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OTLEY


pete harrison

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1 hour ago, Ray T said:

Well done, piccy's please.....

At this moment in time OTLEY is inaccessible unless you have a boat, well almost. I have not seen it since we 'did the deal' and I will not see it again until early April. OTLEY is in a really bad place as far as photographs are concerned and this is probably the best one I took:

5a6ef6af7bc95_stern08October2017.jpg.a063b846b745b88744442a5f8f946890.jpg

and yes, the stern fenders will be lifted :captain:

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20 minutes ago, Admiral said:

Nice one..

 

otley.JPG

I have been delving into OTLEY's past for the past couple of months and I have a high resolution image of the one above where some of the lettering can clearly be seen, including OTLEY's fleet number, LANCING's registration number and the names of the butty's - but thanks for highlighting it. I think this is about 1957 :captain:

  • Greenie 2
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1 hour ago, pete harrison said:

I have been delving into OTLEY's past for the past couple of months and I have a high resolution image of the one above where some of the lettering can clearly be seen, including OTLEY's fleet number, LANCING's registration number and the names of the butty's - but thanks for highlighting it. I think this is about 1957 :captain:

If you should happen to find anything of LETCHWORTH actually as LETCHWORTH, then I would be most grateful of the information.  So far, although well photographed as FLAMINGO, I have yet to see a single identifiable picture dating from before the 1960s.

Also how were you able to get a high resolution picture of an image from the CRT archive, please?  When I enquired about one, (the colour photo of SICKLE at Boxmoor), I was told no formal way yet existed, but someone promised to produce me one as a favour.  Unfortunately it never materialised, and attempts to chase the person involved came to nowt.

Is there now a formalised way to get images, (I'm happy to pay)?

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8 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

Excellent!

"Grand Union"? - Tick
"Large" boat? - Tick
"Northwich"? - Tick

What's not to like?

 

The fact that it is not carrying an increasingly precious and rare 1960s or 1970s or 1980s conversion?!

Edited by Mike the Boilerman
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9 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

The fact that it is not carrying an increasingly precious and rare 1960s or 1970s or 1980s conversion?!

I was intrigued from the original add what "conversion" it was carrying!

IIRC it was advertised as quite recent, but seemed incomplete.  This is the only remnant of the advert I can still find....

 

Otley.jpg.aa6ba9d0dc19bd1cb9ded2a855dcff8c.jpg

I  don't think any precious history will be lost by OTLEY being returned to fully unconverted condition, and I don't think it has ever carried an "historic" cabin conversion, has it?

I take your point though, I think, it is a shame that some long converted boats have now lost conversions with some history.

(I hope whoever buys ELIZABETH has no plans to de-convert it!)

EDIT:  As an aside CRT give some financial incentive to strip off such conversions.  FLAMINGO without the cabin conversion would qualify for the historic boat discount, but while it remains in place, is subject to the full undiscounted fee.

Edited by alan_fincher
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3 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

The fact that it is not carrying an increasingly precious and rare 1960s or 1970s or 1980s conversion?!

I would have thought a conversion dating from the 'noughties' is very rare, and unfortunately OTLEY has one from this date - but not for long I hope (the dilemma being I want it off as soon as possible but it will need considerable work to the gunwales before the running gear is replaced and the cloths can go on, so in the meantime the hold will need regular pumping out and I live a long way from where it is to be kept) :captain:

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3 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

I was intrigued from the original add what "conversion" it was carrying!

IIRC it was advertised as quite recent, but seemed incomplete.  This is the only remnant of the advert I can still find....

 

Otley.jpg.aa6ba9d0dc19bd1cb9ded2a855dcff8c.jpg

I  don't think any precious history will be lost by OTLEY being returned to fully unconverted condition, and I don't think it has ever carried an "historic" cabin conversion, has it?

This is as close as OTLEY has ever been to being converted. There are no internal works to this conversion, with the running gear still in place beneath it and the chains have not been slackened. I can't remember whether there is a bulkhead at the fore end of this structure.

The problem is the gunwales are steel as far as the mast, and unfortunately are about 2 inches too narrow (as can be seen in the photograph above). I am undecided whether to keep the steel gunwales but have them widened and run up to the fore end or whether to remove the lot and go back to wooden gunwales :captain:

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11 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

I was intrigued from the original add what "conversion" it was carrying!

IIRC it was advertised as quite recent, but seemed incomplete.  This is the only remnant of the advert I can still find....

 

Otley.jpg.aa6ba9d0dc19bd1cb9ded2a855dcff8c.jpg

I  don't think any precious history will be lost by OTLEY being returned to fully unconverted condition, and I don't think it has ever carried an "historic" cabin conversion, has it?

I take your point though, I think, it is a shame that some long converted boats have now lost conversions with some history.

(I hope whoever buys ELIZABETH has no plans to de-convert it!)

EDIT:  As an aside CRT give some financial incentive to strip off such conversions.  FLAMINGO without the cabin conversion would qualify for the historic boat discount, but while it remains in place, is subject to the full undiscounted fee.

Is it true that Slough has changed hands again and is to be restored to working trim? 

Maybe one for being left alone with it's "historic" conversion, especially with the recent passing of Sir Frank Price.

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10 minutes ago, pete harrison said:

The problem is the gunwales are steel as far as the mast, and unfortunately are about 2 inches too narrow (as can be seen in the photograph above). I am undecided whether to keep the steel gunwales but have them widened and run up to the fore end or whether to remove the lot and go back to wooden gunwales :captain:

Fulbourne has steel gunwales (at the right height) around the back cabin and engine room, but wooden ones from there forward. A good compromise I think.

And anyway, with steel gunwales how are you going to attach the side cloths?

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9 minutes ago, pete harrison said:

I am undecided whether to keep the steel gunwales but have them widened and run up to the fore end or whether to remove the lot and go back to wooden gunwales :captain:

I guess there are a lot of trade offs involving costs / authenticity / maintainability.

At least one of the boats trading has only steel plate where wooden gunwales would normally be, but as no attempt is ever made to cloth it up, the issues of how you attach cloths and what you tie to what does not arise.  I guess the operator has to be a bit more careful walking on steel surfaces than oak ones, though.

I assume you will to some extent be guided by those you engage to do the works on the boat?  Would this be the yard that has a woodworking operation alongside the steel-working one?  They will certainly be able to present likely costs to you, of course.

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17 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Fulbourne has steel gunwales (at the right height) around the back cabin and engine room, but wooden ones from there forward. A good compromise I think.

And anyway, with steel gunwales how are you going to attach the side cloths?

I was referring to the hold gunwales rather than the cabin, in which respect OTLEY is like FULBOURNE in having steel gunwales around the back cabin and engine room.

The steel gunwales as far forward as the mast are of fabricated box construction, and are the correct height but a couple of inches too narrow. This means the beams are too narrow for these gunwales and will require wedging to prevent them sliding / falling. OTLEY will end up with proper width gunwales in either steel or wood and new running gear and cloths :captain:

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19 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

I guess there are a lot of trade offs involving costs / authenticity / maintainability.

I assume you will to some extent be guided by those you engage to do the works on the boat?  Would this be the yard that has a woodworking operation alongside the steel-working one?  They will certainly be able to present likely costs to you, of course.

I have yet to discuss OTLEY's renovations with any Yard at length as it is difficult for them without the boat to inspect, but I will be talking to a couple of Yards and I will listen to what they have to say.

I would have thought side cloths could be attached to steel gunwales by clamping them down with steel strip (instead of the wooden battens on wooden gunwales), but the best way of holding down the steel strip I would need some advice on. The 'ringoles' could be welded in place above and below the steel gunwales at the normal intervals as has been done on a few other boats. At present I am intending to have all renovations carried out professionally and I am sure the biggest problem will be lead time by whoever does the work :captain:.

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