NB The Directors’ Cut

Monday 15th August 2005

After a few brief hours asleep, we are up again preparing the boat for sea. Mike & Jan rejoin us and by 10:45 we are in the sea lock descending fast. Another boat (Y Not) is also undertaking the passage and the pilot joins their boat as they are slower and possibly less experienced than us. We are to follow close by and we will travel up the channel together.

Once the massive lock gates open, we emerge into the wide river There is that moment of anticipation as we look to see what the conditions are like. The river is flat calm, the sun is beating down and it is going to be a glorious day. The Severn bridges come into view almost immediately. They look just enormous, gleaming in the distance, and for the next hour they just get larger and larger until we are actually underneath. Looking up at the enormous structure above is actually quite daunting, I’m realising just how very small we are!

After the passing both Severn bridges we are about halfway, so we break open a few bottles with lunch. Now it is just an easy meander up the river following the channel and not straying onto the sandbanks. This is easy for us with a pilot as all we have to do is follow the boat in front. On our own we would have to follow the navigation marks and watch the charts. I know that Ian is working it out as we go and if we ever get to do the passage again, I think that he will want to do it solo.

Just over 4 hours after leaving Portishead lock, we are in the tidal basin at Sharpness. There we wait awhile for the sea lock to be ready and for a large commercial boat to be bought in. The whole passage was very enjoyable and an exhilarating experience that we will be talking about for quite some time.

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(To see more photos, click on any picture, then choose Last Uploads to see all the recent pics)

The Gloucester and Sharpness Ship Canal is wide and very attractive. The many swing bridges are all worked for us, no locks, so it is an easy passage now to Gloucester. Liz & John meet us near Sharpness to deliver some post and the photos that John took yesterday of our abortive attempt to get down the gorge. We stop at Shepherd’s Patch near Slimbrigde for an evening meal and a toast to Ian’s birthday. But we are not partying late tonight, we’re both very tired – it’s been a long two days.

N

20 miles, 2 locks, 5 hours

The initial concept for our “dream” narrowboat was first discussed and documented whilst we were on our honeymoon over 10 years ago. Where else do you go on honeymoon, but Elsemere Port, by canal of course!

In our case it was on a 50′ very traditional narrowboat called ‘Willow’. Willow had a boatman’s cabin, a chug chug engine, handled like a dream and we were in love. We had both owned boats in the past and spent time on the canals, so it didn’t take much to persuade ourselves that one day we would build our dream boat and travel the entire canal network.

So the concept of “The Directors’ Cut” was born. We had a name, and design drawings, but we knew it would be many years before she was built. Meantime we did manage to buy a small (28′) but perfectly formed narrowboat which we named Prologue II.

Prologue II was sold in 2001 after 6 very happy years pottering on the Southern Oxford and the Kennet and Avon. By then we had moved to a house requiring renovation just north of Bristol and had a growing business. Both the house and business required more of our time, and we realized that Prologue II was destined to become one of those sad marina boats that never get to go out. Rather than have her rust away, we took the decision to sell her. We promised ourselves that we would be back one day. We still miss her, and if anyone on the cut has news of Prologue II we’d be delighted to hear from them.

Designing your own boat has to be one of the most enjoyable and time consuming processes! Andy Wright at SGB spent hours on the phone and in person with us as we talked around so many ideas, changed our minds, went back to where we started, and moved onto another plan again. It certainly proved how important it is to choose a boat builder with whom you can have an open a frank discussion, who has infinite patience and lots of experience.

By November the plan was finalized, just in time for the steel work to start as scheduled at the beginning of December.

The hull is to be built by Reeves at Napton, and the fitting out will be done in the new SGB yard at Fenny Compton under the experienced eye of Ian Taylor.

Why is it when you leave, you think of all the questions you should have asked - things that you wish you had looked at more carefully…

Now I am worrying about did I check where all the lights were placed? Are the bathroom cupboards going to be big enough? Will the basin overhang too far? Is the bed going to work - how is the flap going to be fixed? Is it the right height? It will be 2 weeks at least before we visit again - will that be too late?

A girl’s wardrobe is precious - at least the wardrobe space is precious. Why can’t men understand this? When the side hatches were cut in the wrong place, one suggestion to resolve the problem was to reduce the size of the wardrobe! I mean - only a man could even conceive that as being an acceptable solution. So having fought hard for my wardrobe, I was very keen to view when Ian (BB ) tells me it is finished, looks fabulous and is EXACTLY 5ft (as specified) wide.

So last Friday (25th) we visit the boatyard to view progress. Indeed the wardrobe looks fab. The sliding doors have been handbuilt from solid oak and are truly a carpentry work of art. The width is great. But I’m a bit concerned about the depth - I don’t think it looks deep enough for a coat hanger… After several debates with the tape measure, we have to conclude that no, the wardrobe is very beautiful, but cannot actually be used to hang clothes!

After one of those long awkward debates where no one can really work out what to do without ripping it all out to start again, I suggest that we hang the beautiful doors on the outside of the frame, rather than the inside as now. This gains us some 4 inches of depth, which might just about be enough. Unfortunately the doors will now hang below the houdini hatch which brings lots of light into the bedroom. Some of this will be lost. We hope that solution will work.

See more pictures in the gallery (click on any photo)

Following the sale of our business in May 2004, we found ourselves debating the ‘what next’ question. We had several projects and ideas that we had been quite seriously pursuing, but one night Nikki just said “do you realize we could afford to build The Directors’ Cut now?”

That idea fired us with more enthusiasm than any other that we had had so far and we started looking at potential boat builders and doing our sums. Before long we were visiting boatyards and enquiring about build slots. At the end of August, we put down a deposit with Stephen Goldsborough Boats in Knowle and set about drawing some REAL plans.

Very exiting day - the hull is finished and is craned into the water at Fenny Compton. Only a steel shell at the moment, she still looks quite small inside, and it�s quite hard to imagine that this will be our home for the next few years.

Happy Christmas!

Had a phone call from Ian at the boatyard this morning. He’s been marking out the layout on the floor and identified a slight hiccup. The side hatches have been cut 8 inches too far back.

The question was “Can we shuffle the design to accommodate this?”

… and the answer was… errr no. We did think long and hard, but having agonised over every inch of the design it felt like too much of a compromise. So, out with the welding torch and angle grinder!

We visit the boatyard to view progress. The hull is in the dry dock as two welders from Reeves are making a superb job of moving the side doors. The panel surrounding the doors has been removed, and a new panel welded in place, the doors re cut in the correct location. At least I hope it�s right now � it�s not possible to get on board with a tape measure. The welding looks to be of very high quality, don�t think we�ll be able to see the join!

Ian (husband) talks through wiring scheme with Ian (boatbuilder). See technical posts for the finer details. But we have spent many hours trying to work out what appliances we will use in which part of the boat, how many power sockets will be required / where do the phones go / where will we place the TV, the computers etc. We are starting to become very conscious that power is not a free commodity and the importance of planning exactly how it will be used onboard.

Ian (husband) gets a call from Ian (boatbuilder) to say that there is some concern over the size of the Heritage stove. Ian (H) is about to board a plane for the US, so Nikki is called in to liaise with the boatyard. It transpires that this means that we may not be able to put the sink opposite the stove, as the stove is likely to sit 2 ¢ to 3 ft from the gunwhales. Ian (BB ) has not fitted this stove before and is unsure exactly how it will fit. Nikki redraws the kitchen plan to a greater level of detail regarding cupboards etc. and agrees a plan with Ian (BB ) that we think will work. In truth we are not quite sure what the consequences will be until the stove arrives and can be placed in situ inside the boat.The cabinet to contain the computers is designed to exactly fit all of the equipment. It is important to make sure that shelves are fitted to the correct heights so that the equipment will all fit. This has meant either acquiring the equipment, or searching out specifications to ensure that the dimensions are known and allowed for.