Missing RCD

[captain flint]

23 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Barking mad!!  Not you Mike............well?

You think that's mad? Was I the only person to spot the "trans-Atlantic" narrow boat on Apolloduck last year?

I kept scrolling past it, thinking, "I have no idea what that is, but the one thing it certainly is not is an actual 'tran-atlantic' narrow boat. Such a thing can't be, and whoever wrote the ad and is selling the boat must have a screw loose."

But eventually, my curiosity got the better of me, and I clicked on the ad. It claimed that the boat was built in Canada, sailed with a crew of, I can't remember, 8, I think, across the Atlantic to the UK. The plan was for it to end up in Moscow, the ad said, but the project faltered (after, if everything is true, they had done surely the hardest bit!).

The boat itself was 60ft, and it did look extremely well made - including an odd touch for a boat when you would imagine all the money would go on seaworthiness, in the form of individually carved wooden window frames, each by a different artist, it said, with flora and fauna carved around them, rather well.

It was on at £60k. I should really have gone for a look for a laugh, but it was not close to me, and in any case, it was in the water, so no chance to look at the hull. The ad said it has some sort of keel, which you'd kinda assume was as necessary for the Atlantic as it is undesireable for the inland waterways of the UK (Europe, I don't know about).

I was flabbergasted. Wondered if it was a hoax, but to be honest I didn't even phone and chat with them. If it was real, then.... u wot mate?!?!?!

Did anyone else see it, or is this just some mis-remembered fever dream?! 

 

[billh]

23 minutes ago, captain flint said:

You think that's mad? Was I the only person to spot the "trans-Atlantic" narrow boat on Apolloduck last year?

I kept scrolling past it, thinking, "I have no idea what that is, but the one thing it certainly is not is an actual 'tran-atlantic' narrow boat. Such a thing can't be, and whoever wrote the ad and is selling the boat must have a screw loose."

But eventually, my curiosity got the better of me, and I clicked on the ad. It claimed that the boat was built in Canada, sailed with a crew of, I can't remember, 8, I think, across the Atlantic to the UK. The plan was for it to end up in Moscow, the ad said, but the project faltered (after, if everything is true, they had done surely the hardest bit!).

The boat itself was 60ft, and it did look extremely well made - including an odd touch for a boat when you would imagine all the money would go on seaworthiness, in the form of individually carved wooden window frames, each by a different artist, it said, with flora and fauna carved around them, rather well.

It was on at £60k. I should really have gone for a look for a laugh, but it was not close to me, and in any case, it was in the water, so no chance to look at the hull. The ad said it has some sort of keel, which you'd kinda assume was as necessary for the Atlantic as it is undesireable for the inland waterways of the UK (Europe, I don't know about).

I was flabbergasted. Wondered if it was a hoax, but to be honest I didn't even phone and chat with them. If it was real, then.... u wot mate?!?!?!

Did anyone else see it, or is this just some mis-remembered fever dream?! 

 

I've been on that boat when it was at Manchester, talked at length with the skipper, who is(was?) a qualified naval architect. Apart the dimensions, there are few similarities with a narrowboat. He had crossed the Atlantic, landed in Ireland and then crossed to Liverpool and MSC to Manchester. The next stage of his journey was onto the Huddersfield Narrow but with the external keel the draught was likely to be nearly 4ft so I don't think that route was chosen in the end! The skipper was very convincing with many details of the crossing which I found totally believable. Most of the trip was done under sail, the engine being a tiny Sabb or similar just to get in and out of harbour. There were periods of getting blown backwards for several days and being close to running out of diesel for battery charging. Internally, there were steel bulkheads to the full cabin height with rather small ways through,the foredeck could be sealed off so no sea could get in there. Altogether a very interesting project but the boat would be totally unsuited to our narrow canals.

Bill

[PaulJ]

Looked at that one a good few years ago when it first came up for sale. It was up for peanuts then.

The bloke who built it was a lecturer at either a uni or boat building college and alot of the work was done there. It isnt really a narrowboat and the interior was more submarine like with alot of small compartments and watertight bulkheads. Drove me mad in the few hours I was on it, kept tripping over everytime I went through a door! Had a Sabb single pot fitted but the big square sail was no longer on it although the deck fixings remained. A very crude arrangement-the man must have been either a complete lunatic or had some serious  balls. There was still documents on board to support the crossing and Im in no doubt that it did.

Edited January 22, 2018 by PaulJ
Posted same time as Bill-nice to see stories match!

[Naughty Cal]

On 1/21/2018 at 12:37, mrsmelly said:

More to the point why the hell would you? Completely unsuited to anywhere in the world apart from here.

Yet people do for reasons only known to them.

[captain flint]

14 minutes ago, billh said:

The skipper was very convincing with many details of the crossing which I found totally believable.

 

11 minutes ago, PaulJ said:

the man must have been either a complete lunatic or had some serious  balls. There was still documents on board to support the crossing and Im in no doubt that it did.

To be honest, my hunch was it was true, but I just thought I'd cover myself against accusations of gullibility!

Good to hear some more about it, fascinating - maybe the guy was mad AND had balls!

Hadn't realised it was done mainly under sail, wow! Although makes sense when you think about the engine...

Still leaves you scratching your head, though, right?!

[PaulJ]

14 minutes ago, captain flint said:

Hadn't realised it was done mainly under sail, wow! Although makes sense when you think about the engine...

Still leaves you scratching your head, though, right?!

I had expected to see a bloody great tube welded slap bang in the middle of the boat for the mast- but there was nothing at all inside and cant recall any signs of there ever being. The sail seemed to be an 'add on' which was plonked on the roof and secured at each corner ?!

[captain flint]

The phrase "as brave as two short planks" comes to mind!

Having said that, I guess they have the last laugh - it obviously worked!!