springer!).

 

Incidentally, I agree that something like the well regarded Stoke on Trent Boatbuilders boats represent a very good compromise between the old and the new. There is a lot of "working boat" suggestion in the styling of some, (a particularly nice example where we used to moor), but absolutely no pretentions that they are have "Josher" origins, or anything else that is clearly nowhere near the real mark.

 

(Give me a real working boat though, and I'll snap your fingers off, and happily bounce along the bottom! )

[Guest]

http://www.shannons.com.au/pages/auctions/...73E53X44A9CCF1L

 

The automotive equivalent of a Steve Hudson boat perhaps...?

[GUMPY]

http://www.shannons.com.au/pages/auctions/...73E53X44A9CCF1L

 

The automotive equivalent of a Steve Hudson boat perhaps...?

 

Not even close that has some class!

A SH boat is equivalent to a Ford Mondeo mass produced and you can only have it the way that he wants to build it!

 

Oh sorry, you are allowed one change from the standard package.

[mark99]

Reeves shells on Stowe Hill boats from 2002. Like this one

 

Ye gods, the bow looks like a chipmunks face

 

Mark

[Guest]

Ye gods, the bow looks like a chipmunks face

 

Mark

 

Indeed - but the interior is pretty fantastic IMHO

[mark99]

Indeed - but the interior is pretty fantastic IMHO

 

Agreed - I was just sitting there looking at the inside and wondering whether the advantages outweighed the bow........ or would I forever be regretful.

 

Maybe it's just a bad angled photo.

 

Mark

[The Anonymous Bard]

Not even close that has some class!

A SH boat is equivalent to a Ford Mondeo mass produced and you can only have it the way that he wants to build it!

 

Oh sorry, you are allowed one change from the standard package.

 

Well... at £130k a chuck for a 70' C class boat I wouldn't exactly put them at Ford Mondeo level, boat equivalent or not.

 

The guy clearly has a market that he has built up from reputation, no one is forcing anyone to buy his boats and from what I understand he's knocking out somewhere between 12-16 boats a year which I would call a measure of his success and the desirability of his boats.

 

I know from my own conversations with Steve Hudson that he can be reluctant to alter the shell but then he does retain the right to protect his own integrity and what clearly works for him if he feels something is not right and there are many other builders out there as an alternative, after all why choose him as a builder and then try twisting the guys arm to change things instead of just sourcing something that is closer to your requirement in the first place?

[Athy]

I've always thought that SH boats had graceful lines, but some are marred by the imitation rivets which he adds to them. However, as Mr. Bard says, there must be a demand for these embellishments or he wouldn't put them on.

...and yes, Mr. F, the Springer can now be considered a design classic, alongside things like the VW Beetle and the Morry Minor which were built to do a job simply and cheaply but whose appeal has grown with the passing years.

Edited May 9, 2010 by Athy

[alan_fincher]

Reeves shells on Stowe Hill boats from 2002. Like this one

 

Ye gods, the bow looks like a chipmunks face

 

Maybe it's just a bad angled photo.

 

No! - They really do look like that. A trip past Stowe Hill Wharf always manages to bring a bemused look to my face, despite me seeing the same offerings each time I pass.

 

Extrapolating the Hudson point.....

 

The guy clearly has a market that he has built up from reputation, no one is forcing anyone to buy his boats....

 

then by the same argument a very significant number of people, (OK less than for Hudson), have been very happy to take commission a new build that ends up with the "Stowe Hill" bow shape......

 

There are lots of people prepared to pay heaps of money for really not very good, (or not very aesthetically pleasing) cars.

 

I suppose there is no reason why it should be any different for narrow boats.

Edited May 9, 2010 by alan_fincher