Pendle Narrowboats

[Shockabilly]

Dear Forum members...am considering a new build 50' NB (on probably a Colecraft shell), however, I was wondering whether any forum members had personal experience of Pendle NB's, the boats seem well put together & the builders seem to be exceptionally nice people.

 

http://pendle-narrowboats.com

 

So if anyone has any personal experiences of the company I really would appreciate your feedback.

 

Thanks in anticipation

Edited November 14, 2018 by Shockabilly
Web link

[ditchcrawler]

Just so you don't think you are being ignored I know nothing about them.

[Nightwatch]

Nor me, sadly.

[Shockabilly]

Thanks Ditchcrawler & Nightwatch...it's nice to be heard!!!

 

Some bugger must know something about Pendle, they've built plenty of both narrow & wide beams.

 

Waiting in the wings...so to speak

Edited November 14, 2018 by Shockabilly
spelling

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, Shockabilly said:

Thanks Ditchcrawler & Nightwatch...it's nice to be heard!!!

 

Some bugger must know something about Pendle, they've built plenty of both narrow & wide beams.

 

Waiting in the wings...so to speak

Heard about Who ?

 

According to the 'registrations listings' they have only manufactured 12 boats of which 5 are widebeams.

Hardly a volume producer.

[OldGoat]

16 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Heard about Who ?

 

According to the 'registrations listings' they have only manufactured 12 boats of which 5 are widebeams.

Hardly a volume producer.

Neither are Royce motor cars - but folks buy them...

 

That DB looks quite nice on the outside. 

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

Neither are Royce motor cars - but folks buy them...

 

That DB looks quite nice on the outside. 

No argument there.

But RR are hardly a fair comparison - selling about 4000 PER YEAR. Whilst Pendle seem to have manufactured about 1 boat per year.

 

With only 12 registered on BW, EA & Broads waters the OPs statement that they built 'plenty' needs to be taken in context.

[ditchcrawler]

39 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

Neither are Royce motor cars - but folks buy them...

 

That DB looks quite nice on the outside. 

Yes but not many can tell you first hand what they are like

[luggsy]

We went to look at them when we where looking for some on to do our fit out Shaun the boss said they have to do 5/6 fit outs a year to cover staff pay that was in 2014 sadly he was booked up at that time , nice people and it looked quality workmanship 

[Shockabilly]

Thanks Lugsy...at long last a reply of merit!!!

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by Shockabilly

[WotEver]

Ahh, so they do fit-outs on other builders’ shells? Then there may be lots of their fit-outs about but they won’t be listed as the builder. 

[TheBiscuits]

Just now, WotEver said:

Ahh, so they do fit-outs on other builders’ shells? Then there may be lots of their fit-outs about but they won’t be listed as the builder. 

Mostly Tyler Wilson shells, according to their website.

[WotEver]

16 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

Mostly Tyler Wilson shells, according to their website.

Quality shells. But of course this doesn’t help the OP who was asking about Pendle’s shells. 

[TheBiscuits]

2 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Quality shells. But of course this doesn’t help the OP who was asking about Pendle’s shells. 

That's not how I read the OP.

[matty40s]

15 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Ahh, so they do fit-outs on other builders’ shells? Then there may be lots of their fit-outs about but they won’t be listed as the builder. 

That is a very sweeping statement and incorrect in many cases. The Boat listing is compiled from information given by the owner, not any official organisation so is immediately at the mercy of someone who may or may not know the difference between a builder and a fitter outer.

There are many builders who use hulls from various sources to produce boats, some of the shell builders get a credit, most dont. Stowe Hill boats for example started building their own hulls, and eventually due to demand used Reeves, Colecraft and Mel Davis as hull suppliers. Perrydale use Alexander hulls, Reeves (in their various guises) provided hulls for quite a few other boat builders, Burscough Boats appear to use Collingwood shells, etc etc etc

[WotEver]

6 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

That's not how I read the OP.

Perhaps he could clarify the matter then

5 minutes ago, matty40s said:

That is a very sweeping statement and incorrect in many cases. The Boat listing is compiled from information given by the owner, not any official organisation so is immediately at the mercy of someone who may or may not know the difference between a builder and a fitter outer.

There are many builders who use hulls from various sources to produce boats, some of the shell builders get a credit, most dont. Stowe Hill boats for example started building their own hulls, and eventually due to demand used Reeves, Colecraft and Mel Davis as hull suppliers. Perrydale use Alexander hulls, Reeves (in their various guises) provided hulls for quite a few other boat builders, Burscough Boats appear to use Collingwood shells, etc etc etc

But that appears not to be the case in this instance, doesn’t it?

 

Alan notes only 12 boats registered as Pendle yet Luggsy states they have to fit out 4/5 per year. So that would be 50+ boats they’ve ‘built’ and if they were registered as a Pendle boats as you suggest then there wouldn’t only be 12 on the listings surely?

Edited November 14, 2018 by WotEver
Clarity

[WotEver]

My post was an attempt to show why there are only 12 boats listed as Pendle. Your contradiction doesn’t appear to fit the facts. 

Edited November 14, 2018 by WotEver

[Tumshie]

1 minute ago, matty40s said:

Reeves (in their various guises)

The Reeves confuses the bleep out of me, there seems to be several different Reeves all with different sets of initials and I keep loosing track of which one did what for who - I'm sure that one lot did the shell for Black Prince (for example) but for the life of me I can't work out which. 

[Shockabilly]

This is like pulling teeth...

 

I was merely enquiring as to wether or not any Forum members had experience of Pendle Boat builders/fitters as Mrs Shockabilly and I are the very early stages of considering a new fit out & they are on our fag packet list.

 

The people at Pendle seems to be very genuine & the boats look splendid but as with all things personal experiences & recommendations are worth their weight in gold...or in the case BS Steel.

 

Finally, they fit out on your choice of shell & according to Shaun the owner have used a variety of shells torched by a selection of builders including Tyler Wilson, Collingwood, XR&D etc etc.

 

STOP

Edited November 14, 2018 by Shockabilly

[Alan de Enfield]

I guess its a 'cottage industry' with no over-riding body to control, or monitor things - or even give guidance on building.

 

Maybe if the majority of materials of a fit-out come from B&Q it would not be unreasonable to describe it as a 'B&Q Boat'

 

It sounds as of Pendle (amongst others) are 'providers of labour' to assemble bits of boats from various sources.

 

A boat builder must surely be one who does the full build - other wise they are a 'hull builder' or a 'fitting out company', etc etc.

[WotEver]

2 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

The Reeves confuses the bleep out of me, there seems to be several different Reeves all with different sets of initials and I keep loosing track of which one did what for who - I'm sure that one lot did the shell for Black Prince (for example) but for the life of me I can't work out which. 

We spoke to Graham on a couple of occasions when we were considering having a new hull built and this was in the last incarnation of ‘his’ business before it folded and he lost his house. I believe the various different Reeves were due to a succession of financial problems but I could be wrong. 

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I guess its a 'cottage industry' with no over-riding body to control, or monitor things - or even give guidance on building.

 

Maybe if the majority of materials of a fit-out come from B&Q it would not be unreasonable to describe it as a 'B&Q Boat'

 

It sounds as of Pendle (amongst others) are 'providers of labour' to assemble bits of boats from various sources.

 

A boat builder must surely be one who does the full build - other wise they are a 'hull builder' or a 'fitting out company', etc etc.

Agreed. Many so-called ‘builders’ including Pendle are, as you say, predominantly (exclusively?) a fitting-out company. 

[Tumshie]

1 minute ago, WotEver said:

We spoke to Graham on a couple of occasions when we were considering having a new hull built and this was in the last incarnation of ‘his’ business before it folded and he lost his house. I believe the various different Reeves were due to a succession of financial problems but I could be wrong. 

Ah that would make sense, but is such a shame, they seem to be good sturdy shells. 

[WotEver]

Just now, Tumshie said:

Ah that would make sense, but is such a shame, they seem to be good sturdy shells. 

A huge shame. Graham was a lovely guy, as were his sons and we really liked his shells even though I know they don’t please everyone. 

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, Tumshie said:

Ah that would make sense, but is such a shame, they seem to be good sturdy shells. 

I found our Graham Reeves to be an excellent hull.

Fitted out by Welton and used for a year by them as a hire boat before being sold on.

1st private owner spent £11,000 having the bedroom and bathroom re-vamped and the pump-out removed.

[Tumshie]

3 minutes ago, WotEver said:

A huge shame. Graham was a lovely guy, as were his sons and we really liked his shells even though I know they don’t please everyone. 

I like them, they might not be a fancy as some but I though they would be a good first boat for someone like me.