Category: Engineering

Vlog 412: Tork of the town

Posted on September 20, 2026September 20, 2026 by David Johns

I was kindly invited aboard DB1, an all-electric prototype day boat for part of its journey along the length of the Thames, powered purely by the sun.

Honestly, it’s nearly done, I swear, but Twiggy’s bottom needed a final layer of fibreglass to bump it up a bit, as well as some chopped strand mat around the corners, then a load of filler to join up all the gaps. This was filmed over two trips and with a very windy day, lead to much swearing (which I have bleeped, for your delicate ears)

Vlog 407: Nuts and Volts

Posted on August 2, 2026 by David Johns

The third annual Electrika show was held again at Brinklow marina in mid-July but rather than film flashy boat tours, I thought I’d take the opportunity to challenge experts and exhibitors about how safe we are having lithium batteries aboard, as these are widely used on electric narrowboats but you cannot help but see worrying stories about battery fires.

Vlog 399: The Transom of the Opera

Posted on May 20, 2026 by David Johns

For those who thought this day would never come, prepare to have your world shaken to the core – I have finally slapped resin all over the new wood core for Twiggy’s transom, and pushed it into place on the back of the boat. Now I just need to fibreglass over the top of it.

Vlog 398: Immersion Therapy

Posted on May 10, 2026 by David Johns

This is day 2 of my ‘weekend’ (actually a Wednesday and Thursday) aboard my little narrowboat on the South Oxford canal at Napton, just bobbing about having an escape from the world. I also tried to work out why the electric immersion heater doesn’t work but gave up!