Stories about boats and waterways
Continuing my journey aboard my narrowboat, this time from Polesworth down to Springwood Haven marina, where it would remain for a further three weeks before I was able to move it again. On the way, I went through the 11-lock Atherstone lock flight, with surprising ease due to help from lockies and fellow boaters.
Continue reading
As part of my ongoing journey bringing narrowboat Gentian down from Lincoln to the Midlands over the summer, I had stopped at Kings Orchard marina in Lichfield. The next step was to take it to Springwood Haven marina near Nuneaton so in this video I begin this leg, getting as far as Polesworth, and sharing a (narrow) lock with another tiny narrowboat on the way.
Continue reading
This was supposed to be a very productive day when I almost finished the new wood core for my fibreglass cruiser’s transom, however part-way through I was called away. So this episode documents what small progress I managed to make on that occasion.
Continue reading
This is a further continuation of my journey taking narrowboat Gentian from where I bought it down to the Midlands where it will be moored for the foreseeable future. Here I go from Alrewas to Kings Orchard marina, managing to let the boat crash forwards in a turbulent lock through not paying attention.
Continue reading
We return to the journey of narrowboat Gentian in this episode, documenting the trip from Mercia Marina down to the village of Alrewas – and it rained, a lot, on the way.
Continue reading
In this episode I make a template for the new wood core of my boat’s transom and then cut it out of two sheets of marine plywood (and also explain why in the end I went with marine ply). The question is, having made a template that fits beautifully, will that mean the wood version will fit? Well, this is DIY…
Continue reading
Having not been able to do any restoration work on my cabin cruiser Twiggy for a while, I finally got back to the boatyard to do final preparation before fitting the new transom core. This involved a bit more fibreglass work as well as mixing up thickened resin to seal the join between the top and bottom halves of the hull, which were coming apart.
Continue reading
At the end of the last video, I came to the end of the River Trent at Derwent mouth where it joins the start of the Trent & Mersey canal. In this video, I take the boat onto the canal and up to Mercia marina, where I’d be leaving the boat for a week until I could move it again.
Continue reading
Having left my narrowboat at Beeston marina for four weeks, I now returned for a weekend to move it onto the canals and stash it at Mercia Marina temporarily (until the next move!) This is part 1 of that move.
Continue reading
Day 2 of my weekend spent moving narrowboat Gentian from Newark-on-Trent to Beeston Marina. In this episode, I take the boat from Stoke Lock on the River Trent, onto the Nottingham & Beeston canal.
Continue reading