In The Beginning
For somewhile and from time to time I always kept a
watchful eye about for a little wooden boat.
A dream perhaps of those salty sea dogs, long bearded
wise men who played a fiddle, penny whistle or squeeze
box, knock back the odd dark rum and sing a happy sea
shanty! I'm none of these but the ethos, along with
several others, bewitches me.
So it goes to pass that I finds my little wooden boat
and brings it home as a project for my more leisurely
years. "Phyllis" was bought in 2001 and moved from a
rear garden on the Wirral, to lay langusing in a boatyard
on the
River Weaver. Although some
22
miles from
the sea it's still accessible by river navigation on
to the Manchester
Ship
Canal and
hence into the Mersey Estuary.
It's amazing at times, as the boatyard that "Phyllis"
was then dry berthed at was directly opposite the very
place (British Waterways Regional Headquarters) that
the previous
owner, William Vance Crockett, used to work
as the Engineering Superintendant.
We
started some work, really just clearing out and
removing the old fixtures and fittings. Some
professionally
commissioned
restoration was started but which
turned out very costly as it proved to be abortive
work! All due to my total inexperience with little wooden
boats and no real professional shipwright input.
Anyway
after
somewhile,
the
time had come to bring "Phyllis" back to life.
In the Beginning - Restoration
Ongoing!
(click on
image to view larger pic)
