Having spoken with Shaun and the rest of the stand staff at Crick, their company is a Plastic Fabrication company, rather than a boat builder.
As such, the building of boat is not a normal run of the mill project, various problems regarding expansion were tackled with the first boat, a Naval Architect was consulted for the second boat, the show boat. Unfortunately the Architect was not an inland water ways specialist. ( as we all know, these boats exist in a very small world of their own. Would you go to a canal boat builder, for a deep sea fishing boat?) Hence the overall look of the show boat.
One hundred and fifty years ago, a bright spark, felt iron might make a usable boat...."What do you know...iron doesn't float"
One day someone thought, I'll fit a lorry engine, the horse is dangerous, it bit me, and tried to kick me!
The Crick show was the first time some of the staff had seen a narrow boat in the flesh, out of the water.
The idea I put to them was for next years show, an empty shell, would show their skills off much better, as fabrication specialists, not fitter outers.
MK 3 boat would incorporate the information gained from the show and the trials of MK 2.
Bod