March Hares

Well !

We've been busy again this month,what with the sad loss of our Step Nan (Rose). A double 50th Birthday party, and Dad's 7oth Birthday party.

We are also annoucing our new website

heasmans.com

As for Derwent6, we have been out and looked at folding mountain bikes and think we have found the one we want .. this should save us having the bikes on the stern of the boat and now we should be able to get them in the engine room.

We have found two folding chairs for the dining room which should fold and fit behind the L shaped seating and also found a small ironing board which will fit in the same place.

We had our 24th wedding anniversary last week and got some lovely cards from everyone and great present's from our mum's and dad's (thank you to you all)

We have still had no news about the start date, but feel it will be the beginning of May (fingers crossed)

Still chucking out loads of rubbish around the house and continuing with the sorting.

Don,t forget to watch Waterworld on ITV1 on either Monday or Tuesday evenings at 7.30pm as this will give you some idea as to what we are letting ourselves in for..

Speak soon!!

Busy! Busy! Busy!

Well!
We've been to a boat jumble at Paddock wood in Kent, where we brought a mallet for hitting the pins, and a grass cutter for those long grass moorings.
We've also been back to Jim Sparks at Alexander Boats and discussed bits and pieces on the hull build like Bow well deck height, Bow door lip height, cutouts in roof rails, etc. We really feel we have got to know him now and are confident he will put 100% into Derwent6.
Our build slot for the hull is dependant on Fernwood as they are running a bit behind schedule so Jim has us booked for April and will only start it when he gets the nod.

We've been to see Chris and Stelle on Belle who are very welcoming, nice people and they have a great boat !! (thanks for the tea, cakes and biscuits)
We've been to the Birmingham outdoor, caravanning,camping and boat show (which we felt was far better than the London boat show) with ten narrowboats on display. Picked up more bits and pieces and loads of ideas.

As for the house.....
We have now done a brochure for the sale of our four bedroom house in Snodland, Kent, so if anyone is interested we can send it on to you. We have still been itemising all the things in each room (so much to go through) but we are getting there.

We are both still really excited and we can't believe we're into March already(don't time fly !!) hence the reason for doing this.

Another new addition

What about the Derwent6 new addition then!

Del's Birthday present from Mum & Keith (N.B Thema)

Keith will now be doing all the Rose's and Castle's on both port and starboard doors and also the stern doors for Derwent6

Still very busy !!

Been looking at Cratch sizes(ie depth, cover height and width, lockers, and door threshold)and all things related to the hull like stern deck hatch, Stern roof hatch, fender points, tillar height and all the fancy bits which which we will need to speak to Jim Sparks about when we go up to see him. Blimey there is abit of a list !!!!

Also we've looked at Sinks, Electrical equipment sizes(that we''re supplying) and the hidden wiring plan have been worked on. I am looking for a on board motor for Pumpout (if it's ever required) so if anyone knows of one please post me the details.

We are still working on the interior material and fabrics but may have found the leather for the two seater settee so we now have something to go on.

More soon !!

Oh! My God

We've done it !!!!!!!!!!!!!
We've signed contracts Ya Hooooooo and we both feel really good about it. Ken and Julia were Fantastic...We were at Fernwood for about 10 hours, but went through the whole specifications for Derwent6.
The blueprints for the hull build have been signed, and it's all systems go, we need to see Jim Sparks at Alexander Boats now, to check with him the hull changes we have made, and for him to add his special touches.

Mind you we are a bit poorer, but to hell with it it's only money.

House prices

Well what a busy start to the year !!!

We've got the house valued, looked at house prices in the area,(new and for sale) and now have a pretty good idea of what the house should go for.

We have packed away the Christmas decorations and now have a box of Christmas bits and pieces for sale (if anyone is interested)

We have also been to the London Boat Show at Docklands so we now have a better idea on the engine, generater and toilet for Derwent6

Lets hope we can keep it up !!!

Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year !

To everyone who now reads this Blog !!

A Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year !


From Ali & Del
(To Derwent6 and all who sail in her)

Two foot longer

Well sorry we haven't blogged for at least a month but we have been very busy every weekend!
We saw Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and George Micheal just to show what music fans we are, and still had time to go to a 60th Birthday party and 40th wedding anniversery!

So has Derwent6 been on the back burner?

No Way !!!!!!!

There has been a few changes since our last meeting with Fernwood, one being that we have decided to go with a Corner Bubble multi fuel fire and we are now going to have Gas on board for cooking.

We went up see Julia and Ken and discussed the plans (and we thought the price) but again changes were made.

Derwent6 will now be a 65foot Trad with a extra foot added to the engine room and 6 inches to each, the dining room and study. We came out of there with our heads swimming, but we did come out with the hull build booked in April 2007.
We also went back up to see Jim Sparks (the hull builder) and are still convinced he is the way to go.
We have done little to the house at the moment with Christmas looming up on us and the shorter days but have still been planning 2007 with precision.

Our build slot moves forward

Great News!!!!!!

We went up and spoke to Julia and Ken at Fernwood and the people in front of us on the build list can't sell their property so have asked to swap places with us which now means Derwent6 could be finished by the end of 2007.

We were on the cut traveling down the South Oxford early in October for a week and had a great time soaking up the mild weather and being attacked by the swans.
We are lucky enough to have the use of N.B Thema which is in the family owned by Pat and Keith,which is a 62 foot Colecraft shell which Keith fitted out himself. Derwent6 will be designed with this boat very much in mind.

We have still been working hard on clearing the house out cupboard by cupboard, draw by draw,
as we have a busy month in November and December with things going on.....More next month!

September Horn

Well !!
We have now acquired a new addition as promised last month "the horn" This was made especially for Derwent6 and will go on the roof of the stern, port side. We are really really pleased with it and it was all hand made and is so loud it would blow your head off.. Bridges on the cut may need to be modifidied!!!!

We have been to our first boat jumble and spotted loads of bargains but nothing we really need at this moment in time. We are moving on with the plans and have been looking at colours and interior designs, room sizes and electrical equipment.

The inventory has been drafted for the bits and pieces in the house for the time of sale, and we now have the hugh task of deciding what stays or what goes.

We will be on the cut next month for a week and will post some pictures then.

A busy month

August turned out to be a busy month, we went up to Fernwood craft and saw Ken and Julia who have another boat close to launch day. We then met up with N.B Huff & Puff another Fernwood boat.
We have been working hard on the plans and been getting lots of suggestions from N.B Quidditch, N.B. Belle and N.B. Hader who's main advice was "KEEP IT SIMPLE"

So simple it's going to be !!!!!


As you can see we got the lamp back and don't it look just grand!! We went it the IWA Beale park boat show and got alot of information from all the narrowboats at the show this year.

We then checked out N.B Jasper another Fernwood boat to see what it looked like after three years down the line, and it was still in very good condition.

We have purchased some bits and pieces for N.B. Derwent6 like brass hooks, barrels and fenders and in the process of purchasing a solid brass horn for the roof (more details next month)

Moving on with the plans

It is with thanks to Chris and Stelle's website ( belle@railwaybraking.com) and their boat "BELLE" that we have used their excel sheet to get the plans together for "DERWENT6".
We found their website because they are also using Jim Sparks of Alexander boatbuilders and we have found the site so useful with hints and tips before our build slot.

The lamp has been sent away for dechroming to Procast in Nottinghamshire and should be ready in about a couple of weeks.

We have heard from Fernwood that the build slot could be brought forward so we plan to go up there this month.

1960's Francis Fire Engine Lamp

Well we found it !!
A 1960's Fire engine searchlight which we wanted to go on the front of Derwent6..We found it on Ebay and had to collect it from a fire engine collecter, who had a fire engine (Dave) in Oxfordshire. What a great house they had it full of old collecters items and memorabilia of the 60's.

So now have to get it de-chromed as it is made of solid brass, it still has the original 100 watt bulb and can give a beam up to 1006 metres (should light up the tunnels)

Crick Boat Show

This really should have been posted in May but we've been a bit behind with our blog!
We had a really fantastic time at Crick. It was our first show and we went for the whole weekend.
The weather on Saturday was dismal but we didn't let it put us off and we managed to see loads of boats that day. This has given us plenty of food for thought and its great to see different designs and Ideas.
Sunday the sun shone and we spent the day looking around the trade stalls(again really useful for ideas) stayed at Crick that evening to see the live band The Platforms. They were Fab !
Back again on Monday (we just can't get enough!) and revisited a few boats that we wanted to take another look at.
All in all a very useful weekend which has got us really excited.

Still working hard on the design and planning the layout for Derwent6 but still finding it hard having to wait so long

Well we've done it!!

Well we've done it !!
We found a boat builder in Jim Sparks at Alexander boatbuilders and someone to carry out a quality fitout with Ken and Julia at Fernwood craft...We have now booked our build slot and it's all systems go..
We are now working hard on the design.


So much to think about !!!

Boat Builder

Where do we start! At the moment we are researching boat builders (shells & fit out) and planning to make a decision at the end of this week. We need to start the ball rolling if we are to realise our dream!