Wanted - Information about 'Ian', Barlow Motor Boat

[SarahT]

Hello,

 

We have recently purchased Ian, and are keen to find out as much information about her as possible. So if you have old photos, press clippings, memories or anything else that can help we would love to hear from you.

 

The back cabin is still intact with the original scumballing and painting, and we would like to furnish it as it was originally furnished so if you have any old photos of the back cabin that would be fantastic.

 

Thanks,

 

Kevin and Sarah

[bigste]

Would have thought Ian was a boy not a girl. lol

[The Pipe]

Would be better in the history and heretics section.

[MtB]

There has been endless discussion of IAN on here. Have a search using the 'search' facility, top right hand corner of every page.

 

MtB

P.S. Welcome to the forum!!

[PaddingtonBear]

Welcome, you are both seriously brave or mad or both IMHO I hope the price you paid reflects the work to be done which must mean that it was almost given away. Sorry but there ar too many wooden boats littering the canals with no hope of redemption. Good luck to you both..

[Nightwatch]

Welcome, you are both seriously brave or mad or both IMHO I hope the price you paid reflects the work to be done which must mean that it was almost given away. Sorry but there ar too many wooden boats littering the canals with no hope of redemption. Good luck to you both..

Might be true, but not the best way to welcome someone to the forum.

 

As I understand Ian has hull problems, surely they would become apparent during survey.

 

Welcome to the forum Sarah, hope all goes well with Ian.

 

Martyn

[matty40s]

Paddington Bear is being his usual Marmalade sandwich drupped the wrong way up humour type of person.

[RLWP]

Paddington Bear is being his usual Marmalade sandwich drupped the wrong way up humour type of person.

 

Oh no - which way up should I have my marmalade sandwich? I didn't realise there was a right way

 

Richard

[matty40s]

Ian is a massive challenge, one of the boats I looked at 5 years ago before buying OF.

If the new owners are not aware of the issues, then they need all the support and help that this knowledgable forum can give them.

If they DO know the issues, then they probably still need all the support and help that this forum can give them.

Great looking boat cosmetically when I viewed, glad I chose otherwise at the time.

[Laurence Hogg]

Having owned several wooden motors over the years including a sister in the fleet to "Ian" which was "Neptune" I wish you the best of luck with the restoration work ahead. Dont be put off by these "too many wooden boats rotting" remarks, wooden boats have a kinship of their own and are most comfortable to be on and steer.Be careful to take advice from the people that really do know about timber narrow boats and not those who repair them over a pint or three.

[Beaker]

The back cabin is still intact with the original scumballing

Is this similar to paintballing?

[Paul H]

Itis a bit worrying that the ne owner's thoughts have immediately turned to furnishing the back cabin. In all probability the cabin will have to be at least partly dismantled to effect essential repairs to the stern.

 

As for pictures - Ian appears in many books but stsrt with Barlows in the Robert Wilson series.

 

Paul

[Derek R.]

It's scumble, or scumbling. Welcome, hope you don't find certain comments off-putting, many would. Boats evoke more opinions than Bees to honey.

 

I remember IAN being moored in Aylesbury in the early eighties when Bob Beer (IIRC?) owned it. Always remember him coming down and turning on little more than tickover, just nudging the coping with the stem which produced a wriggle to the length of the hull. Soggy timbers? Or just wooden narrow boats? IAN had engine room and back cabin back then, with a long extension toward the fore end which was mostly glazed and an open fore end. He/she/it was always a comfortable looking boat, and was well loved by many.

 

It would indeed be tragic if IAN was left to further deteriorate, but I do hope that does not happen. A wooden boat has something tangible that is not produced in any metal counterpart.

 

You are going to need a deep purse. But that can be said of any boat.

Edited August 10, 2013 by Derek R.

[The Pipe]

This is an interesting thread about "Progress's" rebuild unfortunatly Chris has not updated it for a while.

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=41409

[pete harrison]

Hello,

 

We have recently purchased Ian, and are keen to find out as much information about her as possible. So if you have old photos, press clippings, memories or anything else that can help we would love to hear from you.

 

The back cabin is still intact with the original scumballing and painting, and we would like to furnish it as it was originally furnished so if you have any old photos of the back cabin that would be fantastic.

 

Thanks,

 

Kevin and Sarah

IAN is a well documented and well photographed boat so it should be easy to piece its history together and find photographs of it whilst it was in trade. Finding any credible photographs of the back cabin interior during this time may be harder as it was somebodys home. From what I have seen IAN's cabin was pretty much standard fare and adourned with a combination of hanging plates, lace and brass - just as you would expect from one of the most highly respected boat families of the Grand Union Canals.

[SarahT]

Thanks to everyone for their comments. Kevin spoke with a guy called Adrian (don't know his surname) who re-builds wooden boats commercially and he gave lots of info about the probable state of the boat having seen it a few years back.

 

Kevin bought and refurbished Electra from a semi sunken state a number of years ago, had to sell her through circumstances, and realised that he couldn't be boatless any more - hence the plunge (hopefully not literally)

 

We are going to visit Adrian shortly - he has a wooden boat in pieces at the moment and we thought that would be a good starting point. Kevin is a cabinet maker in trade so will do as much of the work as possible himself to return Ian to as close to the original state as possible.

 

We are going to put a piece into the HNBC magazine with a view to meeting and maybe getting help from other wooden boat owners/enthusiasts who have been there and done that.

 

So please keep commenting!

 

Thanks,

 

Kevin and Sarah

Also, many thanks for all the messages of welcome.

[Speedwheel]

 

We are going to visit Adrian shortly - he has a wooden boat in pieces at the moment and we thought that would be a good starting point. Kevin is a cabinet maker in trade so will do as much of the work as possible himself to return Ian to as close to the original state as possible.

 

 

Ade is a very talented boat builder and if Kevin has wood working skills then it sounds like a promising start.

[stagedamager]

I agree. He is a man who can work wonders. And a genuinely nice bloke too!

[MtB]

 

We are going to visit Adrian shortly - he has a wooden boat in pieces at the moment and we thought that would be a good starting point. Kevin is a cabinet maker in trade so will do as much of the work as possible himself to return Ian to as close to the original state as possible.

 

 

Sarah, I'm HIGHLY pleased and relieved to find out you two know what exactly you have bought, and aren't a couple of newbies seduced by the charm of a wooden boat unaware that any maintenance beyond a bit of painting might be required.

 

My best wishes for you and the restoration work you have planned

 

MtB

[PaddingtonBear]

 

Sarah, I'm HIGHLY pleased and relieved to find out you two know what exactly you have bought, and aren't a couple of newbies seduced by the charm of a wooden boat unaware that any maintenance beyond a bit of painting might be required.

 

My best wishes for you and the restoration work you have planned

 

MtB

Very ditto. Will be seeing the wonderful Ade tomorrow evening together with Rex and others I hope

Edited August 13, 2013 by PaddingtonBear

[winja]

Nice bit of movie of ' Ian ' on Laurence Hoggs DVD British Canal History in Colour .... OOOPS is that an advert oops again I thought it said Winja

[Ian Mac]

Welcome SarahT and Kevin. The history you need is not going to be easily available. What you need to know is what planks have been replaced when, the pictures and travels are easy to find, but maintenance records will be really hard to discover, and you need them, I assure you. Just so you know what you have taken on - New front end 20K for timber and goods (some of which you will have to have made or make yourself). Takes about 1 very skilled man years worth of effort. Minimum time 8 weeks on the bank.

Back end- add another half again, the back cabin will be lost

Middle you can do that easily about a 1/2 the cost

so a total rebuild will cost you 3 man years at 40K per year, extras 20K, plus £50K in timber and goods = not much change out of £200K

Also note need docking every year for at least a week for tarring and codging you need at least 4 people for that week,

Whats all this based on - 40yrs of owning a knackered wooden hulk.

Oh and if you find someone who only charges £40 a year let me know, they are robbing themselves and deserve far more, but people like that do exist.

Talk to Chis Lear of the WCBS about how to do it on the cheap, with Grants. He spent forever collecting the wood for the rebuild of Hazel, used freeish labour and still ran out of money.

[billh]

 

so a total rebuild will cost you 3 man years at 40K per year, extras 20K, plus £50K in timber and goods = not much change out of £200K

Also note need docking every year for at least a week for tarring and codging you need at least 4 people for that week,

Whats all this based on - 40yrs of owning a knackered wooden hulk.

 

We're all doomed I tell thee!

A very encouraging post I'm sure. I don't know where you get your figures from but looking after * two* wooden boats for the last 40years hasn't cost us that much in total even over all those years. They are, however, a labour of love and many , many man/woman hours have been expended on them.

Surely your wooden hulk hasn't been knackered for all 40 years? I think that would be very depressing- there must have been times when only a bit of it was knackered?Anyway, you love the boat and the boating, knackered or not so what's the problem? Sometimes it isn't a just a case of throwing money at it.

Bill

[David Schweizer]

I remember Ian from the 1960's when she worked with Lucy for Blue Line. They passed our mooring below Uxbridge lock every week, and often moored up oputside the Swan an bottle a few hundred yards from us. However I know far more about the Whitlock family who worked Ian rather than the boat itself.

 

A lot has been written about them in the waterways press, includiing the life story of Rose Whitloock written by David Blagrove and serialised in the now defunct "Canals and Rivers" magazine some years ago. It may be available in book form , if so they will have copies at Braunston marina. the articles included a lot of photographs including several of Ian,

 

Rose and Bill Whitlock are sadly no longer with us, but their daughter Joan is still living in Braunston, as is Rose's cousin Laura Carter who worked ian most of the time. Although I meet them occassionally informally at boat gatherings and sometimes in the village, i do not have contact details, but there are members of this forum who have closer communication with them. Their son is a member of this forum but has not posted for several years, and i cannot remember his forum name.

 

Not much help, but a bit of foraging shuld produce quite a few photographs of Ian in old wateways magazine articles.

[Ian Mac]

We're all doomed I tell thee!

A very encouraging post I'm sure. I don't know where you get your figures from but looking after * two* wooden boats for the last 40years hasn't cost us that much in total even over all those years. They are, however, a labour of love and many , many man/woman hours have been expended on them.

Surely your wooden hulk hasn't been knackered for all 40 years? I think that would be very depressing- there must have been times when only a bit of it was knackered?Anyway, you love the boat and the boating, knackered or not so what's the problem? Sometimes it isn't a just a case of throwing money at it.

Bill

Hi Bill as you know as well as I do, the thing that cost is the cost of the people doing the job. Thus I agree with you it is possible to maintain wooden boats well, but as you say its a labour of love and many hands make light (ha ha) work. Also owning your own boat yard doesn't half reduce the costs, he says jealously.

I have just heard that the Stour has a bad back end and that they (the BCLM) are looking at a 6 figure budget to do the work, I also know how much Gifford has cost over the years, she has cost many times what we have spent on ours. Both these boats have been/will be professionally rebuilt to very high standards, it is the labour costs which are the fortune, even the WCBS has spent well over 75 grand doing up Hazel. So I stand by my numbers, and I bet my material and sundries costs are about correct for today's prices.

However we aren't all doomed, our group is still here, as is your group, forty odd years on, its just that our boats are not perfect museum pieces for a few years before such boats drop below our standard of maintenance, because they do not do regular fixing, mainly just cosmetic stuff. We have never been on the bank, we have always done our maintenance in drydocks, it encourages us to get the job done

So I have every hope for NB Ian as the new owners know something about wood. They now need to learn about boat building, and the golden rules

NO IRON TOUCHES TIMBER galvanise everything

RAIN WATER RIOTS TIMBER caulk all your seams watertight, wood should be either be wet or dry and never swap. Damp equals rot.