Jump to content

boat builders name


nora

Featured Posts

Hello, this is my first posting, hope I am doing it right, my son and his wife and dad and me, bought a second hand narrow boat last year, that needed a complete makeover, 12 month later she is finished ,my question is her papers say she was built by French and Peel, and I am sorry to say I have never heard of them,do any of you out there know of these builders, or has any one got a boat they built, up to now we are very pleased with her, she has been out for blacking, and her hull is good for her age, (1988)we have had other boats in the past, steel and GRP, but never come accross these builders.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello, this is my first posting, hope I am doing it right, my son and his wife and dad and me, bought a second hand narrow boat last year, that needed a complete makeover, 12 month later she is finished ,my question is her papers say she was built by French and Peel, and I am sorry to say I have never heard of them,do any of you out there know of these builders, or has any one got a boat they built, up to now we are very pleased with her, she has been out for blacking, and her hull is good for her age, (1988)we have had other boats in the past, steel and GRP, but never come accross these builders.

 

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

I looked at a very pretty French and Peel 40ft tug-style a few years ago but decided not to buy it. Vendors seemed to know a lot about them and said they were ship builders who amused themselves during their spare time building the odd narrowboat! Very nice steelwork and simply but very professionaly fitted out... Good boats.

 

Hope that helps.....

 

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanks for the fast reply Mike, very interesting, its nice to know a bit about our boat, we are very fond of her already, at the time of buying her it was all about money, and how sound she was, but now we would like to know a little of her history.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanks for the fast reply Mike, very interesting, its nice to know a bit about our boat, we are very fond of her already, at the time of buying her it was all about money, and how sound she was, but now we would like to know a little of her history.

 

You're lucky it wasn't built by French & Saunders - their boats are a joke :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello, this is my first posting, hope I am doing it right, my son and his wife and dad and me, bought a second hand narrow boat last year, that needed a complete makeover, 12 month later she is finished ,my question is her papers say she was built by French and Peel, and I am sorry to say I have never heard of them,do any of you out there know of these builders, or has any one got a boat they built, up to now we are very pleased with her, she has been out for blacking, and her hull is good for her age, (1988)we have had other boats in the past, steel and GRP, but never come accross these builders.

 

French & Peel are based at Staniland Marina at Thorne.

 

David

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congratulations, you have a cracking boat there.

 

French and Peel no longer exist as such, but Bob French is still known (by those who know) as one of the best welders in the business and keeps his hand in at Stanilands in Thorne. As you might expect, a very unassuming bloke who rides to work on an old push bike. Bob knows enough about boats to realise only a fool would have one... "Wouldn't have one given" He told me a few years ago.

 

They built a lot of boats for the MoD I believe so a narrowboat would be a p of p.

 

If I had the money for a bespoke shell he'd be the guy I would go to.

Edited by Neil2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

French and Peel were trained and worked at a genuine shipbuilder, Richard Dunstan's yard at Thorne.

They built a wide range of boats of apart from nbs.

They were rare users of pre blasted and primed steel.

 

I have seen the plans for a small tug they used to build which was very space efficient.

The engine was offset to one side with a chain drive to transfer the power to the prop shaft.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

More positive interesting info about my , sorry our, boat builders, cant wait to tell my son Heathcliffe,(hes the other owner)Stolen Moments was in a sorry state when we got her, but we could see she had great potensial,and in the freezing last winter moored beside the spooky bottle kiln at longport, she began to come to life with a lot of money spent and a lot of help from friends and family, and no negative vibes said Heathcliffe,we now have a French and Peel boat to be proud of, thanks again for your helpful input.

,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

I am new to this Forum, and have only just found this topic. We have owned 2 French & Peel boats. Our current boat was built by Bob at Staniland Marina in Thorne, with some work done by Don Peel, even though he was retired. Both boats were quality. They worked at Dunstans Shipbuilders in Thorne,buiding all manner of vessels, barges, yachts, trawlers, puffers and even minesweepers etc. Bob French and Don Peel set up business as boat builders on their own and continued to build a wide range of craft, and with true skill and quality. Bob sadly died suddenly about 2 years ago, shortly after retiring. We still remember him with much fondness. We have always been proud to say our current boat is a Bob French build. Look in the Members Gallery at Cygnus.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am new to this Forum, and have only just found this topic. We have owned 2 French & Peel boats. Our current boat was built by Bob at Staniland Marina in Thorne, with some work done by Don Peel, even though he was retired. Both boats were quality. They worked at Dunstans Shipbuilders in Thorne,buiding all manner of vessels, barges, yachts, trawlers, puffers and even minesweepers etc. Bob French and Don Peel set up business as boat builders on their own and continued to build a wide range of craft, and with true skill and quality. Bob sadly died suddenly about 2 years ago, shortly after retiring. We still remember him with much fondness. We have always been proud to say our current boat is a Bob French build. Look in the Members Gallery at Cygnus.

 

Hi Joe, I'm sad to read that Bob French is no more, too bad he didn't have more time to enjoy his retirement and his freshly wedded wife, even the best die one day but it's too bad if they have to suffer terrible illness until their time is up RIP Bob.

 

You are a lucky man, as Bob built you a great looking boat, I like the photos and hope that you'll get many years of enjoyment with her.

 

Peter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 years later...

Hi Nora

 

i know this is an old post now but I come across this post and it made me very happy to hear the nice comments on here.  My Dad is Donald Peel who built your boat and I will show him this post when I see him as it will make him up.  He’s 85 now and still fit and well and misses his work still.

 

i don’t know where any of you are but it would make him up if any of you are anytime over Doncaster way and he could see again one of his boats

 

if you want to know anything further I’m happy to give my mobile number 07988793218

 

Clare

  • Greenie 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Clare Peel said:

Hi Nora

 

i know this is an old post now but I come across this post and it made me very happy to hear the nice comments on here.  My Dad is Donald Peel who built your boat and I will show him this post when I see him as it will make him up.  He’s 85 now and still fit and well and misses his work still.

 

i don’t know where any of you are but it would make him up if any of you are anytime over Doncaster way and he could see again one of his boats

 

if you want to know anything further I’m happy to give my mobile number 07988793218

 

Clare

Hi Clare. Sadly, Nora hasn’t visited this site for over 3 years but your post may well prompt someone :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, noddyboater said:

Joe is still around with Cygnus, down at Goole now. He's probably halfway down a bottle of single malt by this time but hopefully he'll see your post tomorrow. 

The last time I had any decent whiskey YOU ended up with it.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.