Jump to content

Researching the history of my boat, 'Detrytus'.


Tom909

Featured Posts

My boat 'Detrytus', licence no 45436, shows up on this forum quite a bit already, mostly references concerning when it was for sale at Whilton Marina in 2015. I also have an old survey from 2007. There the trail goes cold apart from what comes up on Canalplan which tells me that the boat was built by Jonathan Wilson. I have messaged him to see if he keeps records. I had a nice reply back saying that back in those days no records were required and none were kept. All the paperwork that I have says that the boat was built in 1992. In fact the licence number indicates that the boat was first registered in 1988. I have attached a photo from 2015 - Detrytus no longer looks like this by the way.

I really enjoy piecing together old history and would love to get any more info about Detrytus that might be out there. Thanks for reading. Kind regards, Tom

detrytus-55ft-traditional-style-narrowboat-built-1992-by-jonathan-wilson (1).JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't remember where I saw that the boat is called Detrytus because it was originally fitted out with stuff taken out of other boats. When I bought it the vendor was really embarrased about the name, but I've actually got used to it now - in fact I quite like it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The boat was rented out in the period from 2008-11/2 and continuously cruised the Cooks Wharf to Berkhamstead area with a reputation of 'herbal cigarette!!'selling.

 It was looking very sorry for itself by 2012 and had been S8 by BW/CRT. I didn't see it again until 2014 where it appeared in the Braunston area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, Tom909 said:

I can't remember where I saw that the boat is called Detrytus because it was originally fitted out with stuff taken out of other boats. When I bought it the vendor was really embarrased about the name, but I've actually got used to it now - in fact I quite like it.

It has a meaning in Polish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, mark99 said:

It has a meaning in Polish.

It has a meaning in English.

Dave & Elizabeth Woods had a fibreglass hull - wooden superstructure 16 ft approx. estuary boat powered by an outboard in the 1970's - 1980's which shared the same name 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the replies re Detrytus. The boat is now solid army green - it looks ok and the main thing is it is well protected from the elements. I'd like to repaint it one day - be great to find out what it looked like early on in its life - I've got the feeling that the name is not original - it is such a distinctive name that there would almost certainly be folk out there that could remember seeing it.

Interesting that it may have been used as a mobile herbal dispensary unit for a few years there - it actually has a safe in the engine room with no keys - wonder what's in there!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any truth in the suggestion that Whilton pack in the boats they have for sale like that in huge clusters, so they don't feel out of place when they end up more or less permanently moored up that way in London?

(I'll get my coat!).

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Joe the plumber said:

We looked round it at Whilton in September 2015 and I was initially quite keen to buy it. It had just had a brand new engine fitted. However they showed me a recent survey and it needed overplating, so we left it. I took a few photos of it at the time:

 

 

IMG_20150907_150732_290.jpg

IMG_20150907_152944_782.jpg

IMG_20150907_123800_962.jpg

IMG_20150907_130635_697.jpg

Interesting to see the narrow beam Dutch barge next to it. I am fairly sure that used to be moored in the same marina I lived in for years. If you want a narrow barge that is a good one, the original owner looked after it really well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

Interesting to see the narrow beam Dutch barge next to it. I am fairly sure that used to be moored in the same marina I lived in for years. If you want a narrow barge that is a good one, the original owner looked after it really well.

What's it called?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

Any truth in the suggestion that Whilton pack in the boats they have for sale like that in huge clusters, so they don't feel out of place when they end up more or less permanently moored up that way in London?

(I'll get my coat!).

 

No, they raft them up that way so that the better ones hold up the "sinkers" ?

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jo, many thanks for all the pics!! Some great views of Detrytus there. Really grateful for these.

I did think about messaging you when I read your comments on this forum from 2015 so I'm glad you've got in touch. It's interesting what new info comes out over time - do you by any chance remember the make of the new engine? Also, re over-plating, pretty certain none was ever done, and the survey I had done before purchase gave the hull a clean bill of health, so don't know what happened there. 

It does look as though the trail runs a bit cold around this time. I've got one or two other irons in the fire so not giving up just yet. But it really is astonishing how history can almost disappear in front of our eyes. I know to a lot of folks this is all pretty recent stuff and maybe doesn't seem that important, and of course it's not really, but give it a few more decades and any info/history about the 80s/90s boats and boat builders will be gold dust. I've got to be honest I've found the whole business of researching and buying a boat absolutely fascinating.

One thing that is really interesting is how the info out there can't be verified. I've filled in quite a few forms asking for the name of the builder and the date the boat was built. I could have said anything really, and it would soon become fact. Someone somewhere gave the date of build as 1992 and now it is an accepted fact on the record even though it is clearly wrong.

By the way, apologies for my extreme nerdyness here - I'm like this with my tractors too, in fact anything I can put a note in or on that gives something a bit of provenance - I just can't stop myself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you appointed your own survey, it is probably correct, the brokerage in question were undergoing some challenging times in that era where surveys/in house surveys/ownership/works completed - or not were all maybe not quite what is expected from the general waterways buying public needed. It does seem to have rectified itself somewhat now, 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm glad the photos were of interest. The survey the salesman showed us said it would need overplating and I'm pretty sure had it down to only a bit over 2mm or so in places. He did say it would all be sorted out before sale, so maybe they did it for someone else.

 

These may answer the engine query (it was a Beta, I'm not certain now which one I'm afraid, but someone will no doubt enlighten us) and there's a few more as well:

 

 

IMG_20150907_130003_842.jpg

IMG_20150907_130014_863.jpg

IMG_20150907_130243_193.jpg

IMG_20150907_130328_619.jpg

IMG_20150907_130652_525.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/11/2018 at 17:30, Boater Sam said:

Is the date confusion due to the shell being registered in 1988 but the fit out completed in 1992?

!988 is about right for the number as you have said, mine is 49358 from 1990 but I bet the shell was built prior to then.

Our previous boat was documented as built in 1992 and had the reg. number 47810, I understood that these numbers weren't always issued in chronological order. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.