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Braunston abandoned boat ?


Mike E-W

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On 16/10/2018 at 18:11, magnetman said:

I remember seeing that up above Windsor a year or two ago. Nice looking vessel. Mooring it was on is now occupied by the Josher OWL. 

 

 

Both owned by the same bloke :)

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23 hours ago, noddyboater said:

Do you know anything about the Dutch barge moored at Tim’s place? 

Builders of modern wide beams could certainly learn a thing or two looking at her. 

Tim posts on here from time to time, so you could try asking him!

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Yes 'Gloucester' is lovely isn't it, 12 years old belongs to a friend, a replica of the tug Worcester.

The little dutch boat at our place 'Frieslan' equally as fine out the water, Built in Holland 1923 and has been over here since the early 80's. At 50ft x 9ft handles a treat, Gardner 4LW. 

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On 16/10/2018 at 16:11, Nightwatch said:

That 6L2 is a grand looking engine.

Fame at last!, that's my film, had fun filming it while Jim tried to get the engine to start. Pleased the boat has been restored.

 

L.

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On 16/10/2018 at 09:43, Ray T said:

Mouse, Frog and Mole were built for the refurbishment of Blisworth Tunnel. They were that length so they could turn round in the width of the tunnel.

Mouse.JPG

frog.jpg

Mole.JPG

 

Thank you for those photographs!

 

I think FROG must be the old backend of our narrowboat. When Scholar Gypsy was last stretched at Braunston (Dave Thomas, 1994) we did a part exchange. He stuck a new stern on our boat and we sold him the back end to make a "new" tug called FROG. I am pretty  sure it's the same boat. I  last saw it about 15 years ago near the M45 bridge on the North Oxford. In addition to the porthole, the most distinctive feature was that the stern dollies were not symmetrical. 

 

frog_in_water1.jpg

Edited by Scholar Gypsy
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7 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

That's interesting!  What was it about the back end that made him want it and you want rid of it?

As originally designed (32') there was no through access to the stern. This was (in brief!) because my father and I regarded steering as a solitary activity.  Social stuff happened at the other end. It also gave us space for a large bathroom inside.

 

As my parents got a bit older this wasn't very sensible, and so we needed to arrange safer access through the boat. The simplest way to do this was to chop the stern off (as the engine space was very constrained anyway). The boatyard said they could use it, for the purpose described above I guess. At one point we were going to move the engine (BMC 1.5) from  old boat to new, but in the end that became part of the deal too, and we got a new engine! 

 

I had some fun explaining all this to the marine surveyor on Monday, as the boat was out for its 40 year hull survey. Only about a third of the boat is 40 years old, but never mind. He scratched his head a bit working out where the joins were....

 

A bit more history here:  http://scholargypsy.judgefamily.org.uk/ 

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6 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Did he pick up the spaghetti on the floor?

 

(Now a few more will need to follow your link!) :D

 

I will let you know when his written report arrives.

The other incident that caused us to buy a bigger boat related to the washing up, which was done in a square bucket (which we will still have, for collecting oily water in the engine room). Anyway, my sister emptied the bucket into Market Harborough basin (ca 1973 I think), before removing (and drying) all the cutlery. This was before we had a magnet on board.

 

We were talking about this last weekend (see blog post!), she thinks she may be have been cross about something at the time ...

14 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Simon, interesting history, thank you.

And thanks again for that photo. That does rather look like the bit of bank I saw it on, near the M45 bridge.

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20 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

The other incident that caused us to buy a bigger boat related to the washing up, which was done in a square bucket (which we will still have, for collecting oily water in the engine room). Anyway, my sister emptied the bucket into Market Harborough basin (ca 1973 I think), before removing (and drying) all the cutlery. This was before we had a magnet on board.

The joys of boating!  Funny how these little disasters end up being some of our fondest memories, isn't it? :)

 

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2 hours ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

 

Thank you for those photographs!

 

I think FROG must be the old backend of our narrowboat. When Scholar Gypsy was last stretched at Braunston (Dave Thomas, 1994) we did a part exchange. He stuck a new stern on our boat and we sold him the back end to make a "new" tug called FROG. I am pretty  sure it's the same boat. I  last saw it about 15 years ago near the M45 bridge on the North Oxford. In addition to the porthole, the most distinctive feature was that the stern dollies were not symmetrical. 

 

frog_in_water1.jpg

 

So if, unlike the other two, Frog was not built until 1994, it does to me beg the question what was it's intended use, if they already owned the two boats constructed many years earlier for the Braunston tunnel work.

 

Was similar work in the tunnels really being carried out as late as 1994, and if so was it on a scale to eed n additional tug of a similar type?

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3 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

 

So if, unlike the other two, Frog was not built until 1994, it does to me beg the question what was it's intended use, if they already owned the two boats constructed many years earlier for the Braunston tunnel work.

 

Was similar work in the tunnels really being carried out as late as 1994, and if so was it on a scale to eed n additional tug of a similar type?

I think - but I will check with my father tomorrow - that we were told it was intended for use around the boatyard. I've checked the boat file but much of the correspondence was sent by fax, and has since faded. Grrr.

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6 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

I think - but I will check with my father tomorrow - that we were told it was intended for use around the boatyard. I've checked the boat file but much of the correspondence was sent by fax, and has since faded. Grrr.

I can see why they might have made use of one.  But three?

 

I'd be interested to know what it was used for.

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46 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

 

So if, unlike the other two, Frog was not built until 1994, it does to me beg the question what was it's intended use, if they already owned the two boats constructed many years earlier for the Braunston tunnel work.

 

Was similar work in the tunnels really being carried out as late as 1994, and if so was it on a scale to eed n additional tug of a similar type?

 

 

And further to this, to my eye that boat looks slightly longer in the photo than the other two. Too long to turn in the tunnel perhaps, because it didn't need to.

 

 

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