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Dartagnan

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  • 1 year later...

May be of interest to someone here but I have just found a Gardner engine sign in a live auction finishing Sunday here:

https://www.easyliveauction.com/catalogue/f064cfe03e3193c3ca9e3d4f2e83a99a/0af8d24542e81eb9357e7ef448a6646f/auction-of-vintage-reproduction-signs-jewellery-cigarette/?currentPage=2

 

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Apologies, only just spotted this thread, but was speaking to Danny Williamson on the phone yesterday (he did the 4LK that I had in a Norton Canes nb of mine some years ago) and his Gardner Facebook group page is titled Gardner Oil Engines. 128 members presently.

Roger

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  • 1 year later...

In the mid 1980s I was a narrowboater, having a 41' Mindon with a cruiser stern and a 3-cylinder air-cooled Lister engine. On my retirement in September 2019, I bought a steel river boat, 54' x 12', with a Gardner 6LW engine driving a 25 x 11 3-blade prop through a PRM 2:1 gearbox. The Gardner was refurbished before it was fitted into the barge. It runs very nicely, and when I have time on my hands, I'll get her looking very tidy. I'm doing some work on the boat including fitting 1.2kW of solar panels. At the moment she's on the hard at Longport Wharf, but when Covid allows I'll get her taken to Reading by truck. After some familiarisation and testing on the Thames, I'll  hope to her across to France provided the weather window is favourable. Before I take the well-trodden route south to the Canal du Midi, I intend to explore the canals of Belgium and the Netherlands.

Top all copy.jpg

Shiny prop port small.jpg

Theo 1a.jpg

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1 minute ago, David Mack said:

Well it didn't get up to Longport by water!

That must have been an arduous journey too. I suspect it would have needed advance clearance from the police, and escort vehicles front and rear.

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You've presumably dropped the idea of going to Reading via the Kennet & Avon then Trevor ?   A 6LW must push her along at a fair old lick.

Barging short-sea to France post Brexit will be difficult enough, but road transport is likely to introduce a whole wadge of additional paperwork both for the transport company and, I strongly suspect, for the owner of the "goods" being imported.

 

Tam

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1 hour ago, Athy said:

Is she a former trip boat?

That'll need one heck of a big lorry!

Yes, she was built in Todmorden by Pickwell & Arnold 2002 to carry passengers on the Ouse, near York, so was built to exacting MCA specifications. She  then became a trip boat on Lake Windermere, where the MCA regulations were even stiffer. Tiring of bureaucracy, the owner had her converted by P&A to a liveaboard. She then was taken to Reading briefly, then trucked to Longport and put on the Trent & Mersey, where she was the "pied-a-l'eau" for the proprietor of Stoke Boats. So she was afloat on the Trent & Mersey, but obviously couldn't go anywhere. I am the third owner.

 

Yes, she'll need a big lorry, but she's used to trucking: P&A to the Ouse, Ouse to Windermere, Windermere to P&A for mods, back to Windermere, down to Reading, and finally back up to Longport. Her journey back to the Thames will be her seventh road trip, and, as her original owner Jonathan wryly joked, she's done more mileage out of the water than in it! Costs of cranage are not cheap either.

 

Tam: yes, having been warned of, I've abandoned the K&A plan. I'll do that canal when I return to narrow boating in my dotage! I've chums in Dover Coastguard, so once they tell me there's a fair wind and tide for France, I'll hop across to Calais and hope to avoid post-Brexit paperwork.

 

Originally my boat Cordelia (née "Frivolity") was built to emulate a Victorian steam yacht "Esperance". Frivolity had a long pointed bow, a dummy funnel, no wheelhouse, and a large covered bow are for passengers. Conversion to liveaboard enclosed the bow area, increasing the number of windows per side from 6 to 8. Once in Longport, the boatyard cut off and raised the bow, shortening her by 3' for 57' to 54, and giving a much more seaworthy and lock-friendly front end. The folding wheelhouse was also constructed at Longport, so the aft deck is reduced but the boat is much more practical. Also, the engine hatch in now indoors, which must be better. There's no gas on board, having an electric oven and hob, and a Kabola diesel "wood-burner". The yard is adding some suitable bow bits to match those astern. The attached pictures show the stages in modifications:

P&A s:b.gif

img395 copy 2.jpg

Pointy 8 .jpg

barge lift 8 copy.jpg

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16 minutes ago, Athy said:

I remember Pickwell & Arnold's adverts in the boatimags. I'm not sure if they're still in production. From the photos incorporated in the adverts, they built imposing-looking n/b's.

A local speaks: The premises are still there with a faded signboard outside, but I have not seen any signs of activity for a number of years, either from the canal side or the road. So I guess they are no longer active.

The website is still there though.

http://www.pickwellandarnold.co.uk/

Edited by David Mack
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Less than a year ago, I phoned P&A and spoke to one of the partners, He remembered building "Frivolity" and was very helpful. I found the P&A site on Google Earth, and, lo & behold, the "street view" photos (which clearly hadn't been updated for years) showed Frivolity in the canal awaiting modification to  liveaboard status.

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10 minutes ago, David Mack said:

A local speaks: The premises are still there with a faded signboard outside, but I have not seen any signs of activity for a number of years, either from the canal side or the road. So I guess they are no longer active.

The website is still there though.

http://www.pickwellandarnold.co.uk/

Thank you, Local. Well, they're phone is still connected: I just tried the number on the web site, it rang but no one answered.

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4 hours ago, Trevor Lyons said:

In the mid 1980s I was a narrowboater, having a 41' Mindon with a cruiser stern and a 3-cylinder air-cooled Lister engine. On my retirement in September 2019, I bought a steel river boat, 54' x 12', with a Gardner 6LW engine driving a 25 x 11 3-blade prop through a PRM 2:1 gearbox. The Gardner was refurbished before it was fitted into the barge. It runs very nicely, and when I have time on my hands, I'll get her looking very tidy. I'm doing some work on the boat including fitting 1.2kW of solar panels. At the moment she's on the hard at Longport Wharf, but when Covid allows I'll get her taken to Reading by truck. After some familiarisation and testing on the Thames, I'll  hope to her across to France provided the weather window is favourable. Before I take the well-trodden route south to the Canal du Midi, I intend to explore the canals of Belgium and the Netherlands.

Top all copy.jpg

Shiny prop port small.jpg

Theo 1a.jpg

Schilling rudder, I see...

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45 minutes ago, IanD said:

Schilling rudder, I see...

Indeed! Schilling rudders are said to very efficient when manoeuvring at slow speeds!

 

There's also a new rope cutter; there's no weed hatch); and the propeller polishing was done beautifully by AmianJ or Fenton, Stoke on Trent.

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  • 1 month later...

A few months ago a rather fine narrowboat (about 60', I would say) was for sale in Longport. It had a Gardner 5LW! In ordinary canal service, it's hard to see the engine ever being able to be under load. However, the buyer is said to be intending to use her on the Thames as a tug, so the oomph of the big Gardner will be of use at last.

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About 9 years ago I looked at a narrow beam boat based, I think, on a Trent tug, that had a 6lw in it. I seem to remember it had a giant prop and drew at least 3’, and centre steering with a hydraulically raised wheelhouse? The engine was visible under a perspex  hold cover at the stern, and sounded amazing.

I wonder who did buy it?

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12 minutes ago, Trevor Lyons said:

A few months ago a rather fine narrowboat (about 60', I would say) was for sale in Longport. It had a Gardner 5LW! In ordinary canal service, it's hard to see the engine ever being able to be under load. However, the buyer is said to be intending to use her on the Thames as a tug, so the oomph of the big Gardner will be of use at last.

I think I know the boat; it moored next to us at Cropredy some years ago. I heard more recently that the owner had passed away. I'm pleased to hear that the mighty engine is going to be doing a proper job of work again ( Isay again because I assume that it came out of something such as a 'bus).

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On 01/02/2021 at 13:25, Trevor Lyons said:

In the mid 1980s I was a narrowboater, having a 41' Mindon with a cruiser stern and a 3-cylinder air-cooled Lister engine. On my retirement in September 2019, I bought a steel river boat, 54' x 12', with a Gardner 6LW engine driving a 25 x 11 3-blade prop through a PRM 2:1 gearbox. The Gardner was refurbished before it was fitted into the barge. It runs very nicely, and when I have time on my hands, I'll get her looking very tidy. I'm doing some work on the boat including fitting 1.2kW of solar panels. At the moment she's on the hard at Longport Wharf, but when Covid allows I'll get her taken to Reading by truck. After some familiarisation and testing on the Thames, I'll  hope to her across to France provided the weather window is favourable. Before I take the well-trodden route south to the Canal du Midi, I intend to explore the canals of Belgium and the Netherlands.

Top all copy.jpg

Shiny prop port small.jpg

Theo 1a.jpg

I have admired her many time when she sat in the water here, only a stones throw from me. Never knew that she has a Gardner in though, worked on them in trucks for years, still have the whitworth spanners!

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2 hours ago, Bee said:

Phew! the Midi eh? Take a big sun hat and plenty of suncream. It ain't half hot! Summer before last it was 44C in Chalons en Champagne.

 

I was born in Zambia (Northern Rhodesia), some 10 degrees south of the equator. School uniform included a very broad-brimmed felt hat. Much of Zambia's plateau is around 1400m above sea level, so the sun beats down really hard. "It's one of the rules that the greatest fools obey, because the sun is much too sultry and one must avoid its ultry-violet ray"!.

 

So the Midi will be like a nice spring morning by comparison!

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