Wednesday 15 July 2015

Distinctive Boats (ii)


This is undeniably distinctive, and desirable:




She's called Sharpness, and she's a tunnel tug, built in 1908 for service on the Severn and Thames canal and later used on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. She was derelict and unsound in 1990 and her upperworks have have been altered slightly for cruising but otherwise she's original, apart from her engine. She's very elegant, in a workmanlike way, and her lines, only slightly refined, could form the basis of a very fine 'replica', certainly something different from the usual unappealing and uninspiring 'traditional' waterborne self-catering holiday chalet that is the contemporary cruising narrowboat.

________________________

From the top, the photographs, which are presumably in the copyright of the site owners and have been used without permission, were taken from the following sources:
The blog The Travels of Little Blue Narrow Boat, at http://www.littlebluenarrowboat.net/.
The blog NB Armadillo, or simply Armadillo, at http://nbarmadillo.blogspot.co.uk/.
The blog Granny Buttons, at http://www.grannybuttons.com/granny_buttons/.

Monday 13 July 2015

Two Distinctive Boats


While browsing the web, I came across these two boats, which took my fancy.

The first is an electrically powered river cruiser built in 1905:


More photographs of Wayfarer, and other electric boats, can be found here, at the web site of the Electric Boat Association.

The second, one of two built of iroko on oak, in 1967, is described as an 'estuary' narrowboat, a term I've never heard before:


She's called 'Lutra Parva' (Little Otter) and was for sale in November 20012 for £25,000.00, which some considered expensive in comparison to other vessels available. What makes her unusual is her V bottom, which I think justifies her not unreasonable asking price. More photographs and further information can be found here, at House of Hurley, a personal web site that doesn't seem to have been developed beyond its beginnings.