who made this boat?

[a.p.now]

I have just found the following on the internet (so it does not come with a guarantee of being correct).

 

With the decline of canal traffic following the Second World War Kilworth Wharf was abandoned and lay derelict. In the 1960s the site was developed as a hire-boat base by Hucker Marine, who also fitted out locally-made narrowboat hulls. By the 1970s, with the rise in the popularity of leisure boating, the site was a hive of activity as the base for the 'Castle' class hireboats. The hire business was eventually taken over by Anglo-Welsh, a national operator with hire sites throughout the canal network.

 

This means that the question of who is the builder of your hull may not yet be answered.

 

 

haha yeh man that it dose. i am loveing this. my first boat/ first home is turning to be masivly intresting.

[XAlan W]

hay i hope somone out there can help. i got this boat befor crim and have been working on her. she has a grp top a lister sr2, iv been told she is a harbrough but from what i can the front door and window dosnt seem to be what thay ever did. also there is no chek plate on the bow.

 

 

i have put a link to my face book photos of her if there is somone that can help out with the make modle etc it would be grate.

 

 

sorry for spelling mistakes i am dyslexic.

Looks very similar to the BIJOU LINE boats they had a hire base at Penkridge + the earlier ones had a grp top

[alan_fincher]

I have just found the following on the internet (so it does not come with a guarantee of being correct).

 

With the decline of canal traffic following the Second World War Kilworth Wharf was abandoned and lay derelict. In the 1960s the site was developed as a hire-boat base by Hucker Marine, who also fitted out locally-made narrowboat hulls. By the 1970s, with the rise in the popularity of leisure boating, the site was a hive of activity as the base for the 'Castle' class hireboats. The hire business was eventually taken over by Anglo-Welsh, a national operator with hire sites throughout the canal network.

 

This means that the question of who is the builder of your hull may not yet be answered.

 

My memory is that Hucker Marine fitted many boats based on Harborough Shells.

 

I'm now fairly convinced Harborough marine probably built this hull, particularly as only slightly later adverts in old Waterways Worlds show a very similar design. (By the late 1970s you had the option of having your Harborough boats with either a steel or a GRP top.....)

 

I think though it could be slightly later than the OP has it, but I think the BW index number you have given relates to the first year they were issued, rather than the build date of the boat, so can't establish how much before 80/81 a boat was built.

[luctor et emergo]

If your B.W.B. index number is 66143 (issued 1980/81) I can tell you that back in 1983 its name was PENELOPE and it was on a private boat licence rather than a hire or house boat licence. In 2006 it was listed by B.W.B. as being built by Hucker Marine.

Is there a place on-line' where such details about the index no. can be found? I'm crious as to when my boat was (last) converted, and possibly by whom etc.

 

Thanks

[pete harrison]

I think though it could be slightly later than the OP has it, but I think the BW index number you have given relates to the first year they were issued, rather than the build date of the boat, so can't establish how much before 80/81 a boat was built.

 

B.W.B. issued the first index number plates in 1980 (mine were on the boat by September 1980). The initial index numbers included a combination of boats already on their waterways prior to 1980 as well as any new boats built in 1980. There is no way of differentiating between the older boats and the new boats by their index numbers, something that is still the case with the current issue on index numbers. That is why I wrote "issued 1980/81" instead of giving a suggested build date.

 

Is there a place on-line' where such details about the index no. can be found? I'm crious as to when my boat was (last) converted, and possibly by whom etc.

 

Thanks

 

Not that I am aware of

 

In addition I would be suspect of most 'historic' boat information you find on the internet, especially from the dedicated 'historic' narrow boat websites which on the whole are very badly researched

[a.p.now]

so i gues the next thing would be the Bridgewater plate b2018, wondering if there is somwere i can look that up or somone to contact about it because i would gues that was issued erlyer as its from the airea were she came from maybe? also i have more photos of her in daylight and profile shal pop them up in a fue mins.

 

[nigel carton]

Aaaah look at that bow, got to be some Harborough in there some where!!

[alan_fincher]

I still think it is probably Harborough Marine - one of the later ones after they toned down the earlier very raised bow.

 

There are lots of ones out there in ads to compare to, and look like good matches to me, including those highly distinctive louvre windows so common on Harborough boats.

 

Like 1979 "Mr Bojangles" on Apollo Duck.......

 

 

The one bit that doesn't really match on yours is the use of solid wooden cants along the outside edges of the roof. Far more normal would be wooden handrails inset several inches from the roof edge, although sometimes people remove these when in poor condition. Is there any evidence of a line of holes being plugged up, maybe 6" from the cabin side, where a different handrail may have been? (Or has the roof been re-fibreglassed, so you wouldn't know anyway?).

 

90% sure it is Harborough.

[pete harrison]

so i gues the next thing would be the Bridgewater plate b2018, wondering if there is somwere i can look that up or somone to contact about it because i would gues that was issued erlyer as its from the airea were she came from maybe?

 

I do not have records for Bridgewater Canal index number plates, but I fairly certain that B2018 is a much newer number than the B.W.B. index number 66143 that was issued in 1980/81.

[guelrose]

If it has ever been registered with BW and has a BW number, just follow this link, input the number and hey presto!!

 

http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/boatreg.php?bn=32758

[a.p.now]

I still think it is probably Harborough Marine - one of the later ones after they toned down the earlier very raised bow.

 

There are lots of ones out there in ads to compare to, and look like good matches to me, including those highly distinctive louvre windows so common on Harborough boats.

 

Like 1979 "Mr Bojangles" on Apollo Duck.......

 

 

The one bit that doesn't really match on yours is the use of solid wooden cants along the outside edges of the roof. Far more normal would be wooden handrails inset several inches from the roof edge, although sometimes people remove these when in poor condition. Is there any evidence of a line of holes being plugged up, maybe 6" from the cabin side, where a different handrail may have been? (Or has the roof been re-fibreglassed, so you wouldn't know anyway?).

 

90% sure it is Harborough.

 

 

one of the prev owners had a alloy plate along the top and i am told changed the rails. i think that could be why there not a standerd tipe. the dude that had it befor me striped the alloy off im told.

 

If it has ever been registered with BW and has a BW number, just follow this link, input the number and hey presto!!

 

http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/boatreg.php?bn=32758

 

i looked here but i am trying to dig abit deeper than this is giving tho it was a wiked start

[pete harrison]

If it has ever been registered with BW and has a BW number, just follow this link, input the number and hey presto!!

 

http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/boatreg.php?bn=32758

 

Your statement is not strictly true. B.W.B. index numbers along with some other information became available on Jim Shead's website in 2005 (courtesy of the Freedom of Information Act), and has been updated annually since. This means that Mr Shead's website only captures those boats that were currently registered with B.W.B. in 2005, missing out all of those boats that were not registered at 2005 or had been registered in the past and were no longer on B.W.B. waters. Prior to 2005 this information was not available to the general public except for a book that was published some years ago based upon owners contributing information - which is rather incomplete.

 

As a reseacher of 'historic' boats I have gained greater access to B.W.B. index number records, the earliest printout I have being dated 1983.

Edited February 7, 2012 by pete harrison

[Dan]

Hi

 

The boat was definately not made by Harborough Marine but it is from the era (mid - late 70s) when many craft resembled/copied their design, such as (and amongst others) Fernie Steel Fabrications etc as mentioned.

 

The Harborough bows at the time this was made were still their characteristic high style which were a slightly different sweep, and the tamed lower bows that appeared progressively from 1980 did look a bit different. The cabin top is also quite different, though similar to a Harborough.

 

I think the boat was a Hucker Marine, and probably also ran with Black Prince but was definately not built by them (they were always all steel as mentioned). There were others of the same style that BP didnt run, but they did have a few like this such as "Shrike" & "Blue Streak", which became part of the BP fleet for a while and joined through the acquisition of another operator/base (probably Lower Heyford).

 

The photo of this one from the 1980s brochure matches that distinctive pattern on the rear doors:

http://www.blackprinceowners.org.uk/1989_16.html

 

Shrike: http://www.blackprinceowners.org.uk/shrike.html

 

As the names were painted if you're clever/careful with the nitromors you may find it's original name lives on under a few coats of paint... but it could be a sistership build that ran with another operator.

 

Best Wishes

 

Dan

http://www.blackprinceowners.org.uk/latestupdates.html

Edited August 7, 2012 by Dan

[bowten]

so i gues the next thing would be the Bridgewater plate b2018, wondering if there is somwere i can look that up or somone to contact about it because i would gues that was issued erlyer as its from the airea were she came from maybe? also i have more photos of her in daylight and profile shal pop them up in a fue mins.

 

Be careful of that digger!!

[Cosy Toes]

Was it called cloe?

[johnthebridge]

This, as others have said, is a Derek Hucker boat. Hull built by Fernie Fabrications, with a GRP single skin cabin top fitted by Derek at North Kilworth Narrowboats, almost certainly sometime in the mid-'70s. The windows were (are?) horrible stainless steel things with sharp corners and rattly vents. (I think Fernie also made these.) You chose the colour that you wanted on the cabin and it would arrive at the yard self-coloured externally ie. coloured pigment, so if you scrape back to the original GRP finish, you may get a clue to her origins. If you do, let me know and I'll see if my memory is any good. You may even uncover her original name.

Derek, who was a friend of mine, built me my first new boat, George, a 41' with an SR2, in 1973. Externally virtually identical to yours, albeit originally finished with green GRP cabin top and red sides. I last saw him (named after my grandfather, he was always "he" to me) in the '80s, somewhere on the Southern Oxford, I think at Cropredy. Anyone know if he's still around? I've looked on Jim Shead, and the only 41' Hucker built boat (still listed with a "12HP" motor) of the eight listed is currently named A P Now.

Edited August 8, 2012 by johnthebridge

[Liam]

I know this boat,

 

One of the previous owners of this boat in around 2000/2001 came down onto the Bridgewater from the Leeds & Liverpool to meet up with some of their friends who were on our moorings at the same. They visited a couple of times both in their 25ft GRP and also in this boat which they had later on as they must have upgraded at some point. I probably last saw the boat in 2002, so around 10 years ago now.

 

Do you have any contact details for the previous owners? If not I shall ask around and see if the previous owners are still contactable.