Broad Ambition R641 - Restoration

[BroadAmbition]

Ok,

 

Back in 2001 we bought a wreck of a timber boat then named 'Ivy Lady' for the princely sum of £2'500, laying at Woods Dyke Horning

 

October 2007 - She was re-commissioned at John Williams Boats in Stalham.

 

The End

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

You really want me to do this?

 

 

Griff

[Gracie]

"You really want me to do this?".......Yes we really do

 

Grace

[deebee29]

I second that Grace

I'd love to read about the restoration if you have the time please Griff

[BroadScot]

I second that Grace

I'd love to read about the restoration if you have the time please Griff

Aye, and so say all of us!

 

 

Iain

[andy]

Yes and me

[CYGNET]

Hi Griff,

 

Hope you are well, I love reading your tales and the work that you do on BA, I have missed the updates, so yes its a thumbs up from me.

 

Maxine : )

[petersjoy]

Ok,

 

Back in 2001 we bought a wreck of a timber boat then named 'Ivy Lady' for the princely sum of £2'500, laying at Woods Dyke Horning

 

October 2007 - She was re-commissioned at John Williams Boats in Stalham.

 

The End

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

You really want me to do this?

 

 

Griff

Hmmm quite a lot of copy and pasting to do

[BroadAmbition]

Hmmm quite a lot of copy and pasting to do

 

It was originally written in word doc, there's quite a lot missing from the start of the originally 'Posted' account which needs updating / filling in the blanks.  It is another of those 'One Day' items I need to get round to

 

 

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

Right.

 

You asked and you shall receive but don't expect daily postings every day.

 

Herewith:-

 

 

R641 Broad Ambition – Restoration

 

 

 

Where to start?

 

That’s an easy one.  Right back at the beginning that’s where.  The ‘Proper’ beginning of how R641  came to be known as Broad Ambition started right back in August 1960!

 

I could go further back when Mum and Dad first went on the Broads in the 50’s  This kind of happened by accident. They were on holiday at Caister-on-Sea holiday camp. Dad without Mums knowledge entered her in the camps beauty Queen contest, apparently she was not best pleased when she found out, later on however her confidence had taken somewhat of a huge boost and Dad was as proud as a peacock when Mum only went and won the contest!  The first prize was a weeks holiday afloat on a Norfolk Broads cabin cruiser.

 

There it began . . . . . .

 

-----------------------------------------------

 

August 1960 - That was the month that the world, well Doncaster in Gods Country (Yorkshire then!) was introduced to myself - Charlie Griffin.  Within months I was experiencing my first ever holiday afloat on the Norfolk Broads with Mum and Dad. This would have been in a Herbert Woods cabin cruiser, probably ‘Shining Light’

 

And so it continued, year on year, our one family holiday – or the main one we all looked forward to – was a week on the Broads, usually ‘Raceweek’ which coming from Donny and the home of the St Leger was in September.  The traditional family holiday slowly gave way to become an annual ‘The Lads Week’ which was in full swing by the mid seventies and still continues to this day.

 

Now then us young lads back in the swinging sixties – were not swinging, far from it we were too busy playing with school getting in the way.  When you’re that age a year to wait for our family holiday on the Broads used to take around at least a decade or so to arrive, but arrive they did by some quirk every year!

 

There was one big, huge even, drawback to these family holidays, that was the Saturday when you took the boat back to the hire yard. It was gut wrenching to me and Bro’ the long car journey home was not much fun at all. In those sixties days it was in Dad’s Ford Consul.

 

As time progressed we matured in years as one tends to do whether one likes it or not. The Seventies arrived, and I had a dream.  Now most young lads of my era dreamt of becoming a race car driver, locomotive driver, page three photographer, astronaut or some such like (Any one of which vocations I no doubt would have excelled in) but not I.  My dream was to have my very own Norfolk Broads Cabin cruiser.  No more gut wrenching Saturdays returning the boat.  I had no idea how to achieve my dream, but at least I had a dream and a goal to aim for.

 

We move forward again and it’s time for me to put away my toys.  Not having a clue where to put them or what to replace them with I had to get some sort of career job. I was fifteen so it was early 1976.  Mum and Dad advised me to get a job doing something I liked doing.  That in itself wasn’t crystal clear as to what direction I should go in as building / operating radio control boats and aircraft, shooting, motorbike riding, dogs / ferrets (Yes really) and going on the Norfolk Broads once a year – Well any of those wouldn’t pay very well if at all.

 

So following Mum and Dad’s advice I chose my very favourite – The Norfolk Broads and boating.  Getting an apprenticeship in boat building / engineering was out of the question due to our location, no family of ours lived in Norfolk.  Right then, those fast patrol boats that the RAF operates will do for me.  So I took myself off to Doncaster careers office – to naively join the RAF and spend my days as a crew member on said Air Sea Rescue launches.  Of course that didn’t happen as the RAF Sergeant was very honest with me explaining that out of a full 22yr commission I would have to be very lucky indeed just to get a two year posting on such a craft.  If it was boats your after lad – go talk to my colleague behind the next deck in the white shirt black tie – Chief Petty Officer Royal Navy.  So I did as I was told.  That CPO lied through his back teeth, as a naive 15 yr old I of course took in every word.

 

October 1976 – I’m in!  So my career in the Royal Navy began.  It lasted for twenty four years and twelve days to be precise, ending 24^th October 2000.

 

Now this bit is important / relevant – in all those 24yrs I still hankered after and went on the Norfolk Broads participating in the annual ‘Lads Week’ sometimes flying back from abroad to do so.  I still had my dream.

 

1996 – I’m thirty six years young and fast approaching life beginning at forty.  I still had my dream but was no nearer to achieving it than when it first occurred.  I had to get off my backside and do something about it.  So I did.  Next trip down to Norfolk I would seriously start looking at pricing up the boat of my dreams.  I was aghast! A ‘Turnkey’ 40ft timber centre cockpit cruiser was way out of my price range – so far out I would have to revert to being one of those astronauts.  I would have to re-mortgage the house, MrsG would never stand for that.  There had to be another way.  There was too, use my hands.  Purchase a basket case, use my hands and do it myself.  There I had got it sorted out how to achieve my dream and was at long last doing something about it.  Ok it wasn’t much but it was a start.

 

Photo – Me at 4 yrs old with Bro as a babe in arms. Mum, Dad and Grandma with Candy dog in Herbert Woods circa 1964

 

 

Griff

[Boatingman]

Great Read Griff

 

please keep going I am sure everyone will read with interest

 

Ray

[BroadScot]

Hi Ray,

 

Welcome to the NBN friendly forum  I agree, it will be a well read thread indeed.

 

 

Iain

[JawsOrca]

ray  to the forum.. 

 

Agree too.. Griff please stop working so hard and get back to this.. I can't believe you left us at such a cliff hanger!

[deebee29]

Great start Griff, I'm hooked already.

Looking forward to the next instalment whenever you're able to post it

[BroadAmbition]

1996 – At that time I was serving onboard a RN ‘Fast’ patrol boat – HMS Explorer (That wasn’t very fast) she was based in Hull (And still is) it was another cracking draft, I was supposed to be on her for 18 x months but managed 3 x years +  Despite that CPO back in the careers office in 76 I had indeed managed to get various drafts on various small craft which was right up my street.  So being based in Hull meant I could commute anytime the notion took me back and forth to Donny and our family home.  It also meant that I could start to get organised proper with ‘My Dream’  I needed a team.  The word was put out to family and friends what I was intending to achieve, namely restore a timber Broads cruiser back to her best or better, then keep her on the Broads of course.

 

Those days were the infancy of ‘My Dream’  the first inaugural meeting we had took place at Dolly’s place then in Wetherby.  There were about 12 interested chaps that attended that meeting.  Some dropped out immediately probably concluding that A)  it would never happen,    It could partially happen and end in tears,  C)  The project would never see completion and a lot of money / time would be lost.

 

The Syndicate was formed come 1997, it consisted of Dad, myself and Bro Howard, Steve Pye, Dolly Dalton and Derrick Wilkinson.  Steve Pye was a RN training officer based with the YURNU in Hull, I had met him in 94 when he joined the shore unit linked to HMS Explorer.  Dolly Dalton – I could write a book about our exploits together over the years.  We met in 76 holding our respective Dads hands on Donny Platform 12 Oct ready to board the train to HMS Raleigh for basic training, we have been friends ever since, best men at each others weddings, god parents and the like, Dolly has attended numerous Lads Weeks with hilarious consequences.  Derrick Wilkinson – I met him probably in 74 when I used to visit ‘MDC’ a lot in Donny (MDC – Motorist discount centre) Derrick worked there, went onto become manager then went stratospheric to where is now.  Dad and Bro need no explanations.

 

So we now had a plan, a syndicate.  What we didn’t have was a venue or a suitable project boat to put in it.

So the hunt was on.  We were soon to discover that old decrepit Broads cabin cruisers were come the nineties spread far and wide, no longer residing in Norfolk/Suffolk alone.  We travelled far and wide leaving notes / letters in marinas wherever we could.  The internet in those days for us was a non starter – none of us had mobile phones let alone a pc.

 

I had then just three years left in the RN.  I was also due to be drafted away from HMS Explorer where I would have quite happily seen out my RN days.  When a sailor is due a draft it’s always a time for trepidation and excitement in equal measures.  Would my next and final job in the RN take me away from home and ‘My Dream?

 

Oh yes and then some!

 

 

Griff

 

Photo 066 - you should recognise one person, you may recognise another. No one will guess as to where we are, or what we had been doing

Photo 067 - Obvious what had been happening but who are they and where?

[BroadAmbition]

It was October 97, I was onboard HMS Explorer in Hull marina, a landline call came through for me, it was RN Drafty – Would I do them a favour and accept a draft at somewhat short notice? A married accompanied job (Meaning I was allowed to take MrsG and our two kids, it also meant it would be a shore based job) overseas has become gapped as another sailor had turned it down last minute. The job would be working in a communication centre, it would last two and a half years, we would need to travel there leaving the family home and the draft would start third week in December just before Christmas.  By now I was already committing myself no matter where it was, the chance to spend all that time with my family was a huge bonus.

 

Where?  -  Gibralter  -  YES!!!

 

Two and a half years in the sun with southern Spain to play in too.  I accepted over the phone there and then.  Don’t you need to run this past your wife? He said, Nope – I’ve just looked and I’m definitely wearing the trousers today (It was my turn and a rare occasion!).  I had visited Gib many times on various RN ships in the past, I was even stationed there for a whole year back in 81 so Gib held no fears for me

 

I was cock-a-hoop – Fortunately that evening at home once I had explained to MrsG the benefits of uprooting all of us for foreign shores, so was she and I avoided a trip to Doncaster Royal Infirmary. (Besides I told her I had been ordered to go and being in the RN – ‘No’ was a word not used much, even if followed up with ‘Sir’)

 

The photo 066 in my last post with six of us looking somewhat scruffy – We had literally just sat down in ‘Ye Olde Rock’ pub in Gibraltar having just completed a ‘Crystal Cave Tour’  that is pot holing, and scrambling around caves underground, they are, Left to Right:-

Me,

Tim Froggatt RN,

Pete Jackson RSM Gibraltar Regiment and chief tunnel tour guide, He still is today the chief tunnel tour guide and appeared on the TV programme ‘Gibraltar in the sun’ recently

Andy Dixon at the rear – Civvy comms technician, now sadly deceased

Dennis Moorhouse RN

Russ Jenkins Civvy and a member of ‘B.A’s associate crew.

 

(They have all been onboard ‘B.A’ at some time except Andy Dixon and Pete Jackson)  The photo 067 is Pete Jackson and me, I was accepting 1^st place award of the Gibraltar karting championships held annually in southern Spain

 

Now this dream job in the sun caused us one huge headache.  The search for our project boat and venue was in full swing, we were scouring the country with our net getting ever bigger.  I had to inform the lads that I was going to have to put my input on hold until August 2000 but would they continue in my absence?  I would hold my end up financially and help out when/if back in UK on leave.  – Nope came the reply, you are project manager, it’s your dream, we’ll all put it on hold and wait for your return.  So that was that.  A three year delay was in front of us.  Still ever looking on the bright side, the Military in Gibraltar had in their arsenal a most important facility ‘ 4 x Dock’ which is a water sports adventurous training centre.  That’s where I at long last converted some of my RN qualifications over to the civvy side RYA and lots of them.  4 x Dock had the lot to play around with, canoes, dinghy’s, Yeomans, even a 36ft Bavaria ocean sailing yacht which I made use of many times visiting Ceuta and southern Spain as skipper, Dorys, Ribs, hard chine ski boats, a cabin cruiser day boat used for taking fishing parties out for the day. I used to instruct water skiers, take folk out for trips on the ribs sometimes wake boarding etc, my favourite was taking young ones out to view the dolphins. I became a part time instructor on the power side as well as day trip skipper.  So I kept my hand in and honed my sailing skills.  It was, a dream job for me and the whole family.  A favourite place to visit in Spain was Puerto Banus both on the yacht and in the car – Top class gin palaces (The standard of ‘Deck Totty’ wasn’t half bad either), eateries and prices to match

 

Yes we did fly back to UK and go on the Broads of course.  I may have been overseas but my dream was still with me.  It would be 40 years in the making by the time we came home for good.

 

 

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

June 2000,

 

We were home.  Gibraltar was bade a most fond and sad farewell.  HELLO Gods Country once more.

 

I was due to leave the RN officially in the August but as with the way of best laid plans, that had to be put on hold for commitments by the RN to me to be fulfilled, so I had a rather unusual visit to a Captain’s Table as a request-man to extend my service career by 2 x months, this after nearly twenty four years of service I should have left 23^rd August – this was put back to 24^th October.

 

Although still officially still in the RN, I now found myself with plenty of paid spare time on my hands.

 

I had to carve out a new career to provide for the four of us, a choice had to be made, the AA had offered me full time employment as a roadside knight in yellow armour.  I had my fill of being in uniform and answering to all and sundry – it was time to go my own way ‘GriffTile’ was formed come December 2000.  The family was back in our family home, the children had settled back into Yorkshire life and the local schools, MrsG although mightily miffed and having to leave Gibraltar behind was settled too.  Back to business then and the important stuff -

 

The ‘Dream’ was now burning ever brighter.

 

The hunt was back on!

 

A family friend and knowledgeable boat builder – John Williams of Stalham agreed to inspect / survey any prospective boat we came across that we might be interested in for our project.  The annual ‘Lads Week’ was still in full swing every October – only now all I had to do was drive down instead of fly back to UK.

 

We were souring the countryside far and wide, visiting boatyards, making phone calls and really going for it.  We spent endless hours on the road.  No end of visits ended in disappointment others did produce but were way beyond our financial means, some boats were way beyond saving even for our band of ignorant over enthusiastic amateurs, staring through rose tinted glasses

 

Dec 2000 – extract from diary:-

 

-----------------------------------------------------

Sat 30/12/00

 

This ‘Diary’ initiated on this day.

 

Visited ‘La Boheme’ Cabin Cruiser, Brooms ‘Supreme Commander’ situated on the river Cam at Horning Sea. Initial asking price of £10.000 is already down to £5000. Had a trip down and back up river of 10 miles. Very enjoyable. Lots of digi-phots taken.  Next visit to evaluate Boat will involve John Williams (of ‘John Williams Boats’) being in attendance for a professional view of Boat.

John Williams contacted by Griff and updated on project and requested his presence onboard Boat, date to be confirmed.

Griff had a profitable conversation with a potential syndicate member, Brian Gormley. He will be able to arrange The Lift, transport of Boat from location to the barn and also oversee offloading of boat into barn at trade rates (using the company he works for)

 

Sun 31/12/00

Confirmed Barn situated in Auckley is available for project on a no-cost basis. (No-cost as in rent. Electricity, water and maintenance costs to be the responsibility of The Syndicate with barns owner). Barns owner is a possible member of syndicated, he stated that the barn is available even if he decides not to join syndicate.

Mon 01/01/01

Broads Boat Project initial draft Document drawn up by Syndicate Secretary – Dave Dalton (This post to be confirmed at a later date) for first evaluation.

Thurs 04/01/01

Griff rang John Williams and had a fruitful conversation, date for Johns visit down to ‘Horning Sea’ to visit Boat is likely to be Sat/Sun 13/14^th Jan. this will be confirmed in the next few days.

Fri 05/01/01

John Williams was in touch.  Visit arranged for him to view Boat on Sun 14^th at Horning Sea.  He has been in touch with ‘Hartford Marina’ and spoken to the owner who knows some history of ‘Le Boheme’ John will fill in all details on a face to face when we see him on the 14^th.

Thurs 11/01/01

Visited Barn today with Brian Gormley who brought his heavy lift expert from ‘Cementation’ (Colin).  He looked the place over and declared that there was no insurmountable problems to getting a 40ft Boat into the Barn.  He will pay another visit with a driver just to confirm that the load will make it into the drive entrance but Colin in confident it will.

Sun  14/01/01

Today visited ‘Le Boheme’ again on the river ‘Cam’ in ‘Horning Sea’ near Cambridge.  ‘Le Boheme’ is a former Supreme Commander from the Brooms yard. In attendance were Dave, Griff. Our project surveyor John & Sandy Williams of ‘J.W Boats’ gave the boat the once over and declared the project a non-starter due to the condition of the boat.

There was just too much dry rot in evidence as well as large scale decay in the woodwork of the Hull, namely the ‘Chine’ on both sides, many main frames not to mention the planking.  The Cosmetics and superstructure were not even bothered with. 

One small ray of hope is that Dave will look into the possibility of obtaining Lottery/Heritage funding to have the Hull/Frames/Chines done professionally.

John Williams will enquire at Richardson’s in Stalham, and also keep his ‘Eyes open and ears peeled’! in Norfolk generally on our behalf.

 

--------------------------------------

 

We were proper crestfallen.  Since June 2000 we all had been actively searching, nearly 7 x months and we were really hoping ‘Le Boheme’ was our project boat.  It was the closest we had got. We had lost count of the ‘Oh so nearlys’ but we had to respect the knowledge of J.W.  Meanwhile the barn in Auckley was progressing hand over fist in getting it ready for our non-existant project boat.  Cleaned out, lighting commissioned, made water tight / draft proof as best we could. Electric meter sourced, work benches looked at.  The barn was about 20ft wide and 80 ft long.  The width was not ideal but for a free venue, beggers could not be choosers

Back onto diary extracts:-

 

---------------------------------------

Fri  26/01/01

John Williams (Of ‘John Williams Boats’) rang to say he has found a possible boat.

It is an ex-hire fleet wooden cabin cruiser of 40ft.  Six berth but wheelhouse is as big as a ‘Garden shed’ and would easily take 2 stowable berths.  It is fitted with a Perkins 4108 4cyl 2Ltr diesel.  Asking price is £11k, John stated not to pay too much attention to that price, as the asking price is always somewhat ambitious! John is off to view the boat and report his findings back to us.

 

Thurs 01/02/01

Visit now confirmed for Sunday the 11^th Feb down to ‘Horning’ in Norfolk to view the latest possibility (As described above).

This will also involve taking Sunday lunch in ‘The Ferry Boat Inn’ and buying lunch for our surveyor John and his wife.

Prospective Syndicate members are welcome/encouraged to attend. Limited transport it available, first come, first served, names to Griff or Dave.

 

Sun 11/02/01

Today visited ‘Ivy Lady’ (Formerly ‘Superb Heart’ Superb Gem and firstly  Star Supreme 1) at Horning in Norfolk. In attendance were Griff, Dave & Russ.  ‘J.W’ attended and introduced us to the present owners. 

‘Ivy Lady’ details are as follows:

Built by - Jack Powell’s in 1950(ish)

Length - 40 ft, Beam -12 ft.   Gross weight 7 ½ tons. 

Engine – Perkins 4108 4cyl 2ltr diesel.  G/box – Borg Warner reduction

Berths – 6 at present but there were originally 7 and can be made into 8 berths easily.

 

As you can see from the photo’s the boat (Photo’s sent separately) is a in a totally different ballpark from the previous boat we looked at.  The present owners have done a lot of painting inside and out and she looks quite smart on first impressions. There is however plenty of work to do on her, too much to list here. ‘J.W’ will be giving the boat a more thorough inspection during the next two weeks, lifting boards etc and will report his findings to us.  The asking price is £11:000.  ‘J.W’ advised us (under insistence from Dave) us if we were to make an offer now as she stands (floats?) to go in with at £6:000 and then haggle, but stressed that the offer figure would probably come down after he has ‘had his overalls on!!’ As of yet we haven’t offered anything.

 

There is a provisional date set for a second visit on Sunday the 25^th February.  This visit will include a trip down the river and back, to include a Pub lunch either at ‘The Maltsters Inn’ at Ranworth or the ‘Ferry Boat Inn’ at Horning.  Syndicate members are encouraged to attend. (Also an opportunity for wives and kids to come too!)

 

SAT 17/02/01

J.W rang Griff with information on ‘Ivy Lady’.  He has spent two hours onboard the boat, lifting deck plates etc.  He is very pleased with what he saw and surprised on just how good a condition the boat is in.  There is a problem with waste water that has been discharged from a shower straight into the bilge that needs looking at soon. 

J.W suggests that ‘This Is the One’  AT LAST!!!  ‘Ivy lady’ is officially being sold by ‘Julies Boat Sales’ of Horning but there is nothing to stop us contacting the owner of the boat direct but we mustn’t upset Julie and her relationship with J.W (Griff has details)  J.W has insider information in the fact that ‘Julies Boat Sales’ have another interested party waiting in the wings to view ‘Ivy Lady’ and also that the owners are putting pressure on ‘Julies Boat Sales’ to find them a buyer.

So the ball is now firmly in our court.  J.W stated it is very difficult for him to advise us on what price to go in at, if we go in too low we will just be ‘washed away’ to high and we see ourselves off. He suggested £8000??

We will probably make an offer after the river trip on the 25^th Feb.

  Mon 19/02/01  Griff today made contact with one of  ‘Ivy Lady’ present owners. The river trip is now confirmed for Sunday the 25^th Feb.  The plan is to depart the boatyard at no later that 1200, cruise to Ranworth Broad for lunch in the ‘Maltsters Inn’ and then return Ivy Lady to her berth at Horning. We should be tied up and ready to depart Horning by 1500.ALL Potential Syndicate members are encouraged to attend, you may wish to bring your families along if you wish but let’s be sensible on numbers this is a 40ft cabin cruiser not a car ferry!!  If you intend to attend then please contact Griff for further information on the day out (01302 770768/07811 680754).  We have also secured a price for lifting any potential vessel out of the water onto a low-loader road transporter for £50 (plus £30 for a power wash) at a boatyard at Wayford Bridge. Dave will shortly start talking money with the present owners to find out what their ‘Bottom Price’ is

 

Thu 01/03/01 Made offer of  £5500 - 6000

Hostile reception to offer.  Unable to visit due to hostile reception.  Cancellation of meeting on 9^th due to members inability to attend

Risk assessment on this boat and strategy of buying i.e. what we know about the Opposition i.e. Julie and Chris: Clearly in a hurry to sell. Mooring fees due April. Poor state of cosmetic repair (Which will negate people willing to spend £7000 for a ready made boat) which it is not!  New date for meeting (I expect to have negotiated the boat by the end of March) Fingers crossed!!!

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

So close but so far.  We still did not have a project boat. March 2001.  But we were all keen and still up for it.

 

The search continues . . . . . .

 

 

Griff

[Polly]

I am enjoying this.

Always thought BA looked like a cheap boat! ( ducks and runs!!!!)

[Boatingman]

Great read Griff

I hired her sister R 646 Star Supreme 6 on three occasions I have a great memories of holidays on her These craft where at the time the boats to have

also in my time hired a Star Magna and took Star Tracker 1 on its maiden voyage all starting from hiring Rippling Foam from Powles in 1964 just to keep Clive happy my second hire was the the original Broadsman

Ray

[BroadAmbition]

Fascinating stuff Ray, you really out to pay us a visit onboard sometime

 

 

Griff

[Boatingman]

Griff

That is an offer I cannot refuse

it would be an honour to look over Broad Ambition

Ray

[BroadAmbition]

It would be an honour to have you onboard!

 

 

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

March 2001

 

The ‘Syndicate – not ratified or complete had at this stage nine potential members.  Too many for my liking.  How would nine of us manage to spend equal time afloat without any disagreements?  The core firm syndicate members I reckoned realistically to be about six.  These six were actively searching, making phone calls and generally making a proper nuisance of themselves.  Poor old John Williams was racking up the miles on numerous visits when we found a potential project boat – all to no avail. It was also racking up our time and funds spent on road fuel.

 

Back to the diary:-

 

---------------------------------

 

Thu 15/03/01   Griff and Russ visited  Farnbro Marina at Lincoln no joy there.  I was put onto ‘Trevethicks’ boatyard at Nottingham, gave them a ring had a fruitful conversation with the marina owner who has put us onto a potential boat for sale located at Nottingham.  The boat is called ‘Bengary’ and was about to be put up for sale for £17k but has since suffered fire damage and is now on the market for £4k.  I will arrange a visit down to view her in the near future.  ‘Ivy Lady’ is still on-going and John Williams has found another one for us to view in Norfolk at Martham boatyard. Visit to be arranged during the Easter School break, as well as having a day trip out on Ivy Lady. J.W now has the keys again for Ivy Lady for us to take a trip out on her at our convenience.

 

 

Wed 11/04/01

Whilst down in Norfolk on a hired cruiser for the week, Dave and Griff visited ‘Martham Boat Building Company’ (Ask Griff what happened to Dave! – Tooooo funny beyond words – you couldn’t make it up) on a recommend from J.W.  We viewed a boat called ‘Freebird’ and decided that this was not the boat for us.  During the week we took the opportunity to view and dig out as many potential cruisers that would suit our needs.  We have another potential boat for the project called ‘Princess of Light’ a 43ft ex-Woods hire craft built about 1930(ish) asking price is £10.000.  We will pursue this one and see what happens.

There are also some others that Griff/Dave will pursue via the Broads Authority

 

 

Mon 27/08/01

Dave received a call out of the blue from Chris (Ivy Lady owner). Quite a long informative call explaining that they still had not sold the boat. They have ‘Binned’ Julies Boat Sales Ltd and are going to try one last go at advertising the boat to sell it themselves.

What conclusions can we draw from this call? Well they know our offer was £6000 and they were asking £11.000!! So it was probably a testing the water’ type of call. Dave being the crafty sod he is stated that our original offer would now not stand and IF we made an offer it was now likely to be lower!. To refresh your memories, John Williams stated that this was the boat we should go for in his professional opinion and to offer £8k. As you should be aware we are going on a ‘Lads week’ 13 – 20^th October and we will arrange to get the keys to Ivy Lady for a test run up the river.

Watch this space!

 

 

Sun 21/10/01

Well a lot has been happening preceding and during the ‘Lads week’ down on the Broads. To bring you up to date:

We had another look round ‘Ivy Lady’ assisted by the Engineer at ‘Woods Dyke Boatyard’. Dave then put in an offer of

£2.500 subject to us having her lifted out of the water and surveyed by John Williams at a suitable date. The present owners discussed this offer and a reply came back at £3.000 and she was ours. (Original asking price was £11k, we were advised to try and secure at £8k and we offered £6k) Dave held firm and on Saturday 20^th October our offer of £2:5k was accepted.

 

Gentlemen, Subject to survey we are the proud owners of a 40ft Broads classic cabin cruiser AT LAST!!

 

Now of course we have a need to get off our arses and get things sorted. First thing is to arrange an out of the water survey, Griff will organise this and let all of you know when it is happening so those of you who wish to attend can do so.

 

It is now imperative that we get together for the first inaugural Syndicate meeting to confirm Syndicate Members and to get the ‘Project Draft Document ratified etc. Dave ‘Dolly’ Dalton will be organising this SOON.

 

The Barn will have to be fully sorted and finalised ready to accept her.

 

Last but of course not least this is ‘Hand in pocket time’ we will very soon have to hand over the cost of purchasing, Cranage, Surveying and transporting to the Barn. £3k should cover it, so depending on Syndicate numbers confirmed, expect to pay between £300 - £600.

 

You personally, really now do need to take some action and start participating. Whether you are interested or not I would appreciate a call/E-mail

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20/10/01 -  The dream was fast coming on like a rip tide now.  Potentially we were now at long last the owners of a Broads cabin cruiser.  Ok she was not a turnkey or even halfway operational but she floated, and she was OURS!

R641 ‘ Ivy Lady’ was at that time listed on Craigs database as being fibreglass hull with timber topsides.  We of course knew different.  She was made of timber, and not just any old timber but teak frames, hog, planking, the whole hull was teak. The cabin sides were mahogany.  We were cock-a-hoop, exciting times for us all

The potential syndicate members of nine, once hand in pocket time became a reality fell in an instant down to the six core members.  The syndicate proper was formed; documents and paperwork were drawn up.

 

We had a project boat, we had a venue to carry out the restoration.  Between us we envisaged we could afford to finance it.  Of course none of us were anywhere close to being classed as joiners let along bona fide boat builders, but what we lacked in experience was more than compensated by our enthusiasm, our ability to coerce friends and knowledgeable  folk to assist.  Also we each had our own skills we could bring to the fore under the guidance of the Project Manager (Griff) who himself knew one end of a chisel from t’other.

Back to the diary:-

 

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Sun 28/10/01

The Barn has developed ‘somewhat’ of a problem.  The Owner of the Barn has reneged on a previous long-standing agreement between himself and Griff. We now unfortunately do not have the barn for our use anymore. This is only a ‘slight hiccup’, Griff called a few people with many contacts and word is already coming back on another venue close to Auckley.   I was somewhat miffed at this turn of events, I had put a lot of time into making the barn ready to accept our project boat, it was a bit of a kick in the teeth to be honest.  Still onwards and upwards then.

 

Do you know of anywhere on anyone that might know?

 

There is no immediate rush as the boat has her moorings paid for until April. Ideally we would like to get the boat installed in her new location before the end of the year.

 

The payment is now due for ‘Ivy Lady’ Dave has set up a bank account, for now it is in his name but will be changed on confirmation of a Syndicate Secretary. Those of you who are already committed need to get a £500 to Dave ASAP. Payment and Ownership documents should change hands on or about the weekend of the 7^th Nov. We expect there will be no further expense to the syndicate until Easter time.

 

 

Sun 16/12/01

The Inaugural Syndicate meeting took place at Malthouse Broad Ranworth with all six members present. We got there on Ivy Lady from Woods Dyke Boatyard. Ivy lady had a fair bit of water in the bilge and Howard/Charlie spent some time in getting the bilge pumps working and we had a slight problem getting the engine ticking over but got it sorted.

Minutes of the meeting have since been published.

 

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The Dream was forging ahead.  We had a boat!  At long last.  What we didn’t have was a venue close to home to house her and our tools etc.  It seemed like one step forward and another one backwards.  That one step forward was a huge one of course.  At this stage we had no firm evidence of R641’s true identity or history, this would come racing forwards as time progressed.  The priority now was to secure another venue close to home at a reasonable cost.  It would have to be around 60ft x long and a minimum of 20 x ft wide but ideally wider and with enough headroom for a workable clearance, not to mention access for a crane and lorry.  You don’t find many sheds of that size in neighbors’ back gardens around this neck of the woods.

Still ever the optimist, onwards and upwards in the normal manner.  It had only taken 41 years to get our own boat, I was confident we could find a venue in a matter of weeks - We needed to

 

The search for a shed was firmly on

(Photo's to follow)

 

 

Griff

[riyadhcrew]

Please keep it coming Griff. This is excellent reading.

[BroadAmbition]

Photo's:-

 

First sighting R641 Alongside Woods Dyke, Horning, Then our meeting at Ranworth staithe, L to R:-

 

Dolly, Derrick Dad, Howard, Me with Steve on deck - Otherwise know as 'The Broads Six'

 

 

Griff

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Griff,

The boat looks completely different, but reading some of your blogs; underwater I guess she is.

 

I like the pictures especially the one of motley crew; but the guy on the end looks as if he need s a good meal

 

Regards

Alan