Jeeves

[Grawar]

[Grawar]

Jeeves was my first canal boat, which I purchased around 1973.  I spent many happy hours stripping out the interior and employing my limited DIY skills to adapt it to my requirements.  The exterior was painted for me by Ron Hough at Braunston, which is where the first picture above was taken.  I repainted the interior myself, including the doors which I made.  I will be posting more pictures as time allows.

 

I do not know anything about the boat's true history, but older hands told me she was a cut-down 'Joey' boat made of riveted cast iron with a new large counter and decking in steel.  She measured 36 feet in length and was certainly very robust, never creating any huge dramas for a totally novice crew.

 

I have posted the story of Aries, my much larger second boat under its own name.

The interior, looking aft.

[Athy]

That bow does suggest a Joey origin, yes.

 

[Grawar]

And now a view of the interior looking from a different angle.  To give a 'period' feeling I cut up old Victorian pieces of furniture to fashion what I needed.

Edited December 7, 2018 by Grawar
Small error

[Grawar]

The view looking forward.  The 'sofa' converted to a double bed when opened.  A small toilet was located ahead of the bulkhead.

Thanks, Athy.  That's interesting.  I have many other shots which I will add later.  I sold the boat a long time ago and do not know if it is still extant.  I hope so.

[alan_fincher]

Cracking looking boat.

Yes, definitely a BCN day boat, though almost certainly of the double ended variety where a rudder could be hung at either end.  Often these were cut in half and a stern added to each part, so one original boat yielding two new ones.

It would be good to think it has survived, but whilst many of the converted, (and often more shapely), single ended BCN day boats, (such as "Bantocks") are still with us, I see remarkably few these days with the simpler lines that yours had.

Pete Harrison might have records that would give an idea to its fate.  I don't suppose it had a plate with it's BCN gauging number on it still attached, did it? 

[Derek R.]

Love the chairs and hung table. Simple and characterful.

[Grawar]

Alan:  No, I do not recall seeing any kind of plate attached.

 

Derek:  Thanks... it all worked well, unless the chain was hit, in which case your cuppa went flying!

[roland elsdon]

I put exactly the same table arrangement in atalanta, except it was a mark 2 ... double chains !. Worked quite well. In the days before fitted kitchen units and various devices made to make life easier  were sold it was a pragmatic solution. 

Didnt last long got a folding dropleaf in a junk shop in rickmansworth. We still have it.

[Paul H]

How wonderful to see a boat from an era when most had character and individuality - not a granite worktop or flat screen TV in sight!

 

Id be surprised if the hull doesn’t still exist but the cabin will have been replaced (at least once!)

 

There doesn't seem seem to be a boat of this length licenced under this name but it could have been renamed and a surprising number of older narrow boats are hidden away in yards and farms awaiting the injection of money and enthusiasm.

 

Paul

[Grawar]

This was Jeeves at the Old Royal Oak in Hillmorton in 1978.  The pub was closed and semi-derelict for many years and for sale at what even then was a low price.  I see from tripadvisor it is opened again.

 

[alan_fincher]

49 minutes ago, Grawar said:

This was Jeeves at the Old Royal Oak in Hillmorton in 1978.  The pub was closed and semi-derelict for many years and for sale at what even then was a low price.  I see from tripadvisor it is opened again.

 

Yes but it's a Hungry Horse, and frankly whilst it has been OK sometimes, it has been pretty dire on others.

Not somewhere I really choose to rush back to, anymore!

[Captain Pegg]

23 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

Yes but it's a Hungry Horse, and frankly whilst it has been OK sometimes, it has been pretty dire on others.

Not somewhere I really choose to rush back to, anymore!

It was having a makeover when I passed a few weeks ago and it's now called The Waterside. It is apparently a Greene King carvery which probably still doesn't appeal much to you. Even as a meat eater I doubt I shall ever be making an effort to stop there either.

 

JP

 

ETA - turns out that Hungry Horse is a Greene King brand anyway so it hasn't changed ownership.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Captain Pegg

[alan_fincher]

9 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

It was having a makeover when I passed a few weeks ago and it's now called The Waterside. It is apparently a Greene King carvery which probably still doesn't appeal much to you. Even as a meat eater I doubt I shall ever be making an effort to stop there either.

 

JP

 

ETA - turns out that Hungry Horse is a Greene King brand anyway so it hasn't changed ownership.

I've been there with meat eaters, and they were no more impressed by the meat fayre than we were by the non meat fayre.

Not helped on one occasion by the fact absolutely none of the advertised real ales were actually available.

It's not always been bad, but often enough I would try to avoid it by choice.

Might be worth a try if it's had a makeover I guess, but some of the staff were also in need of a makeover, so they would need to have changed as well!