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50ft Narrowboat Unique / unusual design

David Mack

By David Mack
in General Boating

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churchward Veteran II

churchward

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Hmm, its different innit. Actually I quite like parts of it, the fore end has a bit of Humber keel about it, the top would look better being uncluttered, the wheelhouse is alright. Picture it with a bit of sheer instead of the bleak straightness of the thing and it could look pretty good, Bit of 'Ferrous' in there as well as a bit of 'Elizabeth' Good Effort but doesn't quite succeed.

I must admit "Elizabeth" came to my mind when I saw the picture partly the shape and partly the colour scheme I suppose.

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FadeToScarlet Veteran

FadeToScarlet

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I actually quite like it. If it were 20' or so shorter, it would look like a proper workboat.

 

Edit: it needs a spoiler on the back, and neon underbody lighting. And a big subwoofer.

 

I think it's the equivalent of a 1.6 litre Fiat Panda being taken through Halfords and having stickers, alloys, non functioning ailments, and a mahoosive spoiler on the boot lid.

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peterboat Veteran II

peterboatDonate to Canal World

Posted
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I actually quite like it. If it were 20' or so shorter, it would look like a proper workboat.

 

Edit: it needs a spoiler on the back, and neon underbody lighting. And a big subwoofer.

 

I think it's the equivalent of a 1.6 litre Fiat Panda being taken through Halfords and having stickers, alloys, non functioning ailments, and a mahoosive spoiler on the boot lid.

no they have put the big engine in as wellclapping.gifrolleyes.gif

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blackrose Veteran II

blackrose

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Posted (edited)

I kinda like it, although that probably has less to do with the aesthetics of this particular boat than it does with my general appreciation of the colour brought to the canals by having a range of weird and wonderful boats around. Let's face it, no leisure boat with living space instead of a cargo hold is a 'proper,' traditional narrowboat at the end of the day, and IMHO it's no bad thing that there are boaters and builders out there looking for something a little different from the basic patterns established in the past few decades.

I agree, I quite like it too.

 

 

I doubt that Jim would agree with you. It has only a passing resemblence to Elizabeth

 

IMG_2498.JPG

There was a boat moored at Watford that looked like that. Is it one and the same?

 

I'm all for diversity when it comes to boats. Some people seem to prefer boring narrowboat homogeneity.

Edited by blackrose
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David Schweizer Veteran II

David Schweizer

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Posted (edited)

I agree, I quite like it too.

 

 

There was a boat moored at Watford that looked like that. Is it one and the same?

 

I'm all for diversity when it comes to boats. Some people seem to prefer boring narrowboat homogeneity.

 

Yes that would be the same one, although I am not sure it is there any more, we saw her last summer moored on a private mooting, on either the Shropshire Union or Trent and Mersey

Edited by David Schweizer
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Athy Veteran II

AthyDonate to Canal World

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'Sadly' thee and me are in a minority nowadays....

You say so? I haven't been counting them, but I'd say that there must be at least twice the number of narrowboats with rectangular windows compared with those with portholes.

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cuthound Veteran II

cuthoundDonate to Canal World

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You say so? I haven't been counting them, but I'd say that there must be at least twice the number of narrowboats with rectangular windows compared with those with portholes.

My observations show most have a combination of both :)

 

Edited to remove a letter "v" pretending to be a space.

Edited by cuthound
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Athy Veteran II

AthyDonate to Canal World

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My observations show most have a combination of both smile.png

 

Edited to remove a letter "v" pretending to be a space.

Well aye, I almost mentioned that, but the typical configuration has rectangular windows in the daytime quarters - saloon, galley - and perhaps a couple of small portholes towards the stern, in bedroom or engine room. So let's say that a preponderance of n/b's have windows which are predominantly rectangular rather than round.

Cue 1,514 photos of boats with totally different configurations, square windows, no windows, etc. Oh, and lest we forget, triangular ones (usually confined to the cratch/deck board, but I bet someone has them along the sides).

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BGA Community Regular

BGA

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Do any of the more technically minded types want to give us an idea what it's going to be like with a 185hp engine? Is it powerful enough for a 50ft boaIf

 

If it has a matching prop you could almost use it for water skiing

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DoesNotFloat Gongoozler

DoesNotFloat

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Just signed up to say I know this boat and the person that built it, made a short trip to Sowerby Bridge and back on it a few years ago (might have been 2009). Whoever buys it is getting a very solid well made boat.

 

 

Do any of the more technically minded types want to give us an idea what it's going to be like with a 185hp engine? Is it powerful enough for a 50ft boat?

 

Works well as a tug, towed my boat home after a fire, early December and breaking ice all the way.

 

 

Hmm, its different innit. Actually I quite like parts of it, the fore end has a bit of Humber keel about it, the top would look better being uncluttered, the wheelhouse is alright. Picture it with a bit of sheer instead of the bleak straightness of the thing and it could look pretty good, Bit of 'Ferrous' in there as well as a bit of 'Elizabeth' Good Effort but doesn't quite succeed.

 

The guy who built it made it for his own use to his own design, with no intentions of ever selling it. Only reason he sold it was to buy a Humber Keel one of his friends offered him at a good price.

 

Of course the size of the engine is part of the issue but so is the size of the blades being waved around.

They might only be inches across.

 

Engine, Gearbox, Propshaft and Prop are all proportional. I've had my arm down the weedhatch and I've seen the boat out of the water before the current owner bought it.

 

 

With 185 bhp and a matching prop it will be the first narrowboat capable of getting up on the plane! smile.png

 

It won't plane, it just digs itself deeper if you use too much power.

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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

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Just signed up to say I know this boat and the person that built it, made a short trip to Sowerby Bridge and back on it a few years ago (might have been 2009). Whoever buys it is getting a very solid well made boat.

 

 

 

Works well as a tug, towed my boat home after a fire, early December and breaking ice all the way.

 

 

 

The guy who built it made it for his own use to his own design, with no intentions of ever selling it. Only reason he sold it was to buy a Humber Keel one of his friends offered him at a good price.

 

 

Engine, Gearbox, Propshaft and Prop are all proportional. I've had my arm down the weedhatch and I've seen the boat out of the water before the current owner bought it.

 

 

 

It won't plane, it just digs itself deeper if you use too much power.

 

 

'Submarining' being the next stage if you keep winding on more revs?!

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bargemast Influencer

bargemast

Posted
Posted (edited)

Just signed up to say I know this boat and the person that built it, made a short trip to Sowerby Bridge and back on it a few years ago (might have been 2009). Whoever buys it is getting a very solid well made boat.

 

 

 

 

Works well as a tug, towed my boat home after a fire, early December and breaking ice all the way.

 

 

 

 

The guy who built it made it for his own use to his own design, with no intentions of ever selling it. Only reason he sold it was to buy a Humber Keel one of his friends offered him at a good price.

 

 

 

Engine, Gearbox, Propshaft and Prop are all proportional. I've had my arm down the weedhatch and I've seen the boat out of the water before the current owner bought it.

 

 

 

 

It won't plane, it just digs itself deeper if you use too much power.

Do you happen to have any photos of this boat out of the water, just to see what her stern looks like, is the shape of the swim the same as a more commun narrowboat?

 

Peter.

Edited by bargemast
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DoesNotFloat Gongoozler

DoesNotFloat

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Posted

 

 

'Submarining' being the next stage if you keep winding on more revs?!

 

bumping along the bottom collecting all the crap was the next stage, after pushing all the water from one end of the pound to the other, followed closely by an adventure down the weedhatch. I still have a photo of that somewhere although I can't find it at the moment. Park Nook lock, 3:30am, snowflakes the size of 50p pieces coming down thick & fast, and an eerie yellow glow coming back up out of the weed hatch from a submerged battery torch.

 

Do you happen to have any photos of this boat out of the water, just to see what her stern looks like, is the shape of the swim the same as a more commun narrowboat?

 

Peter.

 

I don't have any out-of-the-water pics, but as far as I can remember the swim is the same as every other narrowboat I ever looked at, the only thing unusual I recall is that the weedhatch is approaching 3 times the size of the one on my springer, big enough to work comfortably with both hands at once. Seriously considering getting him to make one just like it to fit on mine.

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bargemast Influencer

bargemast

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Posted (edited)

It's surely a very different boat than the more or less standard type which makes it a safer boat that's not as likely to ever get stolen, as it would be hard to change the looks to disguise her enough.

The price that's asked does seem very reasonable for a boat that will last forever (or maybe even longer) given the plate thicknesses used for her build.

 

The engine could be sold to someone with a sea-going boat, and replaced by a different and more adapted to her needs for canal cruising.

 

In case someone would like to do that, I have a choice of 2 low hours LISTER HR2 engines with Lister 3:1 gearboxes for sale, that would be plenty powerful enough for her.

 

Peter.

Edited by bargemast
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