Yes!!!! She now has a real name and is no longer nb Unnamedtug! She is a Dennis Cooper hull of 1980 vintage but the wooden cabin was taken off (It made a great November 5th bonfire at Warwickshire Fly Boats I'm told) and a new steel cabin fitted, shorter than the original and with a planked tug deck. The cabin paint scheme is in blue with yellow trim somewhat akin to BWB colours. Aft she has a boatman's cabin with coal stove. Unusually her diesel tank is under the whole stern deck so there is a noticeable lack of a weed hatch. Purchase of a pair of waders is high on my list of priorities!! In the engine room is an air cooled Lister HA3 of 1959 vintage, fitted with trad speedwheel and gear change - somewhat large for a 38 foot hull but great for water skiing. Forward of the engine room is the shower and galley and there is a planked deck over a small hold at the bow. She is obviously limited in accomodation but ideal for someone like myself who will be working single handed most of the time.

Why Thorn?

I had originally thought that her previous name had been lost but during the process of arranging finance she was traced via her BW number and identified as Thorn. I am not keen on the idea of changing a boat's name unless there's a very good reason so she will remain Thorn. Chatting to one of the other owners at WFB I discovered that Thorn was the name of the old letter used for the th sound (As in Ye Olde .....). The capital of this letter looks rather like a somewhat curly italic P. I intend to use these Thorns for embellishment when I get the signwriting of her name etc done. I am tempted to use the Yorn spelling but I suspect that people may think thats rather a yawrn!!

Have a look at some pictures of nb Thorn or return to the canals page