The Professional Boat Mover Imagine Being Paid to Go Cruising
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‡ PROFILE profeSSioNal BoaT MOVer The professional boat mover Imagine being paid to go cruising. Andrew Denny meets a man who does just that... t sounds like the start of arranged a mooring at Droitwich a riddle; here’s someone but were understandably nervous who navigates more miles about taking it on the Severn. I of the waterways network They’re not alone in seeking than most other boaters can out the services of a boat ever hope to cruise, but without mover to resolve their obvious owning a boat, hiring one, dilemma. Other customers have or even borrowing a friend’s. cried inexperience or personal How? Enter the world of the crises, illness or simply running professional boat mover... out of time to complete a I met John Hellens while journey. Sometimes the boats ascending the Atherstone flight of involved are for sale and need the Coventry Canal last summer. to be collected or delivered. He was taking a narrowboat John’s name comes up a lot, from Foxton to Venetian Marina one of a small circle of skilled on the Shropshire Union boaters who offers services to Canal and, as we fell into easy private individuals, brokers and conversation, explained a little hire fleets. He picked up the bit about what his job entails. current job after taking another It was an occupation I’d boat to Saul Junction and chatting not encountered on the cut to the boat owner. Business is not before and so it was, after regular, however. For two months John Hellens manouevres carefully. exchanging cards and a few after Christmas there were no emails, that I found myself enquries, although four came accompanying him on a boat in one week in March alone. £2m personal insurance for he took a helmsman’s training move nearly a year later to marine traders. He’s competent at course with Rod Fox’s Inland discover more about his work. PriCES AND plaNNING most basic maintenance and simple Waterways School in Stourport. Before accepting a job, John sets a fixing, but any breakdowns outside He recommends it not least for RANGE of CUSTOMerS fixed fee for the passage, based on his ken are covered either by the the single-handed boating and This time John, a retired the number of estimated cruising client’s own breakdown insurance the river section, which allowed management consultant who now hours. Guide prices usually work from River Canal Rescue, or by him to practice ‘man overboard’ trades under the name ‘Moves out at around £10 an hour, billing from a local boatyard. and river-in-flood training. Afloat’, was taking narrowboatThe although riskier elements – such John’s been moving boats Despite some trips totalling over Lucy Locket from Saul Junction as flood-prone rivers – might for around five years. Although 200 miles and 150 locks, careful Marina to Droitwich Spa Marina. possibly see this figure rise. He he was cruising well before planning means John has few The owners of the boat were stipulates that a boat is insured this (since the early 1970s), ‘nightmare’ tales to tell. Costs and unused to longer journeys and had and pre-fuelled, but he also carries when he ‘turned professional’ timings are worked out with the Narrowboat Lucy Locket appears around the bend on the swollen River Severn, nearing Hawford Lock, the junction with the Droitwich Barge Canal. Safety reached on the first lock on the Droitwich Barge Canal. 46 | JUNE 2015 | www.waterwaysworld.com ‡ PROFILE profeSSioNal BoaT MOVer The professional boat mover Imagine being paid to go cruising. Andrew Denny meets a man who does just that... Truly rural for its first eight locks, the reed-fringed Droitwich Barge Canal is a haven after Passing through Portars the flooding of the Severn. Mill Bottom Lock. online route calculator Canalplan meant the tetchy Severn was rising hire-boats halted on the pontoon, to me. My own instinct would (www.canalplan.org.uk), which fast. It was a race for him to reach either by the lock-keeper, who have been to lay over at the he swears by. The website allows the junction with the Droitwich deemed the swollen waters too marina entrance, awaiting a boaters to plot the route between Canal at Hawford Lock – our risky, or the hire company. An lull. I suggested to John that any two connected points on the rendezvous point – before the exception was made for John, if he wanted to dock now, he waterways, taking account of locks, river was closed to navigation. however, based on his expertise should try manouvering in bow speeds and likely hold-ups. It also It was a breezy early-spring and qualifications. The water was first, and wait out the storm. includes postcodes for each point day, and as I walked down just on the orange boards – under What happened next on the map – invaluable for the the steps to the lock I saw the the limit at which navigation would astonished me. He manouvered emergency services should he ever Severn hard in flow. The river cease to be covered by insurance. firmly in reverse, without need to call for help. However, he was closing up on the ‘red The Droitwich Barge Canal pole or rope, recovering from uses them mostly in Google Maps board’ level, and I was worried was new to me. With the what I considered were two or for working out public transport the boat would be held up dangers and potential delays three impossible positions. routes at the start and end of a – or might not have set off at of the Severn out of the way, The wind was still howling journey. A printout of each route all from the last lock, Bevere. there was ample time to take and once in the berth it took is installed in a rainproof binder, I needn’t have worried. Lucy in the sublime scenery, while considerable effort to tie up. along with the relevant edition of Locket soon arrived around the also keeping an eye on the Delivery achieved, however, Nicholson’s, on every journey. corner, a pronounced bow wave increasingly gusty winds and the all that remained was to check testament to the fight with the dark clouds on the horizon. the engine compartment, clean ON THE JOB current. John made a perfect up the boat, telephone the I caught up with John on the turn – a wide sweep that took Tiller SKill client and liaise with marina second day of his Droitwich him niftily into the slack water at The weather held for another six management before finding job. He had made easy work the junction with the Droitwich hours until we entered Droitwich John’s car, which he had parked of the first stage of the journey Barge Canal – and came to a Spa Marina where, as if on cue, at the marina two days earlier. – straight through the Gloucester perfect halt in front of the level the heavens opened and the & Sharpness Canal, up the Severn board, now just into the red. wind began treating the boat as Safe HANDS to Tewkesbury and overnighting a giant sail. The owners of Lucy Of course, it’s possible to get boats on the river moorings outside CHalleNGING Locket had asked that the boat be moved long distance by road, Worcester’s Diglis Basin. But CONdiTioNS moored stern-in. But reversing quickly and safely. But it’s a lot heavy rain the previous weekend At Bevere Lock he had found five in that wind seemed impossible more expensive that way and can When it’s someone else’s boat you are looking after, a second pair of hands is useful for swing-bridges, Inspecting progress: John uses printouts from the for security and safety online Canalplan service to maintain progress. in populated areas. www.waterwaysworld.com | JUNE 2015 | 47 ‡ PROFILE profeSSioNal BoaT MOVer Chatting with a volunteer lock-keeper on the Droitwich Junction Canal. The volunteers can be Steering a customer’s boat invaluable in helping carefully to avoid damage. speed up delivery times. take a long time to organise. You’ll also need a crane-friendly wharf nearby. While I was writing this, John was about to set off on an eight-day journey from Calcutt on the Grand Union to Buckden Marina on the Great Ouse, a job that he estimated would take 64 hours, and on which he’d fixed the price at near £600. A ballpark figure for a road move could easily be double that cost. Would I use a professional mover like John on my own boat instead of taking it myself? On a longer journey, definitely. Having seen that last virtuoso display of steering, I can certainly vouch for his skill. The scars and dents on my narrowboat bear witness to the risks of leaving it to well-meaning friends, and even myself! A boat mover, I now know, is a far safer pair of hands. John Hellens, Moves Afloat: 07711 601576 or Teeth of a gale: www.movesafloat.co.uk mooring up at the end of the journey. Job done! Another boat delivered safely. Cleaned, packed, ready to go. 48 | JUNE 2015 | www.waterwaysworld.com .