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Gordon's Pleasure Cruisers - Lutine Bell


magpie patrick

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The wooden handrails were very distinctive although I remember them as made from single pieces of timber rather than fixed to upstands from the cabin roof as they appear to be in the photo. It could be my memory playing tricks or perhaps the fact that not all the boats had the exact same construction details.

Reading the thread from last August I recall that Thrupp, Cropredy and Claydon Navigators were the three boats that made up a class of 40' sleep 4/5 boats. These boats also had a relatively large cruiser stern so cabin space was efficiently used. They were reverse layout which was galley/double dinette/shower and toilet/front cabin with 2 no. singles plus a bunk a wash basin; all in a cabin of 25' or so. We hired Thrupp Navigator three years in a row from 1977 - 1979 with a family of five and visited Coventry, Oxford and Snarestone and then moved onto the 50' Measham Navigator for a trip round the Warwickshire Ring with granny before going back to 40' for four of us to go to Aylesbury and back in a week once Blisworth tunnel had reopened.

JP

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I can't remember the length of Isis, but I imagine about 35 foot. There were only the three of us, all girls, and it was our first hire, so we would have favoured something smaller, both for price and ease of use. We went up to Rugby. I particularly remember some little towny oiks chucking stones at the boats. Plus ça change, eh!

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On 4/15/2018 at 19:29, Captain Pegg said:

The wooden handrails were very distinctive although I remember them as made from single pieces of timber rather than fixed to upstands from the cabin roof as they appear to be in the photo. It could be my memory playing tricks or perhaps the fact that not all the boats had the exact same construction details.

Reading the thread from last August I recall that Thrupp, Cropredy and Claydon Navigators were the three boats that made up a class of 40' sleep 4/5 boats. These boats also had a relatively large cruiser stern so cabin space was efficiently used. They were reverse layout which was galley/double dinette/shower and toilet/front cabin with 2 no. singles plus a bunk a wash basin; all in a cabin of 25' or so. We hired Thrupp Navigator three years in a row from 1977 - 1979 with a family of five and visited Coventry, Oxford and Snarestone and then moved onto the 50' Measham Navigator for a trip round the Warwickshire Ring with granny before going back to 40' for four of us to go to Aylesbury and back in a week once Blisworth tunnel had reopened.

JP

Which begs the question (that I'm not sure I want to ask) did they have any 45 foot narrow boats?

I wish I could get hold of an old brochure - either theirs or the agency they used

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13 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

Which begs the question (that I'm not sure I want to ask) did they have any 45 foot narrow boats?

I wish I could get hold of an old brochure - either theirs or the agency they used

I take it Lutine Bell is 45'? As was stated earlier it was big fleet so it's quite possible. Gordons' agent was Hoseasons.

JP

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Have you removed all the drawers and looked at their bases?

I don't know about canal hire boats but on the Broads it was common practice for hire companies to mark the boat's name on the drawer bottoms.

When I had the Broads cruiser Vistabell all the drawers had the name under them apart from one which had "Gaybell" written instead so presumably the system wasn't 100% foolproof.

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I was scanning some old photo's for someone else and a gordons pleasure cruisers boat came up "Banbury Navigator" from around 1977, pictures shared below with permission.

with regard to the handrails they appear to be made up in 3 lengths on each side

scan037.jpg.1470542dd0eca3fe652e528892a92d7b.jpgscan031.jpg.0de35b6511ab6e797c0fdbd808f79890.jpgscan018.jpg.c75ea321d69ca3283484954da137db84.jpgscan056.jpg.b04a0cf2f4526d0c3964309351c2d916.jpg

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The handrails depicted onBanbury Navigator are as I remember them and they look different to those on the shot across the roof of Isis Navigator which seem to have a separate upstand on which the wooden handrail is fixed. I didn't mean they were one piece along the length of the roof. That would have needed a very tall tree.

Note the lack of a centre line. I guess the cabin structure wasn't strong enough to take the forces.

JP

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21 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

Note the lack of a centre line. I guess the cabin structure wasn't strong enough to take the forces.

 

Which poses an "interesting" question.

When did centre lines first become common on any leisure narrow boat.

I don't recall any boats in the 1970s actually having them, irrespective of what the cabin was constructed of.

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1 hour ago, alan_fincher said:

 

Which poses an "interesting" question.

When did centre lines first become common on any leisure narrow boat.

I don't recall any boats in the 1970s actually having them, irrespective of what the cabin was constructed of.

Apart from all those ex-working boats with a back end line. . .

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8 hours ago, David Mack said:

Apart from all those ex-working boats with a back end line. . .

Depends on your definition of "leisure narrow boat", I guess, but on the whole that is only ones not carrying a cabin coinversion, (though our "Flamingo" with the "gap" is an exception).

However placed only about 17 feet along the length of a 71 foot boat, a line tied to a back end rail is hardly a "centre" line, is it?  We find it almost impossible to pull the bow of te boat to the side using it, particularly if windy, because the mechanical advantage is so poor.  For that reason we added another "centre" line point considerably further forward.

 

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13 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

 

Which poses an "interesting" question.

When did centre lines first become common on any leisure narrow boat.

I don't recall any boats in the 1970s actually having them, irrespective of what the cabin was constructed of.

 

3 hours ago, bizzard said:

I don't remember centre lines being used much before about the late 1980's.

Yes, my recollection is that they started to be fitted to some private narrowboats in the early 80's and we're pretty much ubiquitous by the early 90's. 

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10 hours ago, alan_fincher said:


However placed only about 17 feet along the length of a 71 foot boat, a line tied to a back end rail is hardly a "centre" line, is it?  We find it almost impossible to pull the bow of te boat to the side using it, particularly if windy, because the mechanical advantage is so poor.  For that reason we added another "centre" line point considerably further forward.

 

I can sympathise with that! With Fulbourne unladen but sporting a full set of cloths, using the back end line as a centre line in a cross wind is not usually very successful.

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I note from other posters that the cabin on the boats shown goes a long way forward and there is no front gas locker. As can be seen Lutine has a rather different configuration. This doesn't mean she wasn't a Gordon's boat but it does mean she was either a different builder or a different date of build (I assume more modern?).

Curiously although she has a forward  gas locker she also has a deep well deck that is below the water line and drains though the cabin, and water tank squeezed in there too! A bit of a hybrid between old and modern designs? When did front gas locker become common? 

20180427_181054.jpg

Edited by magpie patrick
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2 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

I note from other posters that the cabin on the boats shown goes a long way forward and there is no front gas locker. As can be seen Lutine has a rather different configuration. This doesn't mean she wasn't a Gordon's boat but it does mean she was either a different builder or a different date of build (I assume more modern?).

The boats pictured earlier in this thread look to have a Shropshire Union Cruisers / Dartline heritage.

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4 minutes ago, David Mack said:

The boats pictured earlier in this thread look to have a Shropshire Union Cruisers / Dartline heritage.

That was my thoughts too - someone must have made them for Dratline, as very similar vessels appeared on the Grand Canal for Celtic Cruisers of Tullamore

On 25/04/2018 at 19:53, Jess-- said:

I was scanning some old photo's for someone else and a gordons pleasure cruisers boat came up "Banbury Navigator" from around 1977, pictures shared below with permission.

with regard to the handrails they appear to be made up in 3 lengths on each side

scan037.jpg.1470542dd0eca3fe652e528892a92d7b.jpgscan031.jpg.0de35b6511ab6e797c0fdbd808f79890.jpg

Those cabin doors and handrails may well be copied as the refurb continues...

Does anyone paint their narrow boats white anymore? I'm very much thinking of going for the 70's look

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9 hours ago, David Mack said:

The boats pictured earlier in this thread look to have a Shropshire Union Cruisers / Dartline heritage.

Lutine Bell has the very distinctive lines of a Rugby Boatbuilders hull, but seems to have the Shropshire Union Cruisers style of grp cabin (most Rugby boats had squarer timber cabins). I think most Gordons boats had SUC hulls and cabins. I have some old brochures somewhere so must dig them out.

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The style of Banbury Navigator in those photos is typical of the vast majority of the fleet as it was in the late 70s and early 80s. However I am fairly sure that the 50' boat we hired in 1983 - Measham Navigator - had square louvre windows.

JP

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On 29/04/2018 at 21:47, Graham and Jo said:

Just found these photos from 1976. This looks like yours I think. Cheers Graham

 

Boat.jpg

That is a rather splendid photo! Blowing it up the boat is Oxford Navigator. There are detail differences which mean I don't think it's Lutine but there are many similarities which show that Lutine is a close relative, including a "join" in the fibreglass cabin about half way down. 

 

May I use that photo (with acknowledgement) to show Lutine's lineage? Would be here and on facebook

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4 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

That is a rather splendid photo! Blowing it up the boat is Oxford Navigator. There are detail differences which mean I don't think it's Lutine but there are many similarities which show that Lutine is a close relative, including a "join" in the fibreglass cabin about half way down. 

 

May I use that photo (with acknowledgement) to show Lutine's lineage? Would be here and on facebook

Yes, you are welcome to use the photos. Cheers Graham

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On 29/04/2018 at 21:47, Graham and Jo said:

Just found these photos from 1976. This looks like yours I think. Cheers Graham

Back of boat.jpg

 

Lutine's back door is to one side, but it is very obviously a later modification as you can see where the central hatch used to be, so the rear deck is largely consistent

 

Anyone any idea what those big blue grills on the back bulkhead would have been for? There is an engine air outlet on the side of the hull so I don't think it's that. (Lutine also has an air outlet in the same place).

 

Am I bonkers trying to replicate the 1970's hire boat look?

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