Tag: restoration

Vlog 370: Stranded

Posted on May 30, 2025May 30, 2025 by David Johns

After a long period where it seemed that all I did was make holes in my fibreglass cabin cruiser, “Twiggy”, I have at least started to repair them.

Vlog 369: Phoenix Knights

Posted on May 20, 2025May 14, 2025 by David Johns

I attended the Inland Waterways Association’s annual restoration conference the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port, and heard what delegates and speakers had to say about the state of the canal network in Britain.

Vlog 365: Wireloose Technology

Posted on April 10, 2025April 10, 2025 by David Johns

With the weather nearly warm enough to be working at the boatyard on my Microplus 600 cabin cruiser, Twiggy, again, I decided to get a ‘straightforward’ (?!) job out of the way and remove the old and rather odd leisure battery setup. This had for some reason been installed under the sink and comprised three batteries of two different sizes but there was a surprise or two as I took them out.

Vlog 361: Seeing the Light

Posted on February 28, 2025 by David Johns

I did my first proper check on my fibreglass cabin cruiser “Twiggy” since I left it for winter and although it was too full of condensation to do any sanding, I set about taking off some soggy wood from the roof with the multitool. Inevitably, chaos followed.

Vlog 349: A Soggy Bottom

Posted on October 30, 2024 by David Johns

Ignoring, for the moment, the vast gashes I have carved into the back of the boat which will need fixing later, in this episode I tear into the transom and start removing the – extremely soggy – wooden core.

Vlog 346: Cutting Corners

Posted on October 1, 2024October 1, 2024 by David Johns

As described in the prior videos about the refurbishment of Twiggy, my 48-year-old fibreglass cabin cruiser, I needed to cut the back off the boat in order to replace the rotten wood in the transom. Unfortunately, things didn’t go entirely to plan.

Vlog 343: The Missing Link

Posted on August 30, 2024September 10, 2024 by David Johns

Despite the name of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal, it doesn’t actually go through the county town of Stafford so a group of volunteers are now trying to make that happen.

Vlog 336: If you build it…

Posted on June 20, 2024August 5, 2024 by David Johns

Formed in 1969, the Grantham Canal Society is undertaking the huge task of restoring a 33-mile canal dating from the Industrial Revolution, over 200 years ago. I went up to see how they’re getting along.

Vlog 331: Hull’s Angel

Posted on April 30, 2024August 5, 2024 by David Johns

This time, I’m looking at the question of what do you do if you want a custom-designed boat to live on but don’t have the budget to buy a new-build?

Vlog 310: Routemasters

Posted on September 8, 2023February 24, 2024 by David Johns

In 2019, I made a video about the restoration of the Lichfield canal, which had been ongoing for several decades, powered largely by volunteers and donations. So many people asked me for an update that I’ve now gone back to see what’s changed and whether the pandemic brought things to a halt.

Canal Life