Can anyone identify my boat?

[sparrowcycles]

Hello there,

 

Thanks to all who helped with my other two posts regarding the rebuild of my first narrowboat, Silflay.

The engine is all back together now thanks to everyones good advice..

 

My new mission is to find out who made her!

 

Silflay is a mid seventies 50 ft cruiser stern with a similar age lister sr3. her registration number is something like (i dont have it here, its on the boat) 46959 but I have checked on Jim sheads site to no avail..

 

If I can work out how to post an image or two could I please ask you wise folk to cast an eye over them to see if you can see any signs of who may have made her..

 

 

 

 

I am prepared to think she was privately built because she does have a low ceiling height that seems odd for a company built boat.

 

any help at all will be gratefully received..

 

thanks..

 

s

Edited March 27, 2014 by sparrowcycles

[Athy]

From the bow shape, she could be a Mindon.

I think that 1970s boats often had a lower internal height than is the norm today, just as they were often built with thinner plate than the almost ubiquitous modern 10/6/4.

[Keeping Up]

Often it wasn't the ceiling that was low, it was the floor that was high. If the boat had a wet bilge as most did then, the wooden floor bearers had to be raised above the expected water level as well as being big enough to span the boat without sagging.

[Grace and Favour]

OP - - I assume you've looked on Jim Shead's boat database (here)

 

 

 

Edited to add: DOH! I didn't read OP's post fully!

Edited March 27, 2014 by Grace & Favour

[alan_fincher]

OP - - I assume you've looked on Jim Shead's boat database (here)

........but I have checked on Jim sheads site to no avail..

 

From the bow shape, she could be a Mindon.

it doesn't look like any Mindon Marine boat of my experience - I don't think it is one of those - they are very distinctive.

[Athy]

Agreed, Alan - when I found a photo of a Mindon on the Internet the bow did indeed look similar but the shape of the superstructure was quite different.

[StephenA]

I've just checked across the raw data for the boat register and there isn't anything like that in it.

 

What Navigation Authority is it registered with? Its possible that its not on the database if its registered with one of the Nav Auths that data isn't held for

 

Steve

[sparrowcycles]

thanks everyone.

 

Its on the Kennet and Avon near Keynsham and seems just before CRT authority so maybe it isnt on a database at all.

 

Yes I checked the floor, it has blue brick ballast with marine ply on top, just over 2 inches but it cant go any lower than that so I guess it wasnt a wet bilge.

 

 

fingers crossed for some lead to go on!

 

thanks again!!

 

s

[Alan Saunders]

It is odd how we need to know the history of our boat even if it is not 'historic'. Fortunately, I know the history of mine from documents and photographs left aboard by the previous owners, a 1984 Canal World article, other old magazine references and online resources. Best keep all the documents safe at home and essential copies on-board.

 

Hanham lock is operated by Bristol Port and is, effectively, the boundary to CRT (BW) authority. West of the lock you need a Bristol Port Licence. 46959 may be a BW regisration number but the numbers are not consecutive and they relate to first registration with BW, not build date. e.g. I have had two steel boats, one built and registered with BW in 1985 has index number 81nnn, the other built in 1987, was originally kept on the Bridgewater Canal and registered with BW as 54nnn in 1995. Fibreglass, wood and working boats had a different series of numbers and more recent registrations have six digits.

 

No doubt you have Googled 'Siflay' and found the Urban Dictionary entry which claims it as Richard Adam's Lapine (rabit) language invention meaning 'to go above ground to eat'. 'Watership Down' was published in 1972 and the film released in 1978 so it is likely that the name has not changed since the 1980s.

 

A precise BW index number and a few more details like length, HP, etc. as listed on Jim Shead's website may help.

 

Alan

[StephenA]

Alan, looking through the raw data behind the boat register there is no boat with a name remotely like that. The boat doesn't look like it's been renamed any time recently and there is quite a bit of what looks like historic data in the boat register (i.e. we have one boat that we know has changed names 3 times over the years) so its all very odd

[Monkey 1]

It has a very similar front end to mine, quite a point and rising quite high.My roof is curved though where I notice yours is a slight V shape. I have just 6 ft clearance walking down the middle so I can just stand up.The same 2" bilge yours has.

Mine is a Seamus Walsh boat, I believe he was Stoke based?

Edited March 28, 2014 by Monkey 1

[sparrowcycles]

It is odd how we need to know the history of our boat even if it is not 'historic'.

 

Yes it is, I hadnt even thought of it until I bought Silflay.. I personally would like to know her original name if possible, maybe even more than the maker, that idea of restoring somethings original character is quite beguiling.

 

I had researched the name and am interested by its strange heritage but I must say I feel very little connection to it.. I have friends with a recently bought boat with a name based on a greek opera but being in a ska band the reference becomes meaningless for them.. Interesting too that we often seem to want the name (as well as the rest of the boat) to embody a certain amount of our character (imagined or otherwise).. I guess we cant help but leave our mark.

 

Monkey 1 are you able to send me a pic of your boat? I have searched seamus walsh on google but come up with no images to see.. I did find similar shots labeled as coles marine, wyvek, and even this one that looks similar but has no name..

 

the search continues..

 

I shall get the definite registration number asap, as for the rest Its 50ft, lister sr3 (27? hp).. I have been through Jim sheads site to no avail..

 

thanks folks!!

 

 

..s

 

 

opps here that photo is..

[alan_fincher]

Lister SR3 is usually quoted at no more than about 20HP, I think, sometimes a bit less.

The later ST3 would be higher, but is designed to have a higher top RPM, I think.