It has taken several months, but today I finally got my first glimpse of “The Cat’s Whiskers”, albet, just the hull.

I travelled up the M1 and M6 to Stafford, to Narrow Boats of Staffordshire, who are fabricating all the steelwork and there she was. Dave, Nigel and the boys at NBS have the hull almost finished and the roof will go on over the next couple of days. If all goes well, the boat will be ready to be moved in a week or so when it will be dropped into the water, up stream of Kingfisher Narrowboats, and  be towed down to the boatyard for painting and fitting out.

I particularly liked the scrolled detailing on the bow. Dave described it as “Norse Bow”, something of a speciality at NBS. It’s a nice touch.

 The hull looked huge in the workshop, and it was pleasing to be able to get some pictures to satisfy the curiosity of so many friends and colleagues, who have been asking to see some photographic evidence of its existence.

I hope to take Pat and her sister Monica, currently visiting from Canada, to see, what I hope will be the finished steelwork next Friday. We are going to have a few days in Liverpool and coming back down the M6 then, so we’ll pop in I think.

 

Nigel working on the bow

The View from the stern. Obviously thirsty work, this welding