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80's harborough marine narrowboats


Hartge

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Having recently purchase an '83 30' harborough marine cruiser stern I would like to learn a little more about them as theres limited info on the net. It's an all steel boat (NOT fibreglass top) - does anyone know the specification/thickness of the hull sides and superstructure and please show me yours if you have one as it would be interesting to see the different layouts/designs and engine options etc

 

Thanks 

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Can't help, but nice boats, pleasing shape, much more interesting that the typical modern "clonecraft".

There's still quite a lot about but most looking quite tired and overplated.

 

................Dave

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I would have thought that an early 80's would have been a plywood top.

It may well have been replaced with GRP top and subsequently a steel-top some time in the last 30 or so years.

 

At that sort of time period the "standard" sort of thickness for a base plate would have been 6mm and for the sides probably 4mm.

Smaller sized boats tended to go thinner and it was not unknown for the small Springers to be 3mm base plate, but, they varied as they were built with whatever bits of steel could be picked up cheaply. 

 

 

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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7 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I would have thought that an early 80's would have been a plywood top.

It may well have been replaced with GRP top and subsequently a steel-top some time in the last 30 or so years.

 

 

2

The earliest ones certainly had plywood tops, but that was in the 1960's. Ours (built 1969 to 1970) was one of the earliest GRP-topped versions.

 

Certainly some were built with wooden tops after that, however not by Harborough themselves but; by home-builders who could order either the hull alone or the complete kit with GRP top parts.

 

I don't know when the first steel tops (as original rather than replacement) were fitted. The base plate of ours was 6mm but I don't know how thick the sides were.

  • Greenie 1
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6-5-4 was normal though some would be the imperial equivalent sizes.

Most suffered from rear compartment corrosion due to the large deck area letting water into the bilge.

I believe they are all wet bilge boats with a steel pipe from front to back down both sides of the hull in the bilge to drain the front deck to the rear.

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This is my '83 harborough marine, I have come across another boat that looks identical but with limited information (last photo). There does seem to be plenty of harborough 30 footers about acording to the boat register on canal plan. Mine has a bukh dv20.

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Edited by Hartge
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I must admit I'm not that familiar with ones built as late as 1983, but your pictures do not immediately scream "classic Harborough Marine" boat to me.

 

Do you have deinitive evidence that it is a Harborough build?

 

 

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5 minutes ago, Hartge said:

99.9% sure it is. There is a harborough owners group plaque with the boat too mind you I can't find much about that either! This 33ft one is pretty much identical on the stern

Screenshot_20190104-092651_Samsung Internet.jpg

Yes, that's the classic Harborough stern, rudder stock position and the spill guard.  The sloping stern rail upstands were a good idea, they didn't get caught on lock beams etc.

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15 minutes ago, Hartge said:

99.9% sure it is. There is a harborough owners group plaque with the boat too mind you I can't find much about that either! This 33ft one is pretty much identical on the stern

Screenshot_20190104-092651_Samsung Internet.jpg

OK,

You have convinced e that it probably is!

As I said, I admit I don't know much about Harbouroughs once they moved forward from the 1970s.  Obviously a very different look from the Harboroughs of an earlier era.

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29 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

I always thought they had a more pronounced  up swept bow then than?

"Banana boats", I call 'em - but those were produced in large numbers in the 1970s, it looks as if the design had changed by 1983 (also the year in which Springer, also in Market Harborough, changed the design of their boats. As Springer's at one time built parts of Harborough boats, that may not be a coincidence.)

Edited by Athy
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Trust me the bow is swept up I'll take a picture when I'm back down this eve. It probably doesn't look it due to the compactness of the boat but the very front past the cratch is designed to ensure you in the cut very fast! 

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My experience is with the Arcrite versions. Arcrite offerred a long bow and a short bow version.  The long bow is the highly curved version.

The stern on that 33' above doesn't look typical to me. The taff rail is wrong in that it goes down at an angle not at 90 degrees. There ought to be a detachable plate covering the rudder stock in the centre of the counter.

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10 minutes ago, Hartge said:

A few more pics as promised for the keen eye. It would be nice to see some identical model 'harborough 30's' if any forum members have anything similar? Thanks

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That is quite an up swept bow. Didnt look it on the first pictures .

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