Belated thoughts on the Crick Show - and a moan

[Boat&Bikes]

The thing that surprises me most about Crick are the number of people that say they are buying a boat that have never actually been on one!

We did that, stopped for a coffee at a marina whilst out looking for a new motorbike... Ended up with a boat. Ian

[Athy]

Talking of clones, why is it that there are so many boats of a certain age painted dark blue with cream lining? There seem to be hundreds and not all from the same builder.

Boat beige?

Red and green is another favourite colour scheme for older boats. I wonder how their owners find them in the car park.

[Bettie Boo]

I quite fancy Purple but, 'im @ the back won't even consider it

[Athy]

I quite fancy Purple but, 'im @ the back won't even consider it

Oh, I can't imagine anyone choosing such a colour for their boat.

[frahkn]

 

 

Honeystreet (b 2005) is a similar layout, the forward 'saloon' is actually the Master suite with the ensuite, which you do have make up every night while amidships is the perm double.

Dharl,

 

I was one of the original owners of Honeystreet so was at the launch in 2002.

 

Frank.

 

Sorry, Cuthound got there first. Should read the whole thread before sticking my oar in!

Edited June 8, 2016 by frahkn

[Dharl]

Dharl,

 

I was one of the original owners of Honeystreet so was at the launch in 2002.

 

Frank.

 

Sorry, Cuthound got there first. Should read the whole thread before sticking my oar in!

 

Honeystreet is a popular boat, found plenty of former and current owners on this forum...... :-)

[Robbo]

I remember it being shown at Crick. Ken spent the whole time trying to get all 15 remote controls to work at once. Five TVs, including one in the shower, and glass bulkheads throughout.

 

It looks like they wanted a all singing all dancing gadget system which is what knocked the price up.. However if you take the boat style with the stern (minus rear seats), windows, glass doors and remove all the useless gadgets it would have been a reasonable price.

 

 

Reading their build blog they should have been advised to hire a normal boat for a long period of time so they could have gained some experience with English canals. They would have had better ideas and rained some of the daft ones.

Edited June 8, 2016 by Robbo

[oarfish]

Valhalla is a mullet, goth party on the outside, white ash and reverse layout on the inside. We do have fitted bookshelves and a .conning tower that turns it into a sort of hemi-trad with additional storage space.

[Bettie Boo]

Valhalla is a mullet, goth party on the outside, white ash and reverse layout on the inside. We do have fitted bookshelves and a .conning tower that turns it into a sort of hemi-trad with additional storage space.

 

Ohhhh if your boat is the one I'm thinking of...WB that kinda looks like a black sub...I LOVE it

 

Well cool

 

If it's a different boat, I'm sure it's very nice as well

[RLWP]

 

Ohhhh if your boat is the one I'm thinking of...WB that kinda looks like a black sub...I LOVE it

 

Well cool

 

If it's a different boat, I'm sure it's very nice as well

 

It's the one in his avatar

 

Richard

[Bettie Boo]

 

It's the one in his avatar

 

Richard

 

guess I should have gone to Specsavers

[Robbo]

Valhalla is a mullet, goth party on the outside, white ash and reverse layout on the inside. We do have fitted bookshelves and a .conning tower that turns it into a sort of hemi-trad with additional storage space.

 

Is this the one?

 

I like the look, but I don't like the front bit as I think it is impractical. I think I would have continued the roof, but at a lower level, perhaps even at gunnel height to make it a deck.

 

Do you have any interior pics for the nosey people like me?

[Neil T]

Definitely wouldn't blame the boatbuilders. I'm constantly surprised at the similarity of people's tastes, and also the way the house mentality of keeping a boat bland, so that it is easy to sell again, prevails.

It's the customers driving the fitouts. Add a bit of austerity and reduction in boatbuilder numbers and same same same.

 

My narrowboat becomes increasingly unsellable in this context. First because it's not a widebeam, and second....

 

Took the oven and eye level grill out when I realised the gas consumption. (Iron disc on the gas ring for toast. Solid fuel stove with an oven on top.)

Chucked the 240V fridge, and the washing up machine. Built in a keel coldbox. + very small Vitrifrigo 12V fridge with separate compressor on the keel plate.

Removed real but fake pidgeon box on roof to create the final bit of necessary space for 2 huge solar panels.

Working on chucking the beta 43 for electric motor.

Composting toilet.

Bunk taken out and converted to cot for one year old.

Painted ceilings off-white.

Four large (Muji plastic) drawers cut into and recessed under outer half of double bed. (FanTAStic drawers these, I recommend.)

 

In other words a boat designed to live in a marina with a mains cable constantly stuck up its fundament has not spent one night in a marina since I bought her and is now emphatically off-grid.

 

Who on earth would want to buy that? (If I was selling which I aint.)

Edited June 8, 2016 by Neil T

[Robbo]

Working on chucking the beta 43 for electric motor.

In other words a boat designed to live in a marina with a mains cable constantly stuck up its fundament has not spent one night in a marina since I bought her and is now emphatically off-grid.

Where you going to get the power from for the electric motor if your now essentially off-grid, does the boat come with a diesel genny as well?

[MtB]

 

Is this the one?

 

 

 

 

I don't think so, Valhalla is owned by oarfish, to whom you are replying!

 

Valhalla is a NB. You photo looks to me like widebeam Valhalla II, commissioned by the same chap who built Valhalla, IIRC.

Edited June 8, 2016 by Mike the Boilerman

[peterboat]

The red and white one was built to order, reputed to have cost over £250,000, the very rich original owner found the canals not to his taste. It did sell on but for a considerable loss last seen at Aston marina near Stone. It is a little quirky always thought it would look better on the Thames.

 

Ken

New and used boat company had it up for sale for ages it was sold for a big loss, when I went on it nothing worked it was damp and horrible! they plugged it in to charge it up and nothing still worked!!

[Robbo]

 

 

I don't think so, Valhalla is owned by oarfish, to whom you are replying!

 

Valhalla is a NB. You photo looks to me like widebeam Valhalla II, commissioned by the same chap who built Valhalla, IIRC.

 

This one? http://kateboats.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/valhalla.pdf

 

Oarfish, have you been too Granary Wharf, Leeds in the past year? If not then there's another NB like it!

[MtB]

 

This one? http://kateboats.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/valhalla.pdf

 

Oarfish, have you been too Granary Wharf, Leeds in the past year? If not then there's another NB like it!

 

 

Yes that's oarfish's bote.

 

On reflection, the widebeam I said was Valhalla II might actually be called "Walhalla".

[Allan(nb Albert)]

 

 

Yes that's oarfish's bote.

 

On reflection, the widebeam I said was Valhalla II might actually be called "Walhalla".

You were right first time. Kate Boats built the widebeam Valhalla (not Valhalla II) in about 2011 having previously built the nb Valhalla for the same owner. I recall that the owner was living on the narrowboat in the marina at Stockton whilst the widebeam was being fitted out in Kate Boats unit on the small industrial estate above the marina.

 

 

[Neil T]

 

Where you going to get the power from for the electric motor if your now essentially off-grid, does the boat come with a diesel genny as well?

 

Well spotted - that comes from the sale of the Beta along with a lot of batteries. It's the last bit of the jigsaw puzzle.

However, here's a question...........given the annual mileage of a lot of London cc'ers (and this is the compliant ones) could you power a ton of batteries just with solar and do your 50 miles a year or whatever it is? ie how many electric miles would X2 weeks of solar give you............?

[cuthound]

2002?, we had her painted this season and she looks 3 years younger now..... ;-)

Most years she had to be painted every year due to a combination of being painted in February and then immediately taken out in gales etc, and shall we say inexperienced steerers.

 

I always wanted a proper repaint by someone like Andy Russell rather than a quick tosh overvby the local hire company, but was always out voted

 

By contrast DQ's paint is nearly 9 years old, and the damage is UV related rather than scratched.

 

Edited to add a frowny which actually shows up on the forum.

Edited June 8, 2016 by cuthound

[frahkn]

Most years she had to be painted every year due to a combination of being painted in February and then immediately taken out in gales etc, and shall we say inexperienced steerers.

 

I always wanted a proper repaint by someone like Andy Russell rather than a quick tosh overvby the local hire company, but was always out voted

 

 

 

Well you can't blame me. I never went to an owners meeting in the 11 years of share ownership.

 

Always agreed to go along with the majority view on anything decided.

 

The one exception was that I did not want the boat's base moved to the K&A.

 

Frank.

[saltysplash]

 

ETA - whilst typing the above something struck me. I was offline for a few months from Nov - April, and since I've come back there seems to be a lot less WB members posting. Did I miss something major whilst offline? Are we really not welcome round these parts, was there some serious bust up? I've always taken the banter between WB & NB owners as just that...banter in the most part.

 

Where have the likes of:

 

Dean

Blackrose

Jeylyn

Juliynn

 

all gone? there's someone else missing, but their user ID slips my memory at present.

 

 

I did reply to this earlier but my post has been removed, so it appears I cant tell you what has happend to some members.

[kris88]

It's a shame UK builders either do fat narrowboats or replica dutch barges. It would be nice to see replicas of Leeds Liverpool short boats and others alike. Seems that the focus is just on interior space.

If you had made it as far as Skipton last year , you would have seen quite a few L&L short boat replicas. Including a very nice looking boat 50'by10' Aries. Tyler Wilson also make what they call a "Sheffield keel" not that it looks like a Sheffield keel but definately different from the clone WB's.

Edited June 9, 2016 by kris88

[Robbo]

If you had made it as far as Skipton last year , you would have seen quite a few L&L short boat replicas. Including a very nice looking boat 50'by10' Aries. Tyler Wilson also make what they call a "Sheffield keel" not that it looks like a Sheffield keel but definately different from the clone WB's.

 

I've seen a few replicas in Leeds centre, as well as the "Sheffield" one (think it was here in 2014).