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GJCC 100 year old tug on ebay!! Amazing survivor


Laurence Hogg

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I'm not doubting for a moment it's the same boat, but sadly she looks to have lost a lot of her roundy bits.

It's hard to see if the hull cladding was done sympathetically.

I suspect if the superstructure were replaced with one more contemporary the swan would reappear.

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This was "Brent" on Limehouse cut a couple of weeks ago (my photo).

ne6drr.jpg

 

Pic from "pinterest" here

068b31cd9105e490813f19e003bafa53.jpg

 

It does appear to be the same boat and is deconvertable although no longer a steam tug. The white bit on the stern is odd but just some cosmetic addition not sure why its there.

 

This is the sort of boat CRT should buy and throw volunteers at that. And I saw a pig flying over the houses of parliament earlier today.

 

 

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I have been following this thread and although BRENT falls outside my field of research I would like to make a few points:

Although it is appreciated that BRENT (like any other wooden ex-commercial canal boat) is a 'survivor' it needs another 10 years to pass before it can be claimed to be 100 years old.

When built BRENT had a wooden hull sheathed in galvanised steel. I imagine this would have been little more than ice plating in its gauge.

The period photograph in post 4 shows a smokey 44 hp Kromhout semi-diesel and not a steam engine. BRENT has had at least four engines throughout its 90 years - Kromhout, Bolinder, National and Perkins :captain:  

  • Greenie 1
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Thanks for the steam engine correction that was my assumption based on the funnel :)

 

The steel sheathing looked quite old to me. It seemed to be pinned on with what looked like small rivets. 

I wonder if its possible this is the original "ice plating" or if it was actually thicker than ice plating would have been ? Does seem extraordinary for it to have survived but I suppose its not impossible .

Edited by magnetman
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Its a shame its not to the same size dimensions as white heather would make a really nice boat if the conversion was done a bit more in keeping the the boat front end. Big national would be nice in it. Nice 3 pot fr3 or something to save a bit of space would work well.

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18 minutes ago, billybobbooth said:

Its a shame its not to the same size dimensions as white heather would make a really nice boat if the conversion was done a bit more in keeping the the boat front end. Big national would be nice in it. Nice 3 pot fr3 or something to save a bit of space would work well.

In 1948 BRENT was fitted with a National DAM6, and at that time it was still in service as a traffic tug.

I wonder if anybody keeps records about these tugs :captain:

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..well I'm interested. ..make a really interesting 5 or 6 year project. ..got a call  out to the vendor to try and arrange a viewing. ...

...trying to find an affordable  off side safe mooring below stoke bruene but out of London is a bit challenging....

...won't know if she is best put somewhere in the water to enjoy while getting wood etc together to rebuild in one or suitable for a rolling rebuild....thoughts guys. ?

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You've had an impressive stable of thoroughbreds behind you, so I'd expect you to be wide awake to the realities of such a project.

Me however, I'd be better advised to stand in a field and rip up twenty pound notes.

Thank goodness for people like you.  Good luck! :)

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I looked at this boat in the early 1990's and thought it was a non-starter then. I am really surprised that it is still going! I think it was moored on the tidal River Lea. It would be very nice to see it restored but with 3'6" draft it is going to struggle on even the GU. Almost impossible to find a bankside mooring with 3'6" I suspect.

I would have thought it an almost impossible restoration and certainly not one that would make any financial sense. I know from working on White Heather how much harder it is than a typical narrowboat because of the complex shape. Having the cabin conversion renders its historic value rather less as well. You could buy it, have some fun on it, and then take it away to a suitable resting place. There are other steel tugs from London that would make a bit more sense.

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2 hours ago, rivergate said:

..well I'm interested. ..make a really interesting 5 or 6 year project. ..got a call  out to the vendor to try and arrange a viewing. ...

...trying to find an affordable  off side safe mooring below stoke bruene but out of London is a bit challenging....

...won't know if she is best put somewhere in the water to enjoy while getting wood etc together to rebuild in one or suitable for a rolling rebuild....thoughts guys. ?

Keep her floating if you can! Depending on bottoms and the sides once starts to dry out you may open a can of worms! The wood will start to shrink and depending on her shaper may start to sag or twist as drying out. There are spaces along the gu the only trouble you may have is width on moorings

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...yeah got to be best but it reads like she's had little done for decades? so may need a total rebuild in one go....

2 hours ago, Mike Adams said:

I looked at this boat in the early 1990's and thought it was a non-starter then. I am really surprised that it is still going! I think it was moored on the tidal River Lea. It would be very nice to see it restored but with 3'6" draft it is going to struggle on even the GU. Almost impossible to find a bankside mooring with 3'6" I suspect.

I would have thought it an almost impossible restoration and certainly not one that would make any financial sense. I know from working on White Heather how much harder it is than a typical narrowboat because of the complex shape. Having the cabin conversion renders its historic value rather less as well. You could buy it, have some fun on it, and then take it away to a suitable resting place. There are other steel tugs from London that would make a bit more sense.

..do you have any pictures from then Mike..?

...whats left that's good on her..? :) ...and which steel tugs please..? :) 

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In the advert it is pictured in one of Thames Dry Docking's floating docks. This means that someone has recently ? had a good butchers at it. I wonder if a call to Thames Dry Docking may yield some information - perhaps approach with a request to dock the boat and discuss that it appears to have recently been docked there.

 

Maybe this was when the work was carried out in 2011.

 

$_58.JPG


Worth a try ?

 

http://thamesdrydocking.co.uk/

 

 

Edited by magnetman
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I will have a look for any pictures. I had a feeling it might be up Barking creek. Bill Blake had/has a yard up there. There is a very neglected steel tug on trot moorings at Twickenham at the top of eel pie island, again converted as a liveaboard was at Brentford some 15 years ago. Also a new replica empty shell on the duck

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Is the tug at eel pie for sale? I have been meaning to visit Kenny Dwan at the slipways there as he invited me for a cup of tea when I saw him up river last year.

When I get round to it I'll ask him about the tug.

Assuming you mean the one with a stern cabin added  on it and diagonal rubbing strakes . it was between Brentford Thames locks and the gauging locks previously, painted in what looked similar to BW green. I went on it about 20 years ago. I think its got a Gardner 6 in there. Its a nice boat but probably even deeper than the Brent ! I think the dock tugs were more like 4ft or more deep. Not sure though. Would be interesting if it is for sale as its sat there for a few years now.

Edited by magnetman
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...a 6xl..? ..its not Fredrich is it..?  ( I found her owner via facebook and he was planning to dock her and agreed to invite me down to see her out of the water  but the contact drifted away/unfriended I think..? )

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I think it was a 6LX yes. The boat I am referring to (eel pie island) is unusual in having a stern cabin added on for live aboard accommodation and also it has diagonal rubbing strakes. I'm wondering if it is a welded tug rather than a riveted one. And possibly ex waterways rather than Thames.

It's not Frederick Whittingham (that one is at Watford and the stern cabin is original as it is a pla health launch not a tug. Frederick Whittingham below:

normal___57_28229.JPG

 

Edited by magnetman
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I will try and find out. Not sure of the draught. My tug Silverlit was a similar size and when I converted it I managed to get the draught to about 4'. We managed to go around the London Ring(early eighties) and up the GU to just beyound Denham deep when we met T and D's trip boat (ex L and L shortboat) and couldn't pass ending up reversing through the lock. Now there are so many wide boats on the GU and often moored near bridge holes and in the channel its hard work for White Heather whose draught  is now about 3' 4" static.

 

 

I5aaaca8a12803_SilverlitSwale1989.jpg.4d375934ed76e75a484d5e8523612857.jpg have been told it is owned by Henry of Eel pie boatyard

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