Nice tug on the Duck

[charles123]

This has lovely lines in my opinion, first time I have seen a Roger Fuller in this style of bow. Looks like an odd cabin layout though, big back cabin and engine room as the side doors are well down the boat, not much room for galley/bathroom/saloon though

 

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/image.phtml?id=202027ℑ=5

 

 

Charles

[alan_fincher]

The rear cabin is a boatman cabin style, with all the features you would expect to find; fold down bed, cupboards and fold down table.

 

In the rear cabin is a Epping stove, small Belfast sink with running cold water, and 24v lighting illuminating the bed area, sink and central walkway.

 

Very traditional then, (rather like the paint job!).

 

Ho hum!

[Timleech]

This has lovely lines in my opinion, first time I have seen a Roger Fuller in this style of bow. Looks like an odd cabin layout though, big back cabin and engine room as the side doors are well down the boat, not much room for galley/bathroom/saloon though

 

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/image.phtml?id=202027ℑ=5

 

 

Charles

 

Some BSS examiners might question the gas cooker in the engine room? Not sure what the exact current rules are on that? A friend of mine did have such an arrangement, but ISTR it was always a bit dubious.

 

Tim

[churchward]

This wouldn't be my fav Roger Fuller boat I have seen but I bet it is very well made. His boats always look great to me.

 

Very traditional then, (rather like the paint job!).

 

Ho hum!

All things are a compromise. Even genuine old working boats often have been modified with some creature comforts and at least a nod to modern living.

Edited June 6, 2011 by churchward

[andywatson]

 

 

All things are a compromise. Even genuine old working boats often have been modified with some creature comforts and at least a nod to modern living.

 

I agree with your comments, especially about having to compromise.

I have had to make several pragmatic adjustments between having a design in my mind's eye and cutting the steel.

Of course this eventually gives the rivet counters plenty of oportunity to show their knowledge.

 

This deck style without the cratch beam and the extended rear deck with hook are features which Dave Harris and I considered for my boat so I sent him a link to the ad for his interest.

 

In both cases we decided to go a different route for reasons of practicality of construction and subsequent use.

These features do look very nice though.

 

Also of interest on Charybdis is the full length (continued to the bow) gunnel rubbing strake.

On the photos of the boat alongside the bank it is not easy to see how low the deck is. Although the long low decks look very nice they do force a compromise on the size or siting of the gas bottles so as to keep the vents above water.

 

Gazelle (the oft admired Ian kemp Bushells replica) has a similar type of front deck although the bow is a bit more bluff and the rear deck is more like a Josher. In this case the gas bottles are mounted in the cabin front.

 

Apologies if I've rambled on.

I think it's a very nice boat and hope it goes to a good home.

Edited June 6, 2011 by andywatson

[RLWP]

 

 

Richard

 

That shiny front deck looks lethal in frost or damp

Edited June 6, 2011 by RLWP

[alan_fincher]

All things are a compromise. Even genuine old working boats often have been modified with some creature comforts and at least a nod to modern living.

But if you are going to completely bastardise the idea of a traditional boat, then why bother ?

 

Why not actually create a layout that works in the modern age inside the shell, even if some attempt is being made to give the outside an "old look".

 

What on earth is the point of a Belfast sink in a back cabin, a stove in the engine 'ole, and various other things randomly dotted around throughout.

 

Not a compromise, in my view, - sounds more like the worst of all worlds!

 

One would, I feel, struggle to come up with many genuine BCN tugs that look too much like this anyway.

 

This is about as close as I can think of.....

 

[carlt]

One would, I feel, struggle to come up with many genuine BCN tugs that look too much like this anyway.

 

Progress? Governer? S&L Tug No.1? James Loader?

[carlt]

On a point of order is "Nice tug on the Duck" a waterways variation of "Choking the Chicken"?

[alan_fincher]

Progress? Governer? S&L Tug No.1? James Loader?

 

Some of those are stretching a likeness a bit, I think ?

 

 

 

Not really sure you could say of some of those, (for example!)

 

Whilst it was being built, a number of people commented that it looked like old BCN boats they had seen, with the overlapping hull plates

[andywatson]

Here's a passage lifted from the BCNS website written by Martin O Keefe:

 

BCN Tugs

 

"History and Evolution of the BCN Tug "

"Includes Tugs from other canals: Some of which are more like the BCN Tug in our minds eye than the real BCN Tug"

Over the years in the minds of many a specific type of boat design called a BCN Tug seems to have evolved. In the minds eye of many it appears that this was a design of boat that evolved in the rarified waters of the BCN a mythical class of boat that many today aspire to imitate. Many boat builders sell the idea of a tug to many a new boat buyer, some hang the label replica BCN Tug onto there product.

In reality no such specific design of tug ever existed, our fore fathers when faced with the need for a Tug, used what ever boat was available, shortening some boats or just adapting others. In time some companies built boats for their own needs each boat loosely resembling others in the company fleet, but none of these boats when compared to each other or other companies boats could be said to fit a formula that could be classified as one design. The main charactistic being that they were low in the water and rather crude in appearence.

So the BCN Tug came in many shapes and sizes and colours and was not the romantic class of boat that we give to the name today. They had to work hard for a living, had to be fit for purpose, some had a livery that stated the company, but the paint work on these craft was never as the shinny polished and cherished examples we have left today. Indeed the look, shape and general appearance of the boats left today is a result of years of changing the design as the roles changed or a new engine was fitted, the hull shorten or lengthen. So again the design is a bit of a myth having evolved with each change of owner or role.

 

 

On the subject of sinks. In the back cabin of Progress the classic tug pictured above there is, IIRC a sink.

Edited June 6, 2011 by andywatson

[carlt]

Some of those are stretching a likeness a bit, I think ?

 

I think you answer your own question.

 

Some of the tugs I mention are "stretching a likeness" to some of the others. There is no definitive "BCN tug shape" so if it has a reasonable likeness to one or more of them, then it is doing better than some rebuilds of actual historic boats.

[alan_fincher]

On the subject of sinks. In the back cabin of Progress the classic tug pictured above there is, IIRC a sink.

It's a wooden boat.

 

By having a sink inside the boat, you can save time by baling directly into that, and it will then run safely down the plug hole and over the side......

[carlt]

It's a wooden boat.

 

By having a sink inside the boat, you can save time by baling directly into that, and it will then run safely down the plug hole and over the side......

That's quite simply uninformed rubbish, Alan, and I'm surprised at you.

 

My bilge pump, on my wooden boat, triggers once every 6 months or so, largely due to the leaky hatch.

 

I have only ever owned one wooden boat that, after 20 years of zero maintenance, leaked, the rest I had to throw water in, in order to keep the bottoms wet.

[alan_fincher]

That's quite simply uninformed rubbish, Alan, and I'm surprised at you.

 

 

[carlt]

 

Little things please little minds.

 

Surely you're above such juvenile means of entertainment?

[Guest]

That's quite simply uninformed rubbish, Alan, and I'm surprised at you.

 

Easy tiger - I think he missed the

[churchward]

But if you are going to completely bastardise the idea of a traditional boat, then why bother ?

 

Why not actually create a layout that works in the modern age inside the shell, even if some attempt is being made to give the outside an "old look".

 

What on earth is the point of a Belfast sink in a back cabin, a stove in the engine 'ole, and various other things randomly dotted around throughout.

 

Not a compromise, in my view, - sounds more like the worst of all worlds!

 

One would, I feel, struggle to come up with many genuine BCN tugs that look too much like this anyway.

 

This is about as close as I can think of.....

It's a matter of taste of course. On a replica I think it is for the owner to decide what the compromise is. After all the outside look doesn't change when you have a Belfast sink inside the BMC. If it is a genuine working boat that is in original state then my preference would be to keep it in as faithful a condition as possible. But like in the classic car world one can get to up tight about these things.

 

This is not a boat I would desire myself but I quit like the look of it but couldn't live with the internal structure either.

[Bob Blues]

I love a Nice Tug, But depends who's doing it

 

Bob b

[tony collins]

But what is "traditional"? Joe & Rose Skinner had a bit of old Lino on the hatch cover of Friendship.

[carlt]

Joe & Rose Skinner had a bit of old Lino on the hatch cover of Friendship.

Of course they did. How else would they have taken part in the traditional, narrow boaters' breakdance battles?

 

Joe's Electric Boogaloo was a sight to behold.