Two-tone Tiki

[GUMPY]

Now the origional name of our new boat was Two-tone Tiki, Presumably the Two-tone refers to Coventry where it was fitted.

The only information I have is that it was launched in 1993 and in 2005 the boat was moored at Hawne Basin (from a licence disk left in the boat).

The inside of the boat is very familiar to me and I feel that I have seen it somewhere before, it could have been a featured boat in WW but I have no way of checking. Does anyone recognise the name?

 

Shell was built by Malcolm Pearson and fitted by Phoenix in Coventry both of whom finished building sometime in the 90's

I have a reasonable ammount of info on the builder and fitter what I am looking for is actual history of the boat.

[malp]

I recall that the the original cabin paint scheme had one side painted solid blue and the other side solid brown, if I remember correctly, and I rather think that the original owner chose the name as a word play on this colour scheme.

[Chubby Chaser]

I recall that the the original cabin paint scheme had one side painted solid blue and the other side solid brown, if I remember correctly, and I rather think that the original owner chose the name as a word play on this colour scheme.

 

Phoenix Narrowboats were based in Coventry Basin and were a regular exhibitor at Braunston Boat Show in the 1990s. They were in business until the late 1990s when they went into receivership. Steve Jones was one of the partners - I cannot remember the others. Your boat was originally owned by someone who did painting for Phoenix Narrowboats and was, indeed, painted in different colours each side. I can't remember the layout but it may have been a variation of the layout of Drimble 2 which had a success at one of the Nationals. I owned a boat called Farleigh which I think was built shortly before yours and featured in Canal & Riverboat. Externally you probably have a phoenix cut out in your rudder and a rectangular tunnel light built into the cratch.

Edited February 8, 2013 by Chubby Chaser

[GUMPY]

I remember Phoenix well, all I will say is nightclub.

The boat does in fact have the tunnel light but no phoenix in the rudder.

I had also heard that it was owned by a boat painter but didnt know which one

Drimble 2 or yours may be tbe reason that I knew the layout as there are loads of features that I "recognise"

I believe the hull to be 93 thoghwhen it was on brokeridge before the last owner it was up as 97

Edited February 8, 2013 by idleness

[nick.pritchard]

I was involved on the periphery of Phoenix as the engine supplier. I recall Farleigh and  Drimble, also Artemis which was the first. 
My Father’s boat Spectre was built at my workshop in Coventry at the same time. ( I’d love to find her!)

I’m trying to stir the grey matter to recall a timeline for Phoenix!

I’m just coming back into canal boats after years working on ships and oil tankers! 
Nick Pritchard

nick.pritchard@boatserve.co.uk

[cuthound]

5 hours ago, nick.pritchard said:

I was involved on the periphery of Phoenix as the engine supplier. I recall Farleigh and  Drimble, also Artemis which was the first. 
My Father’s boat Spectre was built at my workshop in Coventry at the same time. ( I’d love to find her!)

I’m trying to stir the grey matter to recall a timeline for Phoenix!

I’m just coming back into canal boats after years working on ships and oil tankers! 
Nick Pritchard

nick.pritchard@boatserve.co.uk

Hi Nick and welcome.

 

We briefly met at Blue Lias (now Stockton Top) marina when you serviced the engine on my first Ownerships shareboat, which had a Mitsubishi 1.4 engine supplied by you.

[nick.pritchard]

Hi and thanks for the reply! Hope all is well. I’m looking at forums and I saw one the other day which talked about Ownerships!
A lot of water has flowed….

during furlough I was sent a Facebook page asking for help to rewire a vandalised boat engine, turns out it was a nephew living on the boat who’d done the damage! When I first looked it was a Boatserve engine stamped up as what was one of the first engines from 1987 which I think may have been fitted to my dad’s 57ft Gary Gorton boat we fitted out outside my workshop, ‘Spectre’. 
looking towards semi retirement and giving up the worldwide travel for work - I’m off to Mexico for August🙁- I have started training for the Boat Safety Scheme examiner role which I should complete in September.

I’ve now looked at and serviced a further two of ‘my’ engines and made a new instrument panel for a third! 

I’ll be going live with a website as soon as I pass the BSS exam and hopefully helping owners out with Mitsubishi engines!

Look out for www. boatserve.co.uk where I’m going to include stuff on my near lifelong involvement with canals starting with the reopening of the Stratford Canal in 1964.

All the best to you and all those I knew who may read this!

Nick

(older, a little wiser and greyer!)

[GUMPY]

9 hours ago, nick.pritchard said:

I was involved on the periphery of Phoenix as the engine supplier. I recall Farleigh and  Drimble, also Artemis which was the first. 
My Father’s boat Spectre was built at my workshop in Coventry at the same time. ( I’d love to find her!)

I’m trying to stir the grey matter to recall a timeline for Phoenix!

I’m just coming back into canal boats after years working on ships and oil tankers! 
Nick Pritchard

nick.pritchard@boatserve.co.uk

Having spoken to the shell builder the shell of TTT  was 1993 the second to last boat he built.

As for the Phoenix timeline City of Sheffield was one of their last in built in 1996 and shown at Braunston show in 1997 by 1998 they had gone.

I do remember that they shut up shop pretty suddenly 😱

Edited July 30, 2021 by Loddon

[nick.pritchard]

Yes they did finish very shortly after but you’d have to cross my palm with a lot of silver to hear the story.
They moved out of Coventry Canal Basin and took over the lease of Hillmorton DryDock with the financial backing of the wealthy guy they built City of Sheffield for. It all ended very badly for both parties financially.

I was maybe three years post Boatserve and the owner of CofSheffield asked me to help out with Hillmorton as he’d been left high and dry (literally) when Phoenix went bust. He’d also apparently been persuaded to buy a brassware company call Fenda Products too by one of the guys at Phoenix. I spent 12 months running the machine shop making brass curtain rails, brass headlamps  and horns to try and make the venture viable for sale so he could recoup some of his money. I don’t know what the outcome was in the end!

Phoenix boats were originally Gary Gorton/ Johnny Wilson builds as was my father’s boat ‘Spectre’ but they were then just Johnny Wilson hulls after he and Gary split up.

The first was called Artemis when Phoenix was run by an artist from the Coventry Canal Basin Trust. Then was ‘Monday’ for a chap I only recall as ‘Ben’ followed by Drimble for Chris Sealy which had a Boatserve finished Mitsubishi  4DR5 engine (about 2.5 litre) originally marinised by Herald Marine and recovered by Mitsubishi when they went bust!

There were a couple of other boats fitted out by Phoenix, one for John and Pam Styles, it was John who used to do the PA systems at IWA Nationals at the time. 
I met the owner of another who I believe bought it second hand while standing on the deck of a ship in the Gulf of Mexico who started talking about his canal boat and praising the fit out and engine! He near enough fell overboard when I told him I’d built the engine!

As a side issue ( I know this has been a long post) I’ve been trying to track down my father’s boat which was sold in 1999 after he passed away. I now hear it went up to the Scottish Canal network in 2017  and is still called Spectre. If anyone knows where she is I’d love to speak with the owners!