A New Project

A few weeks ago I picked up a bit of my childhood - Snarleyow Too, otherwise known as Little Snarley.

She is a flat bottomed lock-keeper's punt, designed as a work boat for workers on the Thames to ferry themselves and their tools around. They were economical to make but handy little boats (11ft 6in long) that made good platforms for fishing, which is why my grandmother had this one made at the boathouse at Carmel College near Wallingford around 1960.

It was a copy of the first Snarleyow Too, pictured in this blog here. I remember helping to bring her from Carmel back to Riverside, sitting in the boat clutching the boatbuilder's launch. 

She has been sitting in a barn since 1968 (the last Thames Conservancy plaque for, 1967, is still attached to the stern thwart.

My son Miles and I hacked our way through brambles to the barn to recover the hull. I was surprised at its good condition, considering she has been out of the water for 45 years. Many of the bits are missing but they are easily replaced.

Little Snarley is small but just big enough to lie down in, so I may be able to camp in her. And she is only a bit bigger than a stand-up paddleboard.

I think she may be a good camp-cruising boat for rivers and canals, powered by a stand-up paddle. 

After we attached the boat to the back of the car, we went for lunch at the excellent Pike and Perch in South Stoke, a few miles downstream. My cousins and I drove but the kids rowed: