Hurleston locks

[nicknorman]

Try this Link

Edited January 23, 2013 by nicknorman

[TNC]

Funny isnt it, LP boats otherwise turn out very competent well built, all be it to a price, boats, and clearly quite a few go through fine. They also build enough of them you would have thought they would just make a u-shaped gauge.

 

 

Daniel

 

I would wager all Rusty Dustbin (R&D) NB's would go though Hurleston, Ray Denton used to try his gauge on all his boats, whoever was the fabricator. AFAIK it is generally accepted that LB went though various periods of fabrication, some not so good.

[Doorman]

I would wager all Rusty Dustbin (R&D) NB's would go though Hurleston, Ray Denton used to try his gauge on all his boats, whoever was the fabricator. AFAIK it is generally accepted that LB went though various periods of fabrication, some not so good.

 

At the risk of offending many forum members, I believe you are right.

 

I used to do quite a lot of business in the Derby Road area of the Liverpool Docks and on one occasion, my company was installing security shutters at an aluminium stockholders across the road from LB's main factory. Being interested in narrowboats, It was not unusual for me to go over to their buildings to have a nosey around.

 

Some of the shells would be lying outside on wooden bearers awaiting the next stage of build etc., and I would peep in through the window openings to see how they were fabricated. The variance in quality of welds, door apertures and general steelwork was quite marked as if one gang had built a particular hull and another gang - whom appeared not so competent - had built one further along the way.

 

We have friends who had their boat built at LB and Gary was a welder by trade so he knew what he was talking about . He called in at the factory unannounced one day to find a young lad welding his hull. Upon inspection, he wasn't pleased with what he saw and flagged up his concerns to the foreman. The guy simply said hat the young lad was new to steel fabrication and was learning 'on the job'.

 

"Not on my bloody boat he's not" was Gary's immediate reply!

 

In this type of noisy and dirty type of employment, high turnover of labour is not uncommon and the difficulty in finding, training and most importantly retaining good staff is an ongoing problem, especially when the male youth are somehow deluded in believing that they are destined to become either a pop star or megabucks footballer.

 

During my time in business, I tried to recruit youngsters from poor backgrounds and train them in various disciplines of engineering and hopefully along the way, instil some good manners and values too! Sadly, due to the indoctrination gathered in their young lifetime, I found this to be an uphill battle.

 

Back on topic.

 

We have many boating friends now and quite a few are floating around merrily on Liverpool built narrowboats without a problem. They are like the Ford Escort by comparison, good value for money and if you look after them, they'll look after you too!

Edited January 24, 2013 by Doorman

[TNC]

At the risk of offending many forum members, I believe you are right.

 

I used to do quite a lot of business in the Derby Road area of the Liverpool Docks and on one occasion, my company was installing security shutters at an aluminium stockholders across the road from LB's main factory. Being interested in narrowboats, It was not unusual for me to go over to their buildings to have a nosey around.

 

Some of the shells would be lying outside on wooden bearers awaiting the next stage of build etc., and I would peep in through the window openings to see how they were fabricated. The variance in quality of welds, door apertures and general steelwork was quite marked as if one gang had built a particular hull and another gang - whom appeared not so competent - had built one further along the way.

 

We have friends who had their boat built at LB and Gary was a welder by trade so he knew what he was talking about . He called in at the factory unannounced one day to find a young lad welding his hull. Upon inspection, he wasn't pleased with what he saw and flagged up his concerns to the foreman. The guy simply said hat the young lad was new to steel fabrication and was learning 'on the job'.

 

"Not on my bloody boat he's not" was Gary's immediate reply!

 

In this type of noisy and dirty type of employment, high turnover of labour is not uncommon and the difficulty in finding, training and most importantly retaining good staff is an ongoing problem, especially when the male youth are somehow deluded in believing that they are destined to become either a pop star or megabucks footballer.

 

During my time in business, I tried to recruit youngsters from poor backgrounds and train them in various disciplines of engineering and hopefully along the way, instil some good manners and values too! Sadly, due to the indoctrination gathered in their young lifetime, I found this to be an uphill battle.

 

Back on topic.

 

We have many boating friends now and quite a few are floating around merrily on Liverpool built narrowboats without a problem. They are like the Ford Escort by comparison, good value for money and if you look after them, they'll look after you too!

 

On the historical subject of "leisure" middle of the road narrowboat shell fabricators, I can only really comment on R&D, as we had two boats off them.

When Ray Denton had to move R&D from Cotton End on the Northampton Arm (Ray was Northampton born and bred) he chose to move up to New Broughton / Ollerton (half way between Newark and Mansfield), right into the declining Nottingham coal field, where there were a supply of skilled fabricators, who had worked in the coal related industry. At New Broughton, R&D's (which was never a limited company) final premises were old long term ex MOD army store Nissan huts. Ray used to pay for them monthly, as R&D expanded/contracted due to economic decline/upturn, he could just rent out more, or less sheds as there was oversupply. Ray would always allocate a single fabricator to your shell, so you got to know one bloke, thus ensuring you got what you wanted and pride in workmanship. Ray would oversee quality, help out on all shells (doing some of the fiddly bits) and advise you what was possible / drawbacks of your plans. These factors helped him produce fair quality shells at a reasonable price to suit demand.

 

I could go on about R&D, but would probably bore you to death!

[Doorman]

I could go on about R&D, but would probably bore you to death!

 

Not really, TNC.

 

I'm sure that potential boat buyers out there would be interested in the origins of what's now known as XR&D (have I got that right?).

 

If I have then that will explain why their hulls are well made with care and pride in their workmanship.

 

Mike