Katona

Rebuilding a narrowboat.

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Nick

Nick

Que Sera, sera

This week I took a hiatus from Katona for a few days to pootle up the east coast on another red boat that’s joined the Goodall family: Que Sera, which my brother Tim bought last month. Besides a diesel engine and the concept of a “hull,” they couldn’t

By Nick 5 May 2024

Avon garde!

There’s a twist to Murphy’s law for the clothes you wear while renovating, and a lesson I keep re-learning: no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you will become dirty. Every time I’ve thought “I’m only tootling up the river,”nope: regret.

By Nick 28 Apr 2024

Onto the Severn!

This week the lights were green, the river was open! Then on Tuesday I got an email asking me to move, and fair enough: it was a 2-day mooring, and I got there 2 weeks ago. So today, dad and I took the the boat southward to Tewkesbury at an

By Nick 21 Apr 2024

You take it on faith, you take it to the heart

“The waiting is the hardest part.” – Tom Petty With the Severn still closed, le boat waits quietly, patiently, until the river is ready for careening. But that didn’t stop some progress! This morning I went over to clear things, run the engine and make some measurements for dry dock

By Nick 14 Apr 2024

Claims and clearing out

Hello! This week was exciting like I’d hoped for on the canals: uneventful. Monday I went to the boat for more carnage clearing, and to take photos for insurance. I also started the engine, right away, delightfully — it starts quicker and runs smoother than pre-dunking. Here’s Henry: On

By Nick 7 Apr 2024

Mayday, we have an inconvencience

Oh buoy. This week Katona sank, but let’s back up. Last Sunday ended with the boat wedged on some debris in a lock, CRT inbound on Monday morning. I got there at 0750 to meet Joe & Simon, and after hatching a plan to un-wedge it I went to

By Nick 31 Mar 2024

Welcome to Worcester... almost?

You’re not gonna believe this, but first: happy Sunday! Moving the boat on weekends is normally quite chill: cruise a little, do some locks, cruise a bit more. Yesterday I plodded along for about 8 miles, through 1 little tunnel: And did 10 locks, until I reached one that

By Nick 24 Mar 2024

Worcester-bound and back again

Hello! Happy Sunday, happy March, happy 2024. There are updates! Some quite old now; I forgot to write about them and… one Sunday turned into 12. Last time we left off with the boat wedged in a lock, waiting for the CRT to sort my shit out. They did come,

By Nick 17 Mar 2024

Wedged and wedged again

Happy Sunday, the week before Christmas! I am Stratford-bound and writing to you from a lock, well-and-truly wedged. But let’s back up. Two-and-a-half weeks ago I set out westward, and something happened when I thought “Ooh, this is blog-worthy.” I started the engine and set off one morning, but

By Nick 17 Dec 2023

Shakespeare-bound

Hello! Winter’s a coming, and I’m getting through a lot of diesel out here in the sticks, not to mention the inconvencience of, you know, having to find somewhere to work, and shower… The thought of a marina crossed my mind, many a time, and on Friday I

By Nick 26 Nov 2023

The week with no boat

This is the first update about the boat where I haven’t seen it all week, so to fill the void of progress here are some old photos from when I first got the boat. Until next Sunday! - Nick

By Nick 19 Nov 2023

Doing the sidewalk

This too was a slow week for reasons (programming); it goes that way sometimes. But in exciting news I do start some new work tomorrow! Boat progress will slow down for a while, maybe months, and that’s okay; I can definitely finish it now. In the meantime here are

By Nick 12 Nov 2023
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Katona

Rebuilding a narrowboat.