Narrowboat Avenger

We sell somewhere between 50 and 80 boats a year, depending on the market at the time. The majority of these boats are what we class as conventional narrowboats. By this I mean with flat bottoms, a modern diesel engine and living accommodation. These boats usually come in three classes as shown below:

Cruiser stern - large rear deck with the engine below.

 

Semi traditional stern - similiar to a cruiser stern but with cabin sides that extend to give more protection.

 

Traditional stern -  Small rear deck with the engine enclosed within the cabin.

On rare occasions we get specialist boats in that some may class as tugs. These boats aren't everyones cup of tea as they usually have a traditional boatmans cabin at the back (similar to that on the traditional working narrowboat) followed by an engine room where a traditional type engine stands to be admired followed by the main living cabin and a long deck on the front, either raised to the level of the gunwhales or lowered to form a well deck. We have one such boat for sale at the moment. Her name is Avenger and she is 60 feet in length. We have had her on the dock this week for pressure washing and blacking and we have also put some paint on the counter bands.

As you can see from the picture above she does require painting to tidy her exterior up, but the shape of her hull is just delightful. She has a long swim at both front and back which makes her glide effortlessly through the water.

She is powered by an amazing Kelvin K2 engine which design dates from the 1930s. These engines were originally fitted to fishing boats and are unique as you start them on petrol and once the ignition chambers are warm you change them over to diesel. Below is a video of the Kelvin fitted in the narrowboat Owl.

They sound just superb when they are ticking over with a maximum rpm of just 750!

She has a boatmans cabin at the rear, followed by the engine room and basically a blank canvas in the forward cabin to fit out as required.

She is available for viewing daily between 8.30am and 5pm here at Norbury. Further details can be found on our website www.norburywharfltd.co.uk.

Regards,

David

It's been typical bank holiday weather today. Rain, rain and more rain...Which has given us time to catch up on some work and reflect on a busy weekend.

We had three dayboats out on Friday morning, six hire boats in the afternoon and finally the trip boat in the evening. Saturday was very similar with three dayboats out in the morning, seven hire boats and the holiday cottage in the afternoon and the trip boat in the evening. Yesterday was busy also with the trip boat running four 1-hour long trips throughout the day. Full details of all the trips that The Shropshire Star can offer can be found here.

Our main season is nearly over, so I suspect this week will be the last week that we have all the boats out, but nows the time to grab a bargain if you are thinking of hiring a boat. Our hire boat discounts can be found here. There's even a ten berth boat for a week at £500!!!!

Have a good week.

Regards,

David.

Well what a busy weekend that turned out to be...

Friday saw us turning round five boats and Saturday saw us turning round six boats plus the holiday cottage. Ofcourse we have also had three day boats out each day and the trip boat was out Friday and Saturday evening on her normal Fish and Chip cruise and she has been out today doing 1-hour long public trips. That's kept us all busy!

The weather has been changeable too, one minute the suns out and the next it is raining. As I write the heavens have opened, but no doubt by the time I post this blog the sun will be out, although it is also quite windy.

Best regards,

David.

It's been a busy weekend here at Norbury. All three dayboats have been out over the weekend and we turned 5 boats round on Friday and 6 boats and the holiday cottage on Saturday. That kept everyone busy!

Lee has finished painting Caernarfon and Trevor has put the finishing touches to her. Here's a few photographs that Simon took earlier in the week once she emerged from the paint dock.

And he has started on the next which he has taken back to bare metal. In this photograph the first coat of primer is being applied to the cabin side.

Best regards,

David

Why is it?

Why is it that we seem to get torential rain mainly on turnaround days? It was rainy yesterday and today it hasnt let us down as its pretty much rained on and off all day long; Its not really a great start to a holiday, and it aint so great for the poor guys and gals turning the boats around!

This last week and the next week are the busiest two weeks of the year, we have had all of the hire fleet out, and three day boats every day, and not to mention the usual fish and chip suppers on board the Shropshire Star, plus a couple of charters, throw in a few pump outs, plenty of diesel sales, a shop full of folks, the usual goings on in the dry dock and wet dock, a few breakdowns, staff away on holiday and it all makes for a busy time of the year, which has made the week fly by nicely!

As I mentioned the whole fleet is out, and the docks have been busy, but Lee our painter has just finished painting one of our residents boats, its been a mammoth task for both him and our sign writer, the boat is a seventy foot ex hotel butty so it is a long old boat and a lot of area to cover, but they have made a great job, photos to follow!

We are getting some interesting boats in on brokerage, the latest one is a 60ft Josher style tug, long bow deck with a fore cabin, back cabin and the most beautiful Kelvin K2 diesel engine in its own engine room, the boat is in need of a full make over but the engine does run superbly and once the boat is completed it will be a stunning boat, priced at a very sensible £29,999 or nearest offer, the engine alone would be worth about 15K! see our website for more details, they will be posted next week!

Regards
Simon