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BW drop in cabins


sparrowcycles

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Hello all,

Just a quick one to see if anyone has any photos of the BW drop in cabins that were apparently made for the river class butties.

I own river class Yeo and, following advice from Pete harrison I found a glimpse of her in the background of a shot in Roger Alsop's book WORKING BOATS (page 70) in which it seems she may have had something like this fitted at some point.

I have lent to book out unfortunately otherwise i would try to attach a photo.

But if anyone has any shots of them or knows if any still exist I would be interested to se first hand.

 

many thanks.

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Its on the hard standing next to the Chandlery at Sileby Marina. I do have pictures somewhere, if not RichardT will be along with one.

 

I believe ther is also one at Industry(Indus?) Yard on the Shroppie near the A5

Edited by matty40s
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5 minutes ago, Ray T said:

I believe Koukouvagia of this parish had a drop in cabin in Owl at one time. I seem to remembering him posting pictures a long while back now.

Thanks, I believe that was a steel one fabricated in the 70s and used in another boat before Owl, im pretty sure the BW ones would be fibreglass, like the bluetop covers themselves.

 

But I am happy to be corrected if indeed it is one! s

Edited by sparrowcycles
wanted to add more
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3 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Its on the hard standing next to the Chandlery at Sileby Marina. I do have pictures somewhere, if not RichardT will be along with one.

 

I believe ther is also one at Industry(Indus?) Yard on the Shroppie near the A5

 Great, I might give industry a call tomorrow then! Thanks

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12 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Its on the hard standing next to the Chandlery at Sileby Marina. I do have pictures somewhere, if not RichardT will be along with one.

 

I believe ther is also one at Industry(Indus?) Yard on the Shroppie near the A5

That one is out of the Hampstead.

 

Dan

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2 minutes ago, furnessvale said:

I stand to be corrected, but weren't the drop in cabins built for the Harbourmaster prototypes ANNE and BERYL rather than the general fleet of true butties?

George

That is what I read myself but having seen that photo of yeo with what (from far away in an old photo) looked like a very different shaped unit or cabin in the hold I thought id ask here.

Just to make clear, this wasnt a cabin in place of the boatmans/back cabin but another cabin ish thing in the hold itself.

wish i had the photo..

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YEO was fitted with a standard / permanent cabin when in trade. The photograph at Sutton Stop shows this boat being used as an accommodation boat, and as such it would have been subject to temporary alteration by those living aboard.

As George has said the only boats to be fitted with removable cabins were ANNE, LEE, BERYL and possibly RAY :captain: 

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Just now, pete harrison said:

YEO was fitted with a standard / permanent cabin when in trade. The photograph at Sutton Stop shows this boat being used as an accommodation boat, and as such it would have been subject to temporary alteration by those living aboard.

As George has said the only boats to be fitted with removable cabins were ANNE, LEE, BERYL and possibly RAY :captain: 

Thanks, Pete, yes Yeo still has her original cabin. I actually hadnt even thought that, being used as an accomodation boat, the family onboard might make their own additions! I just seem to remember reading somewhere about a plan at the time to use a system of drop in/ lift out units for goods carrying (to speed up changeover times) and wondered if it might have been one of those even.

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2 minutes ago, pete harrison said:

YEO was fitted with a standard / permanent cabin when in trade. The photograph at Sutton Stop shows this boat being used as an accommodation boat, and as such it would have been subject to temporary alteration by those living aboard.

As George has said the only boats to be fitted with removable cabins were ANNE, LEE, BERYL and possibly RAY :captain: 

One of the plywood removable cabins ended up for some reason on the bank at Market Bosworth wharf - it was there 40 years ago but long since gone!

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12 hours ago, sparrowcycles said:

 Great, I might give industry a call tomorrow then! Thanks

We did indeed fabricate one that was dropped into Hampstead whilst she was being lived on in London. It has since been removed and half of it was put into another working boat. We do still have a 17’ pod that will drop straight into Hampstead. I will see if I can dig out some pictures. If you see any pictures of Hampstead from the past 10 years where she is clothed up, that’s the pod!

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34 minutes ago, Tiggers said:

We did indeed fabricate one that was dropped into Hampstead whilst she was being lived on in London. It has since been removed and half of it was put into another working boat. We do still have a 17’ pod that will drop straight into Hampstead. I will see if I can dig out some pictures. If you see any pictures of Hampstead from the past 10 years where she is clothed up, that’s the pod!

I have seen Hampstead in 'historic working narrowboats today' and can now discern the pod in the photo, it is a good  way, I believe, to have a living space without altering the boat. Plus I guess it would be transferable should the need arise! 

 

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10 minutes ago, sparrowcycles said:

I have seen Hampstead in 'historic working narrowboats today' and can now discern the pod in the photo, it is a good  way, I believe, to have a living space without altering the boat. Plus I guess it would be transferable should the need arise! 

 

It is a very good idea IMO (slightly biased!) but it’s been useful to have her in working trim with an hour of craning. I would presume it would slot straight into most large woolwiches as half of it is currently in the modern working boat Aldridge. I unfortunately don’t have any pictures of that which is a shame because we refitted it all and it looked stunning

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6 hours ago, sparrowcycles said:

I have seen Hampstead in 'historic working narrowboats today' and can now discern the pod in the photo, it is a good  way, I believe, to have a living space without altering the boat. Plus I guess it would be transferable should the need arise! 

 

 

6 hours ago, Tiggers said:

It is a very good idea IMO (slightly biased!) but it’s been useful to have her in working trim with an hour of craning. I would presume it would slot straight into most large woolwiches as half of it is currently in the modern working boat Aldridge. I unfortunately don’t have any pictures of that which is a shame because we refitted it all and it looked stunning

I have no practical experience of seeing one of these in "hold conversion" use, but it has always seemed to me that id a "pod" is to drop into a typical working boat hold, and that working boat retains its normal gunwales, then of necessity that "pod" can't be much over 6' wide tops.

If you just convert a hold, you have up to another foot of width in the resulting accommodation space.  That's quite a big difference in my view, and the pod must limit your options for a fit out, surely?

Of course you also need a crane and yard space to store it when not in use - fine if you own a boatyard, but not so practical for many of us.

Again I don't know the detail, but surely similar restrictions must have applied to the pods used in the experimental River class motors.  If they have to drop between gunwales, any cross bed would surely have been ridiculously short?

Also why on earth BW thought they would succeed with an arrangement that put a steerer outside unprotected, and without a stove in all weathers I have no idea - on the face of it the whole arrangement with those River motors sounds rather daft!

 

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