View of the basin
It was a day of meeting up with people. Before we even got into the show we came across Colin Dundas' van. Signwriter Colin has always used his vans for advertising his skills and techniques and has just finished his new van. It is as spectacular as ever. I don't think there are many FIAT vans with gold leaf lettering on the side!
Wonderful sign-writing on Colin Dundas' van
There were the usual collection of trade tents and static (non-floating) boats at the heart of the show. We visited Bedazzled to discus LED lights and bought some cabin lace from Evelyn Booth of Lockside Antiques to replace some of the damaged lace in our back cabin. I took the opportunity to chinwag with Graham Booth on the stand. I also met up with Paul Balmer of Waterways Routes and get a software update for our cruising maps. We met Paul earlier in the year in the snow and ice in Birmingham. I have been using his maps on my iPhone since earlier in the year and found them very useful. I will post about them shortly.
Historic Boats at Crick
Working Boat Mendip complete with Gardner Engine
The main interest at Crick is new boats and chandlery but there is usually some interest for lovers of historic boats. Raymond and Nuffield were there. The steam narrowboat President and her butty Kildare were on also how and I was invited to tour the accommodation on the butty Kildare after Maggie signed me up for the Friends of President.
Adjusting the steam engine on President
President on show
Back Cabin and Range on Kildare
Tiller of Kildare
Bunk accommodation on Kildare
With so many modern-styled boats on show it was good to see a boat with a traditional engine (NB Emily) win "best in show" in a public vote.
NB Emily with engine installation by Tony Redshaw
With Waterways World organising the event I had hoped to bump into Granny Buttons (Andrew Denny) who now works for the magazine. We did indeed bump into him at the children's tent where he was working hard photographing children enjoying themselves. Although we have passed Granny many times along the cut, this was the first time we had actually met Andrew. It was a pity he was so tied up with work. We also managed to meet Terry and Monica Darlington from NB Phylis May (Narrowdog) who were promoting Terry's books. Jim and Jess (the whippets) were also there; Maggie stroked them as I chatted to Terry about Llandaff Rowing Club. I coxed Terry's friend Dai Morgan and his elder brother when I was a young lad back in the 1960s. It was great to see Terry up and about after his health problems last year.
An exhibitor hard at work demonstrating his wares
Perhaps the most unusual exhibit I saw was just as we were about to leave. It was a cut-away section of a narrow boat on a trailer with a single cylinder Lister engine running inside. It was advertising the Riveted Narrowboat Company - and yes the rivets are real! Good luck to them reviving old construction techniques. They appear to be working on a great project. Below is video from their website.
Lister JP1 running in a riveted hull (part)
