Back in April Graham Newman made BCS aware of an opportunity to acquire a 43 ft workboat from Rose Narrowboats, Brinklow. The offer was the use of the boat for a 3 year period at no cost. This was an opportunity too good to miss as the Society has always had a desire to have use of their own workboat. The committee visited Rose NB and agreed the boat would be extremely useful in supporting the work we do and expressed their gratitude to Anthony Grantham of Rose NB for making the boat available.
As can be seen from the photos the boat has a cabin (or shed) at either end and a flat (or skip) working area in between. The boat as such was nicknamed “Skippy Two Sheds” by Rose NB.
One interesting characteristic of ‘Skippy’ is that she is powered by a 10hp Honda outboard motor. BCS replaced faulty gearing and serviced it, the purchases being funded by Rose NB.
At the end of September Skippy was moved to Braunston. The shallow draft coupled with the outboard motor means that she is highly manoeuvrable and actually steers in reverse!
Skippy is currently moored on a pontoon in Braunston Marina. Tim Coghlan has kindly offered BCS this berth at no cost.
BCS are still currently refurbishing the “sheds” but watch out for Skippy being used at a work party very soon.