About Me & Seren
After retiring Linda and I moved from Llangollen to Bedfordshire to spend more time babysitting our grandchildren. Having sold a picturesque old cottage and downsized to a semi there was enough left in the budget to buy a boat. We bought Coralita in Pershore in 2017 and brought her to the Great Ouse via the Avon, Stratford Canal, Oxford Canal, Grand Union, Nene and Middle Level. Now renamed Seren she is kept at Kelpie Marine, Roxton but travels far and wide.
Seren was built around 1974 and judging by the brass plaques on board spent some time on the Coventry Canal. She's a Trentcraft 25, an unusual design by Davison Brothers who used to run a boatbuilding business at what is now Sawley Marina on the River Trent near Nottingham. Back in the 1970s steel narrowboats were not as dominant as they are now on the canals and the Trentcraft (also available in a 20' version) was a GRP alternative. The hull is 25' long, though the overhanging rear deck adds another foot, and narrow beam to suit the narrow canal network.
Most GRP cruisers have either a rear or centre cockpit with a folding canopy and usually a windscreen that can be folded forward to reduce air draught when negotiating bridges and tunnels. The Trentcraft design has a front cockpit low down in the hull with a sliding roof barely higher than the cabin and originally had PVC sidescreens. As a result she's low enough for the smallest canal tunnels. It is possible to steer her with the roof shut in bad weather though there's no windscreen wiper so visibility isn't great. Can't really fit one either as the windscreen is curved Perspex that would soon scratch.
Seren has an inboard engine, a 3 cylinder Perkins/Parama diesel made by Kubota. It's about 1200cc and around 20HP. The engine is mounted in the bow and drives the prop via a shaft running in a shallow hollow keel. There's a conventional (Hurth) gearbox connected to a shock absorbing drive plate and aft of that a slightly flexible coupling to the shaft. About half an hour out from the boatyard where we collected her, still in Pershore, the drive plate disintegrated. We got a tow back, ordered a new one and fitted it and set off again a few days later.
Seren was built around 1974 and judging by the brass plaques on board spent some time on the Coventry Canal. She's a Trentcraft 25, an unusual design by Davison Brothers who used to run a boatbuilding business at what is now Sawley Marina on the River Trent near Nottingham. Back in the 1970s steel narrowboats were not as dominant as they are now on the canals and the Trentcraft (also available in a 20' version) was a GRP alternative. The hull is 25' long, though the overhanging rear deck adds another foot, and narrow beam to suit the narrow canal network.
Most GRP cruisers have either a rear or centre cockpit with a folding canopy and usually a windscreen that can be folded forward to reduce air draught when negotiating bridges and tunnels. The Trentcraft design has a front cockpit low down in the hull with a sliding roof barely higher than the cabin and originally had PVC sidescreens. As a result she's low enough for the smallest canal tunnels. It is possible to steer her with the roof shut in bad weather though there's no windscreen wiper so visibility isn't great. Can't really fit one either as the windscreen is curved Perspex that would soon scratch.
Seren has an inboard engine, a 3 cylinder Perkins/Parama diesel made by Kubota. It's about 1200cc and around 20HP. The engine is mounted in the bow and drives the prop via a shaft running in a shallow hollow keel. There's a conventional (Hurth) gearbox connected to a shock absorbing drive plate and aft of that a slightly flexible coupling to the shaft. About half an hour out from the boatyard where we collected her, still in Pershore, the drive plate disintegrated. We got a tow back, ordered a new one and fitted it and set off again a few days later.
OTHER ISSUES
When we bought her a previous owner (or more than one, it wasn't necessarily all done by the person we bought her off) had made some alterations, then tried to undo them.
1. The rear deck originally had a small central door into the cabin with very little headroom. Some models didn't have the deck fitted. Under it is a shallow well deck and a transom suitable for an outboard motor, the door would have sufficed for attending to the engine and gas bottles. Someone had the bright idea of fitting a sliding hatch over the door to improve headroom. They cut a hole, fixed a beam across just in front to support the roof then abandoned the idea and filled it in. With plywood, car body filler and paint, then relined the roof internally. We didn't discover it until the plywood got damp and started to fail!
2. The rear deck had been removed then replaced. I think that someone had tried to make it more narrowboat-like with a tiller-steered outboard that would have freed up space in the front for a proper cabin. At some point the deck seems to have been hit from behind and cracked. That too was 'repaired' with wood and filler.
3. Someone's plan B, having given up on the hatch and refitted the deck, was to make the rear door wider, stretching it out to the starboard side of the hull and fitting double doors. Access was easier but still tricky, the extra width necessitated losing one of the seat/step/gas bottle holders and the doors were just 10mm ply.
4. There was a small WC compartment and between that and the sofa/bed a small woodburning stove. The stove was very good on a cool evening but to keep it safe stood on a big hearth with tiles behind and to the side. On such a small boat it took up too much room. I later discovered that the blank panel on the cabin side had once had a window to the WC compartment but was now, once again, plywood and filler!
2. The rear deck had been removed then replaced. I think that someone had tried to make it more narrowboat-like with a tiller-steered outboard that would have freed up space in the front for a proper cabin. At some point the deck seems to have been hit from behind and cracked. That too was 'repaired' with wood and filler.
3. Someone's plan B, having given up on the hatch and refitted the deck, was to make the rear door wider, stretching it out to the starboard side of the hull and fitting double doors. Access was easier but still tricky, the extra width necessitated losing one of the seat/step/gas bottle holders and the doors were just 10mm ply.
4. There was a small WC compartment and between that and the sofa/bed a small woodburning stove. The stove was very good on a cool evening but to keep it safe stood on a big hearth with tiles behind and to the side. On such a small boat it took up too much room. I later discovered that the blank panel on the cabin side had once had a window to the WC compartment but was now, once again, plywood and filler!
5. The galley consisted of a sink, 12v cold water tap and a work surface. There was a 240V twin hotplate cooker the previous owner used when in the marina but it was no use on a long trip. Before we set off we bought a portable two ring + grill propane stove, gas bottle and hose.
6. The sliding roof over the cockpit was heavy GRP sliding on rails fixed to the cabin roof hand rails. It was heavy and hard to slide. Greasing the rails helped but then you got grease on your hands every time you walked the side deck and used the handrail. It was also cracked.
7. Below the side decks the hull is insulated and lined with ply covered in basic black contract carpet. Above that level the cabin sides had only carpet, but in white. In 2017 it was obviously new and fresh looking but after one winter it was stained with damp/mould.
8. The sofa/bed had two very deep cushions each 2m long and 600mm wide. Unfortunately the very heavy black vinyl upholstery had been fitted by wrapping it around the foam, putting an MDF sheet underneath the foam and stapling the vinyl to it. Each cushion was incredibly heavy and you had to move both to access the lockers underneath or convert the sofa to a double bed.
9. The cockpit is noisy with the engine running. It needs proper sound deadening foam in the engine compartment, new engine mounts and probably a bigger exhaust muffler if I can find room for it.
10. There were hidden LED self-adhesive strip lights everywhere. The illumination was atmospheric rather than useful.
11. There were conventional engine electrics up front and an entirely separate leisure battery under the sofa charged by a 200W solar panel on the roof. That worked the water pump and LED lights OK but would struggle if I added anything else.
6. The sliding roof over the cockpit was heavy GRP sliding on rails fixed to the cabin roof hand rails. It was heavy and hard to slide. Greasing the rails helped but then you got grease on your hands every time you walked the side deck and used the handrail. It was also cracked.
7. Below the side decks the hull is insulated and lined with ply covered in basic black contract carpet. Above that level the cabin sides had only carpet, but in white. In 2017 it was obviously new and fresh looking but after one winter it was stained with damp/mould.
8. The sofa/bed had two very deep cushions each 2m long and 600mm wide. Unfortunately the very heavy black vinyl upholstery had been fitted by wrapping it around the foam, putting an MDF sheet underneath the foam and stapling the vinyl to it. Each cushion was incredibly heavy and you had to move both to access the lockers underneath or convert the sofa to a double bed.
9. The cockpit is noisy with the engine running. It needs proper sound deadening foam in the engine compartment, new engine mounts and probably a bigger exhaust muffler if I can find room for it.
10. There were hidden LED self-adhesive strip lights everywhere. The illumination was atmospheric rather than useful.
11. There were conventional engine electrics up front and an entirely separate leisure battery under the sofa charged by a 200W solar panel on the roof. That worked the water pump and LED lights OK but would struggle if I added anything else.