Riveted Narrowboat Company Ltd

http://www. rivetednarrowboatcompany.com/

It was during another late night visit to Charring Cross Hospital that my mum and I sat talking. We talked about all sorts of things rather than the dreadful disease that was slowly consuming my brave mum, Jenny. We talked about the fun old times when my mum raised us on a narrowboat in Rickmansworth and we concluded they were the best of times. Then an idea. . . to build a new boat to mark my mum’s passing and to act as a welcome distraction to the fight so recently lost.

My mum, brother and I had spent 8 years or so living on various boats but it was always the old working boats with their distressed hulls and distinctive engines that left the greatest impression. So the challenge was on to build a new boat full of character and with echoes of days gone by. I was fortunate enough to remember seeing an old FMC boat on my travels so using google earth on my phone I retraced my journey to find Lion a Saltley built FMC motor boat dating to 1913. The current owner was kind enough to let me crawl all over the hull to take templates and measurements and a host of videos and pictures so that I had a visual resource to work from.

I have worked with steel since leaving school in 1988 as an apprentice in several boatyards then for 5 years while studying fine art sculpture before finally setting up my own workshop in Sussex. The work we produce is always to a high standard and often quite demanding in terms of size, creativity or deadline. We act as a subcontractor to other Sussex metalworkers and are frequently called upon to get them out of a spot of bother! The guys who make up the team are hugely experienced and exceptionally keen and love a challenge so a narrowboat build was a worthy task. Our workshop is well equipped and we soon made space to lay the bottom plates.

The build began with a very clear purpose, to build myself a family holiday boat named Jennifer Grace and to relive some of those great adventures. I did not anticipate the boat build itself being the very first great adventure. As I said we love a challenge so why not do something a little different? If we were going to try and produce a working boat influenced design then it made sense to try and copy the method of construction as well as the curves and proportions. So I decided to investigate the concept of hot riveting the hull and copying the plate sizes and rivets like for like. The process of riveting is more labour intensive than welding and presents a completely different approach to putting a hull together. The last 12 months has been quite an intensive year of studying, experimenting and developing skills in order to achieve our goal. We have invested in equipment, forges, jigs and templates but we have made good progress. During this time the local interest in our project has grown and grown so much so that we began to think about maybe producing another boat or two after Jennifer Grace and so we formed the Riveted Narrowboat Company.

The company is in a rather fortunate position as we are the customer as well as the builder so as you can imagine we have kept a very close eye on our originally concept and have accepted no compromises. Our main company, Arc Fab Sussex Ltd is well established and is able to invest in the project so we can get it right. The company has a clear objective to produce a traditional boat with graceful lines and to the highest standard. Part of our development has been the idea to use modern laser cutting techniques to produce the standard hull sides and bulkheads so that more time and effort can be devoted to handcrafting the bow and stern which is what defines the working Narrowboat. We had hoped to bring a riveted shell to Crick for 2012 as a grand entrance but we did not want to rush the hull just to launch the company and its raison d’être. Instead we shall continue to develop the prototype with the hope we might whet the appetite of those seeking a traditional boat and so tempt you to visit our workshop on the South Coast for a more leisurely chat and look. We aim to complete the first hull later this year after which we will start work on another in 2013 ready for Crick.